NOTES for Jud 1:11-25

Reading today's words of the apostle Jude, we discover that Christian mercy is neither thoughtless nor meaningless. God's mercy is, of course, boundless, but it can act in a person's life only when that person is himself open to receive it. Therefore the apostle calls us to show mercy “with discernment”: sometimes a person neither asks for mercy nor wants it. To be merciful with discernment means not condoning evil and not pretending that all is well when a person commits sin. “Mercy without discernment” may turn out to encourage evil, and so the apostle says that at times it is necessary to save someone through fear, because in such a situation “kind words” cannot have any effect. A Christian, then, must be both gentle and firm, and the source of both gentleness and firmness is one and the same: the Lord Himself, for He alone is able to keep us from falling and to present us blameless before His glory with great joy.