Jude 1:1c — A Hard Thing

…who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:

As we begin our study of Jude’s letter, he tells us who he is and who he is writing to. The people he writes to “have been called” by God to walk in light and mercy. Today he adds that they are “loved in God the Father.” (NIV)

The Greek in this instance is either difficult to translate or it reflects an idiom that was common in Jude’s day but is not common now. The English Standard Version (ESV) translates the Greek this way: “…beloved in God the Father….” This formulation makes more sense to me than the NIV in this case.

Unless a person knows Greek, it is a good idea to explore different translations when a passage is difficult for you. This Bible website allows you to see all the available English translations at once.

Regardless of the translation, it seems clear that those who are called are loved by God the Father and kept, or set apart, for Jesus Christ.

The rest of Jude’s letter is about people who claim to be called, they claim to be loved by God, and they claim to be kept for Jesus Christ, but they are not. This is a hard thing. How are we to know?

The answer consists of several parts:

Part One has to do with your calling. Are you called by God and set apart for Jesus? This is something that is between you and God. No one else can answer this question for you.

Part Two, assuming you are called, has to do with what you do with that calling. How do you express the Great Commandments? Do you love God above all else? Do you love your neighbor as yourself?

The reason this is important is that what we do defines who we are and what we believe. We just concluded a mediation on the book of James, and James spends a lot of time on this topic. Who I am is not so much who I think I am as what I do.

Part Three has is about Other People. The people in your life are going to be divided into the Called and the Uncalled. The problem is that we are not God. We cannot see into a person’s heart. We do not know what the rest of their life will lead them to believe and become. God knows, but we do not. We have to fall back on our Lord’s command to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22: 39b).

“Love” in the sense that it is used in this passage means to care for someone as God cares for us. It is a generous type of love. It does not mean that we necessarily value their opinion if it is wrong, or love what they do if it is hateful. It does mean we love them as a person.

Sometimes love takes the form of discipline. This can seem counterintuitive. Love and wisdom are always unified in God’s love but often confused in the human heart.

As we continue through Jude’s short letter, it is wise to see it through the lens of all Scripture. By itself, it might seem like a call to arms. A challenge to help God by weeding out the tares. But even God, in His patience, chose to let the tares alone.

Application: Ponder the mystery of God’s wisdom in allowing the tares to stand among the wheat.

Food for Thought: What assurance do you take from this verse?