The Book of Jude - Warnings against Cheap Grace

“But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.” – Jude 20-21

The Book of Jude is an urgent letter perhaps written by Jesus’ brother or half brother that is deeply concerned with a community being led astray by false teachers.  This letter is very short and so does not provide a lot of detail about the specific situations that Jude is addressing.  However, Jude does warn against the false teachers who twist grace into an excuse for sin (Jude 4).
 
This warning is perhaps one of the hardest aspects of our faith to carefully balance.  Grace states that there is nothing that we must do in order to earn God’s love and favor; it is all gift and is never the product of our works. However, as Jude addresses, the freely given nature of this grace can often lead individuals to assume that anything is permissible; that we do not need to be on guard against sin because grace offers a free pass.  Jude, as well as other New Testament books, remind us that we must always remain cautious of our sin.  Grace picks us up when we fall, but in the meantime, we continue to build ourselves up in faith and trust in the love and mercy of God.