"Keep yourselves in the love of God"?

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edarlitrix

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Hey folks, can you help me understand Jude 1:21?

“Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto life everlasting.”

I’m not sure what “keep yourselves in the love of God” means. Does it mean that we have to “stay awake” and do everything we can so we love God consistently and don’t become jaded? Or does it mean that we can lose God’s love, perhaps by sinning or neglecting to do good?

I tend to think the meaning is ambiguous, unless you can present a convincing argument for a specific interpretation.

After all, it’s not inconceivable that God doesn’t love somebody:

“The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.
You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man” (Psalm 5:5-6).
 
edarlitrix said:
Hey folks, can you help me understand Jude 1:21?

“Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto life everlasting.”

I’m not sure what “keep yourselves in the love of God” means. Does it mean that we have to “stay awake” and do everything we can so we love God consistently and don’t become jaded? Or does it mean that we can lose God’s love, perhaps by sinning or neglecting to do good?

I tend to think the meaning is ambiguous, unless you can present a convincing argument for a specific interpretation.

After all, it’s not inconceivable that God doesn’t love somebody:

“The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.
You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man” (Psalm 5:5-6).
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Stay turned towards God, as you were originally drawn by Him to do. Remain in the faith, live in the Spirit, remain in Jesus, apart from whom you can do nothing-persevere, invest your talents, keep oil in your lamps, and let your light shine. These are all NT concepts and admonishments aimed at keeping us oriented towards Him and within His graces.
 
2000 Sanctifying grace is an habitual gift, a stable and supernatural disposition that perfects the soul itself to enable it to live with God, to act by his love. Habitual grace, the permanent disposition to live and act in keeping with God’s call, is distinguished from actual graces which refer to God’s interventions, whether at the beginning of conversion or in the course of the work of sanctification.

scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s1c3a2.htm#2024

Peace
 
It is indeed inconceivable that God doesn’t love somebody, since he *is *love, although he does love some more than others. (His love, however, is not like ours, based upon some good thing in the object, but rather endows the creature with good things, including existence. If he did not love us at all, we would not exist.)

But I don’t think the epistle of Jude is talking about God’s love for us. In addition to this, there is also the supernatural virtue of charity, a gift of God whereby we love him in return, as well as ourselves and others with supernatural love. It is possible to have faith and all sorts of spiritual gifts, while lacking charity, making everything else vain and worthless (cf. 1 Cor. 13).
 
God does not show favor (see Rom 2:11). He loves everyone (see Jn 3:16). Paul says nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, not even death (see Rom 8:38). However, that doesn’t mean we can not choose out of our own free will to separate ourselves either through serious sin or apostasy. Thus we need to preserve in our faith in Christ. This is a daily thing. Jesus said if you keep my commandments you will remain in my love (see Jn 15:10).
 
Hello guys, thanks for your answers; they make sense. My only issue is that several of you have stated that God “loves everybody,” which is in direct conflict with the verses from the Psalm I quoted. Until you can show that there is no conflict between God “hating evildoers” and his “loving everybody,” I think that it is still possible that “keep yourselves in the love of God” is referring to his love for us rather than our love for him.
 
edarlitrix said:
Hello guys, thanks for your answers; they make sense. My only issue is that several of you have stated that God “loves everybody,” which is in direct conflict with the verses from the Psalm I quoted. Until you can show that there is no conflict between God “hating evildoers” and his “loving everybody,” I think that it is still possible that “keep yourselves in the love of God” is referring to his love for us rather than our love for him.
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God exalts the humble and resists the proud, but He’d absolutely prefer that the proud would humble themselves-and repent.
 
I do recall that God ‘hated’ Esau:
Malachi 1:2-3
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord.

“But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’

“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”

This was also repeated in Romans 9:13
 
As to God “hating” some, you also have to take into account Wisdom 11:25: “Thou lovest all things that are, and hatest none of the things which Thou hast made.”

St. Thomas explains this in S.T. I, 20, a2:

Nothing prevents one and the same thing being loved under one aspect, while it is hated under another. God loves sinners in so far as they are existing natures; for they have existence and have it from Him. In so far as they are sinners, they have not existence at all, but fall short of it; and this in them is not from God. Hence under this aspect, they are hated by Him.

If you don’t understand what he’s saying, follow the link; he explains it in detail.
 
Ad_Orientem said:
As to God “hating” some, you also have to take into account Wisdom 11:25: “Thou lovest all things that are, and hatest none of the things which Thou hast made.”

St. Thomas explains this in S.T. I, 20, a2:

Nothing prevents one and the same thing being loved under one aspect, while it is hated under another. God loves sinners in so far as they are existing natures; for they have existence and have it from Him. In so far as they are sinners, they have not existence at all, but fall short of it; and this in them is not from God. Hence under this aspect, they are hated by Him.

If you don’t understand what he’s saying, follow the link; he explains it in detail.
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👍 That was helpful info. Thanks!
 
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