Jude Series: Jude 20a-The Recipients of Jude Were to Build Themselves Up By Their Most Holy Faith (2)

Jude 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. 20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. (NIV)

Now, as we noted the means by which the recipients of the epistle of Jude were to obey this command in Jude 21 is three-fold.

The first two as we also noted appear in Jude 20 and the third is found in Jude 21.

The first we noted asserts that they were to obey this command by making it their habit of building themselves up by means of their most holy faith.

The noun pistis (πίστις), “faith” refers to that body of doctrine, which the Christian community has been taught by the Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles and the referent of this word is thus the Spirit inspired apostolic teaching.

This would involve their teaching with regards to various areas of theology such paterology, Christology, pneumatology, soteriology, eschatology, ecclesiology, Israelology, bibliology, hamartiology, angelology, Satanology and the spiritual life.

The doctrines associated with these various areas of theology were communicated to the Christian community by the apostles through the ministry of the Holy Spirit and now appear in the Greek New Testament.

The adjective hagios (ἅγιος), “holy” is ascribing the attribute of holiness to that body of doctrine, which originates from the Father and the Son and was communicated to the Christian community by His apostles through the Holy Spirit.

It indicates that the Christian faith originates from the Spirit since this same word is used to describe the Spirit here in Jude 20.

In other words, this body of doctrine taught to the church is by no means human in origin but rather it is divine in origin and it emphasizes that this body of doctrine originated from the Holy Spirit.

This adjective functions here as a superlative adjective which speaks of the highest degree and so therefore, the word is describing the Christian faith as the highest and best body of doctrine or teaching found in the world since it is divine in origin.

The noun pistis (πίστις), “faith” is functioning as a dative of means, which indicates that the most holy faith possessed by the Christian community in Judaea was to be the means by which they were to make it their habit of building themselves up spiritually.

In other words, exercising faith in and obedience to the various doctrines of the Christian faith was to be the means by which they built themselves up spiritually.

The verb epoikodomeō (ἐποικοδομέω), “by building up” pertains to engaging in a building spiritual process of personal and corporate development and it speaks of increasing the potential of someone with emphasis upon the process.

Specifically, it is used here with reference to the spiritual growth of the members of the Christian community in Judaea who were the recipients of this epistle.

It refers to their spiritual development as Christians with emphasis upon the process they have undergone after conversion of growing spiritually by appropriating by faith the apostolic teaching concerning their union and identification with Christ.

This post-justification faith will produce obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ’s command to love one another as He has loved them and is loving them, and which obedience manifests their love for the Lord and the Father and that they are children of God.

The reflexive pronoun heautou (ἑαυτοῦ), “yourselves” that is modifying this verb is emphasizing the volitional responsibility of the individual members of this community to build themselves up spiritually by means of their most holy faith.

The participle conjugation of this verb epoikodomeō (ἐποικοδομέω), “by building up” is functioning as a participle of means which indicates that the recipients of this epistle were to obey command to keep themselves in the state of loving God “by means of” building themselves up spiritually by means of their most holy faith.

In other words, their spiritual growth is inextricably tied to their faith in and resultant obedience to the Spirit inspired apostolic teaching which was communicated to them and now resides in the Greek New Testament.

The present tense of this verb epoikodomeōis a customary present which would indicate that the recipients of this epistle were to keep themselves in the love of God by “making it their habit of” building themselves up by means of their most holy faith.

In other words, it was to be a regular activity that they built themselves up spiritually by means of their most holy faith or we can say that it was to be a lifestyle.

The active voice of this verb is a reflexive active which emphasizes that the recipients of this epistle must act upon themselves when building themselves up spiritually.

They would accomplish this by exercising faith in the apostolic teaching which was communicated to them and this post-justification faith would result in obedience to the various commands and prohibitions contained in this apostolic teaching.

Therefore, they would act upon themselves by exercising faith in the apostolic teaching communicated to them and by obeying this teaching.

Now, in Jude 20, the participle conjugation of this verb epoikodomeō (ἐποικοδομέω), “by building up” is also presenting a building metaphor in which the Christian faith, i.e. the Spirit inspired apostolic teaching is the foundation of the building.

Thomas Schreiner writes “Jude used the metaphor of building something on a foundation. The foundation in this instance is ‘your most holy faith.’ Believers are to build on the faith’s foundation in order to preserve themselves in God’s love. The metaphor of building on the foundation is used elsewhere in the New Testament. Paul said that the only foundation for the church is Jesus Christ, and people must build on that foundation rightly to receive a reward (1 Cor 3:10–15). The foundation upon which the church is built in Eph 2:20 is the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus being the cornerstone. Peter described believers as living stones that are being built up into a spiritual house (1 Pet 2:5). What Jude said here does not contradict Paul but represents a fresh use of the metaphor. The ‘most holy faith’ upon which the church is built is the gospel of Jesus Christ, and this faith has Jesus Christ as its center. When Jude spoke of ‘faith’ here, he referred to the body of teachings, the doctrine of the church of Jesus Christ. This fits with v. 3, where believers are exhorted ‘to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.’ So the first way believers remain in God’s love is by continuing to grow in their understanding of the gospel, the teachings that were handed down to them at their conversion. This faith is ‘most holy’ because it comes from the holy God, and Christian growth occurs through the mind, as believers grow in their understanding of God’s word and of Christian truth. Jude did not think that growth occurred mystically or mysteriously. Instead, believers experience God’s love as their understanding of the faith increases. Affection for God increases not through bypassing the mind but by means of it.”[1]

[1] Schreiner, T. R. (2003). 1, 2 Peter, Jude (Vol. 37, pp. 482–483). Broadman & Holman Publishers.