Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.
2. Mercy to you. Mercy means nearly the same as grace in the salutations of Paul. Were any one to wish for a refined distinction, it may be said that grace is properly the effect of mercy; for there is no other reason why God has embraced us in love, but that he pitied our miseries.
The same name belongs to the best and worst of men: there was Judas the traitor, and Judas the faithful apostle. Our Judas calls himself Christ's servant, counting this title more honorable than earthly kinship to Christ; to be His sincere servant is greater glory than any earthly throne.
AI summary
Commenting on Jude 1:1-2
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...