Daily Bible Nugget #899, Jude 1:3

 

The Nugget:

Jud 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. (KJV)

My Comment:

I posted the following comment today on another site where the sufficiency of Scripture was under discussion:

To add just a thought or two or so:

When any “church” (even if it thinks it is the “one true church”) falls into error or heresy (whether doctrinal or moral heresy), by what standard must we correct the church? God has given us the standard in His written Word, the Bible.

What is the answer to the problem of so many differing interpretations of the Bible? The answer given in the Bible itself is stated where we read “rightly dividing” or “rightly handling” the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15). This means there must be a way to determine the correctness of any proposed interpretation of Scripture, and there is such a way. When given two differing interpretations, it is possible to determine which, if either, is the better interpretation. Such principles of correct interpretation involve employing necessary inference, correspondence with the immediate and remote context by comparing Scripture with Scripture. I have listed 23 or so such principles on my Real Bible Study site in the October 2010 archives. As an English teacher I used these principles to teach the correct understanding of short stories (especially “The Bet,” by Anton Chekov) and poetry.

2Ti 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (KJV)

2Ti 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (ESV)

2Ti 2:15 Carefully study to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (DRB)

To whom are the Scriptures addressed? Jude informs us quite plainly when he writes:

Jud 1:3 Dearly beloved, taking all care to write unto you concerning your common salvation, I was under a necessity to write unto you: to beseech you to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. (Douay-Rheims Bible)

Jud 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. (KJV)

Note that “the faith” is a complete, not developing, body of truth delivered in complete form “once for all,” “unto the saints,” not a church hierarchy, but very ordinary believers.

I have been reading a very interesting resource that demonstrates to me the quirks and vagaries of some of the church fathers as they struggled over many years to arrive at a definitive position about the Person and Nature of our Lord Jesus Christ as they dealt with various heresies that arose:

Wilhite, David E. 2015. The Gospel according to Heretics: Discovering Orthodoxy through Early Christological Conflicts. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic: A Division of Baker Publishing Group.

Thankfully, over time, many arrived at the correct, Biblical, answer.

 

This entry was posted in Apologetics Issues--Other Faiths, Daily Bible Nuggets, Doctrinal Discussions, Education Issues, How to Interpret the Bible Correctly and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Daily Bible Nugget #899, Jude 1:3

  1. Levi Akamigbo says:

    Thanks and abundant blessings for your works and efforts, sir.

  2. Jerry says:

    Thank you, Levi Akamigbo, for your kind comment! I very much appreciate your efforts to support the truth of the Gospel!

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