Jude 1-2

¹Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by [or for, or in] Jesus Christ: ²Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

What is a Christian? Jude begins his letter by answering a number of questions: How should we think about ourselves as Christians? How should we view our life purpose? What blessings has God bestowed on us? How do they impact the way we view ourselves and our sense of mission? What things ought we to long to be filled with? These first 2 verses focus on 3 particular things: how a Christian views himself (self-identity), the graces that we have received as Christians (defining a Christian), and the blessings that we ought to desire as Christians (what a Christian wants).

First is the self-identity we have as Christians, which we see in the first half of v1. Jude was a very common name, and so it was essential that the author announce his identity with a qualification other than merely his name. And so Jude does this by calling himself a servant and a brother. That’s who we are as Christians – servants and brothers. Specifically, as is the case with the authors of many of the other New Testament letters, Jude identifies himself as a servant – a bondservant, a slave – of Jesus Christ. A Christian is one who has been set free from one master – sin – in order to serve another master – righteousness. This is how the audience in Biblical times would have understood this title. And we share this title as well, if we are Christians. Jude also calls himself the brother of James. James had the authority in the early church – especially in Jerusalem, from whence many of the Jewish Christians had been scattered across the Roman Empire. James also had likely been martyred by the time Jude wrote this letter, so referring to himself as James’ brother immediately earns respect as the Christian leader he likely was. Now we know from our places in the Bible (1 Corinthians 9:5) that James and Jude were brothers of Jesus. But why doesn’t Jude call himself a brother of Jesus? He sees himself unequal to Jesus, but equal to James. He is humble and submissive – a servant and slave of Jesus, but he has authority, as a brother of James. So Jude is both humble and bold at the same time, which is what we as Christians ought to be.

Second is the definition of a Christian. What is a Christian? What characterizes a Christian? What favors does God give to Christians? Well, three divine favors, three graces, which ought to impact our view of our purpose in life, are specified here in the second half of v1. And they reveal a glimpse of the Trinity. The first of those characteristics is the calling of the Holy Spirit. If you have truly received Christ as Savior and Lord, then you have been called. Now there are 2 kinds of callings. The first is the external calling that we hear with our ears. It’s the call of the gospel – that Jesus saves sinners and that we receive salvation by grace through faith in Him alone. It’s the call to repentance, the call to seek forgiveness at the foot of the cross, and the call to give up any foolish attempt at self-justification before God on Judgment Day. But this calling is not the calling that Jude is talking about here.

Jude is speaking of the second type of calling. Jude says to these Christians in persecution, in fear of reprisal from a society that has great animosity for them and suspicion of them, “Remember who you are. You are the called of God, called to this great mission to bless the world.” Now being called doesn’t mean “invited,” as to a party. This call is a summons. It’s a calling that we don’t hear with our ears but with our hearts and minds. It’s not the call of a Pastor explaining the gospel but of the Holy Spirit awakening us to life when we were dead in sin. It’s an inward call, the call of regeneration. And most often, this second type of calling accompanies the first type. The Spirit rarely works apart from the Word. He can, but in our day and age, He quickens the dead in to sin to new life, He unclogs deaf ears and gives sight to the blind, and He convicts sinners of sin most often when they hear the gospel. Only with this second kind of calling will a person respond genuinely to the outward call of the gospel. Only with eyes that see and ears that hear can a person repent and believe. And that’s a description of us as believers.

There are a whole bunch of Scriptures we could turn to in order to validate what I’m saying, but for the sake of time, let’s just look at one – the resurrection of Lazarus in John 11. As we are spiritually dead in sin prior to conversion, so Lazarus was physically dead in the tomb. And just as Lazarus heard the audible call of Jesus to rise and come forth, so we sit in church and hear the gospel preached from the pulpit – repent and believe! But as Lazarus had to first have life in order to hear Christ and obey, so we must first be regenerated through the second type of calling in order to hear and obey the first.

The second divine favor, in addition to the Holy Spirit’s special calling, that a Christian has received is the love of God. If you have truly received Christ as Lord and Savior, then you, amazingly, are the beloved of God the Father. God loves you as much as He loves His Son! Isn’t that amazing?! But once again, there are different levels, or aspects, of the love of God. You will never hear me say that God does not love His entire creation. He loves all people – after all, He made them.

However, you would agree with me that you love your spouse in a different way than you love your parents, or your siblings, or your children, or your friends. God’s love is similar. Just as Israel in the Old Testament experienced the love of God to a greater and more intimate degree than the other nations, so we as believers experience God’s love in a greater and more intimate way than do unbelievers. God loves unbelievers, just not in a saving way. Both glorify God (Romans 9), so He loves both. He loves believers in such a way that they will be saved from His wrath; He loves believers in a way that extends to them mercy. He does not love unbelievers in a way that bestows saving mercy upon them. And Jude is speaking here of Christians as having the special, more intimate, saving kind of God’s love bestowed on them. It’s a love that accompanies the second type of calling. And it’s a love that accompanies the third divine favor, which we’ll look at now.

The third grace of God that befalls believers, in addition to the Holy Spirit’s calling and the Father’s deep love, is the preservation of Jesus Christ. We read that we are “kept by Jesus Christ.” The word “by” also includes “for” and “in” with it, so we might understand Jude to be saying, “If you’re a Christian, you’re kept by Jesus in Jesus for Jesus. Isn’t that a wonderful thought? Jesus keeps us, because if He didn’t we’d surely wonder away; Satan would surely pluck us from our safe position if he could. But he can’t, because Jesus keeps us not at arms length, but He keeps us in Himself. Once we’re in Christ, He’s in us too, and He keeps us there. Why? For Himself. He doesn’t keep us for our benefit alone, though He knows that it is good for us that we remain in Him. Rather, He keeps us for His benefit. It is for His glory that not one of those He purchased with His blood will be lost or snatched away. So Jude includes these three amazing graces – calling, love, and preservation – that describe Christians, and it’s to these people that he is writing this letter.

Do these three grants of God’s favor – three blessings of God’s grace – that you are called, beloved, and kept – have an overriding influence on your understanding of who you are in Christ and of your mission in this life? Do you live as if these things are true? Are there things that you value more than those things? Do you realize the magnitude of those graces? Those graces demand gratitude from us. If we realize what God has done for us in Jesus Christ we cannot help but praise Him and thank Him and live for Him. These three divine graces impact our whole view of our purpose in life.

Third is what a Christian should desire, which we see in v2. Jude says a short prayer, a benediction in fact, here in v2, asking that mercy, peace, and love, come to you in abundance. These are three things Christians ought to desire. When mercy is distinguished in the Scriptures from grace, mercy is speaking of God’s goodness and kindness and love towards the needy; whereas grace when it is distinguished from mercy has in view God’s goodness and kindness and love towards sinners. And so mercy especially has us in view in terms of our need. When Jude says, “May God’s mercy be multiplied to you,” he’s reminding you that you stand in need of God’s favor and that in His grace He grants it. “God’s peace” refers to our experience of all the blessings that flow from God’s objective reconciliation accomplished for us through the atoning death of Christ. Peace is a rich biblical term. There are only two books in the whole of the New Testament that don’t contain that greeting “peace” somewhere. It denotes completeness and soundness and wholeness. It doesn’t just mean an absence of enmity with God; it means a friendship with God through His gracious covenant. It entails safety and security and welfare and happiness, and it is the gift of Christ. We need this peace to serve one another and to serve a world that hates us. Finally, love is brought back to our attention. Having been granted God’s love through faith in Christ, may it be multiplied to you in abundance. Are we desiring these things – mercy, peace, and love? Are there other blessings that we want more than God and the blessings that He gives? Do we pray for one another like this? O Lord, give us not more power, more prestige, more influence, more significance, more status, more money, or more things; but give us more mercy, more peace, and more love. That’s what we ought to want.