Jude 1:20

Jude’s readers are his ‘*dear friends’. The *Greek word means ‘those people whom God loves’. All true believers share the same *spiritual relationship with God.

• The Bible meaning of ‘holy’ is ‘set apart (separate) because it is completely different’. The ‘most holy trust’ (that is, the Christian religion) is different from all other religions. It does not come to us by human reason (intelligence). It is a precious gift from the holy God. That means that its message is unlike any other message. So too is its moral power to change a person’s life completely.

• As in verse 3, the ‘most holy trust in God’ refers to the true tradition about the person and work of Jesus Christ.

That tradition has come from actual witnesses of the events of the life of Jesus. They saw what happened. They carefully passed on the tradition to later believers. Jude’s friends must do the same.

Jude’s friends have already begun their Christian lives. But that is only a beginning. A Christian’s *spiritual life cannot stand still. In fact, if trust in God is not growing, it is becoming weaker. A Christian must cause his trust in God to grow stronger and stronger.

• Jude uses picture language of a builder to explain what each Christian must do in practical ways. But Jude is not suggesting that each person should think only of his own *spiritual progress. Jude is writing to the members of the church as a whole.

In the Bible, the picture-phrase ‘build a house’ always refers to a group, not to only one person (see 1 Corinthians 14:12; 1 Corinthians 14:26-31; 1 Thessalonians 5:11; 1 Peter 2:5).

• The ‘firm base’ refers to the first action that a house builder takes. The base is below ground. It will be out of sight. Only the builder knows that it is there. The base must be strong. It has to support the weight of the whole house.

• ‘Pray much’ is a reference to quality of prayer, not to quantity of words. Simply to repeat lots of words will not persuade God to answer a prayer (Matthew 6:7).

When you pray, do not be in a great hurry to use your own words. Take time to ask the Holy Spirit what you should say (John 4:23-24; Romans 8:26-27). And the Spirit will also make your prayer powerful (Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 6:18). God will answer in the way that is best for you.