Text: Vs. 3
“Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all time handed down to the saints…”
Jude calls us to an all out effort, to stand up for a body of truth of which our faith consists since we have received it in its final form and fully complete.
There are at least three questions raised by this short verse.
- What is ‘the faith’?
- What is the relationship of ‘the faith’ to ‘our common salvation’?
- Why do we need to contend for it?
What is ‘the faith’?
A study of God’s covenant with Israel along with statements made about it by both the former and latter prophets, shows that it anticipated the arrival of another. It was going to be delivered by a prophet ‘greater than Moses’ (Deut. 18:15-18, Acts 3:17-26) and replaced by a new covenant made through ‘the seed of Abraham’. The new covenant would bless the whole world. It was going to be new and faultless (Heb 8:7-13), and never to be replaced. It came into force when the kingdom of heaven arrived on earth and will remain so until earth is no more. We are therefore living ‘in the last days’
But while ‘the faith’, had by Jude’s time been given ‘once for all’, it had not arrived all at once.
Jesus began to deliver it during his earthly ministry, which was a period marked by his ‘humiliation’ (Phil 2:5-8). He lived on earth as a man among others. He was ‘God in the flesh’, but for some, his flesh got in the way of their faith. ‘The faith’ had not yet come, and most saw nothing beyond the man. So they came to be fed, to be healed and to have demons cast out. And while Jesus promised to bring the kingdom of heaven to the earth, they preferred a kingdom of the earth.
For these and other reasons, much was left unsaid when Jesus went to the cross. But before He died, He promised those disciples who would become apostles, that He would send the Holy Spirit upon them. And the Spirit would do two things, relative to the truth. He would give them something like ‘total recall’, enabling them to remember all that Jesus had said and done. And He would lead them into ‘all the truth’. (John 14:25-26, John 16:12-15).
The work of the Spirit began once Jesus had been glorified. Jesus had risen from the grave and appeared to witnesses – some of whom saw him ascend, out of their sight. Jesus had been glorified by the Father and now reigned from the Father’s right hand. The apostles had been ‘clothed with power from on high’(Luke 24:49, Acts 2:1-4) and their minds had been opened to understand scripture (Luke 24:45)
So it was, that the Spirit of God, led them into all that God wanted them to know, with the result that the apostle Peter could say with confidence, that “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.” (2 Pet 1:3)
It is good to remember that “All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work. (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Certainly then, all New Testament scripture is included in ‘the faith’, delivered once for all to the saints.
What Jesus began to reveal during the period of his humiliation was completed by the Holy Spirit, during the time of his glorification.
What then is the relationship of ‘the faith’ to ‘our common salvation’? And why do we need to contend for it?
When the apostle Paul was on his way to Jerusalem, he met with the elders from Ephesus, at Miletus. Two of the things that he shared with them pertain directly to these last two questions (Acts 20:25-32)
“And now, behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face. Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. (vs 25-27)
In order to be ‘free from the blood of all men’, the apostle Paul had ‘declared to them, the whole counsel (or purpose) of God. Paul implied, that had he amended God’s word or declared one part but not another, he would have incurred guilt. That guilt would have arisen – since a partial truth cannot save or keep us saved. If not corrected, it would have resulted, in the loss of eternal souls due to Paul’s failure. The ‘whole counsel’ of God, ‘the faith’ in its full and final form, is needed in order for men and women to be saved and to live and worship as God intends.
Paul repeated this principle as he wrote to Timothy in I Tim 4:15-16, saying:
“Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you”
We need ‘the faith’ to be saved and to live a saved life. This body of truth cannot be anything less than all that Jesus taught during his ministry along with all that the Holy Spirit revealed after his return to heaven.
When speaking to the Ephesian elders, the apostle added this warning…which is the reason why we must ‘contend for the faith’.
“Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.” (Acts 20:28-31)
it is shocking to think that it is from among those entrusted with shepherding God’s flock that false doctrine will arise. Then again, how often have ‘the elders’ been the ones to lead us astray? How often have the elders commanded what God has not, or permitted what God has forbidden? Sheep, being sheep, have been led to the slaughter and their blood is on the heads of those who have led them astray.
For all of these reasons, the apostle Paul said – “I did not shrink”. To name a few
- He did not back down from the party of the circumcision. (all of Galatians)
- He did not tone down his opposition to heathen practices in the church (I Cor 10:21-22)
- He did not allow immoral conduct in the church or support those who turned a bind eye. (1 Cor 5:1-8)
- He addressed a full range of subjects pertaining to salvation, worship, evangelism, godly living, church organization along with specific roles given to men and women.
- And for his efforts, he was under constant attack from within the church (2 Cor) by those who succeeded in splitting the church.
So when Paul says, “I did not shrink”, he meant it. He had been actively persistent, exercising due diligence in all matters pertaining to doctrine and practice. He did not shrink in the face of constant challenge and outright apostasy. He did not shrink before the influence of those who were being pressed into the ‘world’s mould’ (Romans 12:1-2). The apostle stood firm, in order to ensure his own salvation, and the salvation of those whom he taught.
We cannot do what Paul did without facing opposition. The forces at work in Paul’s day have not gone away. But when those forces come from within – when we are attacked by those who ought to protect God’s flock, where can we turn for help?
Paul answers:
“And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (Acts 20:32)
We have been entrusted to God – whose protection comes to us through the word of his grace. It is the ‘faith’, delivered once for all, final and complete, that is able to save and protect. It can build us up and ensure that we remain sanctified in the Lord and qualified to receive the eternal inheritance held in store for us.
For all those reasons, God calls us to contend for ‘the faith’. This is not someone else’s job…it is up to each one of us… despite living in an age that believes, that truth no longer counts.
Yet in order to ‘contend for the faith’, we must know it in its entirety (adding nothing to it and taking nothing away Deut 4:2, Rev. 22:18-19) and obey it completely.
Barrie ON