Wednesday, November 29
Contend
Scripture: Jude
Jude 3 Dear friends, although I have been eager to write to you about our common salvation, I now feel compelled instead to write to encourage you to contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.
Observation
After a greeting, Jude goes straight to his reason for writing: “to encourage you to contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.” He then goes on to describe and warn the false teachers/prophets who have infiltrated the church.
The word “contend earnestly” (GK epagonizomai) is a strengthened form of the word that means “to struggle, fight; to exert intense effort on behalf of something.” It’s a serious word. Jude is saying that their faith was under attack and it required intense and earnest effort on their part to protect it. It’s a battle!
The NET translation notes say that “the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” implies written records of the gospel message, most likely the gospels and letters that comprise our NT. Thus, this small letter emphasizes the necessity of clinging to and defending the authority of Scripture.
Application
The Christian faith laid out in Scripture has been under attack since day one. In every age, the battle is engaged, from the first century to our own. It is incumbent upon us to recognize where and how the faith is being attacked, and to “contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.”
Notice that the faith is entrusted to us. We must be grateful for the generations of Christians before us who have defended the faith and maintained the Great Tradition of orthodoxy in the face of constant attack. And we must join them in contending for the faith to pass it on to the generations after us.
This is the job of brilliant theologians like Tim Keller and NT Wright, and apologists like Francis Schaeffer and Rebecca McLaughlin (to name only a few). But it is also the job of every pastor to be grounded in Scripture and orthodoxy and to ground his people in it as well.
And just as importantly, it is the job of every Christian to know Scripture and live it out, because this battle is fought not just in the halls of academia, but in households, neighborhoods and workplaces as we share the gospel.
The gospel is the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16). When churches abandon the gospel, the faith grounded in Scripture, they wither and die. But when we embrace and contend for the faith, we grow and pass it on to the next generation.
Know what you believe and why you believe it. Be grounded in Scripture.
Prayer: Lord, thank You for the reminder by Jude to contend for the faith—a faith grounded in Scripture. Help us, as the generations before, to know our Bibles and pass on our faith to the next generations.
More: Job 34-35, Psalm 138, Romans 5