Jude 21a-The Recipients of Jude are Commanded to Keep Themselves in the State of Loving God Because of God's Love for Them
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday September 15, 2022
Jude Series: Jude 21a-The Recipients of Jude are Commanded to Keep Themselves in the State of Loving God Because of His Love for Them
Lesson # 61
Jude 19 These people are divisive, who are worldly by nature because they do not possess within themselves the Spirit. 20 However, each and every one of you beloved by making it your habit of building yourselves up by means of your most holy faith, by making it your habit of occupying yourselves with praying by means of the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit, 21 make it your top priority of keeping yourselves in the state of loving God because of God’s love for you and continue doing so by anticipating for the benefit of yourselves the manifestation of the compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ for the purpose of experiencing eternal life. (Lecturer’s translation)
As we noted, in Jude 21, the writer under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit issues a solemn and urgent command, which required that each one of the members of the Christian community in Judaea make it their top priority of keeping themselves in the state of loving God because of God’s love for them and continue doing so.
The noun agapē (ἀγάπη), “love” refers to an attribute of God, which is manifested when the Father judged His one and only Son at the cross in order that He might not judge all of sinful humanity for offending His holy character and standards.
In other words, the Father’s love for sinful humanity was manifested through the sacrifice of His Son when the human race was His enemy.
Also, God’s attribute of love was and is manifested through the baptism of the Spirit when the Father declares a sinner justified through faith in His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.
The justified sinner is placed in union with Jesus Christ and identified with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father through the baptism of the Spirit at justification.
God’s love is first experienced by the child of God at their justification when they exercise faith in the Spirit’s revelation in the gospel that the Father loved them through sacrificing His one and only Son, Jesus Christ on the cross for them when they were His enemies (cf. Rom. 5:6-8).
In other words, this love is first experienced by the child of God at their justification when the Father declared them justified through faith in His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.
They experience the love of God after their justification by exercising faith in the Spirit’s revelation in the gospel that they are united to Jesus Christ and identified with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father through the baptism of the Spirit, which again took place at their justification (cf. Eph. 2:5-6).
In other words, the child of God experiences God’s love for them after their justification by appropriating by faith their union and identification with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father (cf. Rom.6: Col. 3:1-17).
This would involve the child of God considering themselves dead to the sin nature and the cosmic system of Satan and alive to God (cf. Rom. 6; Col. 3:1-17).
After their justification, the child of God manifests the fact that they are experiencing God’s love for them and manifesting God’s love in their life when they obey the Lord’s command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love one another as He loves them.
This can only take place when they exercise faith in the Spirit’s revelation in the gospel that God the Father loved them through His Son at the cross when they were His enemies (cf. 1 John 4:15).
It also takes place when they exercise faith in the Spirit’s revelation in the gospel that God loved them through the baptism of the Spirit when they were dead spiritually because of their transgressions.
In other words, the child of God’s post-justification faith in the gospel results in obedience to the Lord’s command to love one another as He loves them, and which obedience manifests the fact that they love the Lord (cf. John 14:15) and are children of God (cf. 1 John 4:7-5:2).
In Jude 20, the noun theos (θεός), “God” refers to the Father since He is the word’s referent in the previous two instances (Jude 1, 4) in which this word appears in the epistle of Jude.
This word can be interpreted as a “subjective” genitive or a “objective” genitive or a “plenary” genitive or lastly, an “attributive” genitive.
An “objective” genitive is where the genitive substantive would function semantically as the “direct object” of the verbal idea implicit in the head noun.
Thus, this word in Jude 21 would be speaking of the believer’s love for God.
A “subjective” genitive is where the genitive substantive would function semantically as the “subject” of the verbal idea implicit in the head noun and thus, this word theos in Jude 21 would be speaking of God’s love for the believer.
A “plenary” genitive is where the noun in the genitive is both subjective and objective.
Thus, this word would be speaking of both God’s love for the believer and the believer’s love for God.
Lastly, an “attributive” genitive is where the genitive substantive specifies an attribute or innate quality of the head substantive and thus, this word theos would be speaking of love as an attribute of God.
I believe this word theos (θεός), “God” is functioning as a “plenary” genitive emphasizing both God’s love for the believer and the believer’s love for God.
This is indicated by several factors.
First, Jude wants the Christian community to practice the love of God when interacting with each other by obeying the Lord Jesus Christ’s command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love one another as He has loved them.
Secondly, as we noted, obedience to this command to love one another as Christ loves the child of God can only take place unless the child of God exercises faith in the Spirit’s teaching in the Scriptures that God has loved them through both the work of His Son and the Spirit (cf. 1 John 4:16).
This post-justification faith and resultant obedience to the command to love one another as Christ loves the child of God takes place when the latter exercises faith in what the Spirit is teaching them in the Scriptures about God’s love for them which was manifested at the cross through His Son’s sacrifice and the baptism of the Spirit at their justification.
As we also noted, the Father loved them before their justification by judging His Son in their place when they were His enemies (cf. Rom. 5:6-8).
He also as we noted loved them at their justification through the baptism of the Spirit when He placed them in union with His Son and identified them with His Son in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at His right hand when they were dead in their transgressions (cf. Eph. 2:5-6).
Therefore, the idea with the “plenary” genitive is that the Christian community in Judaea must keep themselves in the state or condition of loving God by exercising faith in the Spirit’s revelation in the gospel that the Father loved them through His Son when they were His enemies and through the Spirit at their justification through the baptism of the Spirit.
This post-justification faith results in obedience to the Lord’s command to love another and which obedience manifests the child of God’s love for the Lord (cf. John 14:15) and that they are children of God (cf. 1 John 4:7-5:2).
In other words, they must continue in the state of loving the Father because of the Father’s love for them.
This brings out an eternal spiritual principle taught by the apostle John in 1 John 4:19, namely that the child of God practices the love of God because God first loved them.
1 John 4:19 Each one of us does practice divine-love because He Himself in contrast to us loved each one of us. (Lecturer’s translation)
This declarative statement in 1 John 4:19 echoes and builds upon John’s teaching in 1 John 4:10.
1 John 4:10 Love is defined by means of this: By no means that we are loving God (the Father) but rather that He Himself in contrast to us loved each and every one of us. Specifically, He dispatched with authority His Son to be the propitiatory sacrifice for each and every one of our sins. (Lecturer’s translation)
This assertion in 1 John 4:19 echoes the assertions in 1 John 4:10 in that both verses assert that the Father loved the believer first before the believer loved Him or each other for that matter.
1 John 4:19 builds on 1 John 4:10 in that it presents the reason why the believer can practice love toward God and each other whereas in 1 John 4:10 he doesn’t identify the reason why the believer can love God and their fellow-believer.
In 1 John 4:10, John simply asserts that love is defined by God’s love for the believer and not vice versa.
Now, in Jude 21, the verb tēreō (τηρέω), “make it your top priority of keeping yourselves” pertains to causing a particular state or condition or activity.
Here it speaks of the recipients of the epistle of Jude keeping or maintaining themselves in the state or condition of loving God by exercising faith in the Spirit’s revelation in the gospel that they are loved by God.
Again, this post-justification faith results in obedience to the various Spirit inspired commands and prohibitions, which appear in the Word of God.
The reflexive pronoun heautou (ἑαυτοῦ), “yourselves” that is modifying this verb tēreō (τηρέω), “make it your top priority of keeping yourselves” is emphasizing the volitional responsibility of the individual members of this community to obey the command to keep existing in the state of loving God because of God’s love for them.
The aorist imperative conjugation of the verb tēreō (τηρέω) is a constative aorist imperative which does not emphasize that the recipients of the command must “continue to act” in a particular manner or “begin to act” but rather, it emphasizes the solemn nature of the command as well as the urgency to obey it.
There is nothing in the contents of the epistle of Jude which would indicate that the recipients of this letter were not already maintaining themselves in the love of God by loving God by exercising faith in the Spirit’s revelation in the gospel that God loved them through both the work of the Son and the Spirit.