Jude Series: Jude 3-Contending for the Christian Faith

Jude 3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. (NIV)

Jude 3 is marking a transition from the opening of this epistle in Jude 1-2 to the body of this epistle, which is contained in Jude 3-23.

Jude addresses the recipients of this epistle with the adjective agapētos, “beloved.”

This word expresses the close personal relationship that existed between the recipients of this epistle who were Jewish believers residing in the Roman province of Judaea and the writer of this epistle, Jude.

It also speaks of the relationship the recipients of this epistle possessed with the Trinity.

It expresses the fact that they were the recipients and beneficiary of God’s love.

This adjective is a reminder that before conversion, they were the object of God’s “impersonal” love but now after conversion, they are the object of God’s personal and affectionate love.

Interestingly, the anarthrous construction of this adjective is qualitative emphasizing that the recipients of the epistle of Jude are the objects of a love that is “divine in nature.”

Now, Jude 3 is composed of a concessive clause, which asserts that although Jude had prepared himself with utter diligence to write for the benefit of the recipients of this epistle regarding their common salvation, he was compelled to exhort and encourage each of them to exert intense effort on behalf of the faith.

This concessive clause implies that Jude was compelled to write for the purpose of exhorting and encouraging the recipients of this epistle to exert intense effort on behalf of the Christian faith is true in spite of the fact that he prepared with utter diligence to write to them concerning their common salvation.

This compulsion that Jude experienced to communicate in writing to the Christian community in Judaea for the purpose of exhorting and encouraging them to exert intense effort on behalf of the Christian faith, i.e., the gospel was from the Holy Spirit’s prompting him to do so.

The noun sōtēria, “salvation” refers to deliverance from personal sins, enslavement to the sin nature, Satan, his cosmic system, condemnation from the Law, spiritual and physical death and of course eternal condemnation and specifically, it speaks of all three stages of the Christian’s salvation.

The first stage is positional and speaks of what God did for the sinner when He declared them justified through faith in His one and only Son.

It is also how God views the justified and it provides the justified sinner the guarantee of their salvation being perfected at the rapture of the church when they receive a resurrection body, which is the third and final stage of the child of God’s salvation.

Lastly, it sets up the potential to experience this deliverance through fellowship with God, which is the second stage of salvation.

This requires that the child of God exercise faith in the Spirit inspired commands and prohibitions in the gospel, which will result in obedience to these commands and prohibitions.

In the apodosis of this concessive clause, the verb parakaleō contains two ideas.

The first is “to encourage” since it pertains to causing someone to be encouraged either by verbal or non-verbal means.

The word means to fill someone with courage or strength of purpose and suggests raising of someone’s confidence especially by an external agency such as a teacher.

The second is “to exhort” in the sense of authoritatively training the body of Christ through instruction in the sense of communicating the gospel message to them so as to compel obedience in every area of their lives.

Therefore, this verb parakaleō is expressing the idea of Jude causing each member of the Christian community in Judaea to be encouraged through the contents of this epistle to earnestly contend for the Christian faith.

The word is expressing the idea of Jude filling each of them with courage or strength of purpose to earnestly contend for the Christian faith and thus raise the level of their confidence in God through the communication of the contents of this epistle.

It also means “to exhort” in the sense of Jude authoritatively training each member of this community to earnestly contend for the Christian faith through the communication of the contents of this epistle.

The participle conjugation of this verb parakaleō is also functioning as a participle of purpose or telic participle, which would indicate the purpose for which Jude was writing to the recipients of this epistle was to exhort and encourage them to exert intense effort on behalf of the faith.

The verb epagōnizomai (ἐπαγωνίζομαι), “to contend” refers to each member of the Christian community in Judaea “exerting intense effort” on behalf of the Christian faith.

The present tense of this verb is a customary present tense which is expressing the idea of the recipients of the epistle of Jude “making it their habit of” exerting intense effort on behalf of the Christian faith.

The middle voice of this verb is an indirect middle which is expressing the idea of the recipients of the epistle of Jude “for their own benefit” making it their habit of exerting intense effort on behalf of the Christian faith since this will protect their fellowship with God and protect them from the lies of the Zealots.

The articular form of the noun pistis, “the faith” here in Jude 3 has three basic usages in the Greek New Testament.

The first is the active usage meaning “faith.”

There is also a passive usage meaning “that which is believed, the body of faith, doctrine” (Gal. 1:23; 2 Pt. 1:5; 1 Tm. 1:19; 4:1, 6; 6:10; 2 Tm. 2:18; 4:7; Heb. 11).

Lastly, the noun pistis is used as an attribute meaning “faithfulness, reliability” (Gal. 3:22; Titus 2:10; 2 Th. 1:4).

In Jude 3, the noun pistis, “the faith” and refers to the gospel originating from and about the Lord Jesus Christ and His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father, which provided eternal salvation for the entire human race.

In Jude 4, the verb paradidomi is expressing the idea that the Christian faith was formally communicated by the Spirit to the apostles and now appears in the Greek New Testament.

The verb paradidomi is modified by the adverb of degree hapax (ἅπαξ), which pertains to a single unique decisive occurrence in human history and emphasizes that the Christian faith was communicated by the Holy Spirit to the apostles “once and never again.”

The implication is that no corrections or supplements will be tolerated as well as the perfection and completion of the Christian faith, i.e. the gospel originating from and about the Lord Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.

This word hapax implies the Christian faith is “finished,” “unalterable,” “permanent,” “final” and “normative.”

Therefore, we could translate hapax with the phrase “once and never again.”

The Christian faith is described as having been delivered once and never again for the benefit of the saints because Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the Father’s right hand, which provided salvation for all of sinful humanity, has been accomplished in history.

Thus, it is finished, unalterable, permanent, final and normative.

The term hagios (ἅγιος), “the saints” describes church age believers from the perspective that they have been sanctified or set apart through the baptism of the Spirit at the moment of justification in order to order serve God exclusively.

This word is related to sanctification which is the direct result of the baptism of the Spirit and is a reminder to the Christian community in Judaea as to what God has done for them through the baptism of the Holy Spirit at their justification and it denotes His viewpoint of them.

It summarizes the doctrine of positional truth and the justified sinner’s union and identification with Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.

Therefore, it speaks of the believer’s intimate, eternally secure position because of their union and identification with Christ.

So therefore, this concessive clause in Jude 3 indicates that Jude initially had determined to teach and remind the Christian community in Judaea regarding their so great salvation which was accomplished through Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the Father’s right hand.

However, he felt compelled to exhort and encourage them through the contents of this epistle to exert intense effort on behalf of the Christian faith.

The contents of Jude 4-23 make clear that he felt the need to shift gears because those whom he describes in these verses posed a serious threat to the Christian community in Judaea.