I feel this urgency to stick with the book of Jude, so let's get into it. Jude didn't admonish believers to contend for salvation; that battle was already won. Believers are told to compete for, fight for, confront, oppose, make arguments, and defy anything contrary to the faith, which differs from the term "the common salvation." Faith in this context is synonymous with teachings, doctrine, ideology, and truth. The common salvation is internal; it frees our souls, renews us (John 8:36), and helps us contend against the sinful nature within us (Romans 7:19-25). The "faith" or the principle, ideology, teachings, or the truth of Jesus is external; it affects the nature of an oppressive, sinful system. In other words, the teachings of Jesus anger the world's system (Romans 8:7). The world system is ideologically and doctrinally hostile, antagonistic, and constantly feuding against the teachings of Jesus. So why did Jude have this urgency to admonish believers to contend for the faith? Because the very thing that was hostile, antagonistic, and feuding against the teachings of Jesus had crept into the Church, subverting the teachings of Jesus to fit, justify, and give credence to the nature, self-ambitious, oppressive, and greedy desires of the world (a.k.a system) (1 John 2:15-16). When we read the Gospels, we see that Jesus forgave the sinners; he was never in contention against them. But he regularly contended, was in conflict with, and was tearing down the self-indulgent, false, hypocritical polio-socio-econ-religous system and its leaders. John 15:15-25 uses two words; one is "THE WORLD," and the other is "THEY." "THE WORLD" and "THEY" equal or are in reference to an "SYSTEM.," a system that hates Jesus (teachings/ideology), and if "WORLD/THEY" hated Jesus, that "SYSTEM" will hate those who contend for the faith (John 15:18-27). Jesus elaborated further on the rivalry, contending against the false teachers, prophets, and preachers when he said:
"But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets." ~Luke 6:24-26
So the question is: Are we contending for the faith (the teachings, doctrine, and ideology of Jesus), or are we compromising the faith? Are we speaking well of these false teachers, prophets, and preachers, and are they speaking well of us? Or are we just staying out of the fight, choosing not to contend, being silent about the wolves dressed in sheep's clothing, and ignoring this covert invasion? Then you are complicit in the colonialization of the Church by these false entities and their doctrine; you are complicit and compromising, not contending.
Comments