Contend Earnestly For The Faith #2217

Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. (Jude 3, NKJV)

If we believe the Scriptures apply to us today, then we have been exhorted to “contend earnestly for the faith” along with the first-century saints who were “called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ” (Jude 1). Contending for the faith is not disconnected from our common salvation; it is integral to it. Failure to do so gives license to “ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness” and by their errors “deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 4). False doctrine destroys our common salvation in Christ. Therefore, we must agonize intensely (“contend earnestly”) for the faith, the gospel of our salvation (Eph. 1:13). We do not “contend earnestly” for political parties to save souls. Sin in politics ought to be exposed (Eph. 5:11). We do not “contend earnestly” for human wisdom to save souls. Sin in academia ought to be exposed (1 Cor. 3:18-21). We do not contend for an exclusively “positive” gospel that refuses to save souls by reproving and rebuking sin (2 Tim. 4:2-4). Declaring the “whole counsel of God” means we do not give quarter to sin wherever it is because souls are at stake, including ours (Acts 20:26-27). Join the struggle and hold up the hands of those who contend earnestly for the faith (1 Tim. 6:12).