In the midst of false teachers, part 2
A book survey of the epistle of Jude
(If you haven’t yet, start reading part 1 here)
And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. (Jude 1:22–23, ESV)
When false teaching takes root in the church, the faith, morale, and zeal of the people are threatened. And some will waver. They waver as a result of some of these scenarios (not an exhaustive list):
- When a person embodies false teaching principles that proved itself hollow or unhelpful especially in dealing with particular trials;
- When a person mistakenly or naively regards an authority in church as a genuine teacher of the Word only to discover otherwise, and stumbles;
- When there is tension in the church caused by the some moves to expose false teachings/teachers.
The book of Jude is a pastoral letter poised to give the church counsel whenever people waver in their faith as a direct or indirect consequence of false teachers/teaching.
Bring those who doubt to the light
“And have mercy on those who doubt” — Jude 1:22.
The word ‘doubt’ corresponds to the Greek word διακρινομένους (dia-kri-no-me-nees). This is a Greek verbal-noun that carries the notion of one who withdraws himself from a group. In context, this refers to the people whose faith has wavered; who tend to withdraw from the congregation; who have started to doubt their faith. These are the people we are commanded to have mercy on. The New Revised English Version (NRSV) captures this meaning as it renders Jude 1:22 as ‘Have mercy on some who are wavering’.
In the wake of false teachers/teaching causing division in the church, we should be on the look out for our fellow brethren who have started to distance themselves from the body, and whose faith have started to waver. In seeking them out and ministering to them, we would have saved them, having snatched them out of the fire (Jude 1:23).
The last phrase in verse 23 ‘to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh’ seems to modify this call to show mercy. We are to show mercy mixed with fear (the New International Version, NIV). That is, we are to ‘fear for them’ because, in their wavering, they are toying with unbelief, with the flesh slowly luring them into its trap.
Our wavering brethren walk a fine line between belief and unbelief. As we move further away from trusting God, the influence of the flesh (sinful nature) strengthens. In showing mercy mixed with fear, we hope to that our distress for their situation will be used by God as a means of grace to jolt them back to His love and assurance.
Rest in God’s sovereign preserving and faith-keeping power
The book of Jude bids us to be the means by which God will keep His church from falling apart, in the midst of the division-causing false teachers. If we (1) keep ourselves in the love of God, and (2) have mercy on those who waver; bringing them back to the light, our church by the grace and mercy of God, will stand.
The book of Jude ends with the doxology. It’s actually an echo of what has already been said in the first two verses of the book, lest we forget that God is sovereign over the havoc that false teachers are wreaking in the church.
The doxology furthermore highlights this: that God is sovereign over His children’s wandering hearts; prone to wonder, prone to leave the God they love, as the hymn says. He is the God who will present each and every child of His blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy.
To the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. — Jude 1:25, ESV.
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