Can you imagine growing up with Jesus? When it came to his hometown of Nazareth and his family, Jesus said: “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household” (Mark 6:4). There is good reason to believe Jude, which is short for Judah, who was the half-brother of Jesus because of his relationship to James. In the gospel of Matthew, we are told that people listened to Jesus and were impressed by his wisdom and ability to perform miracles, they asked, “Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas” (Matt. 13:55)?
We also learn of Jude that he and his brothers did not believe in Jesus before the crucifixion and resurrection (see John 7:1-9). Instead of identifying himself as the brother of Jesus, he calls himself a servant of Jesus Christ before he shares the relationship he has with James. What kind of servant is James? He could have used the Greek word diakonos, but instead used the Greek word, doulos, which literally means, “slave.” Jude identifies himself as a slave of Jesus because before anything else or the fact that they share the same biological mother, Jesus is his “Master and Lord” (v. 4).
During the reign of the Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, a young Christian by the name of Sanctus, who served as a deacon in Vienna, was arrested for being a Christian. Sanctus was told to renounce his faith in Jesus repeatedly to which he answered: “I am a Christian.” This is the answer Sanctus gave to every question asked of him. Even after he had been tortured to the point that there was not a part of his body unbruised or bleeding, his answer remained: “I am a Christian.” In order to get Sanctus to renounce Jesus as his Master and Lord, his tormentors did their worst until they cut his throat before a blood thirsty crowd. The first three hundred years of the Church’s existence was marked by torture, and as one historian observed of those persecuted in the name of Christ:
They [would reply] to all questionings about them [with] the short but comprehensive answer, “I am a Christian.” Again and again, they caused no little perplexity to their judges by the pertinacity with which they adhered to this brief profession of faith. The question was repeated, “Who are you?” and they replied, “I have already said that I am a Christian; and he who says that has thereby named his country, his family, his profession, and all things else besides.”[1]
Sanctus understood what Jude meant by identifying as a doulos because he also identified in the same way. There are other Greek words for servant in the Bible, but doulos means slave; this is the word the half-brother of Jesus used to describe himself. As one theologian wrote: “True Christianity is not about adding Jesus to my life. Instead, it is about devoting myself completely to Him—submitting wholly to His will and seeking to please Him above all else.”[2] For Jude, his identity was in Jesus Christ.
Who is the Christian?
So, my dear Christian, who are you? From what, where, or whom do you draw your identity? At the heart of what threatened the Christians to whom Jude wrote his letter was the false teachers who denied Jesus Christ as Master and Lord (v. 4). These individuals threatened to confuse and deceive these Christians by perverting the faith and Christ, who was originally delivered once and for all to the saints (v. 3). These were the type of people Paul warned would find their way into the Church in Ephesus: “I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:29-30).
So, who is it that Jude is warning? He is warning those, “…who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ” (v. 1). If you are a Christian, you are called by God. What that means is that God found you and met you where you were at. What does that look like? It looks different for each person. For me, God’s calling included the foundation laid by my catholic upbringing so that I would have a basic understanding of the life of Jesus. But that is not all that it involved, God’s call included the newfound faith of my dad after his hand was cut off during a construction accident, and the call of God included my friend’s mom, Jackie, who met Jesus after she picked up a Bible and started to read it. God’s call came through the excitement of both my dad and Jackie who would not stop talking to me about Jesus! The call of God involved a big old white car that I accidently walked in front of on July 12, 1991, it included Darrell Adair telling me about Jesus while I laid in my hospital bed unable to debate him because my head hurt too much. The calling of God was heard when, after I was discharged from the hospital, I got on my knees in the middle of my living room floor on July 18th and gave my life to Jesus! That is how God called me, and if you are a Christian, you have your own story about how a holy God called a sinner like you to himself.
If you are a Christian, you are able to testify to the truth of the apostle Paul’s words: “…but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:24). Jude does not stop there! He adds two participles with each participle connected to a member of our Triune God. What happened when you heard the gospel of Jesus Christ? You heard the call of God and responded, and now you are beloved in God the Father and kept for/by Jesus Christ. Let’s start with the first participle: Christian, you are beloved in God the Father! Beloved! The Greek word for “beloved” is agapaō, which means, “cherish, have affection for, love, and to take pleasure in.” Christian, God called you, and when He called you, he set his agape type of love upon you that was not conditioned on anything you were able to do! What that means is that the God who called you, cherishes you and takes pleasure in the fact that you are now his son or daughter!
But wait, that is not all! There is a second participle connected to God’s call upon your life, and that participle is the word “kept.” Those who are called, are not only beloved in God the Father, but they are, “…kept for Jesus Christ.” Now the word “for” can also be translated, “by.” I prefer to translate this last part of verse 1, “To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for and by Jesus Christ.”
Now, if you listen to John 10:27-30 against the backdrop of Jude 1:1, you will understand why I think Jude was reminding these Christians that they were kept for and by Jesus: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (John 10:27–30). This is why Sanctus was able to answer every demand to turn from Jesus with the words: “I am a Christian.” If you are called by the sovereign and all-powerful God through the gospel of Jesus Christ, then before you are male, female, or whatever birth name you parents gave you, you are beloved in God the Father and kept by and for Jesus Christ!
What Does the Christian Have?
Oh, it gets better my dear Christian! Because you have been called by God, and are now beloved in God and kept by Jesus… Jude continues: “May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you” (v. 2). Notice the parallelism Jude created between the first two verses of his letter:
- Because you have been called by God, you have received the mercy of God.
- Because you are beloved in God, you have the peace of God.
- Because you are kept for/by Jesus, you are loved by God.
Because you are a Christian, you have received, and you are experiencing the mercy, peace, and love of God. No person, experience, or threat can ever take that from you; however, the enemy that is the devil wants to rob you of what you have, and the way that he attempts to do it is by perverting the gospel and minimizing the nature and person of Jesus Christ. The enemy is cunning and has been in the business of deceiving for a long time.
Listen, behind every idol created and every false doctrine that comes out of the mouth of a false teacher is the Deceiver who can twist things in such a way that you buy into a lie, convinced it is the truth. You may even feel a sense of peace in doing this because often such deception is built upon the ignorance of God’s people. Listen to the way Paul warned the Corinthian Church of those who falsely claimed to be apostles do the same thing Jude was concerned about: “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds” (2 Cor. 11:13–15). The false teacher is a servant of Satan, sometimes knowing that they are used of Satan, but many false teachers do not even realize they are pawns of Satan to offer something that seems like it is from God when it is not.
So how do you protect yourself from false teachers who often creep in unnoticed? Jude gives us the answer in the previous verse: “…contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (v. 3). What is at stake for these Christians? The faith that was delivered to them through the saints once for all. What is the faith that was delivered? Of this faith we have received, Adrian Rogers described: “It is divine in its conception. It is complete in its content.… It is absolutely unique in its character.”[3]
Concerning the faith that was delivered, the Apostle’s Creed is probably the oldest Creed that has been recited and sung since the second century. There are four that best describe the faith Jude tells his readers to contend for: The Apostle’s Creed, The Nicene Creed, The Chalcedonian Creed, and the Athanasian Creed. The Apostle’s Creed is the most concise of the four and it is believed that The Apostle’s Creed was recited by those baptizing, and the one being baptized was expected to affirm his or her agreement with the creed. This is what it states:
I believe in God the Father Almighty; Maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; the third day He rose from the dead; He ascended into heaven; and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.
The faith we received is the faith that has come to us decisively in Jesus Christ, delivered to us through the Word of God through the Law, the Prophets, Writings, and New Testament that make up the 66 books in the Bible. It is complete and we dare not add to the revelation God has supernaturally and sovereignly passed down to us. Of the false teachers, Jude says that unlike the one who has been called by God, they are “ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (v. 4).
How is it that they deny Jesus as Master and Lord? Well, it most likely has very little to do with a church doctrinal statement and more to do with a lifestyle that essentially denies Jesus as Master and Lord over their lives. Unlike the Christian, those who crept in unnoticed pervert the grace of God and their lives are essentially unaffected by the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
Why Does it Matter?
What is the point of these first four verses? The point is that your identity in Christ matters and that identity is linked to your submission to Jesus as Master and Lord over your life. What this means is that you do not just pay lip service to Jesus, but if you truly believe that he is who He claimed to be, then you will want to obey Him. This is the first step in contending for a faith that the true Christian is assured he/she can never lose.
The kind of contending Jude has in mind is both a holding onto the faith we received and intellectually being able to defend the faith handed down to us. It is difficult to hold onto what you not familiar with and to contend for that which you spend little time with. This faith we have is a treasure that must spend our lives mining for the purpose of becoming more and more acquainted with the One who called us so that we are beloved of God and kept for Jesus.
The question I leave you with is simply this: Who are you? Are you a doulos of Jesus Christ? Is he Master and Lord over your life?
[1] John MacArthur. Slave (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson; 2010), pp. 8-9.
[2] Ibid., p. 22
[3] Shaddix, J., & Akin, D. L. (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference; 2018); p. 145.
