Jude 22-23 ²²And have mercy on those who doubt; ²³and save others by snatching them out of the fire; and to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

As believers, we need to develop wisdom in dealing with people. Those in spiritual leadership positions, such as pastors, especially need to ask God for grace when dealing with those who struggle in their faith. People struggle in their faith for many reasons, including difficult trials where they have no control over what happens, to more conscious rebellion against God’s commands and revelation. There is always hope. God’s grace is bigger than any sins we have committed. Nothing is beyond the love and restoration of God. Jude urges his readers to have mercy on those who doubt. Mercy (eleate), occurring twice in this verse, is undeserved compassion, often accompanied with patience and forgiveness, two qualities especially needed with new, immature, or weak Christians. Doubt (diakrinomenous) has “judge” in its root; it is used here in the middle voice, indicating being inwardly critical and uncertain, to struggle within oneself. Weak Christians may struggle with doubts that come as their old lives try to return or the world’s promises seem enticing. The best way to extend this kind of mercy to doubters is when we ourselves have experienced God’s mercy in Jesus Christ, and our hearts are filled with the love of God. By our example of humility and submission in faith, we can encourage those who doubt not to give up but to strengthen their faith in Jesus.

Sometimes we will need to be aggressive in our intervention in others’ lives by snatching them out of the fire. Such people are in a dangerous place, and we need to do something to get them out of it. Other people may be in a situation where we need to be more careful and show patience step by step to lead them away from danger. Mercy with fear creates the needed balance between reverence for God and caution when working with people. Because God has extended mercy to us, we respond with worship and obedience. As we show mercy to those struggling for various reasons, we also come to them with a sense of awe and reverence for God, imitating God’s compassion toward us as we grow in his image.

The last phrase in verse 23 warns readers to be careful that they do not fall into sin while gracefully helping those struggling. They needed to avoid anything that appealed to their fleshly nature or tempted them to fall into temptation. They had to be careful not to follow the bad example of the infiltrators’ selfishness and ungodliness. They could also see the fleshly errors in others and have a deep desire and conviction to do something to help them find freedom in Christ. Helping people in certain situations where we may have struggled ourselves in the past could open us to temptation. We can help those struggling, but we need the character of God in us to give us strength.