Jude, 24, 25. Now unto him that is able to keep you
from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence
of his (flory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our
Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now
and ever. Amen,
By
302 JUDE, 24, 25. [ll9T.
BY many this Doxology is considered as addressed to the Lord Jesus Christ : but though it is certain that by all the heavenly choir our most adorable Saviour is worshipped as one with the Father, with- out any distinction whatsoever, and that he is to be honoured in all respects by us precisely as the Father, yet we must be cautious never to strain any portion of Scripture for the purpose of honouring him ; for, if we do, we give advantage to those who deny his proper Divinity, to represent all our worship of him as unauthorized and erroneous. The more fully we are assured of any doctrine, the more careful we should be not to establish it on a weak foundation ; lest, when the foundation on which we have indis- creetly built is shaken, we be led to doubt the truth of the doctrine itself. Of the Divinity of our blessed Lord we have no more doubt than of any other truth of our holy religion : but in the passage before us we apprehend, that it is not to Him in particular that this Doxology is addressed, but to the Father. For, in several other passages, the Father beyond all doubt is addressed, and under the same character as is here described. St. Paul concludes his Epistle to the Romans thus : *' Now to him that is of power to
stablish you, to God only wise, be glory
through Jesus Christ for ever''." In the Epistle to the Ephesians he again speaks in similar terms : " Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abun- dantly above all that we ask or think, unto him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end''." So again, in his First Epistle to Timothy, he says, " Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen*"." Those who would apply our text to Christ, think that it must refer to him, because he alone (as they imagine) presents his Church before the presence of his Father's glory : as it is said, *' He loved the Church
and gave himself for it, that he might present
it
" Rom. xvi. 25, 27. ■* Eph. iii. 20, 21. M Tim. i. 17.