Jude 1:3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write to you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write to you… I. WHAT ARE WE TO UNDERSTAND BY THE FAITH which was once delivered to the saints? 1. The faith is Divine in its origin. 2. The faith is adapted to man's moral needs. Three truths force themselves upon our notice when we study man in his moral relations. (1) The sense of guilt and moral weakness. (2) The liability to temptation and trouble. (3) The certainty of death and a future state.These exist in all men everywhere. The faith responds to the sense of guilt and moral weakness. 3. The faith is complete in its contents — "once delivered," i.e., complete. To it nothing can be added. Astronomy may discover worlds of light in the heavens, but it does not add to the universe. Every star was there before astronomers lifted their telescopes skyward. Astronomy may enlarge our knowledge of the heavens and thrill us with new views of heavenly beauty, but it cannot create a new star. Music cannot add a new tone to the scale. The octave is the final measure of possible tones. So with the faith. Theology cannot add to it. The Bible will gain in interpretation, but no new principles can be added to its contents. II. To WHOM WAS THE FAITH DELIVERED? "To the saints." 1. Saints are the depositaries of the faith. 2. Saints are the disseminators of the faith. III. WHAT IS OUR DUTY IN REFERENCE TO THE FAITH? "Contend earnestly," etc. 1. We must hold to it experimentally and consistently. Not to the theory, but to the practice; not to doctrine merely, but to salvation as a blessed reality. 2. We must hold it with courage and resolution. 3. We must contend for it with simplicity and sincerity. (W.Hansom, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. |
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