Verse of the Week Commentary: Jude 2
v.2 May mercy
and peace and love be multiplied to you.
Jude gives us a short, common introduction to his letter.
He uses the terms that were to be found in many letters of this time period.
v.2 May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.
May- This is not the typical greeting that you would
find in a Pauline letter. But it is very close. These divine provisions would
be necessary to live in the gentile culture and still maintain your Christian
morals.
Mercy- God’s compassion. There is a buildup of
trouble against the Christians. Social and economic turmoil is headed their
way. They have felt it slightly but soon it will be like a tornado enveloping
them. Persecution is about to snowball on the believers. They would need God’s
mercy to sustain them in the trials they would face.
Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of
grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:16
Peace-
Theological, inner, real, peace. God’s gift to us of quiet confidence in
the works of Jesus Christ.
When we find evil surrounding us and pressuring us on all
sides, His peace will give us a calmness we are not able to manifest in our own
flesh.
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in
believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans
15:13
And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7
Love- By God’s love, in His generosity, He grants us favors and meets our need.
When persecution starts it is love that will make us
appreciate each other more and bring us closer together. His love can protect
and assure believers during our time when we are in peril.
and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has
been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Romans 5:5
12 No one has beheld God at any time, if we love one
another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, Go abides
in him, and he in God.
16 And we have come to know and have believed the love which
god has for us. God is love, and the one who abide, in love, abides in God, and
God abides[1] in
him. 1 John 4:12; 15-16
But we must remember that love, which is a powerful force,
is only half the story in the Christian experience. Truth must always accompany
love. Truth gives love its bite, while love gives truth its compassion.
Be
multiplied to you- These attributes are to be richly allotted to you. They
are to be poured out on us.
Instead of just adding these qualities to the Christian
life, Jude’s thoughts are the multiplication of these characteristics. It was
not enough just to have them; it was necessary that they were overflowing in a
believer’s life.
Jude
demonstrates an overflowing desire to make sure the believers are well
acquainted with their position in Christ. This will be vitally important as he
begins his writings warning them of those who were making (not trying, they
were succeeding) their way into the church to destroy it.[2]
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