Contend For The Faith

The main theme of the book of Jude is contending for the faith, rejecting false teachers, and standing for the truth.  Jude was the brother of James and half brother of the Lord Jesus.  He wrote this letter sometime around A.D. 66.  The book of Jude contains only one chapter.  

(Jude 1:3) "Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints."  (ESV) 

Although Jude had desired to write to his fellow Christians about salvation, he was compelled to urge them "to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to to the saints."  The "faith" referred to the gospel and all Christian teaching.  It was "once for all delivered to the saints."  This shows that the Apostles teaching which would become the New Testament in the canon of Scripture was already established and fixed.  Nothing more could be added to it.  We must point out that "saints" refers to all Christians, not just some special class of Christians.  

The Bible alone is the ultimate authority.  This stands in opposition to groups like the Mormons, the Roman Catholics, and many charismatics.  The Mormons insist the Bible is in error and add their own scriptures.  Roman Catholics insist that the Catholic Church tradition is an equal authority to the Bible.  Many charismatics insist that they receive direct revelation from God, making it equal to the Bible.  These groups and many others have rejected Scripture alone and have ended up in serious error.  

It is popular in our day for Christians to insist that we just need to love everyone.  After all it might not seem nice to contend for the faith, and it might not make people feel good.  But the Word of God disagrees, we are told to contend for the faith.  It means to contend for a thing combatantly.  In other words we are to battle for the truth and against error.  Truth should always be accompanied by love, and love must never be divorced from truth.  

Sound doctrine is of the utmost importance and Christians must contend for it.  Whenever false teachers arise they must be dealt with and refuted as we stand on the authority of the Bible alone.  It is not loving to allow error and false teaching to continue.