Jude 1:20
“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Context
Jude writes a short, urgent letter to early Christians threatened by teachers who twisted grace into license. After describing these dangers vividly, he closes with positive instructions, telling his readers how to remain faithful.
What Does Jude 1:20 Mean?
Jude 1:20 means that the way to stand firm against error and drift is to grow -- to keep building your life on the faith you have received and to keep praying with the help of the Holy Spirit. After a long warning about deceivers, Jude turns to his readers with the tender word "beloved" and gives them work to do. The danger he has described is real, but the answer is not panic; it is steady construction. The believer is pictured as a building rising course by course, each day adding to a foundation that is called "most holy."
The phrase "building up yourselves" is plural and shared -- this is something done together, not alone. The faith is "most holy" because it comes from God and sets its holders apart for Him. And the rising structure is held together by prayer: not prayer summoned by willpower alone, but prayer carried along by the Holy Spirit Himself. Jude knows that effort and dependence belong together. We labor, and at the same time we lean entirely on the One who supplies the strength to labor.
In the Original Language
The Greek "epoikodomountes" (building up) is a construction image, raising a structure on a foundation, while "proseuchomenoi en pneumati hagiō" describes prayer offered in, and empowered by, the Holy Spirit.
Cross References
“Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.”
- Colossians 2:7
“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
- Romans 8:26
“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.”
- Ephesians 6:18
Application
Make the strengthening of your faith a daily, deliberate practice, and pray often, trusting the Spirit to guide and carry your words rather than relying on your own eloquence.