Jude 1:2

Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:1-4 Christians are called out of the world, from the evil spirit and temper of it; called above the world, to higher and better things, to heaven, things unseen and eternal; called from sin to Christ, from vanity to seriousness, from uncleanness to holiness; and this according to the Divine purpose and grace. If sanctified and glorified, all the honour and glory must be ascribed to God, and to him alone. As it is God who begins the work of grace in the souls of men, so it is he who carries it on, and perfects it. Let us not trust in ourselves, nor in our stock of grace already received, but in him, and in him alone. The mercy of God is the spring and fountain of all the good we have or hope for; mercy, not only to the miserable, but to the guilty. Next to mercy is peace, which we have from the sense of having obtained mercy. From peace springs love; Christ's love to us, our love to him, and our brotherly love to one another. The apostle prays, not that Christians may be content with a little; but that their souls and societies may be full of these things. None are shut out from gospel offers and invitations, but those who obstinately and wickedly shut themselves out. But the application is to all believers, and only to such. It is to the weak as well as to the strong. Those who have received the doctrine of this common salvation, must contend for it, earnestly, not furiously. Lying for the truth is bad; scolding for it is not better. Those who have received the truth must contend for it, as the apostles did; by suffering with patience and courage for it, not by making others suffer if they will not embrace every notion we call faith, or important. We ought to contend earnestly for the faith, in opposition to those who would corrupt or deprave it; who creep in unawares; who glide in like serpents. And those are the worst of the ungodly, who take encouragement to sin boldly, because the grace of God has abounded, and still abounds so wonderfully, and who are hardened by the extent and fulness of gospel grace, the design of which is to deliver men from sin, and bring them unto God.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied - This is not quite the form of salutation used by the other apostles, but it is one equally expressive of an earnest desire for their welfare. These things are mentioned as the choicest blessings which could be conferred on them: "mercy" - in the pardon of all their sins and acceptance with God; "peace" - with God, with their fellow-men, in their own consciences, and in the prospect of death; and "love" - to God, to the brethren, to all the world. What blessings are there which these do not include?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. Mercy—in a time of wretchedness. Therefore mercy stands first; the mercy of Christ (Jude 21).

peace—in the Holy Ghost (Jude 20).

love—of God (Jude 21). The three answer to the divine Trinity.

be multiplied—in you and towards you.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Mercy unto you; which is the fountain of reconciliation, and all the grace vouchsafed you: see 1 Timothy 1:2 2 Timothy 1:2 Titus 1:4.

Love; either he means God’s love to them, or their love to God and each other.

Be multiplied; mercy in the effects of it, peace in the sense of it, and either the love of God in the manifestation of it, or their love to God and their neighbours in the degrees and exercise of it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Mercy unto you, and peace and love be multiplied. In this salutation the apostle wishes for a multiplication of "mercy", from God the Father, by whom these persons were sanctified: mercy is a perfection in God; and shows itself in a special manner towards the elect, in the covenant of grace, in the provision of Christ as a Saviour, in the mission of him into this world, in redemption by him, in the forgiveness of sin, in regeneration, and in their whole salvation; and the multiplication of it intends an enlarged view and fresh application of it, which they sometimes stand in need of, as under desertions, when they want the sense and manifestation of it to them; and under temptations and afflictions, when they need sympathy and compassion; and when they fall into sin they stand in need of the fresh discoveries and application of pardoning mercy to them. Moreover, herein is wished for a multiplication of "peace" from Christ, in whom these chosen ones were preserved; and may design a fresh and enlarged view of peace being made for them by his blood, and an increase of conscience peace in their own hearts, as the effect of it; and may include peace, and an abundance of it, among themselves, as well as all prosperity, both external, internal, and eternal: likewise in the salutation, "love", and a multiplication of it is wished for from the Spirit of God, by whom they were called; and may be understood of the love with which God loved them; and which may be said to be multiplied, when it is gradually shed abroad in their hearts by the Spirit, and they are by degrees led into it more and more, and the acts of it are drawn out and set before them one after another, and fresh manifestations of it are made unto them; as in afflictive providences, after the hidings of God's face, and under temptations: and it may design the love with which they love God, which may be increased and made to abound more and more.

Geneva Study Bible

Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Jude 1:2. For the Salutation see my note on χαίρειν, Jam 1:1, and Hort’s excellent note on 1 Peter 1:2, χάρις … πληθυνθείη. We find ἔλεος and εἰρήνη joined in Galatians 6:16, and with the addition of χάρις in 1 Timothy 1:2, 2 Timothy 1:2, 2 John 1:3. The mercy of God is the ground of peace, which is perfected in the feeling of God’s love towards them. The verb πληθυνθείη occurs in the Salutation both of 1 Peter and 2 Peter and in Daniel 6:25 (in the letter of Darius), εἰρήνη ὑμῖν πληθυνθείη, cf. 1 Thessalonians 3:12, ὑμᾶς δὲ ὁ κύριος πλεονάσαι καὶ περισσεύσαι τῇ ἀγάπῃ εἰς ἀλλήλους. Ἀγάπη (= the love of God) occurs also in the final salutation of 2 Cor. ἡ χάρις τ. κυρίου Ἰησοῦ καὶ ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ, and in Eph. εἰρήνη τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς καὶ ἀγάπη μετὰ πίστεως ἀπὸ Θεοῦ πατρὸς καὶ Κυρίου Ἰ. Χ. Cf. 1 John 3:1.), ἰδετε ποταπὴν ἀγάπην δέδωκεν ἡμῖν ὁ πατὴρ ἵνα τέκνα Θεοῦ κληθῶμεν, where Westcott’s n. is “The Divine love is infused into them, so that it is their own, and becomes in them the source of a divine life (Romans 13:10). In virtue of this gift they are inspired with a love which is like the love of God, and by this they truly claim the title of children of God as partakers in His nature, 1 John 4:7; 1 John 4:19.” The same salutation is used in the letter of the Smyrnaeans (c. 156 A.D.) giving an account of the martyrdom of Polycarp, ἔλεος καὶ εἰρήνη καὶ ἀγάπη Θεοῦ πατρὸς καὶ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰ. Χ. πληθυνθείη. The thought of ἔλεος and άγάπη recurs again in Jude 1:21.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied] The salutation corresponds with that of 1 Peter 1:2; 2 Peter 1:2, with the substitution of “mercy” for “grace” (the two are united in 1 Timothy 1:2; 2 Timothy 1:2; Titus 1:4), and the addition, as in the latter passages, of “peace.”

Bengel's Gnomen

Jude 1:2. Ἔλεος, κ.τ.λ., mercy, etc.) in a time of wretchedness. Hence it is that mercy is put in the first place: the mercy of Jesus Christ, Jude 1:21; peace, in the Holy Spirit, comp. Jude 1:20; love, of God, Jude 1:21. Here is a testimony concerning the Holy Trinity.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - The greeting. This takes the form of a prayer or benediction in three articles. It is rendered in precisely the same terms - mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied - in Tyndale, Cranmer, the Genevan, the Authorized Version, and the Revised Version. In Paul's Epistles the opening salutations usually mention only "grace and peace," and these as proceeding from "God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." But in the pastoral Epistles (as also in 2 John) the three blessings, "grace, mercy, and peace," appear, and these as coming from the same twofold source of Father and Son. In the Petrine Epistles we have again the two Pauline blessings of grace and peace, but with the distinctive addition of the "be multiplied." Here, in Jude, we have the characteristic Petrine "be multiplied," but this connected with three blessings, and these somewhat different from those which appear in the Pastoral Epistles - "mercy, peace, and love," instead of "grace and mercy and peace." What the writer desires, therefore, on behalf of the readers is an abounding measure of the three great qualities of grace, which refer respectively to the case of the miserable, the case of the hostile, and the case of the unworthy. Are these regarded as subjective qualities in man, or as objective gifts from God? The former view is favoured by some, who point especially to the closing benediction in the Epistle to the Ephesians (Ephesians 6:23) as a case in point. But the latter view is sustained by the force of the "beloved" in the previous verse, and the mention of" love" in verse 21, as well as by the general analogy of the inscriptions of Epistles. What Jude prays for, therefore, is not that his readers may be helped to exhibit in large measure a merciful, peaceful, and loving disposition to others, but that they may enjoy in liberal degree the great blessings of God's mercy, peace, and love bestowed upon themselves. Jude 1:2

Vincent's Word Studies

Love

Peculiar to Jude in salutation.