Q&A: Jude

Jude Q&A

Here are some brief answers to our questions from our Sunday evening service.

1. Is there a difference between praying IN the Holy Spirit and praying TO the Holy Spirit?

How about some Bible verses here... the Spirit helps us to pray. We pray "in" the Spirit. But usually "to" the Father and "through" the Son. Jesus is the way to the Father. So we pray "in his name" to the Father.

But Stephen prayed to Jesus, not the Father, as he was being killed:

And Romans reminds us again that the Spirit helps us to pray to the Father.

God is one and God is three. It is not wrong to pray to the Father, Son OR Spirit, so that;'s not a problem. But what's the usual way we're taught by Scripture? Jesus himself probably makes it the most straightforward for us:

Praying to the Father, in the name of the Son, through the power and words and groans of the Holy Spirit, reminds us that God is three in one. This way of prayer can help us to remember the relationships that God has with us through prayer. I think it's helpful for this to be our "go to" way to pray. But there are circumstances we may feel led to pray addressing different members of the Godhead.

2. Is praying quick and specific prayers valid? “Lord help me make the bus this morning so I am not late” as you run down the street. Do these trivialise God?

It certainly is a valid way to pray! But if this is the only way we pray, and if these are the only things we are praying for, we should consider the role of prayer in our life. But our one true God is a personal God, and he loves to talk to us always, in the everyday times in life, as well as the extraordinary times in life.

The Lord's prayer gives us a good outline of how to talk with God - and helps us to remember things like "Hallowed be your name", which we may forget if we're only praying when we're running late :)

3. You briefly mentioned listening to God in prayer…what does that look like practically ie How do we listen to God through prayer?

Apart from the answer given in the live stream, here is a really helpful little article from Our Daily Bread - a great resource and very practical in helping us think about this:

Listening to God

4. Can we see Jude's references to Book of Enoch & Testament of Moses as akin to Christians now referencing non-biblical but still helpful texts like C. S. Lewis?

These extra-biblical books are in a different category to Lewis, I believe. They were written at a similar time to the Bible texts and by people often in close contact with the events written about in the Bible. So while Enoch and Lewis are both not the Bible, and hence are not inspired Scripture, books like Enoch offer something historically close to writings of the Bible.

Here is an article with a little more info on the Apocrypha if you're interested - Enoch is an ancient Hebrew text and is not in the Apocrypha, but there are many other books that are "extra-Biblical" that can be helpful for historical background and context. But, again, they are not the Bible!

The Apocrypha - Desiring God article

5. What does praying without the Holy Spirit look like? Is it possible?

I'd say it's not really possible. Even when a non-believer prays, perhaps reaching out for a relationship with God, the Spirit of God is helping them. As Christians, we cannot do anything without the Spirit. He lives in us. And praying is very important to Him, so I can't imagine he'd not be involved! The reason we can pray as Christians, and want to pray, and know what to pray, is because the Spirit of God is at work in us.

6. Any helpful resources for Lectio Divina?

(see live-stream Q&A for reference here)

7. Verse 23 talks about showing mercy mixed with fear. What does this look like in approaching false teachers?

I think most likely, this is referring to being fearful/careful when showing mercy to false teachers, lest we fall into their unrighteous activities. In other words, be cautious. Show mercy - some false teachers are unaware they are teaching falsehoods, but others may be more sinister.

8. Do Christians sometimes collectively slander whatever we do not understand? (v10)

I personally think we do this quite a lot when talking about other Christian denominations. We can often band together to slander a whole denomination based on what we think they teach or believe. The original word for "slander" is actually "blaspheme" or "speak evil of". We often speak evil of things we do not understand. The Pharisees did it with Jesus himself. Sometimes we may call something evil and it is correct, but we should do so carefully.