Keep Contending!

“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.”  Jude 3 ESV

We are living in difficult times.  There is war, strife and uncertainty.  The world is permeated with doubt.  Postmodern thought has ushered in an era that champions unbelief in the guise of modesty.  Subjectivity is utterly pervasive.  However, the Bible tells us to contend for the faith.  What faith?   The once, for all delivered, faith.

The Christian faith has a historical basis.  Thousands of years of history undergird it.  From Adam and Eve in the garden, through Noah, Abraham, Moses, King David, the prophets and all the way to John the Baptist and culminating in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead for our justification, the Christian faith is based upon actual events. 

Our faith is, therefore, not subjective.  It is not only based upon historical facts and substantiated evidence, but that evidence has been documented in the Holy Bible.   The life of Jesus Christ is recorded in the four Gospels.  The history of the early church is recorded in the book of Acts, and the epistles lay down its doctrinal foundation.  Even though it was vilified, censored and destroyed, the Bible has miraculously survived through the centuries.  Based upon substantial documentary evidence, the Bible that we have today is over 99% intact and the other less than 1% has no bearing on any major doctrine.

Despite the ever-blowing “winds of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:14), our faith is not amorphous and vacuous.  It is clearly defined and unchanging.  Despite those who “twist the Scriptures to their own destruction” (II Peter 3:16), Holy Scripture is our only standard for faith.  As the writer of Hebrews penned, "the Word of God is alive, powerful and sharper than any double-edged sword".  It penetrates all the way to our soul and spirit, the very essence of who we really are. (Hebrews 4:12)

As a result, we must “earnestly struggle for the system of religious truth that was conclusively transmitted to the believers in Christ”. (Jude 3, literal Greek translation)  We have to be ready and equipped to destroy every stronghold of doubt and every lofty human opinion that is in opposition to the true knowledge of God and bring it into conformity with His will and revelation. (2 Corinthians 10:5)