The prayer

3.    The prayer (2)

    [2] May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
(Jude 1:2 ESV)

One of the distinctive features of Jude’s style is his use of triplets of [2 Peter & Jude, Page 170] ideas. We have already seen ‘loved’, ‘called’ and ‘chosen’, and there are many others (5–7, 11, 22–23, and less obvious ones too).31 Here in verse 2 Jude prays for mercy, peace and love to be theirs in abundance. Jude is using a standard shape for his greeting,32 but in common with other New Testament writers he gives it a force which is relevant to his theme.
    Mercy is a quite specific word in the context of Jude (cf. verses 21–23), referring first to the mercy that God will show us on the day when he judges the world, and secondly to the mercy we are to show those who have slipped away from holding on to this fundamental truth and are believing something else. Jude is thus praying that God will show his readers great mercy now, as they face the danger of slipping away from him, and great mercy too on judgment day.

    Peace, the second part of the prayer, also has a future aspect. As we read Jude, we shall encounter those who are ‘destroyed’ (5), who are ‘bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day’ (6), and ‘who suffer the punishment of eternal fire’ (7). For them, ‘blackest darkness has been reserved for ever’ (13). We discover that such people are in positions of some authority in churches. Clearly, that is enough to disturb any of us, but Jude promises more than God’s gift of peace of mind. He means that despite all the difficulties of trying to be a faithful and obedient Christian in a faithless and disobedient church, God has the power to bring us through. We do not need to follow the track taken by so many others whom Jude describes. It is possible to hold firm to God’s promises, and on the last day to find ourselves among those who are at peace with him.

    Love is a common Christian word, but it has a sharp focus in Jude. God’s love is expressed in his plan to bring us into his glorious presence (24). It is like the radar system which provides an aircraft with a safe flight path, for it is certain to guide us to our destination. The warning is that safety can be certain only provided that we keep ourselves in that flight path (21). We cannot rest in the fact that God loves us, as if we could enjoy everything the gospel promises us today. We must keep our eyes on the future, and look forward to the day when we shall see love in abundance.