NOTES for Jud 1:20-21

Perhaps the newest thing in the New Testament, in Christianity, is the awareness that the fullness and meaning of human life are attained in its union with the life of God. In such a union, where the human person is not destroyed, the human will is not diminished, human freedom is not rejected, yet divine righteousness, truth, and otherworldliness are not lost. Here the meeting of God and man takes place, the voluntary union of their creative actions, synergy, in the expression of the Fathers of the Church, as a result of which all Creation is raised up to its Creator.

This is exactly how the apostle Jude instructs his flock. He says that we should do something: build ourselves up, keep ourselves, pray, wait. The matter appears to concern our own efforts. But... Let us notice: he calls us to build our life on faith, "most holy," that is, belonging to God in the highest degree; to pray, but not by our own weak little strength, rather in the Holy Spirit; compare Rom. 8:26; to keep ourselves, but in the love of God; to wait not simply for the future, but for what the Lord Jesus Christ will bring us into, eternal life. As always in Christianity, here too there is a paradox. We can labor, but without God's participation it is vain. Everything is accomplished by God, but without our participation it does not touch us.

Perhaps the newest in the New Testament, in Christianity is the understanding of the fact that the plenitude and the meaning of human life are achieved in its connection with God's life. In such a connection, where the human personality is not consumed, the human will doesn’t diminish, the human freedom is not rejected, - but also where the divine righteousness, the truth don’t get lost. A meeting takes place here between God and man, voluntary connection of their creative actions, the synergy (according to the expression of the Fathers of the Church), whereby all the Creation is raised to its Creator.

That is exactly how the apostle Jude counsels his pasture. He says that we have to make something: to built up oneself, keep, pray, looking. It is somehow about our own efforts. But... Let’s notice: he calls us to build our life on faith - "most holy", that is to the highest degree belonging to the God; pray- but not with your “weak strengths”, but with the Holy Spirit (See Rom. 8:26); keep yourself- but in the love of God; looking for not only the future, but also the fact that the Lord Jesus-Christ will lead us into eternal life. As usual in Christianity, there is also a paradox here. We can work, but it is vain without God's participation. Everything comes true with God, but without our participation it does not concern us.

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.