Jude Chapter 1 Vs. 20

 

A Call to Persevere

Verses 20-21: In the light of the fact that Jesus is coming again and that He will judge all men, Jude challenges believers to build themselves up in the Scriptures (study the bible), to pray, to “keep … in the love of God” (largely by loving others). And to compassionately seek to warn the lost of their future condition.

“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,” Jude 1:20

But ye, beloved,... Seven final commands to Christians:

1. Build up yourselves on your most holy faith (Jude 1:20; 1Tim. 1:4).

2. Pray in the Holy Ghost (Jude 1:20; Eph. 6:18; Rom. 8:26).

3. Keep yourselves in the love of God (Jude 1:20; 2Tim. 1:14; Rom. 8:35-39).

4. Look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ (Jude 1:21; Heb. 12:15).

5. Have compassion on some, making a distinction between those who are weak and ignorant and those who are proud and arrogant of heart and unwilling to obey truth (Jude 1:22).

6. Save the willing with fear, pulling them out of the fate of eternal hell (Jude 1:23).

7. Hate even the garment spotted by the flesh (Jude 1:23; Jas. 1:27; Eph. 5:27).

building up yourselves... True believers have a sure foundation (1Cor. 3:11), and cornerstone (Eph. 2:20), in Jesus Christ. The truths of the Christian faith (verse 3), have been provided in the teaching of the apostles and prophets (Eph. 2:20), so that Christians can build themselves up by the Word of God (Acts 20:32).

praying in the... This is not a call to some ecstatic form of prayer, but simply a call to pray consistently in the will and power of the Spirit, as one would pray in the name of Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:26-27).

The antidote for error is not simply to pull back from wrong but also to be built up in what is right, especially through clinging to God in prayer.

Notice, it is our obligation to build our faith. The best way to build our faith is through prayer and using our faith. The more we use it, the more it grows. When we do not know what to pray for, God the Holy Ghost prays for us, if we will allow Him. Letting God pray through you, for you, builds you up more than you could ever imagine.

Nurturing themselves

In addition to remembering what the apostles had said about the apostates, Jude’s readers were to give attention to themselves. Here is the heart of his message: build yourselves up in your most holy faith… pray in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love, and wait for Christ’s return. (The NIV seems to suggest three exhortations, but the Greek has four parallel participles: building, praying, keeping, expecting.) The evident contrast of these actions to the scoffers was introduced by the words But you. And for the third time Jude addressed his readers as dear friends (Jude 1:3, 1:17, 1:20).

Personal edification (“build yourselves up”) comes from progressing in the knowledge of “your most holy faith.” This “faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 1:3) was the teaching of the apostles now recorded in the Scriptures, to be studied (Acts 20:32; 2Tim. 2:15).

Praying in the Holy Spirit is not speaking in tongues, but is “praying out of hearts and souls that are indwelt, illuminated, and filled with the Holy Spirit” (George Lawrence Lawlor, Translation and Exposition of the Epistle of Jude, p. 127). It is praying in the power of the Holy Spirit (cf. Eph. 6:18).