UNIT 2 MODULE 7 (TEXT NKJV) JEWELS FROM JUDE Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, 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). CONTEND EARNESTLY What does it mean to contend earnestly? Why did Jude tell his readers to earnestly contend for the faith? First, let us examine two other translations of this verse that radically differ from the King James tradition: 1. NEW LIVING TRANSLATION Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to DEFEND THE FAITH that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people. 2. THE MESSAGE Dear friends, Ive dropped everything to write you about this life of salvation that we have in common. I have to write insisting -- begging! -- that you FIGHT WITH EVERYTHING YOU HAVE IN YOU FOR THIS FAITH entrusted to us as a gift to guard and cherish. [Sounds a little bit too blunt, doesnt it?]. You see, Jude realized that what he termed the faith (to be discussed in Module 8) would soon come under very severe attack. Therefore, he instructs his readers to ...VIGOUROUSLY DEFEND [it]... (New Berkeley Version). However, a lot of Christians have problems with this. They easily get muddled up over trying to distinguish between: 1. ...contend[ing] earnestly for the faith... (Jude 3) and 2. ...avoid[ing] foolish disputes... (Titus 3:9). Because of this, so many have been swept away from the faith by what the King James Version calls ...DAMNABLE HERESIES... (2 Peter 2:1). But those who ought to have defended the truth kept quiet. And why did they keep quiet? There are several reasons for this (discussed in detail under the subsection FURTHER STUDY): FURTHER STUDY: APOLOGETICS SERIES: THE NEED TO TAKE THE DISCIPLINE OF APOLOGETICS SERIOUSLY. https://m.facebook/notes/victor-anyiwo/apologetics-series-the-need-to-take-the-discipline-of-apologetics-seriously/429143503858261/?refid=21 ASSIGNMENT Where do we draw the line between contending for the faith and indulging in foolish arguments? CONCLUSION We are really getting into some interesting stuff. You really cant afford to miss the subsequent editions of this series!
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 08:54:28 +0000
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