JUDE 3: A DIVINE SIDETRACK

Verse 3: Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.

At the outset, Jude states his original intention for writing this epistle was to discuss “our common salvation.” The word common means something that is shared mutually “between two or more persons.”1 The main focus of our common salvation is the person and work of Jesus Christ. Believers today share in this common salvation by faith alone in Christ alone—the free gift of salvation apart from works, for Christ did all the work by bearing our sins on the cross and His resurrection from the dead to complete His work of salvation. Paul fully explains:

Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:1–4)

What aspect of our common salvation that he was intending to write about we will never know, since there arose a more important matter which he was constrained2  to discuss beginning in verse 4. One could envision Jude upon hearing of the infiltration of the false teachers (v.4), immediately clearing his desk top, reaching for parchment and pen and ink to begin writing this letter to his fellow believers. And since all Scripture is inspired by God the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16), Jude was compelled to reconsider the subject matter of his epistle. 

Presently he appeals to them to contend for the faith. Jude wants his readers “to exert intense effort on behalf of”3 the faith in order to be victorious. Just like two boxers who enter the boxing ring, they are called contenders—they are contending in order to win the competition. R.C.H. Lenski emphasizes that the object of our contending is the faith and not “against the heresies or heretics. The negative is implied, for one contends for something when there are antagonists.”4 The Apostle Paul states that we should be “striving together for the faith of the gospel (Philippians 1:27)” and to “fight the good fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12).” The words striving together and fight are from the same Greek root word as contend.

What is this faith which Jude implores us to contend for? The word faith has various inferences in Scripture. It can imply the faith one expresses in Christ for salvation (Ephesians 2:8). But it can also refer objectively to the content of that which is believed, body of faith or belief, doctrine.5 This is how it is used elsewhere in Scripture6 and what Jude is precisely referring to: the embodiment of absolute truth which encompasses the teachings of Christianity based upon a correct interpretation of Scripture.

Jude is careful to imply that this faith which we contend for is not something he or someone else cleverly devised. Instead the essential aspects of our faith have been handed down, passed on, transmitted,7 delivered to us. The question might be asked: “Who handed down this body of faith—the doctrines of the Christian faith?” The short answer is God, the Holy Spirit. He “guided in the choice of the words used”8 by the men who authored the original manuscripts of Scripture. Since Jude wrote near the close of the canon of the New Testament (John being the last), the corpus of the doctrinal writings of Paul, James, Peter and Hebrews were already in existence. And this is the faith, the body of doctrine to which Jude is referring.

Jude makes a special note of who this faith has been handed down to: the saints. The word saint is derived from the same root in the Greek meaning holy, set apart, sanctified, consecrated.9 W.E. Vine states that it

Fundamentally signifies “separated”, and hence, in Scripture in its moral and spiritual significance, separated from sin and therefore consecrated to God.10

 Mind you that saints is not an allusion to dead people who have been officially declared a “saint” by a religious organization. The New Testament writers recognized that all who believe in Christ are now saints, set apart from evil unto God in Christ (cf. Acts 9:13, 32, 41; Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2; Ephesians 1:1; Hebrews 13:24). Dr. Chafer points out:

The term never indicates personal character or worthiness. Being already set apart unto God in Christ, all Christians by so much are now saints from the moment they are saved. Sainthood, then, is not a future prospect. All believers are saints, positionally considered.11

Pay particular attention to the phrase “once for all.” It does not mean that our faith was given once for all the saints. However that it may be true that the Christian faith has been given to all the saints, this phrase denotes something very significant. It is the English translation of a single Greek word hápax (ἅπαξ) meaning once or once only. Vine states that once for all means that the content of our faith “is of perpetual validity, not requiring repetition.”12 MacArthur concisely explains the full intent of Jude’s choice of this word:

God’s revelation was delivered once as a unit, at the completion of the Scripture, and is not to be edited by either deletion or addition (cf. Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32; Proverbs 30:6; Revelation 22:18, 19). Scripture is complete, sufficient, and finished; therefore it is fixed for all time. Nothing is to be added to the body of the inspired Word because nothing else is needed.13

Now that Jude has explained exactly what we are to contend for, he will next divulge the reason we need to be victorious in contending for the faith.

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[1] Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition). New York: United Bible Societies, 1.791.

[2] Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament. Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, Jude 3.

[3] Louw, 1.495.

[4] Lenski, R.C.H. (2001). Commentary on the New Testament, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 11.610.

[5] Arndt, W., Gingrich, F. W., & Bauer, W. (1957). A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, p. 669.

[6] cf. Galatians 1:23; 3:23; Philippians 1:27; Ephesians 4:5; 1 Timothy 6:21; 2 Peter 1:1; 1 John 5:4; Jude 1:3, 20

[7] Arndt, p. 620.

[8] Chafer, Lewis Sperry (1976). Systematic Theology, Dallas, TX: Dallas Seminary Press, 1.71

[9] Zodhiates, S. (2000). The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, G40.

[10] Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W., Jr. (1996). Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville, TN: T. Nelson, 2.307.

[11] Chafer, 7.273.

[12] Vine, 2.445.

[13] MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, Jude 3.

  

© 2023 David M. Rossi