After warning the church for nineteen verses, Jude turns to the reason he wrote. Richard Bauckham argues that these closing verses are the climax of the letter, the place to which everything else leads. Jude had wanted to write about their common salvation and was forced to write a warning. Now, at last, he arrives at the positive word he had meant to give.
20"But you, beloved." The address echoes the identity Jude gave his readers in verse 1, where they are called, beloved, and kept. He reminds a besieged little community who they are before he asks anything of them. Obedience in Jude grows out of belovedness. The next sentence has one command with four actions attached, in Greek four participles under a single imperative. The believer builds, prays, keeps, and waits. The shape is Trinitarian, with the Spirit in the praying, the Father in the love, and the Son in the mercy being waited for. It also carries the old triad of faith, hope, and love. So contending for the faith, which sounded like a battle, turns out to be a way of life with a Trinitarian shape. It is quieter than gritted teeth.
The phrase build yourselves up is temple language. The church is the dwelling of God that Peter called a spiritual house made of living stones (1 Peter 2:5), and the building is corporate. Nobody grows strong in faith alone.
21"Keep yourselves in the love of God." This phrase sits beside the start of the letter, where God does the keeping. The verb *tereo*, to keep, runs through Jude like a catchword. The readers are kept for Jesus Christ in verse 1, and now they are told to keep themselves. The NIV Application Commentary gives a workable answer. God exerts his power daily to keep us, and we are responsible to take advantage of what he offers. Jesus said, "Abide in my love" (John 15:9). We cannot make God love us more, and we can stay where his love reaches, in the place of trust and obedience. Security and effort are two sides of one truth.
22"Have mercy on those who doubt." The letter that denounced ends in rescue work. Three kinds of people are named, and each gets mercy. The doubters get gentleness, those in danger get a hand, and the third group gets mercy with caution, since a rescuer can be contaminated by what he pulls out of. The Bible Speaks Today summarizes the balance as compassion without compromise.
Then the doxology. 24"Able to keep you from stumbling." The Greek, *aptaistos*, appears nowhere else in the New Testament and means not falling. The verb for keep here is a different one from verse 21, and it means to guard, which is something God does. 24"Blameless" is *amomos*, the word Peter used for the Lamb without blemish (1 Peter 1:19). Christ is presented spotless, and so are we, because of him. And the word joy stands at the end, so the day of presentation is a day of gladness.
The span of the last verse is wide, before all time, now, and forever, and everything Jude has said fits inside it.
Ask whose doubt you could meet with mercy today.
Prayer
Father, you are able to keep us from stumbling and to present us blameless before your glory with great joy. Help us build ourselves up in our most holy faith, pray in the Holy Spirit, keep ourselves in your love, and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. Give us mercy for those who doubt. To the only God, our Savior, be glory forever. Amen.