Jude 25-Two Reasons Why the Recipients of the Epistle of Jude Should Be Encouraged By God’s Ability to Protect and Perfect Them

Jude 24 Now, the one who for His own glory is able to protect each and every one of you from faults as well as to cause each and every one of you to be without defects in the presence of His glory with great joy. 25 Namely, the one and only God who saved each and every one of us through Jesus Christ, our Lord possesses glory, majesty, sovereign power and authority before each and every age as well as during the present age and in addition throughout each and every one of the ages in the future. Amen. (Lecturer’s translation)

As we noted, the contents of Jude 25 implicitly present two reasons why the recipients of the epistle of Jude should be confident and encouraged that the Father could protect them from falling victim to the Jewish Zealots’ attempts to get them to join them in their rebellion against Rome.

It also presents the reason why they should be confident and thus encouraged that the Father can cause them to stand in the presence of His Son Jesus Christ without moral and physical defects with great joy at the rapture of the church.

This verse asserts that the one and only God saved each and every one of them through Jesus Christ, their Lord.

It also asserts that the Father does inherently possess glory, majesty, sovereign power and authority before each and every age as well as during the present age and in addition throughout each and every one of the ages in the future.

Jude then affirms this by employing the interjection “Amen.”

The noun theos (θεός), “the God” is modified by the adjective monos (μόνος), “one and only” denotes that the Father is in a class by Himself or unique meaning that He is “the only” true God and Savior of the human race.

It rejects polytheism, which was so prevalent in the first century A.D. and expresses a monotheistic idea.

The noun soter(σωτήρ), “Savior” is a title for the Father emphasizing that He is the member of the Trinity who initiated salvation and is its source.

He is the Savior or Deliverer of the human race in a seven-fold sense: (1) Deliverer or Savior from personal sins. (2) Deliverer or Savior from old sin nature (3) Deliverer or Savior from Satan and his cosmic system. (4) Deliverer or Savior from spiritual and physical death (5) Deliverer or Savior from eternal condemnation. (6) Deliverer or Savior from self. (7) Deliverer or Savior from condemnation from the Law.

The Father is the Christian’s deliverer in all these areas and not just the Lord Jesus Christ since it was according to the Father’s plan in eternity past that the Son was sent into the world to save sinners in the first place (See John 3:16-18; Ephesians 1:1-14).

The Son carried out or executed the Father’s plan to save sinful mankind.

The personal pronoun ego (ἐγώ), “each and every one of us” functions as an objective genitive.

This indicates that the writer Jude and each one of the recipients of the epistle of Jude receive the action of being saved by God the Father through His one and only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, we can translate the noun soter (σωτήρ) with the verbal idea such as “saved.”

The prepositional phrase dia Iēsou Christou tou kyriou hēmōn (διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν), “through Jesus Christ, our Lord” indicates that the Lord Jesus Christ is the personal agency through whom God the Father saved Jude and the recipients of the epistle of Jude.

Specifically, the Lord Jesus Christ is the personal agency the Father used to deliver them from eternal condemnation, condemnation from the Law, personal sins, enslavement to the sin nature and Satan and his cosmic system, spiritual and physical death.

The Father delivered them from these things through faith in His one and only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The first attribute of God which is mentioned in Jude 25 is “glory,” which is translating the noun doxa (δόξα), which speaks of the manifestation of the character and nature of God, which His one and only Son, Jesus Christ manifested perfectly during His First Advent (cf. John 1:14-18).

Here it is related to the manifestation of the Father’s character and nature, which exceeds the limits of human and angelic understanding and experience.

Thus, it refers to the honor, which is accorded to that which characterizes the Father and the splendor which characterizes Him.

It speaks of the fact that the Father is a transcendent being in that He exceeds the limits of human and angelic understanding and experience.

The noun megalōsynē(μεγαλωσύνη), “majesty” pertains to the quality of a person or thing which inspires awe or reverence in the beholder and speaks of the state of greatness or preeminence.

Therefore, this refers to God the Father’s preeminence among His creatures, both human and angelic beings, which inspires awe and reverence from Him by these creatures.

The noun kratos(κράτος), “sovereign power” pertains to the inherent power of God the Father, which is sovereign and thus refers to His omnipotence, which when exerted over His creatures manifests the fact that He is sovereign over His creatures.

It thus refers to the omnipotence of the Father, which when manifested serves to govern both human and angelic beings.

Thus, the word is referring to the sovereign power of God the Father over all of creation and every creature, which He exercises from His innate dignity with no areas of His province outside of His jurisdiction.

This word means that the Father exercises His omnipotence absolutely without any conditioning by any finite will or wills.

The noun exousia(ἐξουσία), “sovereign authority” and is referring to the sovereign authority of God the Father over all of creation and every creature.

It speaks of the Father ruling over all of creation and every creature from His innate dignity and that He exercises supreme power with no areas of His province outside of His jurisdiction.

This word means that the Father exercises His omnipotence absolutely without any conditioning by any finite will or wills.

The prepositional phrase pro pantos tou aiōnos (πρὸ παντὸς τοῦ αἰῶνος), “before each and every age” refers to the period of time before the beginning of the creation of the time, matter, space continuum and continuing throughout human history up to the church age.

Therefore, the word is referring to human and angelic history.

Here it refers to eternity past before the creation of the time, matter, space continuum or in other words, before angelic and human history.

Therefore, this prepositional phrase is expressing the idea that glory, majesty, sovereign power and authority are possessed by the Father “before each and every age” of human history or in other words, this prepositional phrase refers to eternity past before the creation of the time, matter, space continuum.

The adverb of time nun (νῦν), “during the present age” speaks of the moment when Jude wrote this epistle and specifically, it refers to the church age.

Therefore, this word is expressing the idea that glory, majesty, sovereign power and authority are possessed by the Father “during the present age” of human history.

The prepositional phrase eis pantas tous aiōnas (εἰς πάντας τοὺς αἰῶνας), “throughout each and every one of the ages in the future” speaks of the dispensations, which follow the church age as well as the eternal state.

The interjection amēn (ἀμήν), “Amen” emphasizes the certainty that glory, majesty, sovereign power and authority will be possessed by the Father throughout each and every one of the ages in the future, i.e. the dispensations following the church age and the eternal state.

Jude 25 contains the eleventh and final triad or triplet which appears in the epistle of Jude.

Now, it is found in the two prepositional phrases pro pantos tou aiōnos kai nyn kai eis pantas tous aiōnas (πρὸ παντὸς τοῦ αἰῶνος καὶ νῦν καὶ εἰς πάντας τοὺς αἰῶνας), “before each and every age as well as during the present age and in addition throughout each and every in of the ages in the future,” which we noted appear at the end of Jude 25.

These two prepositional phrases speak of the past, present and future.

As we noted, the prepositional phrase pro pantos tou aiōnos (πρὸ παντὸς τοῦ αἰῶνος), “before each and every age” refers to eternity past before the creation of the time, matter, space continuum or in other words, before angelic and human history.

The adverb of time nun (νῦν), “during the present age” speaks of the church age.

The prepositional phrase eis pantas tous aiōnas (εἰς πάντας τοὺς αἰῶνας), “throughout each and every one of the ages in the future” speaks of the dispensations, which follow the church age.

These would include the seventieth week of Daniel, the Second Advent of Jesus Christ, His millennial reign, the Gog and Magog rebellion led by Satan after his release from prison after the millennium, and lastly the eternal state with the new heavens and the new earth.