“Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” – Jude 1:3
As great as it would be to simply sit back, relax, and enjoy our faith for the rest of our lives, that hasn’t been an option for 2000 years! It certainly isn’t an option today! The New Testament consistently warns and commands Christians to do what Jude says here: contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. If Jesus is your Lord and Savior, then this applies to you because you’re one of the saints!
This isn’t a call to be contentious or obnoxious. Rather, it’s a call to understand, believe, explain, and defend our unchanging faith in Jesus Christ and what it teaches us about how to live. Throughout history, orthodox faith in Christ has been chipped away at, added to, diluted, and distorted, particularly by people inside the church. This is precisely the threat Jude addresses.
Sometimes the distortion of the faith looks like easy assurances that sin doesn’t really matter because of God’s love and grace. Wrong! Our faith calls us to pursue holiness as modeled and commanded by Jesus!
Sometimes it looks like extra burdens, rules, procedures, and legalities beyond God’s grace. Wrong! Our faith utterly rejects legalism.
Sometimes it looks like denying or reducing the nature of Jesus, perhaps diminishing Him to being merely a great teacher or moral example. Wrong! Our faith knows that Jesus is God the Son, eternal and fully God, yet come in the flesh and fully human.
The list of distortions goes on and on. The threats won’t cease until Christ returns. Each generation of believers must contend for the historic faith delivered by Christ and recorded in Scripture. It’s our turn to do our part! If you call yourself a follower of Jesus, study and understand the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. Then contend for it – in your own heart and mind, in that hearts and minds of your brothers and sisters in Christ, in the churches across this world. Do so with love, humility, and firmness. It is necessary!