Faith to Believe the Whole Truth

Read Jude 1:1-2.

Wayward pastors today try to make it easy for you to come to Jesus by removing points that might make you uncomfortable. But the tragic result is that they reduce the faith once for all given to us to an acceptance that God created the universe and that Jesus rose from the dead.

Christianity, however, cannot be reduced to just these two points of belief. Jesus Himself upheld the Old Testament, including the stories of Noah and Jonah (see Matthew 12:40 and 24:37). It will do no good for a person to say they believe in Jesus but not in the things Jesus said were true. If Jesus affirmed the Old Testament, so must we. If the Bible records that Jesus was born of a virgin, healed the sick, walked on water, and fed five thousand, then we must believe. We cannot pick and choose what to believe of Scripture.

Jude urged Christians to “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people” (Jude 1:3). He rightly understood that what we believe does not shift with the times. Truth does not change; rather, it changes everything.

Although Jude was Jesus’ half-brother, he didn’t identify himself in his letter this way. In fact, Jude didn’t believe Jesus was the Messiah until after His resurrection (see John 7:5). Once he did, he was so humbled by the Lord’s grace that he became His lifelong “servant” (v. 1). As the Lord does in the life of every true believer, Jude was conscripted—that’s what Jude means when he writes to “those who have been called” (v. 1, emphasis added). He writes to those whose eyes God has supernaturally opened to the Truth—those to whom He has granted the gift of faith, of salvation (see Ephesians 2:8-9).

Jude reminds us of the incredible grace that every true believer has received so that we will be empowered to contend for the faith. If we fail to understand all that we have been given through Christ and our utter unworthiness of His sacrifice, our faith will be weak, and our testimony, diminished. But if we hold fast to the Gospel, we’ll submit to the Lord and accept every miracle because we know the miracle He has wrought in us.

Prayer: Father, help me cling firmly to Your Gospel and trust and obey Your Word—contending for Truth. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.