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
Dear Heavenly
Father, please encourage me in my study today.
Help the Word live in me so I can be a man of God. Please keep me humble. Encourage my wife and kids and help us all to
do Your will. In Jesus' name I pray,
Amen.
The book of Jude now
transitions from the greeting into the beginning of the letter. As we discussed previously, the book of Jude
is warning to the church about false teachers and beliefs. The Scripture today begins that
exhortation. To bring deeper
understanding to the text, let's examine some key words. In some Bibles, there will be little
footnotes identifying companion or similar verses to the one being studied. As we study these key words, we'll also
review the referenced verses.
"Diligent"
in the Greek is spoude which means
enthusiasm, earnestness, swiftly, haste.
In the NASB translation, "every effort" is used instead of
diligent. In the NLT, NIV, and ESV
versions, they use different forms of eager which are eagerly planning, very
eager, and eager. Jude made every
effort, eagerly planning to write to the church swiftly with earnestness and
enthusiasm about salvation.
"Common"
in the Greek is koinos
which means shared in Jude but in other parts of the Bible it means unclean,
ordinary, stripped of specialness, reducing what God calls special. The only other time koinos is used for shared
is by Paul in Titus 1:4 which states "To Titus, a true son
in our common faith:
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ our Savior." It's
interesting that Paul uses the same greeting in Titus as Jude uses, "Grace,
mercy, and peace." With
great eagerness, Jude writes to the church about their shared salvation, the
same salvation provided by Christ.
"Salvation"
in the Greek is soteria which means
deliverance, preservation, safety, rescue out of destruction, that which
conduces to the soul's safety or salvation, unto the attainment of salvation.
Jude writes about the salvation that we share, God's rescue which delivers
believers out of destruction and into His safety.
"Necessary"
in the Greek is anagke which means
constraint, compulsion, there is a need to.
It is the cognate of two words.
One that means "arm" and the other which means "a
bent/uplifted arm poised to meet a pressing need." It is imperative for the church to address
the immediate need to root out false teachings.
"Exhorting"
in the Greek is parakaleo which means
entreat, admonish, comfort, invite, beg, encourage, console, urge, appeal. From the word para
which is "from close behind" and kaleo
which is "to call." The word
gives a sense of believers offering up evidence that stands up in God's
court. Jude is urgently appealing,
begging them to understand and act on the words in this letter.
"Contend
earnestly" in the Greek is epagonizomai
is made up of two words. Epi which means focused on and agon which means a contest, competition. Jude is urgently appealing, begging them to
stuggle against whatever is not faith in God.
There are several companion verses for this word that will bring even
deeper meaning. 1 Timothy 6:12 states "Fight the good fight of faith, lay
hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good
confession in the presence of many witnesses." 2 Timothy 4:7 states
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the
faith." Luke 13:24 states
"Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will
seek to enter and will not be able."
1 Corinthians 9:25 states "And everyone who competes for the prize
is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we
for an imperishable
crown." And finally
Philippians 1:27 states "Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of
Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your
affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for
the faith of the gospel." We must
battle daily against the world. We must
fight with our faith to be witnesses of the light. We stand up in this world not for worldly
gain, but for God. We earnestly contend
for God.
"Faith" in
the Greek is pistis which means faith,
trust, confidence, fidelity, gift of God, can't be produced by man, persuaded,
come to trust, distinct from human belief, guarantee, to know God's preferred
will. John Calvin wrote that Faith is always
the work of God and involves hearing His voice – whereby the believer lays hold
of His preferred-will. In Scripture,
faith and belief are not exactly the same.
Faith is a work of God and never the work of man. Belief is an action of man. Therefore, Faith is beyond and greater than
belief. Romans 14:23 states
"whatever is not from faith is sin."
Hebrews 11:6 states "But without faith it is impossible to please
Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder
of those who diligently seek Him."
Believe in this verse is pisteuo
which is persuading oneself (human believing) contrasted with being persuaded
by the Lord (faith believing). Faith is
beyond belief. We believe in Jesus
Christ's work on the cross. We have
faith that God saves.
"Once for
all" in the Greek is hadax which
means once more, never need repetition, perpetual validity. "Delivered" in the Greek is paradidomi which means hand down, hand over,
pledge, entrust, commit, to give over to one's power. "Saints" in the Greek is hagios which means set apart by God, sacred,
different, distinct, distinguished, pure, sinless, upright, exclusively
His. This faith never changes and is
always true and valid. This faith is
committed to those different than this world, set apart by God, who are
exclusively God's people. Please make
note, God's people are an exclusive group.
That flies in the face of today's preconceived notions that all are
included, that there are many ways to eternal life, and God is wrong to exclude
anyone. Remember Luke 13:24,
"Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will
seek to enter and will not be able."
The Christian life
will not be easy. You will have to fight
for it. However, be encouraged. If you believe in Jesus Christ's work, you have
been rescued by God from destruction into eternal life. This rescue is permanent and valid.
Beloved, while I was
making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I was compelled to
write to you [urgently] appealing that you fight strenuously for [the
defense of] the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints [the
faith that is the sum of Christian belief that was given verbally to
believers].
Amplified Bible
