Jude 1:20Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

The psychic, he says, act as we have set forth. But you, build yourselves up in the Holy Spirit and on your most holy faith. That is, renew yourselves in the Holy Spirit.

In other words, conduct your assemblies in your houses of prayer according to the teaching of the Holy Spirit.

These are the ones of whom he says: You, building yourselves up in your most holy faith, or acquiring yourselves in the Holy Spirit. That is, gathering yourselves according to the teaching of the Holy Spirit in your prayers.

We pray in the Holy Spirit when, by divine prompting, we ask help from above, so that we may obtain heavenly goods which we cannot attain by ourselves.

"But you, beloved," and so forth. In contrast to these impious false teachers, who separate themselves from the unity of the faith, you, beloved (Jude 1:3, 17), must preserve yourselves by building yourselves up and praying. To build oneself up means to construct and order one's spiritual life as a temple of the Holy Spirit. The foundation of this spiritual temple, whose cornerstone is Christ, rests upon the apostles and prophets (Eph 2:20). The stones are all believers, each separately and all together (1 Pet 2:5 and following, with note). The inner bond, or, so to speak, the cement of this temple, is our most holy faith. The apostle calls it most holy because it proceeds from the Most Holy One and directs to holiness all men sanctified by it.

In conclusion (Jude 20-23), the holy Apostle Jude instructively sets forth the chief purpose of his epistle. It is that his readers, "building themselves up in their holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit," should keep themselves in the love of God. They must also protect their neighbors by every means from heretical errors. "And on some have mercy." These are those infected by heretical deceptions through lack of understanding and through being carried away, not through an evil direction of the heart. Be merciful to them, but "with discernment," that is, learning the causes of their moral illness and taking appropriate measures for its healing.

Setting Christian life against the fleshly life of heretics, the apostle counsels Christians to live by the soul, building themselves up. This means grounding themselves in the principal rules of Christian faith and life. It also means constantly entrusting themselves to the guidance of the Spirit of God, especially in prayer. Through prayer Christian growth in faith, hope, and love is accomplished, and the great mercies of God are granted. These are so necessary for sinners on their path to the heavenly Kingdom. Since we often do not know for what or how we ought to pray, the apostle commands us to pray in the Holy Spirit, that is, with the help of the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 8:26). We must ask for what is pleasing to Him, not for what is pleasing to our flesh, nor for what belongs to worldly vanity and leads neither us nor our neighbors to salvation.

Woe to the false teachers who have fallen away from the unity of faith and mock faith in the second coming of Christ. They have fallen away from the love of God, have been deprived of the grace of the Holy Spirit, and have lost hope of sharing in eternally blessed life. Warning against their deceptions, the Apostle Jude exhorts his beloved brethren in the faith to "build themselves up in the holy faith." That is, they must hold firmly to the holy faith, or the truth of Christ, which they have made their own by faith. This truth is the unshakable rock on which they may securely build their salvation (Mt 7:24). "Praying in the Holy Spirit" means praying with the gracious help of the Holy Spirit, drawn down by prayer performed in communion with the Holy Spirit.