Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (24–25)

All of the doctrines of salvation are absolutely essential and profoundly precious to the redeemed. But the doctrine of eternal security more accurately known as the perseverance of the saints, stands out as the most marvelous of them all. The glory of the other aspects of salvation—such as justification, regeneration, conversion, and adoption—could not be fully appreciated if salvation were not forever. Without the assurance and confidence of eternal security, the Christian life would give way to doubt, worry, and fear as believers wondered if the other doctrines were permanent. And the thought of giving up everything to follow Christ would hardly seem worth the cost if all might be lost in the end (cf. Luke 9:23–25). Yet, because of the doctrine of eternal security, we as believers can rest assured that nothing can rob us of that saving faith that will ultimately produce an “eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” (2 Cor. 4:17).

If it were up to us alone to maintain our salvation, we would surely lose it. As those who still struggle with sin (1 John 1:8–10; cf. Rom. 7:15–23; 1 Cor. 1:11; 5:1; 11:18; James 1:14–15; 4:1–3), we would repeatedly forfeit our righteous standing before God. Even the apostle Paul acknowledged his continuing battle against the flesh, exclaiming, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:24). He recognized that he could neither gain nor maintain salvation through his own self-righteous efforts (Phil. 3:4–14).

Thankfully, true salvation is not based on our works as believers, but rather the work of Christ. It is His righteousness that covers those who trust in Him (Phil. 3:9; 2 Peter 1:1). We need not worry about keeping, or losing, our salvation because it is not based on our deeds. Instead, it is based on the unchanging person of Jesus Christ (cf. Heb. 13:8). The plan (Rom. 8:29–30), promise (Heb. 10:23), power (Rom. 1:16), and provision (2 Cor. 5:21) from God Himself guarantees our eternal destiny.

The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints (that true believers persevere in faith in the gospel to the end because the Father has granted them an unfailing faith) connects inseparably with the other doctrines of salvation. For instance, it is intimately tied to the doctrine of election (v. 1; Eph. 1:11; 1 Thess. 5:24; cf. 1 Peter 1:4–5)—God makes sure that those He chooses for eternal life will never lose it (John 10:28–29; 1 Cor. 1:8–9; Phil. 1:6). It is also eternally linked to the doctrine of justification (Rom. 5:1, 9; 8:30), by which Jesus Christ has fully paid sin’s penalty for believers (1 Peter 2:24; cf. 2 Cor. 5:21) so that there is no basis on which they can be condemned (Rom. 8:1, 33–35). And it connects inseparably to the doctrines of sanctification (2 Thess. 2:13) and glorification (Heb. 2:10)—the Holy Spirit seals believers and sanctifies them (2 Cor. 1:21–22; Eph. 1:13–14), thereby certifying that all will be brought to glory (cf. Heb. 10:14–15). If we—who by faith embrace the gospel—could lose our salvation, then each of these other doctrines would be severely undermined.

As he brings his letter to a close, Jude underscores God’s preserving work in salvation by means of a doxology a word of praise to God. In so doing, Jude is in keeping with biblical precedent. Each of the five books of Psalms, for example, concludes with a doxology (41:13; 72:18–19; 89:52; 106:48; 150). The New Testament also records many other doxologies (e.g., Luke 2:13–14; 19:35–38; Rom. 11:36; 16:27; Eph. 1:3; 3:20–21; Phil. 4:20; 1 Peter 5:11; 2 Peter 3:18; Rev. 1:6), all of which focus on the glory and grace of God. They are always outbursts of praise for the greatness of salvation and the promised blessings of eternal life in heaven. For instance, Paul concluded his letter to the Romans with this doxology:

In contrast to his warnings regarding apostasy, Jude’s doxology brings comfort and encouragement, reminding believers of the faithfulness and power of God. It negates fear (cf. Ps.27:1; Prov. 1:33; John 14:27), brings joy (cf. Isa. 35:10; Matt. 5:12a; Rom. 15:13), and stimulates hope for the future (cf. Rom. 12:12; Eph. 4:4; Titus 1:2; 1 Peter 1:3). And it does this by emphasizing two crucial things that the Lord will do for us His saints: preserve our salvation and present us blameless before His glorious throne.

THE LORD PRESERVES THE SAINTS

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, (24a)

Because God is perfectly faithful, supremely powerful, and infinitely loving, He will not allow His children to fall away from saving faith or defect from the gospel so as to be lost again in their sins. Not only is He willing to preserve believers (Rom. 8:28; Eph. 1:9–11; cf. John 17:20–23), He is also able to preserve them to the end.

During His earthly ministry, Jesus taught definitively that God sovereignly secures all who believe:

Scripture is filled with many other testimonies to God’s promise and power to preserve His people. In another New Testament doxology, Paul exulted to the Ephesians, “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen” (Eph. 3:20–21; cf. 2 Cor. 9:8). And the author of Hebrews, speaking of Jesus, echoes, “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25; cf. 5:7).

Humanly speaking, the path to heaven has always been perilous (cf. Acts 14:22; 2 Cor. 6:4–10; 11:23–30; Heb. 11:32–40; Rev. 12:10–11), full of dangers from Satan and his apostate agents (Luke 22:31; Eph. 6:11–17; 1 Thess. 2:18; 3:5; 1 Peter 5:8–9; cf. Job 1:12–19; 2:6–7; Matt. 4:1–11). But, from God’s perspective, the path to heaven is absolutely safe, not because believers are able to preserve themselves, but because God is able to keep them.

To keep is the translation of a military word (phulassō) meaning “to guard,” or “to watch over.” God is at His post, standing guard over believers to ensure their safety (Ps. 12:7; Prov. 3:26; 1 Cor. 1:8–9) during any assault from the enemy (cf. 1 John 5:18). He is the One who keeps them from stumbling into apostasy. As Jesus the Good Shepherd told His listeners:

The Lord Jesus again entrusted His followers into the hands of His Father in His High Priestly Prayer recorded in John 17 (cf. vv. 9, 11, 15). In verses 24 and 26 (NKJV), He prayed,

The Son’s infinite love for the Father ensures that He will keep those whom the Father has given Him. And vice versa, the Father’s infinite love for the Son makes certain that He will protect those whom He has given to the Son. Thus the believer is secured by both the Father and the Son.

Salvation is also guaranteed by the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul underscored this truth while writing to the Ephesians. After emphasizing the doctrine of election, that God chose His own solely on the basis of His good pleasure (1:3–12), Paul added:

In the same way that an ancient seal served as both a secure guarantee and a mark of ownership, the Holy Spirit is given to believers as divine proof of salvation. The work of the Spirit in the lives of His people confirms that they have truly been regenerated (Titus 3:3–8; cf. Gal. 5:21–22). As Paul noted elsewhere, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom. 8:16). Having been adopted into God’s family, believers are assured by the indwelling Holy Spirit Himself that they will never be disowned.

In several places in his writings, the apostle Paul also emphasized that salvation is a gift based solely on God’s grace through Christ’s death. It is not based on human good works, but rather on God’s working alone. In Romans 5:8–11, Paul wrote:

Before God saved them, believers were the enemies of God (Eph. 2:1–3). There was nothing good in them that made them worthy of His love (cf. Rom. 3:10–19). Thus it was only by His infinite grace and according to His perfect plan (cf. Rom. 8:28–30) that salvation was ever even offered to them. Ephesians 2:8–9 reiterates this reality: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Salvation is truly a free gift from God. It could not possibly be earned by human works or self-righteousness (cf. Titus 3:1–8). By the same token, it cannot be kept by human effort. The eternal security of the believer rests upon the same infinite sacrifice that brought salvation in the first place—the death of Jesus Christ (cf. Heb. 7:27). Because Christians did nothing to earn salvation, they can do nothing to lose it; they were saved by the loving power of God, and they remain saved by that same power. With this in mind, Paul joyously exclaimed,

Nothing, including personal acts of sin, can separate the true believer from his or her Savior.

Other passages in the New Testament also affirm this doctrine to be true:

In light of the biblical evidence, one author asks,

Even the apostle Peter, who was continually prone to failure (such as denying Christ three times), never suggested that salvation could be lost. Instead, when he penned his first epistle, Peter recognized God’s power as that which preserved salvation:

At the end of this same epistle, he returned to the theme of perseverance, writing, “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you” (5:10).

The magnitude of that promise is overwhelming. God Himself perfects, confirms, strengthens, and establishes us who are His children. Though His purposes for the future involve some pain in the present, He will nevertheless give us grace to endure and persevere in faith. Even while the enemy attacks us personally, God simultaneously perfects us. He Himself is doing it. He will accomplish His purposes in us, bringing us to wholeness, setting us on solid ground, making us strong, and establishing us on a firm foundation.

To be sure, the doctrine of eternal security does not mean that people can live in patterns of unrepentant sin and still be assured of heaven. Eternal security is not a license for sin (cf. Rom. 6:1). For that matter, we who truly believe would never view it as such—since we have been given a new nature (cf. 2 Peter 1:4) that loves to obey our Master (John 14:15). Those who make a profession of faith, but then fall away into lifestyles of sin, reveal that their profession was never really genuine (cf. 1 John 2:19). But for those of us whose faith is real, the security of salvation is a joyous certainty indeed.

THE LORD PRESENTS THE SAINTS

and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (24b–25)

A hallmark of genuine saving faith is that it endures to the end (Matt. 24:13). To make you stand translates the verb histēmi, which more precisely in this context means “to set,” “to present,” “to confirm,” or “to establish.” At present, believers stand in grace (Rom. 5:1–4), but in the future they will also stand in glory (Col. 3:4; 1 Peter 5:10).

For fallen men to stand in the presence of God’s glory should produce sheer terror. Isaiah pronounced a curse on himself (Isa. 6:5). Ezekiel fell over like a dead person (Ezek. 1:28). Peter, James, and John experienced overwhelming fear on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:5–7; Luke 9:32–34). The apostle John fainted as one who was dead when he saw the vision of the risen and glorious Christ (Rev. 1:17). Having come face-to-face with God’s glorious presence, each of these men instantly felt the full weight of his sinfulness (cf. Luke 5:8). Each fell to the ground, overwhelmed by his own sense of unworthiness.

To stand in God’s glorious presence, believers must be blameless. Revelation 21:27 makes it clear that unrepentant sinners will not enter the glory of heaven: “Nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into [the heavenly Jerusalem], but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (cf. 22:14–15). Amōmos (blameless) means “faultless,” and it is used here to describe the sinless state that believers will one day enjoy. The New Testament also uses the term to refer to the purity of sacrifices (Heb. 9:14, “without blemish”; cf. 1 Peter 1:19). Although believers, as those of us to whom God has imputed Christ’s righteousness, are now positionally blameless (Rom. 4:6–8; 1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:21; Titus 3:7), we are still in our fleshly, sinful bodies. We are yet awaiting the resurrection, when we will receive our new glorified bodies (cf. John 5:25; 11:24–25; 1 Cor. 15:21–23, 42–44; 2 Cor. 5:1; Phil. 3:21). In heaven we will experience not only an absence of sin but also a presence of perfect holiness (1 Thess. 3:13; cf. Rev. 21:22–22:5). All our faculties will be emancipated from evil and fully devoted to the righteous worship of God forever and ever (cf. Rev. 4:6–11; 5:11–14; 19:6).

As saints in glory, we will know nothing of the fear and trauma that characterized being in God’s presence on earth (see the aforementioned examples). Instead we will experience great joy, which will characterize every aspect of our heavenly life (cf. Rev. 7:16–17). This joy refers primarily to the divine joy (cf. Luke 15:7, 10; Zeph. 3:17) of the Father and the Son over our fellowship with other believers—a joy in which the redeemed will share for all eternity. Thus all believers will dwell with God in perfect love and holy delight forever and ever.

As he ended his epistle, Jude offered praise for the present salvation and future glorification of believers: to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Only God … through Jesus Christ can accomplish the work of a Savior. As a result, Jude reserved the highest praise for the Son. Glory summarizes all the divine attributes in their powerful radiance (cf. Ex. 33:22); majesty signifies the absolute reign of the Father (cf. Heb. 1:3; 8:1) and the Son (cf. 2 Peter 1:16); dominion refers to the extent of His might and active rule over all (cf. Ps. 66:7); and authority denotes Christ’s supreme right and privilege to do as He wills (cf. Acts 2:33–35; Phil. 2:9–11). This divine supremacy over everything in the universe encompasses all eternity (cf. Rev. 1:8): before all time (eternity past), now (the present age), and forever (eternity future).

Because He is all powerful, and because His glorious name is at stake, God’s promise to preserve us His saints and to one day present us blameless before His throne can be trusted without reservation. To doubt the reality of that promise is to doubt God Himself. But to embrace it is to find ceaseless joy and never-ending comfort. In the words of Charles Spurgeon: