"But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference ; but others save with fear, snatching [them] out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh " (Jude 20-23).

The saint of God needs to daily build himself up on his most holy faith. It is the revealed will of the Lord that is thus called here, in verse 3. That faith has been once for all revealed. On it the believer rests. This implies continual feeding upon the Word, that the soul may be nourished and the spirit edified.

But linked up with this we have prayer in the Holy Spirit:not perfunctory saying of prayers, but spiritual communion with God, bringing to Him every need and every difficulty, assured that He waits in grace to meet the one and to dissolve the other. Praying in the Holy Spirit can only result from a walk in the Spirit. For if there be not self-judgment, prayer will be selfish. We shall ask and receive not, because asking that our own lusts may be gratified. But when Christ is before the soul, and the heart is finding its delight in Him, the Holy Spirit will Himself indite those petitions that God delights to grant.

A definite command follows:"Keep yourselves in the love of God." Mark, it is not, " Keep God loving you." Such a thought is opposed to that glorious revelation of Him whose nature is love. The Cross has told out to the full all that He is. Daily the believer is given to prove this loving-kindness. Nor does the apostle exhort us to keep loving God. The divine nature in every believer rises up in love to Him whose grace has saved him. "We love Him because He first loved us."

But here we are told to keep ourselves in the love of God. It is as if I should say to my child, "Keep in the sunshine." The sun shines whether we enjoy it or not. And so God's love abides unchanging. But we need to keep in the conscious enjoyment of it. Let nothing make the tried soul doubt that love. Circumstances cannot alter it. Difficulties cannot strain it, nor can our own failures. The soul needs to rely upon it, and thus be borne in triumph above the conflict and the discouraging episodes incident to the life of faith.

Then we have a fourth exhortation, carrying the heart on to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are to await His mercy unto eternal life. We have eternal life now, by faith in Him who is Himself the life eternal. But we are going on to the scene where life shall reign, where everything will be suited to the life we already have communicated by the Spirit. This is at the end of the way; so the trusting soul looks up in hope and waits in patience for the return of the Lord.

The next verse tells us how to deal with bewildered souls, led astray by the wicked deceivers against whom we have been warned.

There is considerable manuscript variation here. In addition to the text given above, the following is suggestive:"And some convict, when contending; but others save with fear, snatching them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh." There is not much difference in the meaning of the exhortations. Either would direct that a godly discrimination be used in dealing with persons taken by error. A hard and fast rule for treating all alike is contrary to this verse, and to the tenor of all Scripture.

Souls have sometimes been driven further away from the Lord by unwise persons who so dreaded contamination with error that they did not seek, in a godly way, to recover and clear the deceived one. 2 John 10 is decisive and simple as to a wilful teacher of what is opposed to the doctrine of Christ. Such are to be shunned, and even refused a common greeting.

But other methods apply to dealing with their dupes, often entrapped through ignorance; though undoubtedly an unholy will has been at work or they would have been kept by divine power in the truth. Often what is needed is to deal with the perverted one as to his ways, rather than the teaching he has imbibed. When there is self-judgment, the Paraclete can be depended on to do His blessed work of guiding into all truth.

Others need to be snatched from the fire; energetic effort made to warn and deliver ere the evil gets so firm a hold upon them that it will be too late to seek their blessing.

Truth is learned in the conscience; and only as one walks carefully and soberly before God is there security from error. Because Hymenaeus and Alexander did not maintain a good conscience, they made shipwreck of the faith-as have untold thousands besides (i Tim. i:18-20):this is the necessary result of enlightenment in divine things, depending on the Holy Spirit's activity in taking the things of Christ and revealing them to His own. Where He is grieved by a careless demeanor and loose ways, He no longer establishes the soul in the truth, but His activity is manifested in bringing home to the conscience the sin and failure that have dishonored the Lord. Therefore, if there would be growth in the knowledge of His Word, there must be a walk in the power of the Spirit ungrieved.

So, in seeking the recovery of those who have erred from the truth, this ministry to the conscience must not be lost sight of. For while there may be ability to overthrow the reasonings of one astray, or meet all objections by direct Scripture, even cause him to see that his position is biblically and logically untenable, yet the state of his soul may remain as wretched as ever.

But when the deceived one is dealt with in the fear of God, in holy faithfulness, his restoration to communion will be the first step sought:then he will be in a state to appreciate the seriousness of the evil teaching in which he has been taken as in a net when he wandered out of the right way.

But in all this there needs ever to be godly concern lest one become himself defiled when seeking to recover another from defilement. This is what is especially emphasized in verse 23. H. A. I.