Earnestly Contend!

Jude {1:3} 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.


The common salvation.


Salvation in Jesus Christ and no other.
Salvation through faith in Jesus.
Salvation given to us by the sacrfice of Jesus on the cross.
Salvation undeserved.
Forgiven of sins repented of.
Forgiven of a life carnal.
Forgiven and awakened to the Spiritual.
All through faith.


Can you have salvation without faith?


No.


Jude advises- or rather exhorts- that we should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.


The saints.


Who in the Bible are the saints?

~~
Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia
SAINTS


sants: In the King James Version 3 words are thus rendered:


(1) qadhosh (in Daniel the same root occurs several times in its Aramaic form, qaddish);


(2) chacidh, and


(3) hagioi.


Of these words (2) has in general the meaning of righteousness or goodness, while (1) and (3) have the meaning of consecration and divine claim and ownership. They are not primarily words of character, like chacidh, but express a relation to God as being set apart for His own. Wherever qadhosh refers to angels, the rendering "holy one" or "holy ones" has been substituted in the Revised Version (British and American) for the King James Version "saint" or "saints," which is the case also in Psalm 106:16 margin (compare 34:9), and in 1 Samuel 2:9, as the translation of chacidh.


While hagioi occurs more frequently in the New Testament than does qadhosh in the Old Testament, yet both are applied with practical uniformity to the company of God's people rather than to any individual. Perhaps the rendering "saints" cannot be improved, but it is necessary for the ordinary reader constantly to guard against the idea that New Testament saintship was in any way a result of personal character, and consequently that it implied approval of moral attainment already made. Such a rendering as "consecrate ones," for example, would bring out more clearly the relation to God which is involved, but, besides the fact that it is not a happy translation, it might lead to other errors, for it is not easy to remember that consecration-the setting apart of the individual as one of the company whom God has in a peculiar way as His own-springs not from man, but from God Himself, and that consequently it is in no way something optional, and admits of no degrees of progress, but, on the contrary, is from the beginning absolute duty. It should also be noted that while, as has been said, to be a saint is not directly and primarily to be good but to be set apart by God as His own, yet the godly and holy character ought inevitably and immediately to result. When God consecrates and claims moral beings for Himself and His service, He demands that they should go on to be fit for and worthy of the relation in which He has placed them, and so we read of certain actions as performed "worthily of the saints" (Romans 16:2) and as such "as becometh saints" (Ephesians 5:3). The thought of the holy character of the "saints," which is now so common as almost completely to obscure the real thought of the New Testament writers, already lay in their thinking very close to their conception of saintship as consecration by God to be His own.


David Foster Estes
http://eastonsbibledictionary.com/saints.htm


~


Those set apart by God, holy ones of God.


'...earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.'


Earnestly contending


earnest (ûr´nîst) adjective
1. Marked by or showing deep sincerity or seriousness: an earnest gesture of goodwill.
2. Of an important or weighty nature; grave. See synonyms


contend (ken-tènd´) verb
contended, contending, contends verb, intransitive
1. To strive in opposition or against difficulties; struggle: armies contending for control of strategic territory; had to contend with long lines at the airport.
2. To compete, as in a race; vie.
3. To strive in controversy or debate; dispute


Excerpted from The American Heritage® Dictionary


We should seriously strive against difficulties for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.


Don't throw up the old that's works and we're not saved by works, it said nothing about works. If I labor at something and expect a wage in return then I'm expecting my work to reward me. If I'm striving seriously against anything that would make it difficult for me to have faith does that result in a work? No. If we expect faith to just magically appear maybe we're wrong. Think about it. We are saved by grace through faith, faith is believing, hoping in the unseen. So much in life tries to rip our faith from us. So much tries to take our beliefs away on the basis of not being seen. Mere flights of fancy, of imagination, and nothing more we are told. Yes, we have to earnestly contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints. We do. We can't let anything rip our faith away from us without it we're lost and because faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen, because faith is believing in that unseen hope we have to pray always- Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief! Because doubts will creep in and tear us down. Doubts will rise up and tell us how unworthy we are and urge us to give up hope, to give up believing we can ever hope. It's the doubt we are in contending against, it's the principalities, the powers that are unseen that rail at us constantly and get us to believe in them and not cling to the faith that was once delivered to the saints.


By the grace and mercy of our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ now and forever may we earnestly contend for that same faith delivered to the saints and hold fast to that faith.


Amen!