Jude 1:22 Commentary and Bible Study

A fourth pillar for faithfulness is here: ‘And of some have compassion,’ even some of those who were making themselves enemies of Christ. Why were some of them worthy of special compassion? Well, they may have been swept along by the speeches of others. They may be ignorant and unestablished in the faith and behaving very foolishly. You think there is scope to help them; they are confused, you can bring them round to a right understanding. It may be possible, so try prayerfully. They do not fall into the category of apostate that he has been discussing.The words 'making a difference' have been understood in two ways. They have been applied to those to whom Jude is writing, they are to make a difference, i.e. a distinction; or they are applied to those on whom his readers are to have compassion, those who are making distinctions, i.e. those who are doubting. There are two different readings at this point, the KJV follows one and the RSV follows another adopting the accusative rendering, 'who doubt'. The context seems to favour the former. Jude's readers are themselves to make a distinction between the mockers whom he has been speaking of in the harshest terms and those who are not in the same mould. From the strong terms in which he speaks of the mockers, we know that he is not now asking us to show compassion on them. They are rejected utterly and handed over to God for him to show compassion to them if he will, but a distinction must be made between those who are apostate, and those who have been affected by their teaching. True believers who are not themselves murmurers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts, may nevertheless not be able to see these errors as clearly as they should. They may object to the strong denunciations made against the mockers or at least they may not be able to join in with such denunciations themselves. They may be confused that such are rejected by the leaders of the church. Such weak believers need help. They need to be delivered by sympathetic means. They are on the brink of being drawn into evil themselves but a helping hand may be successful under God’s blessing in bringing them to see things more clearly.