I am meditating this morning on Jude 3, and the distinction that Jude seems to make between “our common salvation” and “the faith once for all delivered to the saints.”
Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.
Assuming that our “common salvation” is tied directly to the gospel and “the faith” is distinct from that (since Jude says “I want to write about the one but I find it necessary to write about the other”), it seems that Jude is saying that there are issues other than the gospel that are worth earnestly contending for.
It is furthermore interesting that in Jude’s discussion of the “persons who have crept in unaware” he does not focus on their doctrine or teaching. In fact, very little (i.e., nothing directly) is said about that. He focuses more on their character, their motivations, and the methodologies.
Today, it is frequent even among fundamentalists to talk about a “center bounded set” by which is meant “We agree on the gospel as the center of fellowship and not necessarily on things that are not at the center.” This statement is often followed up with “If they teach right things, it doesn’t matter so much what they do.”
Yet Jude seems to say that there are things in the “faith delivered” that need to be earnestly contended for that are not related to “our common salvation,” and that are not even related directly to what is said, but rather to how the person lives and how the message is communicated out of that life.
No doubt, Jude could have documented the false teachings, but he did not.
Perhaps this should be instructive for us in constructing a theology of contention.
The gospel is important. But it is not the only thing that is important. There are other things worth fighting about when they are attacked or denied, and character, motivation, and methodology are among them.
This is not to say that all things are equally important. It is to say however that a center-bounded fellowship is insufficient for true Christian fellowship. There are other things that matter.
Some are eager to talk about our common salvation, but are unwilling to earnestly contend for the faith once for all delivered in its totality, including the character, motivations, and methods of others.
As people of the faith, we must be careful about contending for too little. It’s just as dangerous as contending for too much.
1 comment:
Hey, Larry, interesting point. I hadn't thought of it that way before, but I think you are correct to note the distinction.
I think bro. Minnick hits this, perhaps slightly from a different angle, in his message at Mount Calvary last Sunday night. He made the point that it has never been a matter of contention about the gospel that has divided fundamentalists and the evangelicals. We always agreed on the gospel. (Of course some evangelicals seem to have drifted, but that is another story.) I thought that was a telling point and it fits right in with what you are saying here.
Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.
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