“Mercy” is God’s kindness and compassion toward His people. ‘Peace” is the well-being that results from this relationship. ‘Love” is (Gk ) agape, a godly love which has the best interests of other persons in mind whether or not they love in return. The word may refer to God’s love for man and to man’s love for God and other people. (HCSB Notes)
The Situation of the Exhortation by Jude 3-4
- The Alarm
- The Message For Which We Must Contend – The Faith Once For All Delivered (Jude 1:3).
- The Manner In Which We Must Contend – Earnestly (Jude 1:3).
- The Men Against Whom We Must Contend – Certain Men Crept In Unawares (Jude 1:4).
Verse 3: The Servant’s Intention – Write About The Common Salvation.
Aubrey Johnson writes the following: “Jude’s desire was to write about the wonderful salvation Christians have in Jesus. Circumstances demanded that he alter is well-intentioned plan and exhort his readers to defend the gospel rather than merely appreciate it.
MacArthur writes, “This verse implies that Jude had intended to write a letter on salvation as the common blessing enjoyed by all believers, …But he was compelled, instead, to write a call to battle for the truth in light of the arrival of these apostate teachers.”
Contending for the faith. There were men with hidden agendas who were creeping into the church, slyly pushing for their own unique, weird twists on the Scriptures. This is till happening today. There are those who want to lead people off on their own tangents, stealing sheep from the church and establishing their own following.
What does it mean “the faith once delivered to all the saints.” The notes in the ESV Study Bible tell us this: “The ‘faith’ (i.e., the known and received body of truth about Jesus and salvation through Him) had been once for all delivered to the saints (i.e. Christians). In other words, by the time that Jude wrote his letter ‘the faith” had already been fixed and established in apostolic teaching of the early church, and therefore could not be changed, but was under attack and in need of defense.”
Chuck Swindoll write: “’The faith’ Jude admonishes us to contend for is the body of truth contained in the Scriptures…The core of the Christian faith is a solid nucleus of truth. …It can’t be modeled around each new generation’s lifestyles.”
Aubrey Johnson writes: “The ‘faith’ Jude mentions doers not refer to an individual’s subjective belief in Jesus or the gospel. This is made clear by Jude’s reference to its being ‘delivered.’ Instead, it is an objective body of teaching of which Jesus is both source and subject.”
The letters of John and Revelation were written after this. The gist of the passage is that once the written NT is completed that there is no more need for any more things written, no new revelation such as The Book of Mormon, teachings of Mary Baker Eddy, teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the like. Also if anyone tells you that God had revealed to him or her some new truth that is false also. Inspiration and illumination are 2 different things. Illustration: we may have read through passages many times and never saw a certain application, but while going through a trial or the like, God, through His Holy Spirit illuminates it for us. It is not a new truth or revelation, it was always there.
