Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
“Be dogmatic, just not bulldogmatic!” one of my mentors used to say.1 We must earnestly contend for the Christian faith with all humility and grace, and without making mountains out of molehills.
Dogma (from Gk. dokein, “seem good, think”) has come to mean “a religious truth established by Divine Revelation and defined by the Church,”2 of doctrines concerning faith or morals formally stated and authoritatively proclaimed by a church.”3
In the apostles’ writings and afterward, a doctrinal tradition in the form of sound words has now been well established, built upon the Old Testament, embodied in the New Testament, and expounded more systematically in the best creeds, confessions, and catechisms. This tradition of dogmatic truth requires intense struggle for its preservation, propagation, and perpetuation. We must learn from previous generations, contend with our own, and teach the next. The struggle is most worthwhile because it is for God’s glory and humanity’s salvation. Jude 3 guides us into God’s will concerning these things.
Its Foundation
Apologists must first be students of good spiritual character instructed in the fundamental truths of the Christian religion.
A Community of Real Christians
“Beloved” designates those “in a special, close relationship with another,”4 here, God, and perhaps the writer as a man of God. While “beloved” is a term of endearment, it is not sentimental in the NT but a technical term for real Christians as opposed to the lost. Jude refers to “the common salvation,” that is, the salvation which we beloved ones all have and experience together. The struggle for dogma properly belongs to real Christians and the true Church. When apostate Christendom (e.g., the RCC) and unbelieving seminary professors (e.g., theological liberals who undermine Scripture) arrogate this task to themselves, it is a farce (cf. Psa 50.16).
A Commitment to Basic Discipleship
Jude explains his original intent for this epistle—“to write unto you of the common salvation.” The pastor-teacher must be diligent in this ordinary ministry of the Word, emphasizing the gospel. Scripture’s message is redemptive-historical, soteriological, Christocentric, and eschatological. These are inexhaustible themes. Preaching them is never superfluous; it lays a foundation for all Christian thinking and living.
Its Necessity
Yet there is more. The Church must be equipped to interface with opponents in their competing beliefs.
A Requirement of the Circumstances
“It was needful for me to write unto you . . . that ye should earnestly contend for the faith” because “there are certain ungodly men crept in unawares . . . turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness” (v. 4). The presence and activity of crafty false teachers necessitate the Church’s militant vigilance in guarding the deposit entrusted to her (1 Tim 6.20). Contention will cease in the new creation when all liars are excluded.
A Responsibility of the Christians
Jude judged it necessary to “exhort” (“strongly encourage or urge someone to do something”5) his readers “to contend earnestly,” a single Greek word of great intensity that means “to fight for, to make a strenuous or labored effort in something’s behalf.”6 This is a difficult ministry requiring sustained self-denial and sacrifice, perhaps even to martyrdom.
Pastors have special but not exclusive responsibility for this ministry clearly laid upon the Church as a whole with implications for her ordinary members. “Ye should” do this! An ignorant congregation is vulnerable to wolves in sheep’s clothing. A faithful pastor aims to sharpen her discernment.
Its Object
The aim of principled contention is most vital and spiritual, even the extension of Christ’s prophetic influence and overthrow of Satan’s lies.
Defense of the Historic Faith
“The faith” is objective, that is, not the believing per se, but the substance of doctrinal truth that has been believed. That this was “once [for all, NKJV] delivered [or, entrusted] to the saints” implies its historic, unchanging nature, and the necessity of preserving the ancient, apostolic tradition, since the apostles were the Christ-appointed preacher-teachers of the gospel and its interpretation. That tradition is preserved in the NT Scriptures which envelop and affirm the OT. The post-apostolic Church’s teaching must always be tested against this perfect, permanent standard (sola Scriptura).
Demolition of Heretical Challenges
Faithfulness requires more than positive exposition and advocacy of the truth. We are called to destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God (2 Cor 10.5 ESV). Pastors especially must be able to convict those who contradict sound doctrine (Tit 1.9), even though this prophetic assault upon error can be expected to incite hostility against us, not only from adherents but some in the church who do not appreciate all our responsibilities in contending for the faith. Ω
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1 From 1989-1991, Pastor David L. Cornell (1920-2010) of York, ME.
2 Cross, F. L., & Livingstone, E. A. (Eds.). (2005). In The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3rd ed. rev.). Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.
3 MWCD (11th ed.).
4 Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Klippenstein, R., & Hurst, R. (Eds.). (2014). Lexham Theological Wordbook. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
5 COED.
6 Logos Bible Software, Bible Sense Lexicon.