According to verse 20, if we would build up ourselves in our most holy faith, we need to pray in the Holy Spirit. Faith is related to the Word, and in the Holy Spirit we have life. In this verse the Holy Spirit mainly refers to life, not to power. However, some Christians today understand the Holy Spirit mainly in terms of power. In Romans 8:2 Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of life. From experience we know that praying in the Holy Spirit is much more a matter of life than a matter of power. When we pray we may not sense power; however, we often have the sense of life. Life is more precious than power.
Regarding praying in the Holy Spirit, Pentecostal people may relate this more to power than to life because their emphasis is on power instead of on life. There is a great difference between emphasizing life and emphasizing power. Actually, real spiritual power comes from spiritual life.
Genuine power is a matter of life. We may use seeds as an illustration. Seeds of every kind are small. I have never seen a seed as large as a baseball. But although a seed is small, it is dynamic and full of life. Because a seed is full of life, it is powerful. After you sow a seed in the ground, it sprouts and grows into a plant or tree. Although the sprouts may be very tender, they have the power to break through the soil. This power comes from the life in the seed. In a similar way, building ourselves up by praying in the Holy Spirit is mainly a matter of life.
In verse 21 Jude says, “Keep yourselves in the love of God, awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” We should keep ourselves in the love of God by building up ourselves in the holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit. In this way we should await and look for the mercy of our Lord so that we may not only enjoy eternal life in this age, but also inherit it for eternity (Matt. 19:29).
The way to keep ourselves in the love of God is by building ourselves up in our most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit. If we do not build up ourselves in the faith and if we do not pray in the Holy Spirit, it will be easy for us to depart from the love of God. Actually, the words “in the love of God” mean in the enjoyment of the love of God. Here Jude does not speak of the love of God in an objective way; he speaks of the love of God in a subjective way, in the way of enjoying this love. Hour after hour, we need to enjoy the love of God. We should be in the love of God not only objectively but also subjectively. We need to keep ourselves always in the enjoyment of God’s love by building ourselves up and by praying. Building up ourselves is related to the holy Word, and praying is related to the Holy Spirit. Therefore, if we have the Word applied to us and the Spirit working within us, we shall be kept in the enjoyment of God’s love as we await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
In verses 20 and 21 Jude not only charges the believers to build themselves up in the holy faith, but also charges them to live in the Triune God. The entire blessed Trinity is employed and enjoyed by the believers by their praying in the Holy Spirit, keeping themselves in the love of God, and awaiting the mercy of our Lord unto eternal life. In these verses we have the Spirit, God the Father, and the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. We need to pray in the Holy Spirit, keep ourselves in the love of God, and await the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, in these verses we definitely have the Triune God.
According to Jude 20 and 21, we need to live in the Triune God. But how can we live in the Triune God? We live in the Triune God by praying in the Holy Spirit, keeping ourselves in the love of God, and awaiting the mercy of the Lord Jesus.
It is significant that, once again, Jude speaks of mercy and not of grace. Peter emphasizes grace, but Jude emphasizes mercy. In verse 2 of this Epistle Jude says, “Mercy to you and peace and love be multiplied.” We have pointed out that mercy reaches further than grace does. While we are praying in the Spirit and keeping ourselves in the love of God, we should await further mercy from the Lord.