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‘Ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.’
Jud_1:3
I. The Christian is responsible for the preservation of a priceless possession.—The torch of truth has been handed to him: the only torch which can light up the path of life. It is ‘the faith once delivered unto the saints.’ Observe the exactness of the description here. A distinct and definite revelation was made to the saints. Have we that revelation? Have we the very words of those who were first set apart and sanctified to be sharers and custodians of a charge so sacred and momentous? Man’s definition of it will not satisfy us. Have we the words dictated by the living lips or written by the living hand of the chosen messengers of God? We have them as surely as if written with an iron pen upon the imperishable rock. ‘That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you,’ writes the beloved John; and St. Paul says, ‘I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.’ Here are the foundation-stones of our faith. Here is the priceless possession entrusted to us. Christ died for us and rose again. His death upon the cross was on behalf of our sins. He ‘made there’ (we are thankful for the explicitness of the acknowledgment) ‘by His one oblation of Himself once offered, a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.’ Look again at the Apostle’s words; for a truth of the deepest importance is declared by them. The faith was once delivered unto the saints. That is, it was delivered once for all unto them. The measure of the revelation rather than the moment of it is pointed out. The measure was not imperfect, but full, complete, and final. It allows of no addition. It admits of no development. ‘Every doctrine, therefore, which can be shown to be subsequent to the revelation of the faith unto the saints is new, and every doctrine which is new is false.’ It is the plain and simple gospel, apart from all human dogmas and traditions, with which we are entrusted and for which we are responsible. Aye, moreover, ‘a system of religion, half human and half Divine, we cannot trust. It is only the infallible Word of God in which we can confide; so that our faith may be perfect and indestructible; so that it “may stand not in the wisdom of man but in the power of God.” In this we shall be safe. In this happy and triumphant.
Amid the wreck of matter and the crash of worlds.’
Oh! for a greater recognition of this responsibility on the part of every member of our Church! God grant this to us!
II. The direction of the Apostle in regard to this responsibility claims our consideration.—The Christian is to earnestly contend for the faith once for all delivered unto the saints. The soldier snatches the flag from the falling standard-bearer and upholds it; or, if need be, stands upon it and fights over it. It is dearer to him than his life. So must the Christian treat and regard his faith. The competitor in the torch race not only firmly held his torch, but also earnestly, yea, anxiously and eagerly, urged himself onwards towards the goal. He knew that the one was as essential for success as the other. Without the flaming torch he reached the goal in vain. Even so must the Christian contend. Do you ask, How did they act to whom the Apostle addressed this direction? They fulfilled their duty nobly, devotedly. No opposition could make them relax their hold or effort. Opposition, even when it took the most inhuman shape, only fanned into a brighter flame their faith and the more lit up with its light the spiritual darkness of the world. But whence the opposition? It is a sad dna significant fact that it arose from within the Church. Ungodly men, men without reverence or fear of God, had crept into the Church. Their actions and their words St. Jude does not hesitate to describe. But we pass from the past to the present, and I ask, is there any parallel to this in our time? It is said that history repeats itself. It is as true of the history of the Church as of the world. Now, as ever, indeed, in the history of the Church, the most insidious and therefore the greatest danger arises from within it. There are ungodly men, worldly men, men who would dim and destroy the faith once for all delivered to the saints and set up the light of their own reason in its place. Now, what shall be our attitude in the face of this fact? How will you meet this opposition? How will you avert the danger? There is but one course. It is plainly pointed out by the Divine direction—‘Ye should earnestly contend for the faith once for all delivered unto the saints.’ Will you shrink from fulfilling your part? Contend earnestly for the faith; for its finality, for its absolute necessity.
(a) Do it in the spirit of Christ. Not only must our defence of the faith be firm and unyielding, it must also be carried on in gentleness and meekness of spirit. The spirit of uncharitableness, of hatred, of proud and vaunting bigotry is not in keeping with the character of the true follower of the Lord Jesus. Rather does He cherish the spirit of love for the mistaken, and of compassion for those who are out of the way. Of Himself He knows and acknowledges, ‘By the grace of God I am what I am.’ Let us see that that spirit is seen in us. Fail not, however, to remember that one thing is essential to success in our efforts to fulfil the duty shown by my text to be incumbent upon us. It is that we strive day by day to live up to the faith we are bound to defend. How many are there who profess great zeal in upholding the truths of the gospel of God, and yet the greatest zeal which they could show for it, the greatest witness they could give to it, the strongest weapon they could wield in its defence would be a life consistent with its precepts and its promises. But this is wanting, and in vain they profess to discharge their duty, to ‘earnestly contend for the faith once for all delivered unto the saints.’ Jehu could say, ‘Come and see my zeal for the Lord,’ but the unerring Word of God declares, ‘Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart.’ Wise is the admonition of a voice that is now silent—‘Seek to be strong in that great security for soundness of doctrine—a holy life. As an evil life breeds heresies by a spontaneous generation in the human soul, so does a vigorous life of holiness destroy those parasitical corruptions which attach themselves to bodies of a weaker vitality.’ Fulfil the duty in Christ’s spirit and after the example of Christ’s life, and
(b) Do it for the good of men. We grant the power of human learning in its various branches for benefiting the condition of man. Yet, after all, how little it can do compared with the gospel of Christ! It fails to rule the passions, it reaches only the intellect and leaves the heart untouched. The man remains a slave to his bodily appetites, without God and without hope. Not so ‘the faith once delivered to the saints.’ It purifies and ennobles and educates not only for time but for eternity.
(c) Do it for the glory of God. It is by the Christian faith that He is glorified mostly by men. This is the conquering car of the Saviour. It is said that at the coronation of a king every peer of the realm has his station about the throne, and with the touch of his hand upon the royal crown declares his personal duty to the honour which he is called unto, namely, to uphold the crown on the head of his sovereign and to make the establishment of his prince’s throne his chief object and study. The like duty devolves upon every one of Christ’s subjects; the honour is incomparable. Share in this by a Christ-like contention for the faith.
Rev. E. R. Mason.
‘Earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.’
Jud_1:3
I. It must be positive witness.—‘For the faith’: too much of present-day discussion is concerned with cold negations.
II. To the old faith—the faith of the Catholic Church. Every age has its own special ‘New Theology.’ But we keep to the Truth as it has come down to us through the ages from Jesus Christ—‘the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.’ When that faith is attacked we must bear witness, even to the point of ‘earnest contention,’ to its vitality, its power, its unchangeableness.
III. By word and life.—Such contention through pen and paper or by word of mouth is good, but it is powerless unless the life goes with it. Let men see that the old faith has power over our lives, power for restraint, power for edification, power for holiness. May it be ours to hold in our own experience the true faith of Christ and His Church, and to guard and defend it as a sacred deposit.
Illustration
‘St. Jude had two surnames—Lebbæus and Thaddæus—names somewhat uncertain, but, derived from the Hebrew, are generally interpreted as “one that praises” and “a man of heart.” He was brother of James the Less, son of Mary—sister to the Virgin Mary, and therefore of our Lord’s kindred. He was called to the Apostolate with the eleven others; and is specially mentioned in St. John’s Gospel as asking Jesus, “Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world?” Evidently, he not only saw and knew Jesus, but He was formed in his heart as “the hope of glory.” How precious, therefore, must those words have been to him, “In My Father’s house are many mansions.” No wonder that when “the truth as it is in Jesus” was assailed by the Gnostics, St. Jude wrote his Epistle to exhort and encourage Christian believers to avoid their grievous heresies, and “contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints,” and also to “keep themselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” All this he did himself; until, after labouring in Judæa and Galilee, and in Samaria and Idumæa, his end came, and he entered into “the joy of his Lord.” ’
ESTABLISHED FACTS
I. On the great subjects our mind is made up.—The facts we know, and under God we have to transmit the knowledge of them to coming generations.
(a) We are willing, if necessary, to revise definitions, but can accept no definition which obscures the Divine glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Son of Man, Creator, Brother, Lord, Redeemer of the human race.
(b) We are prepared to discuss theories of the Atonement, but can accept no theory which would dislodge our hearts from their sure confidence in Christ, in Whom we have redemption through His blood, even the remission of sins according to the riches of God’s grace. Theories of justification may be reconstructed, but we can receive no theory which does not rest on the fact that we are in Christ, and that His relations to the Father determine our own.
(c) We are not irrevocably committed to any theory of what theologians have called the depravity or corruption of human nature; but any theory which does not explicitly and fully acknowledge the awful reality of sin, and maintain that only in the power of the supernatural life can man escape from spiritual ruin, is for us an impossible theory, we know that the facts are against it.
(d) We confess that the mystery of the eternal life of God transcends our science; that the terms of the Creeds must be inexact; that they point towards august truths, but do not reach them; and yet, with reverence and awe we worship Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—one God, blessed for evermore; and in the knowledge of God we have eternal life.
(c) We are ready to revise and correct, when adequate cause is shown, the traditional belief of the Church concerning the dates at which the books of the Old Testament and the New were written, concerning the kind of relation between the books and the authors to whom they are attributed; we are ready to revise theories of inspiration; but in these books we ourselves have found the record of the supreme revelation to mankind of the righteousness, the mercy, the grace, and the will of God; what we ourselves have found in them has been found by millions of men of many races, many tongues, and many forms of civilisation; by simple and unlearned men; by men of noble genius; by humble penitents; by glorious saints; and whatever conclusions and theories assume that this discovery is an illusion we vehemently reject.
II. The substance of the faith delivered once for all to the saints of the first age has been verified in the experience of the saints of every succeeding generation, and has, in these last days, been verified in our own. Theologians have not to create new heavens and a new earth, but to give a more exact account of that spiritual universe whose mysteries and glories have environed the saints from the beginning. A theology which quenches the fires of the sun and the splendour of the stars—whatever temporary triumphs it may win—is destined to failure. It is an account of another universe than that in which the saints are living, and the faith of the Church has authority to reject it.
Illustration
‘While men were still living who had received the gospel from Apostles, the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints was in peril. Even in those early days, as St. Jude tells us, there were some who turned the grace of God into lasciviousness, and denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Nor was it their creed only that was corrupt. They were guilty of the foulest sensual sins, and sheltered their immoralities under perverted conceptions of the gospel of Christ, and perhaps under such theories of the relations of the flesh and the spirit as assumed a more definite and elaborate form during the first fifty years of the second century.’