First then we are exhorted to contend. We are to earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints. “The faith” of which Jude speaks is not the personal faith by which we believe, but that which is to be believed— the truth. When error prevails and opposition raises its head it is not sufficient that we should expound the truth, we must contend for it. This implies conflict, but when Christ is assailed, and the truth is at stake, we must not shrink from fighting the good fight of faith under any plea of Christian charity.
Moreover, it is “the faith” for which we are to contend, that is, the whole circle of truth. We are not simply to contend for a particular truth. This indeed has been done, with the result that the truth as a whole has been lost, and sects have been formed to maintain a particular truth such as holiness, the presence of the Spirit, the unity of the church, or the coming of the Lord.
Further let us note that the faith for which we have to contend is the faith “once delivered unto the saints” (vs. 3). The word “once” has the force of “once for all” (See R.V.). It admits of no addition, no modification, and no development. There is no fresh communication of truth to the saints. It has been delivered to them once for all. We may have much to learn about the truth. God may grant fresh light upon the truth already revealed, and we should grow in our apprehension of it. But the truth itself has been once for all delivered to the saints. And for this we are to contend. Not the truth held in measure by the Fathers, or handed down by tradition, or crystallized by the creeds, or obscured by faulty teaching, but the faith once delivered to the saints in the very form in which it was delivered.
Again, it is well to remark that we are not called to contend with error. Many sincere souls have done so and formed crusades against different glaring evils. There are occasions, indeed, when contending for the truth necessitates the exposure of evil. But the great business of God’s people is with the truth, not the error. Jude does not say earnestly expose the error, but “earnestly contend for the faith” (vs. 3).