keep yourselves in the love of God as you await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life.
Parallel translations
- WEB Keep yourselves in God’s love, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.
- KJV Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
- NKJV keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
- NASB keep yourselves in the love of God, looking forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.
- NLT and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Believers are to keep themselves in God's love while awaiting the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
Overview
This completes Jude's call to perseverance: remain in the sphere of God's love and live in expectant hope of Christ's mercy. The command to keep oneself in God's love rests on the assurance of verse 1 that believers are kept by God, holding human responsibility and divine preservation together. The forward look to eternal life anchors faithful living in the certain hope of Christ's return.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 28
- 1 Jn 4:16And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
- Lam 3:25–26The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
- Heb 9:28so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him.
- 2 Pet 3:12as you anticipate and hasten the coming of the day of God, when the heavens will be destroyed by fire and the elements will melt in the heat.
- John 15:9–10As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Remain in My love.
- 2 Th 3:5May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.
- Rev 12:11They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives so as to shy away from death.
- Titus 2:13–14as we await the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
- Rom 6:23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- John 14:21Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.”
- Rom 5:21so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
- Rom 8:39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- 2 Tim 1:2To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
- 1 Jn 5:10–11Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him; whoever does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given about His Son.
- 1 Jn 3:16–17By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
- 2 Tim 4:8From now on there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but to all who crave His appearing.
- Luke 12:36–40Then you will be like servants waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks, they can open the door for him at once.
- 1 Jn 5:18We know that anyone born of God does not keep on sinning; the One who was born of God protects him, and the evil one cannot touch him.
- Jude 1:24Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished in His glorious presence, with great joy—
- 2 Tim 1:18May the Lord grant Onesiphorus His mercy on that day. You know very well how much he ministered to me in Ephesus.
- Matt 24:42–51Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day on which your Lord will come.
- John 1:17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
- 1 Jn 5:21Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
- Acts 11:23When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to abide in the Lord with all their hearts.
- Job 14:14When a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, until my renewal comes.
- Rom 5:5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.
- 1 Tim 1:2To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
- 2 Tim 1:16May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he has often refreshed me and was unashamed of my chains.
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Christ at the center
Christ is the one who keeps his people from stumbling and presents them blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy — the object of contending faith.
How Jude 1:21 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.