“But you must remember beloved…” Jude 17
If you’ve been with us throughout our study of Jude, you might notice that an important shift takes place in Jude 17. Up to this point, most of Jude’s letter has been warning us about false teachers invading the church. That warning begins in v 4 as Jude laments that “certain people have crept in unnoticed . . . ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” He then continues for another 12 verses, using one Old Testament image after another to drive home the point that those who forsake God’s truth and mislead God’s people will face God’s judgement. In his zeal to make this point, Jude even borrows images from the popular literature of the day – v 9 “The Assumption of Moses” and vv 14-15 a quote from 1 Enoch. But the bottom line is, up to now his letter has been mostly judgement and warning. But that is far from all Jude has to say!
In fact, when we get to v 17, Jude is just getting started with what he really wants us to hear as God’s beloved people. Do you remember how Jude began in vv 3-4, telling us that he originally wanted to write an encouraging letter celebrating our common salvation, but the invasion of false teachers forced him to have to urge us to “contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints”? But, having described the false teachers in vv 5-16, Jude is now ready to remind us of the preciousness and power of the Gospel for those God saves.
Theologian Gene L Green says vv 17-23 are the most important part of Jude’s letter as Jude spells out how we contend for the faith. He says there are three things we must do: (1) We must remember the warnings of the Apostles (vv 17-19); (2) We must renew a firm grip on our Gospel faith (vv 20-21); and (3) We must be ready to rescue those harmed by the false teachers (vv 22-23).
Looking forward to getting to the “good part” of Jude’s letter.
Pastor Scott Lee