January 09, 2023 – Monday
Jude 1:3 NIV
3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.
Jude 1:3 NET
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.
Jude 1:3 RGT
3 Beloved, while I diligently wrote to you of the common salvation, it became necessary for me to write to you in exhortation, so that you would earnestly contend for the faith which was once and for all given to the saints.
Comments
Both the NIV and NET use the word compelled while the Revised Geneva Translation (RGT) uses became necessary instead. If you go here you will find very few use the word compelled, but all others are synonyms or near synonyms for compelled. To see why compelled is as valid as the other go here and look under HELPS Word-Studies you will even find compulsion, compulsory, and others.
The question upon reading the verse though is what would compel Jude to change his desired subject of our common salvation to writing to urge, encourage, or exhort his readers to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. The answer to that question is in the very next verse, 4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
What does Jude want us to do? To contend for the faith! Contend for is a graphic phrase inferring standing for something, to fight in its defense. What we are to contend for is the faith, our faith, in the grace we receive through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for our sins and that He rose on the third day – that is what is believed by all Christians. The reality of our common faith, not some various doctrines, but Jesus and Jesus crucified or as Paul put it in 1 Corinthians 2:2, For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
The faith, that which is believed by Christians: not the expression of the doctrine, nor the holding of it, but the substance of it. There are those who would have us argue endlessly about any number of things while virtually forgetting what Jesus did for all of us on the cross. Jude wants us to contend for the faith, not argue endlessly about the order of worship or any minutiae while forgetting Jesus and Jesus crucified as Paul put it. In other words we are to keep our eyes on Jesus and on the cross, as well as His empty tomb. That is the core of our faith and our salvation.
Bottom Line: Know what matters, truly matters and be ready to contend for it, especially to those who would find ways to deny or pervert it.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, Help us to keep our focus on what Jesus did for us on the cross and the reality of His rising on the third day as we await His return. – In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
RileyD, nwJ
Riley D. Driver – Pastor
Calvary Chapel of Dayton
in Beavercreek