Jude and ‘the Faith’

“… contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.”

Numerous passages in our English Bibles refer to “the faith”, as in the sentence fragment from Jude I have quoted above, which may be the most familiar case in all of scripture. Even the casual reader can quickly see Jude means something slightly different than James does when he says, “Faith without works is dead.”

That is to say, he is not talking about the act of believing, but rather about the things believed.

You Can’t Contend for Something You Can’t Define

When Jude appealed to his readers to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints, he evidently expected them to understand what he meant. After all, you can hardly contend for something you are unable to define, explain or critically examine. Moreover, other NT passages urge followers of Christ to behaviors that require the same sort of knowledge. Revelation commends those who “keep” the faith. Paul commanded Titus to rebuke the Cretan believers in order that they might be “sound” in the faith. Elsewhere, he writes about “striving side by side” for the faith. Again, he writes to Timothy concerning men “corrupted in mind and disqualified” regarding the faith and others who have “denied” the faith.

None of these passages neatly define “the faith” for us, but all imply some sort of definition exists and that the average first century believer understood — or should have understood — what it meant. By extension, you and I should too. All kinds of people today believe various things, but Jude is saying there is a package of truth common to all Christians that it’s necessary to fight for. Moreover, at the time he wrote this package was already in the hands of the average believer, never to be updated or modified in any way. “The faith” was not something they prayed for or anticipated receiving, but something they already had.

The Faith and Revelation

It’s often said that all truth is God’s truth, but the way the apostles refer to “the faith” indicates they have specific truth content in mind. For Jude, “the faith” was not synonymous with the entire word of God or divine revelation generally. The faith he wrote about had its basis in revelation, but it is much more specific than that.

For example, Jude had no need to tell his readers to contend for most of the truths we find in the Old Testament. Christianity and pious Judaism are almost indistinguishable as to morality. Christians and Jews already agreed about the truth and value of the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. Nevertheless, believing what Moses, David or Isaiah wrote could not save the first century Jew. He remained as hell-bound as ever despite clinging to 90% of the Old Testament truths as vigorously and enthusiastically as any early Christian. This remains true today. The oft-used phrase “Judeo-Christian” reminds us of what believers have in common with Jews: the Hebrew Old Testament. The words “the faith” remind us of the vast gulf between predictions or illustrations and the inexpressibly superior reality to which they point us.

Saul, the Hebrew of Hebrews, tried unsuccessfully to obliterate the faith, as he writes in Galatians: “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” I have no doubt Saul believed every Old Testament claim and promise that the Object of the Christian faith has now fulfilled even as he persecuted Christians to death for doing the same. The problem is he disagreed about the correct application of those claims and promises. He believed in the Old Testament teaching concerning Messiah. He did not believe the promised Messiah had already come. Faced with the facts about Christ, he rejected them until they became personal experience.

Getting to the Fundamentals

What distinguishes “the faith” from revelation generally? The apostle Paul, heavily involved in delivering the faith to the saints, talks about what it was he passed along to the believers in Corinth:

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.”

This is the core of the faith: the One to whom Moses, Psalms and Prophets all point died, was buried, was raised, and appeared to confirm that fact to the world. Those who believe this and acknowledge him as Lord receive forgiveness of sins.

Implications and Emanations

Now, all kinds of practical implications follow from believing these facts, and the New Testament epistles detail them for us. If indeed God raised Christ from the dead, then those who have put their trust in him for salvation must also trust his word through his apostles concerning how we ought to live in order to please him. We should also trust what they say about the church, about appropriate worship, about what God has in store for his children and for this world, and about innumerable other things of importance. To the extent that we fail to understand and obey all the things that logically follow from the faith, we will be weaker in it.

However, we are not saved by believing or practicing all the implications, emanations and logical conclusions that follow from these core truths, no matter how pleasing to God and how useful to us such beliefs and practices may be. Christians who disagree about such details remain Christians, though those who get them wrong may find themselves confused, stunted, inconsistent or immature.

Disagree about whether Jesus was the Christ, or whether God raised him from the dead, however, and you are denying the bedrock on which human salvation depends.

Denying Our Only Master and Lord

When Jude says, “Contend for the faith”, he has in mind these inescapable essentials. He is not saying his readers need to contend for women’s head coverings in church meetings, for using wine in the Lord’s Supper rather than grape juice, for a particular interpretation of prophetic truth or even for practices like believer’s baptism by immersion and doctrines like the inspiration of scripture. All these things and innumerable others matter in varying degrees. All are worth discussing, understanding and practicing faithfully. Not one of them saved me.

What was Jude’s bone of contention with evil men who creep into churches unnoticed? He says they “deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ”. That’s about as basic as it gets. That’s the core of the faith.

Naturally, all kinds of bad practices follow.