Verse 1: Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ.
Beloved in God
In the previous study it was established that the believer had been called to salvation by the effectual drawing of the God the Father (John 6:44, 65). Jude now asserts that we are beloved in God. God loves us not in an emotional manner; His love for us is unconditional and self-sacrificial. He demonstrated His love by providing eternal life by grace, through faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9) and “that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Dr. Wuest elaborates on the unique Greek construction of this word beloved:
The perfect tense speaks here of the fact that the saints are the permanent objects of God’s love. Jude is therefore writing to those who have been loved by God the Father with the present result that they are in a state of being the objects of His permanent love, and that love extends not merely through the brief span of this life, but throughout eternity. 1
The Apostle John expresses the depth of the Father’s love for us when he wrote:
See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. (1 John 3:1)
Now that we are saved by His matchless grace, we are indeed in the most extraordinary position as the objects of His eternal love. This He demonstrated when He “gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16) to die on the cross in order to secure our redemption from the penalty of sin.
Kept for Jesus Christ
The word kept is another technical theological term. The basic meaning of the Greek word is to keep, hold, reserve, preserve someone or something, unharmed or undisturbed for a definite purpose or for a suitable time.2 This phrase highlights an aspect of our salvation, known in Christian theology as the perseverance of the saints or eternal security. Note the following verses which attest to this truth:
“This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:39–40)
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” (John 10:27–29)
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35, 38–39)
Regarding the Apostle Paul's statements in Romans 8, John MacArthur maintains that “no stronger passage in the Old Testament or New Testament exists for the absolute, eternal security of every true Christian.”3
There is an old adage which applies to this doctrine of the believer being eternally secure by the free gift of salvation: “Once saved. Always saved.” Dr. Chafer contends this to be true:
No individual once the recipient of the saving grace of God will ever fall totally and finally from that estate, but that he shall be “kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation” (1 Peter 1:5).4
He further asserts that:
There is no true distinction indeed between salvation and safekeeping, for God offers no salvation at the present time which is not eternal.5
Scripture emphatically states that the believer can never lose his salvation—that salvation is forever. Even if the individual states that they no longer want to be saved and associated with God or the Bible (cf. 2 Timothy 2:13)—nothing can separate them from the eternal status of being saved by grace.
Moreover, the Apostle Paul declares that we are securely sealed in Him by the work of the Holy Spirit:
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:13–14)
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30)
And adding to this, the Apostle Paul also stated that our present position is seated in heavenly places:
Even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:5–6)
In conclusion, Scripture assures that once a person believes in the finished work of Christ on their own behalf, that they are secure forever and nothing can separate them from the love of God, not now or in eternity.
[1] Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: for the English Reader. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 16.232.
[2] Arndt, W., Gingrich, F. W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (1979). A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p. 814.
[3] MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur Study Bible. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, John 10:28 note.
[4] Chafer, L.S. (1976). Systematic Theology, Dallas, TX: Dallas Seminary Press, 3.267
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