Jude 1:24 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Jude 1:24

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Jude ends by exhorting us to yield the very highest esteem to God. It is a doxology of duty and obligation. In worship, there should be undistracted esteem for God. Who is the ‘him’? Some assume it is Christ, the last member of the Godhead to be mentioned, and who would appropriately be called God, our Saviour. Yet this language is also used of the Father (1 Timothy 1:1), and so the simple answer is that it is addressed to the whole Godhead. To esteem God, we naturally look back at what he has done in history, in securing redemption for us. Christ has come and he has been lifted up on Calvary for us. He has taken our punishment, our sin, and by his grace and by what he has done we may be forgiven and saved. The Holy Spirit has illuminated our hearts, so that we feel and see our need and we have come to Christ in repentance and in faith. And we have been given a new mind and a new nature, a new life, a new destiny, a work of sanctification has begun within us, the great change which will be completed when we die and when we go to heaven. But then we look at what he is doing currently. When you read it – ‘He is able to keep us from falling’ – your mind goes immediately to the idea of catastrophic fall, to sink into apostasy and unbelief and backsliding, to utterly disgracing the Lord. In that sense the translation ‘he is able to keep you from falling’ is misleading to us. The problem is not with the translation; it is with the conclusion we draw from it. The Greek verb actually means ‘to trip’. He is able to keep you from tripping or stumbling as some other versions put it. What is in mind here is not a catastrophic fall but a stumble, which in itself can be catastrophic. In fact it is an equine term; it is to do with horses. The horse stumbles, it has not fallen, it has tripped. The rider was almost thrown, but held his seat. Everyone is jarred, but you proceed. Do not do it too often. Many stumbles will lead to a fall. Are you paying attention? And then we look forward. The work of sanctification in life is vital, but oh, the work that he performs at the end of life’s journey when he transforms us completely, and he makes us without fault and without blame, presenting us holy and unreprovable in his sight, and presents us at court. That is the language here.

Application

There will be those who stumble at reading the word of God, who cut devotions, or who read mechanically, not prayerfully, who do not take it in, who do not enjoy it. It is a stumble. There are people who stumble in prayer. You are not bringing things before the Lord. You do not have an adequate prayer time. You do not really praise him or you do not seek his blessing. You do not repent properly of your sin. You do not have a ministry of intercession which you keep to for other people and bring them before him. You do not always have devotions. That is a terrific stumble. And there are people who are tripped on appearances. They seem to come to the Lord, but they have spent so much time, money, and attention grooming themselves, changing hairstyles and clothing and so on, and so many hours in gyms to look better. It is a snare.

Covetousness is another serious cause of stumbling. I must have a still bigger house or a still better car. Once the devil has got you into that, it takes you further and further, so that now you have got two masters – God and mammon. And sometimes, and I say this delicately, sometimes you get a grand young couple, and they trip at the first baby. Suddenly their entire lifestyle changes. They are no longer in the house of God, no longer in Christian service. A new life has come into the world, and it is a great treasure, but it has become everything.

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Jude 1:24 Commentary and Bible Study