Our Defense Against The Godless
OUR DEFENSE AGAINST THE GODLESS
JUDE 17-25
Only God is strong enough to take us through all the pressures and challenges of life into the joys of heaven.
Such predictions had been given by the apostles—Jude does not claim the rank—quite frequently; this is the force of the tense in verse 18. Examples are Acts 20:29; 1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 3:1f.; 4:3. We have the general sense of them in verse 18. One of the characteristics of such people is the divisions they cause (v.19). Since they care only for themselves, they care nothing for the unity of the church. Though they are completely unspiritual, they claim to be spiritual teachers.
The defense against such teachers is fourfold. Our faith (v.20) is only the beginning. We have to build up a rounded Christian character on it. Then we must “pray in the Holy Spirit” (see Romans 8:26f.). This means that we must allow God’s Spirit to mold our thoughts, see also 1 John 5:14f. “Keep yourselves in the love of God” (v.21): the love of God is always there, but we can cut ourselves from it by sin. A thin blind can shut out the sunlight. Above all, there is the waiting for the return of Christ. It has a strange power to bring matters into true perspective and inspire us to try to save others.
The final doxology faces facts squarely. On the one hand is us in our imperfection, who can be helped to stand when we are in danger of falling, and kept unblemished though not perfect; on the other hand is God with all glory, majesty, dominion and authority. The two are linked by Jesus Christ, the God-man.