Jude 20But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21keep yourselves in the love of God, receiving the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life.
After showing the spiritual and relational problems of the false teachers, Jude shifts his focus to positive directions for his readers. For the second time in this paragraph, Jude addresses the readers as beloved (see verse 17). This creates not only relational endearment but also a sense of strong emotional appeal. Love should have been the readers’ primary characteristic, rather than the selfishness of the infiltrators. These believers could strengthen their spiritual walk in several ways.
First, by their most holy faith. Faith is the open door to victorious and fulfilling Christian living. Faith could be interpreted in two ways. It could refer to one’s own faith in Jesus, or it could refer to the Christian faith as in the gospel about Jesus Christ. What makes it holy is when it is focused on the person: Jesus. The participle building (epoikodomountes) gives the image of adding on to a foundation. Jesus is the foundation upon which our faith and the church, with its mission of proclamation, are built (Colossians 2:6-7). We do not invent our message; we only pass on what we have heard and apply it in how we live.
Second, this faith is grown through praying in the Holy Spirit. Prayer is one of the most powerful ways to strengthen our spirits. Praying in the Spirit should not be interpreted to mean speaking in tongues or any other outward manifestation. Praying in the Spirit can be emotional, but it is primarily an act of the mind consecrated to God through Jesus Christ. This prayer involves agreeing with the Holy Spirit and having a clear conscience. When the Holy Spirit cleanses our consciences (our “hearts”) and transforms our thinking, we will more easily agree with what God wants to do in and through us. Faith and prayer will keep us in the love of God. When we neglect to strengthen our faith by saying “yes” to the Holy Spirit and forget to pray, we make ourselves susceptible to temptation and sin.
Third, through this type of commitment, we crucify our selfishness and nail it to the cross. The result is a heart open to receiving and being filled with God’s love, which should be the goal of every human. The main action of these two verses is given in the imperative keep (tērēsate). We have the responsibility to open ourselves to God’s love and let it grow in our lives. God’s love is unconditionally given to us, but we must do our part to receive it and grow in it. The danger Jude’s readers faced was being pulled away from God’s love by the bad influence of the false teachers, who were focused on themselves rather than on God’s purposes.
Fourth, the outcome of God’s love working in us is to experience God’s mercy that is available through faith in Jesus. Jude uses the full title of Lord Jesus Christ possibly to draw the attention of his readers back to the means by which mercy is available. Verse 21 has the ring of a statement of faith or central confession. The verse is a short declaration of the gospel: God’s love offers mercy through the sacrifice of Jesus, and believing in this brings eternal life. Those who put their trust in Jesus Christ will experience this hope.
We must realize, however, that many people will reject the light of Jesus and turn to themselves, just like the false teachers. We must be diligent and faithful while we wait for the coming of Jesus Christ. “Mercy” of Christ can be experienced now through forgiveness but Jude may be referring to when Jesus comes to judge the living and the dead. Those who have trusted in him in this life will receive mercy at that time. Those who have lived in rejection and selfishness will experience justice and judgment. Jude has described two paths: the way of selfishness and sin, which will result in judgment, and the way of faith and prayer, which will result in mercy and eternal life.