Jude's Doxology

I have been reading the book of Jude for a few days and was struck by the final verse in the one-chapter letter. This verse is part of Jude’s beautiful doxology that starts out like this: “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…” This verse alone preaches a powerful word, but I want to focus on the second half of this exaltation of who God is because Jude lists four powerful realities about God that can change the way we live if we take them to heart.
Here’s the verse:

Jude 1:25 “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.”

The only God is the one who has saved us through the work of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This God is the only one worthy of glory, majesty, dominion, and authority until time expires and then more. I want to focus on the four words in bold and provide a few thoughts that give a deeper meaning and hopefully inspire worship and submission to God.

Glory is the Greek word, doxa, which means “opinion, judgment, view, a most glorious condition, splendor, brightness, magnificence.” This assumes that God is the only one worthy of glory because He is the most magnificent being in the entire universe and outside the universe. No one and nothing compares to His glory.

Many times, we love to steal the glory and exalt our accomplishments. And I believe that we are meant to accomplish things in life. After all, God commanded Adam to “fill the earth and subdue it.” However, there can never be a moment where we attribute glory to ourselves, thinking that we are someone great and worthy to be praised, exalted on a pedestal. Glory is God’s and God’s alone. We are nothing in comparison. Humility is our response to the awesomeness of God.

Majesty is the Greek word, megalosyne, which means “majesty of God.” This word is used three times in the Greek NT and is only used in biblical and ecclesiastical (church) writings. Other words in the NT are used for majesty, like doxa, but this word because of the scarce use would carry with it a little more weight than doxa. Doxa can encompass a lot of different things, but megalosyne only encompasses the surpassing awesomeness of the Father in heaven. No one can receive megalosyne because no one else is God. We do not qualify to be recipients of megalosyne because we lack the inherent quality of this majesty: divinity. This majesty is only reserved for the Most High God and King.

Dominion is the Greek word, kratos, which means “force, strength, power, might, and dominion.” This implies that God has dominion over all things. He is stronger and more powerful and more forceful and more dominant than anyone.

God is not weak. He is not incapable to help those in need, but rather, God is present and available and near and ready and able to reach out to prove His power and strength to those who need it most. Kings can have dominion over certain territories, but God has dominion over kings. He has dominion over the entire universe. He is stronger than the strongest disease and more powerful than the most powerful army. God has dominion over all things. In the words of John Piper, “There is not a part of the universe over which God does not declare, ‘Mine!’” (Paraphrase).

Lastly, authority is the Greek word, exousia, which means “the power of rule or government (the power of him whose will and commands must be submitted to by others and obeyed); universally, authority over mankind.” God has authority over mankind. This implies that He rules mankind. We do not rule ourselves, regardless of how much we would love to think that we do. God is the ruler of our lives and our affairs. There is no escaping this because we were created by God to live lives for God in submission to God while we worship our God and experience the greatest happiness and joy in God alone. As weird as it sounds, being under the authority of God provides the greatest joy we can ever experience. He is not a dictator, but a lover. He does what is needed because of His love for us. We can rejoice in His authority over all things because of His nature of love.

My hope and prayer in writing this is to inspire your heart to worship the God of heaven who has all glory, majesty, dominion, and authority. I hope you receive a glimpse of the greatness of God that calls you to dive deeper into your devotion. I pray that you get to know this glorious and majestic God who so desperately wants to get to know you.