Jude 20-23 How to respond to those caught in false teaching
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Introduction
Jude continues his application as to what is the appropriate response to the influence of false teaching. It is to help those who may be or are caught in it to get out. In fact, this letter is an example of how to do that. WE are not to be on a witch hunt, so to speak, but we are to be aware of the presence of false teaching and teachers and warn those in our care or our arena of influence about them.
this shows how we are to respond to those who are caught up in this heresy.
What he has said so far is that we are to remember the Word, v.17-19. This is the entryway into false teaching, the neglect, rejection, or addition to the word of God . We are to keep the Scriptures are our sole authority, it is completely sufficient and complete. We accept nor entertain the notion of any other revelation through dreams or visions or so-called prophecy. We to maintain the truth of Scripture alone.
We have understood that we are to remember the Word, v.17-19. Now we are to Keep ourselves in the love of God.
Now he points out we are to Keep ourselves in the love of God.
This shows the manner in which we are to contend for the faith.
Note how this starts:
But You Beloved,
Again, much like that of v.17. It is singling out those who are the true believers in contrast to the false professors and teachers.
I. Keep yourselves in the Love of God. Build up your Christian life
-Keep yourselves in the love of God -remember we can only love because He first loved us. v.21 this is the idea of keeping an eye, to keep a guard up. It is the idea of maintaining our relationship. It is a life long act, not a one time event. This is akin to Paul’s admonition to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. It is not a works oriented issue at all. It is like maintaining your car in in working order, so that it does not have any breakdowns that are unplanned. By maintaining it you know when the brakes need service or any other part of the car and you have it repaired, It is preventive maintenance. Jude is not saying you keep yourself saved as though you can lose it. To do so indicates that you are saved. Our salvation doesn’t depend on our actions. Nor does our eternal security. God keeps us. However, there is our responsibility to not be swayed by the false teachers. To avoid that we need to keep ourselves in the Love of God. That is love which is God’s. It is God’s kind of love. An unbeliever cannot love like this, cannot love God nor love others like is intended here. He or she can have philos love or Eros love, but not agape love. We love because He first loved us, 1 John. Or If we Love Jesus we will keep His commandments. The commandments are summed up in Love God and love your neighbor. You cannot love like this unless you are a true believer. Jesus even enjoins teh disciples to “continue in my love” , ; When Jude makes this statement he is not hinting at the possibility of losing your salvation if you do not do your part and keep yourself in God’s love, Rather, he is pointing out the necessity to live life pleasing the Lord as a way of life. “To love God is to love what He loves and hate what he hates! We please Him by doing those things that He commands.” (Weirsbe) I might not please my dad , but I am still his son. In other words, Jude is talking about not falling into the ways of these false teachers and living like they do and thus, not following the Lord. THey are unbelievers not following the Lord in reality. Jude doesn’t want believers to be caught up in their teaching. So he goes back to the foundation of the Apostles, the Word and to the true power of the Holy Spirit through prayer. Always looking for the Lord to come. When He comes He will hold all accountable for how they lived. It is the same thing Paul spoke of when he talked about the Lord being near, to the . The point is we don’t want to be found lacking when He appears. So we are circumspect about how we live our lives.
This is the main verb of this section which Jude is intending his readers to do in response to his warning to them about false teachers.
three participles help us see how we are to do this:
Our foundation--building up yourselves in your holy faith- This idea of building up is what we do ourselves in this context. It is not telling us in this to build up each other, but to build up our own faith. This is one of the means by which we are to do v.21. Faith has to do with the body of knowledge or teaching of the apostles, or the OT. IN other words, the foundation of the Apostles about Jesus Christ, faith in Christ, it is the sum of apostolic teaching. So how does one build himself up in the faith? how does one learn the teaching of the Apostles? is it not by the study of the word, the total comprehensive and complete commitment to the Word of God which contains the words of God and Christ and the Apostles? And as one learns the truths of Scripture you build up your faith. You lay a firm, solid foundation on their teaching about the person and work of Christ, His deity. The person and work of the Holy Spirit. In this way, you lay your if on the firm foundation and you will not be swayed by the hot air of the false teachers. Our power-- praying in the Holy Spirit. this is also a means of doing v.21. Here is the power behind our ability to keep ourselves in the love of God. It is praying by means of the Holy Spirit, He is the agency, and the influence, the source of power and the means of prayer. It is prayer that is controlled by the Holy Spirit, thus to pray in the Spirit is to pray in conjunction with the Word of God and the will of God. To pray in the spirit would be the same as praying Scripture prayers, as in or 3 following Paul’s model of prayer or even the prayer the Lord teaches his disciples. To pray for what the Lord desires and what Pleases Him, not what might satisfy our shallow lusts. It is prayer that is immersed in the Holy Spirit. cf. for clarity on what this means. especially as you reflect on ,. He always prays according to the will of God.
These first two participles set the background or circumstance that makes possible keeping yourselves in the love of God. In other words, they provide the basis to do this. Without faith and the Holy Spirit/ building up and praying are how you accomplish this. The latter participle is the hope that keeps you going.
waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ into eternal life. The word looking for/waiting for means earnestly expecting. It is an expectation not
of any doubt, but of certainty. We are looking for Him to come. Having this hope makes us want to keep pure in our living, .
II. Then we have three responses to those who are caught
-have mercy on those who doubt, v.22 I don't think this is referring to those who are the false teachers - they are blatantly unrepentant in their sin - but those who are being led astray unawares.
-save others, v.23 snatching them from the fire
-show mercy with fear
hating even the garment defiled by the flesh
Then we have three responses to the heretics:
-have mercy on those who doubt, v.22 I don't think this is referring to those who are the false teachers - they are blatantly unrepentant in their sin but those who are being led astray unawares. Some mss have the word reprove, which is the GK ελεγχετε, rather than ελεατε the word for mercy.
Alford, takes this as the former as do a few others. The editors of my GNT give it a ‘c’ rating meaning they really couldn’t come to agreement on it. Nevertheless, whether we take it as show mercy, surely a reproof/correction to their thinking is in order. If we take it as reproof, most surely it is to be done in a spirit of showing mercy. Either way both would be required in confronting one who was caught in this. And what must be done would be to show them from argument of Scripture that the teachers and the doctrine they are teaching are false.
“One of the best ways to draw them away from the false teachers is to magnify all that they have in Christ and to share His love for them in practical ways. Make their salvation so wonderful and the Word so exciting that they will lose interest in the teachings of the apostates. It is not enough merely to refute the false doctrines. There must also be a warmth of love that assures the young believer, “We care for you.””
Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 561). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
False teachers prey on disgruntled church members. It is important that we don’t give church members reason to be grumblers.
-save others, v.23 snatching them from the fire, these would be those who are in the fire. While the former may not be caught up, they haven’t made their minds up yet, these are full fledged in the fire. These folks are to be rescued, snatched as it were from the flames. The word snatch means to do just that, to pull away and implies aggressive action. It is the same word used in where the male child is snatched away to the place prepared for him away from Satan. It is to seize by force, as when Paul was seized out of the hands of the mob by the Roman soldiers in .
The fire would refer to the false teaching that leads to hell, the lake of fire. So to snatch a person out of the false teaching being addressed here is the same as snatching them out of the fire of hell, of judgment.
What this implies is that we can recognize false teaching, we acknowledge the grave danger involved and we are willing to take the necessary steps to snatch them away. That implies also the possibility of snatching them against their will to some degree. I think of the angels who snatched Lot and his family out of Sodom before they judged it.Another implication is that the person snatched will come around to the truth and accept it. But it also includes the possibility that the one being snatched might be hanging on so tightly that they refuse to be snatched away.
God warning people for not heeding the judgments they were like a brand plucked out of the fire, but did not appreciate God’s mercy
And where the prophet speaks of Jerusalem as a brand plucked from the fire during the Babylonian captivity. They were brought back to the land.
-show mercy with fear
hating even the garment being defiled by the flesh
This implies the danger of being involved in this. The idea is to be cautious. I just read of a woman in GRR who drowned saving her dog from drowning. The rescuer sometimes dies trying to save someone else. That is the warning here. The danger is not being strong enough yourself spiritually that you yourself are persuaded to their false teaching. One of the things that surprises me is the grey haired men and women who are part of some of these churches that are false seeker sensitive churches. They have been in good Bible truth teaching churches for years and are not able to recognize error when they see it.
I digress. The caution here is to show mercy but be careful to not to be defiled by buying into this false teaching yourself.
There is one final step in addressing the issue of false teaching, and that is found in the benediction of vss. 24, 25 which we will deal with next time.
But for now our instruction is to make sure you are growing in the Lord, more committed to Him and the Word of God. And secondly, be careful to help those who are on the fence about the issue as well as be cautious when rubbing shoulders with those who are both feet into the false teaching. Know your Bible and take a stand.