1. Jude 1:3 (ESV)
  2. Application

The Need to Contend

Jude 1:3 (ESV)

3 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.

We do not need to add to the faith with new dreams or visions from God today, but we do need everyone to be contending. Jude says that the faith was once for all delivered to all the saints—all the holy ones—that is to all the Christians. Defence of the faith is not only a responsibility for pastors, elders, and deacons but for all of us—if we belong to Christ, no matter whether we are still at school or married with children, we must contend for the faith. As prophets it is not our job to seek new revelations but to testify to what has already been revealed, what Christ has done. Contending for the faith is part of the prophetic task that every single Christian believer has been given.

This contending is critically important because Satan is constantly attempting to silence true doctrine and thwart God’s plans. He wants people to change the faith and rob it of its power. As we see in Jude 1:4, there were people who crept into the church and started teaching false doctrine. There will always be pressure from our sinful natures, the world, and the devil on our church life. Even the first generation of Christian believers in the early churches struggled with errors and heresies. They may have learned truth at the feet of the apostles but that did not mean they had everything sorted. They needed to contend if they were going to persevere.