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| Volume 25 Number 11 November 2023 |
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| Volume 25 Number 11 November 2023 |
Page 4 |
Sunny David
In his epistle, Jude wrote to Christians to whom he had been very eager to write about the common salvation enjoyed by all followers of Christ. However, suddenly he changed the subject and said, “I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3 NKJV). The faith here implies the recognized body of teaching as we have today in the New Testament of the Bible.
Nothing could have been more important in Jude’s generation, nor in our own, than the necessity of contending earnestly for the faith that was once forever delivered to Christians. To contend means to strive to protect something. The apostle Paul said to the Christians at Philippi when he wrote them, “Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27).
Scripturally speaking, there is only one faith (Ephesians 4:5). This one faith comes by hearing or learning from the Word of God, written in the Bible (Romans 10:17). Second Corinthians 5:7 says, “For we walk by faith…” This means we should believe and practice only those things that are written in the Bible. Sometimes, people ask whether they should, as Christians, observe or practice certain things. I respond, “Is it commanded in the Bible, more specifically, in the New Testament, under which we live today?” We, as Christians, cannot attempt to justify any belief or practice by the Old Testament (Galatians 5:4).
While Christians are taught to contend for “the faith,” there are, on the other hand, many faiths in this world. There are diverse faiths even amongst those who call themselves Christians. For example, there are those who call themselves Roman Catholics, and they maintain their faith according to their Catechism, which is their manual of faith. Then, there are those who identify themselves as Methodists, who follow their Book of Discipline, which constitutes the law and doctrine of that church. Others call themselves Baptists, Presbyterians and Lutherans, and they follow their faiths according to their creed books, manuals and confessions of faith. Anglicans (representing the Anglican Church, also called the Church of England or the Episcopal church) maintain their faith according to “The Book of Common Prayer.” Then, there are Pentecostals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists and numerous other denominational churches. They all have their own sets of faiths and doctrines.
The apostle Paul said to those who were trying to divide themselves into different groups, “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10).
Is it possible? Is it possible for all who claim to be the followers of Christ to speak the same thing so that there would be no divisions among them? If it is not, the apostle of Christ would’t have expected that of the Corinthians. The only way for all who claim to be Christians, and who follow different faiths, is to be united in the one faith. Note what the apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 4:11. “If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God…” This simply means to speak what the Word of God says. This is exactly what the apostle Paul was pleading for all followers of Christ at Corinth to do when he said, “that you all speak the same thing.” Let the Bible speak! It is the inspired message from God.
Acts 11:26 records that the disciples or the followers of Christ “were first called Christians at Antioch.” They were simply called Christians. When King Agrippa heard Paul preaching Christ to him, he said to Paul, “…You almost persuade me to become a Christian” (Acts 26:28). Peter said, “Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter” (1 Peter 4:16). Christian is the only name authorized in the Scriptures for all followers of Christ. All denominational and sectarian names are divisive. They should be discarded so that we can speak the same thing as the Bible speaks.
Christ, while speaking to Peter about his confession of Christ being the Son of God, said, “…And on this rock I will build My church…” (Matthew 16:18). Which church did Christ promise to build? He said He would build His church. Did He build His church? Sure, He did, as we read in Acts 2. There, we read the Gospel of Christ was preached to a great multitude of people. In verse 37, those who believed asked, “…What shall we do?” The apostle told them to “Repent, and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit… Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them… And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:38-47).
To what church were they added? Christ had promised to build His church, and to this church, His church, He added all the saved ones. The Bible speaks of no other church. Men have, through the centuries, established and built all kinds of churches of different brands and names everywhere on earth, but the Bible still speaks of only one church, which Christ established in the beginning, in Jerusalem, in A.D. 33. The Bible says the church is the body of Christ, and that there is only one body (Ephesians 1:22-23; 4:4), of which He Himself is the Head (Colossians 1:18). Numerous congregations of the churches of Christ all over the world are called “churches of Christ” (Romans 16:16). No one joins the church of Christ, but instead, our Lord Himself adds to the church daily those who are being saved (Acts 2:47) – when they believe in Christ, repent of sins and are baptized for the remission of sins (immersed in water by the authority of Christ, Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:16).
Congregations of the churches of Christ all over the world come together in different locations on every first day of the week (Sunday) – the day on which Christ was raised from the dead – to worship God as the New Testament teaches (John 4:24). Members of the church of Christ partake of the Lord’s Supper to commemorate Christ’s supreme sacrifice for the world (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26), study from God’s Word (2 Timothy 2:15), sing spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16), give a portion of their income (1 Corinthians 16:1-2) and pray (1 Corinthians 14:15).
If we want to go to Heaven and enjoy eternal life, we must contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to Christians. We must strive to abide in the doctrine of Christ (2 John 9). Speaking of the Day of Judgment, Christ said, “Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:22-23). They were sure they would enter heaven, though they had relied on their own faith, what they thought was right. Nevertheless, they were wrong. They had not followed God’s Law – His rules given in the Bible. Arne’t there millions of people today who are innocently making the same mistake? They could be sincere, honest, God fearing, Bible-loving followers of Christ, yet making the same mistake of leaning on their own understanding (Proverbs 3:5). The writer of the book of Hebrews said, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).
