Study in the Epistle of Jude # 7: Verse 3

by Chris McCann

EBible Fellowship (http://www.ebiblefellowship.com)

Welcome to the Electronic Bible Fellowship’s Bible study time. In our present study, we are going through the book of Jude, the little Epistle that is only one chapter long. We are presently in verse 3 of Jude. Last time, we were looking at the meaning of the first part of verse 3, which states:

Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation…

We saw that this word “common” is a word that God associates with the Gentiles and with the unsaved of the world. We reviewed Acts 10:11-13 where we saw that unclean animals were lowered down on a sheet and God commanded Peter to rise, kill, and eat. Peter responded in Acts 10:14, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.”

The spiritual teaching of God commanding Peter to eat of those unclean animals was that it was now God’s timing for the Gospel to go into the entire world. Now was the time that the Gentiles, likewise, would become recipients of the grace of God. They also would come into the newly formed churches and congregations and become part of the body of Christ, and they would find salvation just as readily as the Jews. God was indicating that He was and is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34).

This is the common salvation. Salvation is available to every single group of people in the world (1 John 4:14). God is not interested in someone’s nationality, color of skin, language, or gender. None of these things play any part in salvation. It is a common salvation. Salvation is available to any individual whom God is going to save. His people, the elect of God, will come forth from just about every group of people that one could think of. It is not just the Jews and it is not just blond-haired Gentiles, but it is anyone, anywhere. Anybody could be one of God’s elect. God did not choose people to salvation based upon skin color or intelligence. He used no such criteria. God chose people according to His good pleasure (Ephesians 1:5). Therefore, He saves people from every nation (Revelation 5:9). That is why we read here that Judas is giving diligence “to write unto you of the common salvation.” Then he says:

…it was needful for me to write unto you…

We have already seen that this language of being “needful” has to do with God’s constraining power as He would move His prophets to write down the Scriptures (2 Peter 1:21). The Spirit of God moved in Jude to write this Epistle. It was not coming from Jude’s mind, but the words we find here are coming from the Mind of God. So, it was definitely needful for Jude to write unto us as he has done. He could not have resisted God—no one can resist God (Romans 9:18-19). So it is with salvation also. No one can resist God when it comes to God’s decision to save a person.

Then it goes on in verse 3 to say:

…and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

We are going to spend a little bit of time looking at this part of verse 3, and we will try to look in-depth at what “the faith” is. What is “the faith” that God is talking about here? We are going to look, as we search this out, at the Bible’s teaching on faith, especially saving faith, and just exactly how this plays a part in the salvation process. So, over the next several studies, we will be looking at faith, “the faith.” We are also trying to answer the question of what is, as it is stated here in verse 3, “the faith” that was once delivered unto the saints? We are going to try to find out just exactly what faith is in view here.

How could “the faith” be delivered to the saints, and how could it be only once delivered? This is a very curious kind of a verse because if we understand “the faith” to be the Bible itself, it does not make any sense. In this manner, it just does not make any sense that God would speak of the Bible or the Word of God as being “the faith.” We can understand that it is “the faith,” but the part that does not make sense to us is that it was “once delivered unto the saints.”

If we are looking at the Bible as qualifying for “the faith” here, we know that the Bible was never just once delivered. The Bible was written by the prophets of God over the span of approximately 1,500 years. It was handed down from generation to generation, again and again. The Word of God, the Bible, was delivered to the saints from the time of Moses, down through the Judges, to the Kings of Israel and David, and so forth. The Word of God was delivered repeatedly to the saints of God, and the saints are the true believers. Therefore, the Bible itself does not qualify as the answer to the question of who or what exactly “the faith” is.

What about just the Gospel message itself (not necessarily the Word of God in that sense)? The Gospel is the truth that we are sinners who are under the wrath of God and subject to spend an eternity in Hell unless we find a Savior. It is the truth that Christ is that Savior and that He came to save His people from their sins and from the wrath of God. Does the Gospel itself qualify?

Well, the Gospel is in view here, but not in that sense. We cannot say that the message of the Gospel was once delivered unto the saints, because it also has been repeated and repeated. It has probably been one of the most repeated things in the world as men of God have handed down this information to descending generations. It is constantly being delivered unto the saints, so that also does not fit the verse. So, we cannot say it is the Bible that is “the faith” that is in view here. Nor can we say that it is the Gospel message itself that is “the faith” that is in view here. These things do not qualify, because they were not just “once delivered unto the saints.”

What else then could it be? Could it be church tradition? Could it be the teachings of our forefathers as they have outlined what faithful, Biblical Christianity is in their written confessions and creeds? Is this the faith that we are to adhere to that was “once delivered unto the saints”?

Again, no, this fails to meet the qualifications of this verse. This information which is outside of the boundaries of the Bible itself, which is found in church history and in theological writings, also was repeatedly handed down through the generations and passed on from father to son and so on. So, no, these writings are also not “the faith” that is in view here. They, also, could not be said to be “once delivered unto the saints.” So, we are left scratching our heads and wondering, “What is this faith? What is this faith that God is talking about and that we should earnestly contend for?”

We skipped over one part of the verse where it says:

…and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend…

“Earnestly contend for the faith.” A root word of this “earnestly contend,” which basically is a combination of two Greek words that have formed into one word, is found in 1 Timothy 6:12, where we read:

Fight the good fight of faith…

The word “fight” is a key part of this word “earnestly contend.” To earnestly contend for or to earnestly fight is the same idea that we find in 1 Timothy 6:12 where we find the words, “Fight the good fight of faith.” Faith is in view. And here in Jude 3:

…and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend [or fight] for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

And then back in 1 Timothy 6:12, it goes on to say:

…lay hold on eternal life…

“Eternal life”—so the idea of fighting the good fight of faith, of earnestly contending for the faith, is all about laying hold on eternal life. This definitely has to do with salvation. We are not surprised by this at all, because we know that God refers to faith in Ephesians 2:8, where He says:

For by grace are ye saved through faith…

Faith is essential in the matter of salvation. No wonder we should fight and lay hold on eternal life and earnestly contend for the faith. But the kind of language that leaves us with the impression that we have to do something with our salvation or that we have to stir ourselves up somehow and grab hold of faith is a trap that many have fallen into today. They believe that the faith that saves them is their own faith, and that they have to stir up and develop and come forth themselves with a faith whereby they can lay hold on eternal life. They come to the conclusion that they have to grab hold of Christ by faith and then they will find salvation. That is not the idea that God is trying to tell us.

God reveals to us in Colossians 1:29, where the word “fight” is translated as striving, the following:

Whereunto I also labour, striving [or fighting] according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

If we do earnestly contend for the faith and eventually end up fighting the good fight of faith, we have to realize that it is not coming from ourselves at all, but it is according to His working. God works in us mightily to reach out and lay hold on eternal life in this kind of a way.

We are going to slow down a little bit in this study and follow this word “faith” in a few places to see where it leads us. One verse we need to look at is a verse that most people are familiar with. In Romans 5:1, it says:

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

Here we have the great cry of the reformation, as the reformers (especially individuals like Martin Luther) began to understand that it is by faith that a man is justified and made right in the sight of God. It is by faith that an individual is saved, not through indulgences or through the work of the church in any way. It is by faith. “By faith!” was the cry of the reformation.

This is totally and completely true—that a man is justified by faith. A sinner is saved by faith and by faith alone. Nothing else saves. It is by faith that a sinner can find salvation and receive the gift of eternal life and have this peace with God that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7). However, even though the reformers made great progress in coming to this conclusion and in reaching this point of understanding that sinners are saved by faith and by faith alone, they failed on one point.

The statement that we are justified by faith alone is incomplete—there is some ingredient missing. It would be more Biblical and more faithful to say that a sinner is justified by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. We are justified by faith and faith alone, but it is not our faith or the sinner’s faith. It is not the faith of the man who is dead in sin, or the woman who is dead in sin (Ephesians 2:1, Colossians 2:13). It is not their faith. They have no faith. They cannot muster up any faith for salvation, because justification comes by the faith of Christ (Galatians 2:16).

This whole idea of justification sounds very legal and it is a legal term. It almost makes people step back and look at it as though it is kind of mysterious. We are justified by faith, but if we examine this idea of justification and if we look at some of the Bible’s language as God speaks of being justified, we get a very clear picture of what God means when He says that we are justified by faith. For example, if we continue reading in Romans 5 to verse 9, it says:

Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

We are reading about justification here just as we did in verse 1, where God said that sinners are justified by faith. But here, the justification is speaking of His blood. It is just another synonym for saying the same thing—faith saves; His blood saves. We are justified by the work of Christ.

Let us turn over to Titus. In Titus 3:6-7 we read:

Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Justification is in view again, and this is speaking of how someone becomes saved just as Romans 5:9 and Romans 5:1 did. But here, it states that we are justified by grace. And God says that it is by His grace. We are justified by His grace. This is referring to Christ’s grace. We are justified by blood, by His blood. This refers to the blood that Jesus shed on the Cross while giving up His life, as He died the second death (Revelation 20:14) and experienced the equivalent of an eternity in Hell for the sins of His people. This is what justifies a man or a woman. This is what justifies sinners—His grace, His blood.

However, when it comes to faith, man does not see the word “His” there. We do not see it there in Romans 5:1, do we? And so, man thinks that he has an opening and that he can insert some of his own works and actions and thereby claim just a little tiny bit of credit. Man can play a part in this salvation plan after all, can he not? It does not say, “by His faith” in Romans 5:1. It just says that we are justified by faith. Man in his perverse rebellion would not dare to say that we were justified by Christ’s blood, but we can also add just a little pinprick of our own blood to the mix and become justified. God has prevented that in Romans 5:9 by using the word “His.” We are justified by His blood. Now if God had said justified by blood, maybe man would try to insert a little of his own blood there, but God prevented that.

Also, man in his perverse rebellion does not try to add a little of his own grace as we read in Titus 3:6-7. We are justified by His grace, and man has not yet figured out how he can add a little bit of grace to his own salvation. That is not possible because grace is the mercy of God as He has granted us forgiveness that we do not deserve. Man cannot grant himself any forgiveness in this manner. Man leaves that alone as well, and he does not try to say that he is saved by the grace of God but also a little bit of his own grace. No, it is clearly understood that we are justified by Christ’s blood. We are justified by Christ’s grace. Our justification, in other words, is in those two cases by Christ alone, and man plays absolutely no part. However, God forgot to place the word “His” in verse 1, did He not? No! God, of course, does not forget anything. God does not overlook anything, but He did leave it out. If we turn back to Habakkuk 2:4, we read:

Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.

The just or the justified shall live; they will find salvation and will receive the gift of eternal life by His faith. God has it here. He wrote it down. It is in the Bible. He does not have to write it in every single instance where justification comes up. He expects man to search the Scriptures (2 Timothy 2:15). He expects and holds man accountable and responsible to search these things out, and yet God left out the word “His” in Romans 5:1. So, Romans 5:1 becomes a testing program and a snare to many who are looking to add some work of their own to salvation. They are looking to add just a little pinprick of blood, but they cannot because God said “His blood.” They would like to add a little bit of their own grace, but they cannot because they are not in any kind of a position to bestow grace upon themselves. However, God says that we are justified by faith, and so man says, “Aha, there is my entry, my way of adding just a little bit of something to this salvation plan.” That is a great trap and a great error. We play no part in our salvation. We are justified by His blood. We are justified by His grace. We are one hundred percent, completely, absolutely justified by the faith of Christ.

Next time, Lord willing, we are going to look a little bit more at this question, and for several studies we are going to get into this whole topic of saving faith. We will try to deal with as much subject matter on this issue as we can.