Contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. (Jude 3)
What exactly does it mean to earnestly contend for the faith? The first thing it means is that we are never to allow ourselves to be seduced by any worldview or philosophy that is unbiblical. We must have our minds saturated with scriptural truth so that our whole way of thinking is transformed by God’s word. When we are presented with other views about God, Jesus Christ, salvation, or life in general, these views should be immediately dismissed from our brains. If we are to be earnest as we contend for the faith, we must be unwavering, refusing to be swayed by any and every wind of doctrine that blows by us.
Secondly, we must live our lives in accordance with the scriptures. Not only should our minds and thoughts be transformed by the word of God, but our hearts and emotions as well, which, when combined all together, will lead to transformed actions. We are to cheerfully and willingly submit to the commands of God, doing all that we do for His glory. The lives that we live testify that the word of God is true, and also that we truly believe what He has revealed to us. So, if we desire to contend earnestly, we must, in the power of the Holy Spirit, strive with all that is in us to live lives that bear witness to the truth of what we have believed.
All of our speech and conduct should be motivated by a love for God and others with an overarching desire to make Him known in this fallen world. It is imperative that our motivation is right, and that we understand the doctrines which the bible teaches so that we can communicate them both verbally and practically as we live out the teachings in our lives. These 3 things (motive, knowledge, and practice) must all be present if we are to accurately represent God, and conveniently for us, are also the only means by which we will attain the victory which has already been provided for us by Jesus Christ.
In light of all of this, we should never compromise or contradict the bible in whatever we think, feel, say, or do, for to do so would be to lay down the only weaponry which God has provided us with to win the war that we are engaged in. Jude understood this, which is why he pleads with his readers to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. It is only in the bible that we find the tools necessary to conquer our enemies. Therefore, it is our duty to protect the purity of the scripture. We must be accurate in our dealing with the text (in preservation, translation, and interpretation), and also accurate in our application of it (in practice).
In closing, the best protection for ”the faith” (objective) is faith (subjective)! Trusting that knowing, as well as cheerfully and willingly obeying, the scriptures, is the means by which God will give us the strength and power to emerge victorious in the battle we fight, is the most potent, and in fact the only way to contend for the faith once for all handed down to the saints. We must truly BELIEVE and wholeheartedly TRUST in the word of God, passionately contending with the entirety of our lives in order that we might see God’s kingdom and rule spread throughout each individual heart and mind of the children of men, and over the entire face of the earth.

