Jude Series: Jude 2-The Greeting of the Letter

Jude 1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, to those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: 2 Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance. (NIV)

As we noted in our study of Jude 1, the epistle of Jude begins with an opening which identifies the author and the recipients of this letter in verse 1 followed by a greeting in verse 2.

Jude 2 as we noted contains the greeting of this epistle or salutation, which is actually a Spirit inspired prayer request which Jude offered up to the Father on behalf of each of the recipients of this epistle.

In this verse, Jude is offering a “polite Spirit inspired request” of the Father that the recipients of this epistle would increasingly experience the compassion of each member of the Trinity for them so that they might also increasingly experience the peace of God as well as the love of God in their lives.

This interpretation is indicated by the optative mood of the verb plēthynō which we noted means “to increase experientially” and this mood expresses an obtainable wish or prayer and is frequently an appeal to the will, in particular when used in prayers.[1]

Therefore, the optative mood of this verb is expressing Jude’s Spirit inspired “polite request” of the Father that the recipients of this epistle would increasingly experience the compassion of each member of the Trinity for them.

The result would be that they would increasingly experience the peace of God as individuals and when interacting with each other as well as to increasingly experience love for God and the practice of this love when interacting with each other and those outside the Christian community.

This would all take place when the recipients of this epistle exercise faith in the Spirit inspired instructions contained in this epistle.

“Mercy” is translating the noun eleos which depicts a heartfelt response by Jude who has something to give the recipients of this epistle who have a need to be protected from the Zealots, namely Spirit inspired instruction as to how to handle the situation with these individuals.

Therefore, the word means “compassion” in the sense that Jude’s Spirit inspired instruction in this epistle is a reflection of each member of the Trinity’s concern for the recipients of this epistle who are in serious need with respect to the situation with the Zealots.

This compassion is an expression of the love of each member of the Trinity for the recipients of the epistle of Jude in the sense that they intensely desire and are acting through Jude’s Spirit inspired instructions in this epistle to alleviate the pressure that it is placed upon them by these Zealots to rebel against Rome.

It speaks of the Trinity’s desire to not only deal with this pressure but also to remove it through Jude’s Spirit inspired instructions in this epistle.

This noun eleos contains the figure of metonymy which means that the compassion of each member of the Trinity is put for the recipients of the epistle of Jude experiencing this compassion.

Therefore, this word speaks of the compassion of each member of the Trinity for the recipients of the epistle of Jude entering into the state of being increasingly experienced by the latter as a result of exercising faith in the Spirit inspired contents of this epistle.

The anarthrous construction of this abstract noun is qualitative which particularizes the idea of compassion expressed by this noun and defines it more closely distinguishing it from human compassion.

Therefore, the anarthrous form of this abstract noun emphasizes that this compassion is divine-compassion and is to be distinguished from human compassion.

The first use of the conjunction kai in Jude 2 is functioning as a marker of result.

This means that the nouns eirēnē (εἰρήνη), “peace” and agapē (ἀγάπη), “love,” which it is introducing are presenting the result of the compassion of each member of the Trinity for the recipients of the epistle of Jude entering into the state of being increasingly experienced by the latter.

“Peace” is translating the noun eirēnē which refers to the peace of God that is produced by the Spirit within the soul of each of the recipients of the epistle of Jude as well as the peace of God produced by the Spirit among them.

The Spirit would do this when the recipients of this epistle exercised faith in the Spirit inspired instructions in this epistle, which results in obedience to the Spirit inspired commands and prohibitions contained in this epistle.

Like the noun eleos, this noun eirēnē also contains the figure of metonymy which means that the peace of God is put for the recipients of the epistle of Jude increasingly experiencing this peace in themselves as individuals and when interacting with each other.

Therefore, this word speaks of the recipients of the epistle of Jude entering into the state of an increased experience of the peace of God as individuals and when interacting with each other as a result of exercising faith in the Spirit inspired contents of this epistle.

Like the noun eleos, the anarthrous construction of this noun eirēnē is qualitative which particularizes the idea of peace expressed by this noun and defines it more closely distinguishing it from peace which is the result of human actions.

Therefore, the anarthrous form of this abstract noun emphasizes that this peace is a divine-peace and is to be distinguished from peace experienced as a result of human actions.

“Love” is translating the noun agapē which does not refer to the function of human love but rather, it refers the exercise of divine-love that is produced by the Holy Spirit through the believer who exercises faith in the Spirit inspired teaching of the Word of God.

This results in obedience to the various Spirit inspired requests, commands and prohibitions contained in the Word of God.

Specifically, this word refers to love for God which results in the practice of this love when interacting with one’s fellow Christian and those outside the Christian community.

Like the nouns eleos and eirēnē, this noun agapē also contains the figure of metonymy which means that the love of God is put for the recipients of the epistle of Jude increasingly experiencing it.

Therefore, it speaks of the recipients of the epistle of Jude entering into the state of an increased experience of love for God resulting in an increased experience of practicing this love with each other and those outside the Christian community as a result of exercising faith in the Spirit inspired contents of this epistle.

Like the nouns eleos and eirēnē, the anarthrous construction of this noun agapē is qualitative which particularizes the idea of love expressed by this noun and defines it more closely distinguishing it from human love.

Therefore, the anarthrous form of this abstract noun emphasizes that this love is a divine-love and is to be distinguished from the love exercised among human beings.

The three-fold description of the recipients of this epistle is the first of many triads which appear in it.

Jude 2 contains the second of these triplets with the request that the recipients of this epistle would increasingly experience eleos (ἒλεος), “mercy,” eirēnē (εἰρήνη), “peace” and agapē(ἀγάπη), “love” as a result of exercising faith in the Spirit inspired contents of this epistle.

[1] Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, page 481