This is the fifth lesson in a series of lessons on the book of Jude. In this lesson I do an exposition of Jude 1:2.
Watch the video or scroll down to read a transcript.
Transcript:
Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. This is the fifth lesson in a series of lessons on the book of Jude. In this lesson I’m going to look at the second verse and talk about mercy, peace and love.
In the first lesson I talked about why Jude was written and why it’s in the Bible. Jude recognized that people had crept into the church who were distorting grace and denying Jesus. He wrote to address those issues.
For this series I’ve divided Jude into five sections. The first section is the introduction. The second section tells us that Jesus is a judge. The third section is where Jude stated the problem that he was addressing. The fourth section is how Christians should respond to the problem that Jude was addressing. The fifth section is the conclusion. In this lesson, I’m looking at verse two which is part of the introduction.
In the introduction we learn about the author, the recipient, and the purpose. Verse one told us the author and the recipient. Verses three and four will tell us the purpose or why this letter was written. In verse two we’re going to see a wish the author had for the recipients of his letter.
Let’s start by reading the first two verses.
Jude 1:1
Jude,
a slave of Jesus Christ
and brother of James,
to those called,
loved by God the Father,
and having been kept for Jesus Christ.
Jude 1:2
May
mercy,
peace,
and
love
be multiplied to you.
Notice the first word in verse 2 is may. This indicates the author was wishing or desiring something for the recipients of his letter.
First, the author wished or desired for his readers to receive mercy. Let’s look at some usages of the word mercy throughout the New Testament. Let’s start in Luke 10. The context of this is a lawyer had asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” In response Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan. In that parable a man was beaten and was lying beside the road. A priest and a Levite crossed to the other side and walked by. However, a Samaritan stopped and helped the man. Then Jesus asked the lawyer which one of those was the neighbor. The lawyer responded with the following:
Luke 10:37 And he [the lawyer] said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”
We see here that the Samaritan showed mercy towards the man that needed help. The Samaritan didn’t have to help the man that was lying there along the road, but he felt compassion for him and helped him. By that, he demonstrated mercy.
Titus 3:5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
This is not something Jesus had to do. He did it because He loves us. He showed mercy. He gave us something we don’t deserve.
1Pet. 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
We don’t deserve salvation. It’s something Jesus gave to us because of His mercy. When we receive mercy, it means we receive something we don’t deserve.
Let’s go back to Jude.
Jude 1:2
May
mercy,
peace,
and
love
be multiplied to you.
Jude, the author, desired that his readers would receive mercy. Indeed, those of us who have been saved have received mercy.
The second thing Jude desired his readers to receive was peace. Let’s look at a few verses that define peace.
Matt. 10:34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
We see a contrast here between peace and a sword. Peace is the absence of conflict. A sword refers to some sort of conflict or warfare.
Acts 9:31 So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.
This is a time recorded in the book of Acts where there had been a lot of persecution of the church, but then there was a time where they were free from persecution. During that time they enjoyed peace. Peace was the absence of that conflict and persecution.
Rom. 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
The ultimate peace is being at peace with God. Those of us who are saved, who have been justified by faith, have peace with God.
Jude 1:2
May
mercy,
peace,
and
love
be multiplied to you.
Jude desired that his readers would receive peace. Those who are saved have received peace.
In Jude 1:2 we also see the word love. Let’s look at a few verses to define love.
John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
Love is actually a great sacrifice. The greatest expression of love is to lay down your life for someone else.
Rom. 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
The greatest act of love is to sacrifice your life for someone else. That’s what God did for us.
Jude 1:2
May
mercy,
peace,
and
love
be multiplied to you.
Jude desired that his readers would receive love. Those who are saved have received the ultimate expression of love from God, because Jesus gave his life for us.
Then we see the word multiplied. Jude desired that these three things would be multiplied to his readers.
At the very end we see the expression to you. Jude stated very clearly he wanted mercy, peace, and love to be multiplied to you. The pronoun you refers to the people he was writing to.
This desire by an author of scripture for his readers to receive good things is common throughout the New Testament.
1Tim. 1:2 To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
2Pet. 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
2John 3 Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
In all these we see the author of scripture desiring his readers to have some combination of grace, mercy, peace, and love.
Let’s talk a little bit about why this verse is in the Bible. On the one hand, it makes sense that Jude would desire good things for the people he was writing to. It makes sense he would desire that mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to his readers.
It’s also possible there’s another reason he wanted to express this to his readers. We see that when we compare verse two to verse one.
Jude 1
Jude,
a slave of Jesus Christ
and brother of James,
to those called,
loved by God the Father,
and having been kept for Jesus Christ.
We see here that Jude called himself a slave. He said the people he was writing to had been kept for Jesus Christ. This teaches us that as Christians, we are servants and slaves of Jesus Christ. That’s a lowly position, but then in verse two he talked about some of the benefits of being a Christian.
Jude 1:2
May
mercy,
peace,
and
love
be multiplied to you.
As a Christian, we have received mercy from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Because of that mercy, we have peace with God. Because of that mercy, we are recipients of the greatest act of love in the history of the world.
After Jude pointed out in verse one that as Christians we are slaves of Jesus, he followed that by listing some of the benefits of being a Christian. We are recipients of mercy, peace, and love.
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