Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

Jude 22-23

This is Jude’s final instruction to his readers.  It is a message of love and mercy… and caution.  Many will be confused and misled by false teaching, and to them we need to have grace and mercy. We need to help them in love, to recognize the error of the falsehoods they may have fallen prey to, lest they should face an eternal consequence. These are not the teachers; they are the false teachers’ victims.  Yet in doing this, we should take care that we aren’t ourselves victimized by those teachings, for false teaching is contagious. To hammer down this point, Jude engages in a bit of hyperbole when he tells us to hate the clothes stained by “corrupted flesh.” I really don’t think his intention is to have us “hate” inanimate objects, but rather to take caution as though we were dealing with an infectious disease.  If the person had smallpox, they would need care; love and lots of help, for example, but the caregiver would need to be careful to avoid catching the infection themselves.

To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

Jude 24-25

Jude concludes with a short Doxology, which is an expression of praise to God.  He is the One who can prevent us from stumbling and falling prey to false teaching. He is the One who will cause us to appear before God holy and pure. Glory, majesty and power to Him through Jesus Christ!

And no more of these false teachers and their nonsense!