THE CONTENDERS
The biggest fight is here and you are a contender.
The book of Jude was written “to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ.” In other words, it was written to believers.
Jude started out to write about our common salvation, but was then compelled to exhort us to contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the Saints.
As always, we will look at the original Greek and Hebrew words to get a better understanding of this exhortation to believers, beginning with verse 3: “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.” (Emphasis mine.)
The Greek word for exhorting you is parakaleō. In the Blue Letter Bible Outline for Biblical Use we see “to call to one's side, call for, summon. To address, speak to, (call to, call upon), which may be done in the way of exhortation, entreaty, comfort, instruction, etc., to admonish, exhort, to beg, entreat, beseech, to strive to appease by entreaty, to console, to encourage and strengthen by consolation, to comfort, to receive consolation, be comforted, to encourage, strengthen,exhorting and comforting and encouraging, to instruct, teach.”
Anyone familiar with the Greek word for Holy Spirit, parakletos, will see the connection, which Strong’s Concordance defines as “intercessor, consoler, advocate, counselor.”
The Hebrew word for this parakletos is nahan and means “sigh, breathe, strongly pity, console, ease.” It’s where the name Noah comes from which means “this one will comfort.” God’s Word has/is comfort. Even though there might be discomfort in the task ahead, there is comfort in God’s Word and from the Holy Spirit, our Comforter.
We certainly need the Holy Spirit as we contend for the faith.
The next word to consider is earnestly contend which in Greek is epagonizomai and Strong’s defines it as “to struggle for:—earnestly contend for.” The Blue Letter Bible Outline for Biblical Usage lists “to contend with adversaries, to endeavor with strenuous zeal, strive: to obtain something.” This word was usually used to describe an athlete striving with extreme intensity to win the victory in a physical competition. The Amplified Bible translates it “fight strenuously (for the defense of) the faith.” We see the idea of a contender giving everything he has, holding nothing back, in order to win the fight.
Next, let’s look closer at what we are contending for, the faith. Got Questions defines the faith as “the saving truth of Jesus Christ and His teachings .”(1) The Greek word for faith is pistis. The Blue Letter Bible list the following as definitions: “conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man's relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it.”
1. relating to God
1. the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ
2. relating to Christ
1. strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God
3. the religious beliefs of Christians
4. belief with the predominate idea of trust (or confidence) whether in God or in Christ, springing from faith in the same.”
The most important thing to understand about faith is the Object of our faith. Faith in Jesus is what defines our faith. Jesus is why we contend. 2 Corinthians 11:3-4 says, “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!”
In Jude’s time, and all throughout history and especially now, there are those who claim to have new revelations from God. Hebrews 1:1-4 says, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” NKJV (Emphasis mine.)
1 Thessalonians 2:13 says, “For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.” NKJV (Emphasis mine.)
This is very important to understand. God spoke in different ways throughout the different dispensations of time. But now we have the written Word of God which is referred to as the canon of Scripture and this is the final authority for us as believers. This is all we need. We don’t need anymore revelations, because we have the living Word of God, the Bible. John tells us in John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Jesus is the Word, He has given us the full message of truth in His Word and we need no “new” revelation. One problem with someone thinking they have a new revelation of God is how do you authenticate it? How do you know it is from God or just your own thoughts? How do you know it didn’t come from the “angel of light?” God speaks to us through His Word and that’s how we can authenticate that what we are hearing from Him is true. Is He speaking through His Word? Also, we can’t go by our feelings. Feelings can’t be trusted. They can change on a dime. The Word of God is steadfast and remains the same forever. God and His Word is the only thing that can be trusted.
When apostasy arises, and it has, when false teachers emerge, and they have in great numbers, when the truth of God is attacked, and it has been in magnitude, it is past time to fight for the faith. But we can’t fight if we don’t even recognize the lies and the false teachers with their false teachings. How do these false teachers come in? They creep, so as not to be noticed. They are stealth. They come in with a different gospel and a different Jesus, but they are so very close to the real thing that it’s hard to detect. It’s about a lot of truth with some big lies mixed in so that it looks very much like truth. But it’s not. Paul and Peter warned us about these false teachers and how they will operate in the last days. Let’s look at some of those descriptions and warnings.
1 Timothy 4:1: “Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead.” NLT
1 Timothy 6:3-5: “Some people may contradict our teaching, but these are the wholesome teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. These teachings promote a godly life. Anyone who teaches something different is arrogant and lacks understanding. Such a person has an unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words. This stirs up arguments ending in jealousy, division, slander, and evil suspicions. These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they have turned their backs on the truth. To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy.” NLT (Emphasis mine.)
2 Peter 2:1-3: “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.” NKJV
Paul describes the apostasy and false teachings and beliefs in 2 Timothy 3: 1-8, “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (Emphasis mine.)
Paul continues further in the chapter verses 12-15, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” NKJV
There is so much to unpack here. Notice above in 1 Timothy 6:5, “To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy.” That’s their motivation—to become wealthy. But they appear to be godly, so they are deceiving. Another way they deceive is by employing deceptive flattery. Oh how we need to train ourselves to not be flattered. One more thing to notice is 2 Timothy 3:8 where these apostates and false teachers creep into households and make captives of gullible women who are loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts and always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Wow! Lord, let us never be these silly women who are held captive by lustful thought life and are learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. What an indictment! Do you see any of this today? Let’s help our sisters in Christ to come to the knowledge of the truth of God’s Word.
Let's also remember that in Matthew 24, when the disciples asked Jesus to tell them about the end of the age, His first warning was to make sure they weren't deceived. Vs. 3-4 "Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. "
These deceivers have also very subtly changed the focus or point of view in our Christian culture from Jesus to self. It’s extremely hard to detect. That’s why they’ve been so successful. But the focus in our worship songs, our devotionals, our Christian books and even in many sermons are now about self. Me, me, me. It's the number one thing that hooks us. We love self. And we especially love it if it’s coming from what we perceive as Christian. We hear how I need to have self-care. The message out there today is to take care of number one first…ourselves. No where in the Bible does it say to care for yourself, to put yourself first, but in fact the exact opposite. Jesus said if we want to be His disciples, we must DENY ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Him. In fact, in John 12:24-26, He said we actually have to die to ourselves. Only when we die to ourselves can we let Him fully live out His life in and through us. The Bible does tell us that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and we should treat them as such. That’s our self care. The Bible’s message for caring for others, is to always put others first. To die to ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Him. The one thing we are supposed to do for ourselves is to protect ourselves against the onslaught of apostasy. How? Become mature in our faith so we can contend and be God’s instrument to rescue others who have been enticed or ensnared by error.
These false teachers pervert the grace of God and cause division in the church. They scream for unity, but the unity they are calling for is for us to fall in line with what they are teaching. Interestingly enough the word unity only appears twice in the New Testament in Ephesians 4:3 and 4:13. Let’s look at both verses in context.
Ephesians 4:1-4: “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” NKJV
Ephesians 4:11-16: “ And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” NKJV (Emphasis mine.) Let this sink in.
Notice, the unity we are to strive for is unity of the Spirit and unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. It is not to compromise or embrace false teachings and false gospels in order to coexist or get along. The unity of the faith keeps us from being tossed to and for and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men in their cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. We are not to just love, but to speak the TRUTH in love. And our first love is to God, and then to our neighbors.
A few years ago, I began to have red flags about much of what was being taught. It was hard, at first, to put my finger on what the issue was. Many things sounded biblical. It had biblical language. Many current authors were saying things that seemed scriptural, but it just seemed off in some way. So I started asking the Lord to show me the truth. I wanted to know the truth and not be deceived. That is a prayer that God will answer. He began to show me the errors, the lies. It’s not an immediate thing…it takes time to dig into the Word and compare these teachings with Scripture. But God will show you the truth if you want it. Ask God for wisdom. James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”
We have a serious fight ahead. Paul charged Timothy (and us) to fight the good fight of faith. We are in a race. Paul exhorted us to run the race in such a way as to win the prize. It’s going to take endurance and perseverance. The only way to be victorious in our own walk of faith is to stay in the Word of God. We must know the full counsel of God in order to not be deceived by things that contain Scripture, but subtly twist or insert a different gospel or a different Jesus. Spend time in the Word with Jesus and know what you believe and why you believe it.
One question: Do you want to be one of the ones deceived or do you want to be a contender?
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1. https://www.gotquestions.org/contend-for-the-faith.html
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