Agonizing over the Faith

General Faith
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Brothers, sisters, friends

I’d like to put one common concept to “pasture”, or as my vet says “put it down” for good. That concept is an erroneous conclusion a brawler may reassure himself with derived from the epistle of Jude, and the verse we call three.

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)

A common error emerges that followers of Jesus are instructed here to fight (contend) with one another over their various opinions and interpretations of God’s Holy word. I have had this sentence tossed in my face often as I often encourage the members of our family of God to better testify of His love by demonstrating our love and patience with each other.

I urge all followers of Jesus, and especially those who use this passage in error, to carefully re-read this entire letter from our Brother Jude and see if you can come away with the idea that Jude is encouraging infighting within the family.

To help, I will point out one important point of Jude’s epistle, the struggle Jude speaks of is not within the body. Jude is encouraging Saints to stay strong against attempts to sway them from the truth by those “ordained to condemnation”, those who teach contrary to The Truth; “…ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jude is warning his readers to recognize these non-believers, discern who are false teachers by the fruit of their testimony, and separate from them: “These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage.” If a Christian feels they are to “contend” then these are they with whom contention may be warranted.

When Jude “exhorts” (parakalo: Jude comforts with encouragement) his readers to “contend earnestly for the faith” (epagōnizomai ho pistis: i.e. sincerely agonize over our common assurance) he is actually encouraging them to strive for a unified stance against those who would foment disunify. This sentence should not be decontextualized to encourage heated argument, theological quarrels, or recalcitrant wrangling about nonessential nuances within the body because the writer Jude is actually encouraging the opposite. This admonition must not be used to fuel internal disputes, because that is the very behavior we are admonished to avoid:

“Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things.” (Romans 14:1)

“Do all things without complaining and disputing,…” (Philippians 2:14)

“…nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith.” (1 Timothy 1:4)

“If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself. (1 Timothy 6:3-5)

“But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will. (2 Timothy 2:23-26)

But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless. Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned. (Titus 3:9-11)

Do not be decieved. These verses (above) do not politely stand “in tension” along-side our other instructions to correct erroneous doctrine within the church, they stand against all forms of public dispute as disreputable to our testimony of the character of Jesus-God. While we must stand firm against the wiles of the enemy, against all forms of assault against The Truth, we are to stand together, in unison as best we can, as a solid and immovable testimony against the fleshly contentious world.

The Spirit of God is producing His fruit on His branches, His branches we are. The fruit of Holy Spirit-God appears to the lost world like God’s glorious love, His joy, Holy peace, otherworldly patience, unexpected kindness, righteous goodness, enduring faithfulness, deferential gentleness, and counter-cultural self-control all wrapped up in a single beautiful expression of The Glory of God.

For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another! (Galatians 5:13-15)

Much Love in Jesus
KP

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Your interpretation really has a problem. You say Jude is essentially encouraging believers to “strive for unity” and “agonize over our common assurance.” But Jude does not say that. He says.

ἐπαγωνίζεσθαι τῇ ἅπαξ παραδοθείσῃ τοῖς ἁγίοις πίστει

The verb ἐπαγωνίζομαι (epagōnizomai) is an intensive form of ἀγωνίζομαι (agōnizomai). As such, the notion of struggling, fighting, contending, etc. is heightened.

The term “faith” has a variety of meanings in the NT. Here, the faith refers to the doctrinal content embraced by believers rather than the act of believing (see BDAG 820 s.v. 3). Rather than discuss the points of agreement that Jude would have with these believers because of the urgency of the present situation he must assume that these believers were well grounded and press on to encourage them to fight for this common belief.

ἐπαγωνίζομαι (epagōnizomai) to contend (G1864)
(Verb Present Middle or Passive Deponent Infinitive)

The essential idea is.

“contend earnestly for the faith once-for-all delivered to the saints.”

The verb is ἐπαγωνίζομαι.
The object is τῇ πίστει, “the faith.”
The faith has been παραδοθείσῃ, “delivered/handed down.”
And it was delivered ἅπαξ, “once for all.”

That is objective content entrusted to the saints, not merely an exhortation to preserve interpersonal harmony.

So I went back and checked Jude 3 more carefully, including the Greek and the context, and I think this is one place where your argument needs to be reconsidered. Jude does not use ἐπαγωνίζομαι to mean ‘agonize over our common assurance’ or ‘strive for unity.’ The verb means to contend, strive, or struggle earnestly, and the object is τῇ πίστει, ‘the faith.’

Jude then qualifies that faith as the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. That is objective apostolic truth, not merely our subjective assurance or our unity with one another.”

And Jude 4 explains why he commands this: ‘For certain men have crept in unnoticed.’ The reason for the contention is that false teachers have entered the Christian community and are corrupting the faith. Jude then spends the remainder of his letter identifying their error, exposing their ungodliness, warning the saints about them, and announcing their judgment.

So I agree completely that Jude 3 is not a licence for Christians to brawl with one another. But the passage cannot be reduced to ‘don’t argue with other Christians.’ Jude himself is engaging in a vigorous defence of the faith against those who have infiltrated the community.

That is also why the other passages you quoted need to be distinguished carefully. Romans 14 concerns doubtful matters and matters of conscience. 2 Timothy 2 condemns foolish quarrelling but simultaneously commands the servant of the Lord to correct those who oppose the truth. Titus 1:9 requires an elder to refute those who contradict sound doctrine. And Paul actually withstood Peter to his face in Galatians 2 because Peter’s conduct compromised the truth of the gospel. So the New Testament does not oppose doctrinal correction. It opposes fleshly, foolish and prideful quarrelling.”

Ephesians 6:12 gives us the proper distinction: ‘We wrestle not against flesh and blood.’ And 2 Corinthians 10:3–4 says that although we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. Therefore, the answer is not that we never contend. The answer is that our contention must not be fleshly. We defend truth with spiritual weapons, with Scripture, patience, gentleness, humility and love.

So I think we actually agree more than you may realize. I reject brawling, personal attacks, prideful wrangling and disputes over doubtful matters. But I cannot accept the conclusion that biblical contention for the faith is itself contrary to Christian love or unity. Jude 3 explicitly commands us to contend for the faith, and Jude 4 tells us why.

The issue is not whether we contend, but what we contend for and how we do it.

Simply love this brother, his conduct and hermeneutics.

J.

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I would agree with this—thank you for the exhortation.

So often in the Church today (and throughout the centuries) we see strife over secondary doctrines which detracts from the unity of the Body that Christ desired ( “That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” John 17:21).

I think of this contending for the faith in light of the Reformers. Luther, Wycliffe, Hus, and many others did not seek division in the Church over personal opinions or tangential doctrines. Instead, they recognized that the Church had gone off track, and because they loved the Church and its people, they sought to bring her back to her apostolic roots.

Of course, those who call themselves Christians for the sake of wealth, power, or fame will push back against genuine, Gospel-focused reforms, in our age, just as in the days of the Reformation, but those who have ears to hear, as Jesus said, will hear and be changed.

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Thanks @DaughterofEve24

While the letter from Jude is instruction about our stance toward those outside the church, the letter to Timothy and Titus both speak of our stance toward those within the Church. The Apostle encourages all believers to “not be quarrelsome” (“be no brawlers” KJV).

The Apostle’s instructions to Titus encourages him to teach these things to the church: “speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority.” (Titus 2:15) and continuing, in the same breath, he tells Titus to remind the church to be "*subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable (Gk:amachos: a=without and mache= contentiousness; i.e.be no brawlers (KJV), gentle, showing all humility to all men." (Titus 3:1-3)

The apostle likewise teaches Timothy to look for this peaceful characteristic in those he was to appoint to be examples to The Church (Gk:episkope). Timothy is to look for saints that are “*blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome (same word: Gk:amachos), not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?);not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. (1 Timothy 3:2-6)

The Jude passage teaches us to stand firm (contend earnestly) for the faith against outsiders, but much of the apostles teaching toward those within the fold includes having no quick tendency toward contention. Contention (Gk eris: strife, quarreling) is listed among the evident “works of the flesh”, so we do well to listen and check ourselves, always encouraging ourselves toward being “peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.”

Thanks again for your valuable input.

KP