This is the sixth lesson in a series of lessons on the book of Jude. In this lesson I do an exposition of Jude 1:3.
Watch the video or scroll down to read a transcript.
Transcript:
Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. This is the sixth lesson in a series of lessons on the book of Jude. In this lesson I’m going to look at verse three and talk about contending for the faith.
In the first lesson I talked about why Jude was written and why it’s in the Bible. Jude recognized that people had crept into the church who were distorting grace and denying Jesus. He wrote to address those issues.
For this series of lessons, I’ve divided Jude into five sections. The first section is the introduction. The second section reminds us that Jesus is a judge. The third section is where Jude described the problem he was addressing. The fourth section is where Jude told us what our response as Christians should be to the problem he was addressing. The fifth section is the conclusion. In this lesson I’m looking at verse three which is part of the introduction.
In the introduction we learn about the author, the recipient, and the purpose or the reason this was written. Verses three and four tell us about the purpose, the reason Jude wrote this letter.
Let’s start by reading the first three verses.
Jude 1
Jude,
a slave of Jesus Christ
and brother of James,
to those called,
loved by God the Father,
and having been kept for Jesus Christ.
Jude 2
May
mercy,
peace,
and
love
be multiplied to you.
Jude 3
Beloveds,
making every effort to write to you
about our common salvation,
I felt the necessity to write to you
urging you to contend for the faith
which has been delivered over
once for all to the saints.
In verse three we have quite a few words, but the important words are the two lines in the middle: “I felt the necessity to write to you urging you to contend for the faith.” This is a very clear statement on why Jude wrote this letter.
Let’s go to the beginning of verse three. Jude started off addressing his readers as beloveds. The word beloved is from the Greek word agapetos. That’s from the same root word as the word agape, which is the word for love. People who are beloved are people who are loved.
Let’s look at some examples of the word agapetos as used in the New Testament.
1Th. 2:8 Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us.
Here, agapetos was translated as very dear. This indicates that beloved people are very dear.
Mark 12:6 “He had one more to send, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
Again, the idea of a beloved one is one who is very dear, one who is greatly loved.
In Jude 3 Jude used this word to address the people he was writing to, indicating to them that he loved them very dearly.
Next, he told them he had originally wanted to write to them about their common salvation.
Jude 3
Beloveds,
making every effort to write to you
about our common salvation,
Let’s talk about this idea of a common salvation. The word common comes from the Greek word koinos. That word was used in Mark.
Mark 7:2 and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is, unwashed.
In this verse the word koinos is translated as impure. In first century Judaism the Jews were very concerned about cleanliness. If something was koinos, it was common, it was not pure.
We see the word koinos in Acts.
Acts 2:44 And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common;
Here koinos is translated common. The context of this verse tells us that the early Christians shared their possessions and all their possessions were considered to be joint ownership.
It is this second definition of koinos that Jude had in mind in Jude 3 when he said
Jude 3
Beloveds,
making every effort to write to you
about our common salvation,
He meant that he and the people he was writing to were all saved and they had their salvation in common.
Let’s look at the word salvation. This is from the Greek word soteria.
Acts 27:34 “Therefore I encourage you to take some food, for this is for your preservation, for not a hair from the head of any of you will perish.”
In this verse the word soteria is translated preservation.
The context of this is Paul was on a ship and there was a storm. They were fearing for their lives. Paul encouraged them to eat so that they could continue to live. He wanted them to get the nourishment they needed to live. Paul promised them that none of them were going to perish.
Soteria is the idea of preserving something or keeping something alive.
Heb. 5:9 And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation,
In contrast to the verse in Acts where Paul was talking about preserving life here on Earth, this verse in Hebrews talks about eternal salvation. Jesus is the source of staying alive for eternity. We see something similar in 1Peter.
1Pet. 1:9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.
Again, this is not our physical body being preserved. This verse in 1 Peter is about our souls being preserved, or our souls being kept alive.
That’s the idea of salvation. Jude wanted to write about the salvation, the preservation of our lives that we all have in common. Instead, we see he felt the necessity to write to them urging them to contend for the faith.
Jude 3
Beloveds,
making every effort to write to you
about our common salvation,
I felt the necessity to write to you
urging you to contend for the faith
Let’s think about the concept of contend. The word contend indicates a little bit of conflict. It indicates that someone is required to put forth work and effort to accomplish something, defend something, or preserve something. In this case Jude urged his readers to contend for the faith. He urged them to fight for the faith.
Let’s define faith. We see a definition in Hebrews 11.
Heb. 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
There’s a misconception amongst many Christians that faith is a blind hope. That is not correct. Faith is based on facts and evidence that we haven’t seen with our own eyes. Let’s look at some examples of this.
Heb. 11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God,
We did not see God create the world, but there’s plenty of evidence around us indicating that God created the world. When we believe God created the world, we’re demonstrating faith because we believe even though we didn’t see it. We don’t believe it because we blindly believe it, we believe it because there’s evidence to believe it.
We see something similar a couple verses later.
Heb. 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household,
Noah had never seen a flood, but God told him one was coming. Noah believed God. By believing God, he demonstrated faith.
Now let’s look at some verses in the New Testament that talk about faith.
Col. 1:4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints;
This is a common usage of the word faith throughout the New Testament. This talks about us having faith in Christ Jesus.
1Timothy gives us a different usage of the word faith.
1Tim. 4:1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,
Here, the word faith is used as a synonym for Christianity. You could also say “the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from Christianity,” or, “they will fall away from their beliefs.”
This is how the word faith was used in Jude 3.
Jude 3
Beloveds,
making every effort to write to you
about our common salvation,
I felt the necessity to write to you
urging you to contend for the faith
Notice the word “the” before the word faith. “The faith” refers to our belief system, the gospel, Christianity. Jude was urging his readers to contend for the things we believe. He urged them to contend for the truth.
Jude also wrote the faith had been delivered over once for all to the saints.
Jude 3
Beloveds,
making every effort to write to you
about our common salvation,
I felt the necessity to write to you
urging you to contend for the faith
which has been delivered over
once for all to the saints.
Think about the word deliver. That comes from the Greek word paradidomi. That word is used in Matthew 25.
Matt. 25:14 “For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them.
The word entrusted is a translation of the Greek word paradidomi. The idea is this man took his possessions and distributed them to his slaves. They were caretakers of his possessions while he was on his journey.
In 1Corinthians 15 we see this word again.
1Cor. 15:3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
Paul had this truth and he delivered that truth, he communicated that truth, to other Christians. In a sense, when he delivered that truth, he was making these other people caretakers of that truth.
In Jude 1:3 we see that Jude urged his readers to contend for the faith, to contend for the truth, because the faith had been delivered over to the saints. It had been entrusted to the saints. We saints are caretakers of the truth.
Let’s talk about the word saints. The word saints comes from the Greek word hagios. We see this word used several times in Jude.
Jude 14 It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones,
Jude 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
The word hagios / holy is used to describe faith. The word hagios / holy is also used to describe Spirit.
The idea in Jude 1:3 is that saints are holy people.
Jude 3
Beloveds,
making every effort to write to you
about our common salvation,
I felt the necessity to write to you
urging you to contend for the faith
which has been delivered over
once for all to the saints.
Jude was talking about Christians.
Jude was urging his readers to contend for or fight for the faith and truth because this truth and faith had been delivered to Christians. They had been entrusted to Christians and we should contend and fight for the faith and truth that has been entrusted to us.
Let’s talk a little bit more about this concept of contend because this is something we see elsewhere in the New Testament.
2Cor. 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
Here, our life here on earth as Christians is described as warfare. As Christians, we’re not here to relax or have a good time. We are involved in warfare. We need to fight for and contend for the faith. We see something similar in Romans.
Rom. 13:12 The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
If we’re putting on armor, that means we’re involved in conflict.
Eph. 6:11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
Again, if we put on armor, that means we’re involved in conflict.
Eph. 6:13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.
In Jude 1:3 we see that Jude urged his readers to contend for the faith. The idea of contending for the faith indicates conflict, a little bit of fighting, and warfare. Indeed, as Christians we are involved in spiritual warfare. God has entrusted to us Christians the truth and the faith. There are many forces out there who are trying to destroy the faith. They’re trying to deny the truth. We as Christians need to contend for the faith. We need to fight for the truth and defend the truth.
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