A Call to Persevere

Jude tells the beloved to remember the apostles' prior warning that scoffers would arise in the last times, following ungodly desires. Such people create divisions and live by merely worldly instincts, lacking the Spirit. In contrast, believers are to build themselves up in the most holy faith, pray in the Holy Spirit, keep themselves in God's love, and wait for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. The paragraph shows that perseverance is not passive survival but active, Spirit-dependent endurance.

B¹⁷ut you, beloved, remember what was foretold by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ ¹⁸when they said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow after their own ungodly desires.” ¹⁹These are the ones who cause divisions, who are worldly and devoid of the Spirit. ²⁰But you, beloved, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹keep yourselves in the love of God as you await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life.

Jude then directs the church's mercy outward. Some who doubt require gentle compassion. Others must be rescued more urgently, as if snatched from the fire. Still others require mercy mixed with holy fear, lest the helper be drawn into the very corruption being opposed. The paragraph teaches that pastoral care must be both compassionate and discerning.

²²And indeed, have mercy on those who doubt; ²³save others by snatching them from the fire; and to still others show mercy tempered with fear, hating even the clothing stained by the flesh.