The Doctrines of Grace in Scripture: Jude 1: 24

The Text

Jude 1:24 – “Now to the one who is able to keep you from falling, and to cause you to stand, rejoicing, without blemish before his glorious presence,” (NET Bible)

Relevance

The significance of this text in relation to the Doctrines of Grace is that this passage shows us the way God is powerful enough to be able to keep his people from falling and He fully capable of presenting believers without blemish before His presence.  So, not only is it God’s will that believers not fall, He is also sovereign enough to carry that out to its completion before His glorious presence. It relates very directly to the P in TULIP.

Historical Comments On It

• “but he speaketh here of such a power as is engaged by promise and office. Christ, who is the guardian of believers, hath received a charge concerning them, and is to preserve them from total destruction.” – Thomas Manton (1620-1677)
• “The people of God are liable to falling into temptation, into sin, into errors and mistakes, from an exercise of grace, or from a degree of steadfastness in Gospel truths, and even into a final and total apostasy, were it not for divine power; and they are not able to keep themselves. Adam, in his state of innocence, could not keep himself from falling; nor could the angels, many of whom fell, and the rest are preserved by the grace of God; wherefore, much less can imperfect sinful men keep themselves, they want both skill and power to do it; nor can any, short of Christ, keep them, and it is his work and office to preserve them; they were given to him with this view, and he undertook to do it; and sensible sinners commit themselves to him, as being appointed for that purpose; and this is a work Christ has been, and is, employed in, and he is every way qualified for it: he is “able” to do it, for he is the mighty God, the Creator and upholder of all things; and as Mediator, he has all power in heaven and in earth; instances of persons kept by him prove it; and there is such evidence of it, that believers may be, and are persuaded of it: and he is as willing as he is able; it is his Father’s will he should keep them, and in that he delights; and as he has undertook to keep them, he is accountable for them; besides, he has an interest in them, and the greatest love and affection for them; to which may be added, that the glory of the Father, Son, and Spirit, in man’s salvation, depends on the keeping of them: and what he keeps them from is, from falling by temptations, not from being tempted by Satan, but from sinking under his temptations, and from being devoured by him; and from falling by sin, not from the being or commission of sin, but from the dominion of it, and from the falling into it, so as to perish by it” – John Gill (1697 -1771)
• “[T]here is nothing in the universe that can separate the elect from the love of God. The One who chose to save you ‘is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy’” – John MacArthur (1939-Present)
• “Our security is rooted in God’s daily keeping, not our past decisions.” – John Piper (1946-Present)