This week we’re continuing with a new chapter in the Jude Series. This series is all about a much-misunderstood and oft-forgotten book of the Bible, and in Part Two we’re looking at Jude’s introduction and the reason the letter was written in the first place.
This is Chapter II of Part II, in an online ‘serialised book’ which I’m releasing over the next few months. In addition, I’ll be releasing fortnightly articles on other subjects, all for the Glory of God and the good of his people. Thanks so much to all of you who have subscribed recently, and to those who’ve been reading for a long time already.
If you enjoy this piece, please do share it with others who might be encouraged by it.
To check out other instalments in the Jude Series, click here:
Pt II - Chapter II - A Framework of Mercy, Peace, and Love
“May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.”
Christian Standard Bible, (Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Jude 2
I sign off every email and newsletter with the words, “Grace and Peace.” Why do I do it? The simplest answer would be to say that I’m imitating the apostle Paul, but it’s more complicated than that. I do so, because they shape every other word I write.
Imagine I wrote the following letter, what would you think?
What is wrong with you!? You are a blight on the earth!
Have a rotten life.Grace and Peace,
Adsum Try Ravenhill1
If you received that message… you might not believe that I truly want you to experience Grace and Peace. Right? If I’m committed, however, to conveying grace and peace to you, then I should imbue all my writing graciousness and peace.
This would be true even if the contents were:
Critical: Book reviews, Editing notes, Suggested Changes
Encouraging: Messages to my Wife, A letter/email to a friend/acquaintance
Professional: Work emails, article proposals
These two words provide a framework for all my communications, and Jude’s words at the start of his letter, “May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you,” do the same for his epistle. There are moments of admonishment and correction, rebuke and reproof, but they all fall within the bounds of Mercy, Peace, and Love.
Mercy
God’s mercy is one of his communicable attributes, meaning that it is both an attribute of God and something that we can exercise ourselves as Christians2—however imperfectly. What does it mean though?
“Specifically it designates that quality in God by which he faithfully keeps his promises and maintains his covenant relationship with his chosen people despite their unworthiness and unfaithfulness”
Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, Baker encyclopedia of the Bible, 1988, 2, 1440.
How are we also able to be merciful, then?
We can do so by showing forgiveness to those who do not deserve it3, or perhaps by following through on our word even to those who have broken their own. Many of the original recipients of Jude’s epistle are either in danger of going astray—following after imposters and intruders in the church—or know people who have already done so.
Jude has his work cut out for him. On the one hand he needs to clearly outline the danger of following down that path, but also teach them how to look out for those who have strayed down it, but having repented, are making the journey back.
He begins his first lesson by remind them of the slaves who had been set free from Egypt, saying:
“Now I want to remind you, although you came to know all these things once and for all, that Jesus saved a people out of Egypt and later destroyed those who did not believe”
Christian Standard Bible, (Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Jude 5
These slaves had not earned their freedom, it was simply a gift from God. Contrast this with those who relied on themselves:
“In the same way these people—relying on their dreams—defile their flesh, reject authority, and slander glorious ones.”
Christian Standard Bible, (Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Jude 8
As harsh as the language may sound, it’s paramount that we understand this.
We are depraved, we are sinful!
Why is this important? How can we be forgiven of our sins if we will not repent, and how will we repent if we do not know we are sinful. We must recognise our rot, repent of our sin and be clothed in the righteousness only God can bestow.
“He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly,
to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”The New King James Version, (Thomas Nelson, 1982), Mic 6:8.
Peace
“Who among you is wise and understanding? By his good conduct he should show that his works are done in the gentleness that comes from wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without pretense.
And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who cultivate peace.”Christian Standard Bible, (Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), James 3:13-18
[Emphasis Mine]
Are you wise in your own eyes, and if so, would you not rather have wisdom from above? James, Jude’s brother, lays this out for us:
Earthly Wisdom = Unspiritual, Demonic → Envy, Selfishness, Disorder, Evil practice.
Godly Wisdom = Pure & Peace-Loving → Gentle, Compliant, Full of Mercy, Unwavering, Without Pretence.
He adds, “The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who cultivate peace”
Jude paints a similar picture, though through narrative.
Earthly Wisdom:
“These people are dangerous reefs at your love feasts as they eat with you without reverence. They are shepherds who only look after themselves. They are waterless clouds carried along by winds; trees in late autumn—fruitless, twice dead and uprooted.”
Christian Standard Bible, (Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Jude 12
Godly Wisdom:
“But you, dear friends, as you build yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting expectantly for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life. Have mercy on those who waver; save others by snatching them from the fire; have mercy on others but with fear, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.”
Christian Standard Bible, (Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Jude 20–23
Praying and hoping for Mercy, Peace, and Love among all the people of God, Jude gifts them a mirror and a painting.
In the mirror, they are able to see the clear truth of their current situation. In the painting, they see the goodness that God wants them to live in.
How important is it for our lives today, while Twitter fights, lack of discretion, and inter/intra-denominational rifts rage, how much better would it be if we as Christians were to seek peace with our brothers and sisters?
If we are not doing this, we are ignoring the mirror Jude is holding up for us, deciding we are in no need of the mercy of God and continuing to live as we were, eating without reverence, looking only after ourselves.
Fruitless, twice dead and uprooted.
Love
Finally, it’s important to see Jude’s love for the church. Though I usually use the CSB in this newsletter, the translation of the word ‘ἀγαπητός’4 as ‘Friends’ is rather puzzling to me. I’m not a greek scholar by any stretch, however, this word is usually translated as ‘Beloved’ which conveys a much stronger bond than the word ‘Friend’—which could mean anything from casual acquaintance to lifelong companion.
It’s also, in some ways, too narrow. I might love someone I’ve never even been acquainted with but never call them friend, and there are also those whom I love the most and are more than friends—I’m thinking here of my Brother, Grandparents and other family members for instance.
I’m making a fuss of this because the word, “Beloved,” pops up three times throughout the letter, earmarking key points as it does so:
“Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints”
“But you, Beloved, bought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.”
“But you, Beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, awaiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.”
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update, Jude 3, 17-18, & 20–21
Jude explains that because of his love for them—though he earnestly wished to write an entirely different letter!—he needed to write this one fighting for the faith!
He wanted these people—his Beloved!—to recall the words of the Apostles, warning them against those who would come after to try and swallow up the Faith. In response, they should build themselves up on their most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keeping themselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.
That,—my Beloved!—is paramount.
Look to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling because you can’t do any of this in your own strength, and is able to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, because he died for you, and paid the price for your salvation! Who for? The only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever.
Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Adsum Try Ravenhill
Recommended Reading for the Week
If you’re a writer, you should be reading . His articles are a great example of how to say things simply and succinctly, however complicated, but he also speaks directly to writers as well. You may have heard some, or all, of this advice before, but you could probably use a refresher all the same.
An important rebrand occurred this week, the former Theological Girlboss, , renamed her Substack “
.” I know that a lot of you have discovered my work through Dani’s recommendations and so I wanted to let you guys know about this change, just in case it flies under your radar:I don’t know about you, but it feels like Hobbies have fallen on hard times since Covid. We used to have this abundance of time, but no more! What remained though, is our envy of other people’s hobbies. does a great job of helping us to recognise and reject that temptation in her latest piece:
Don’t quote tweet/restack that.
This is different from God’s incommunicable attributes, for instance immutability—the fact that God never changes—which is not something we share.
(“and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Matthew 6:12)
(agapaytos, you may have heard the word Agape?)