Be a Contender

…I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. Jude 3 (NIV)

Marlon Brando won an Oscar for his portrayal of dockworker Terry Malloy in the 1954 film “On the Waterfront.” Malloy had been an up-and-coming boxer before he was coerced into deliberately losing a fight by the mob-connected union boss. Malloy’s life spun out of control and he later lamented:  “I coulda’ had class. I coulda’ been a contender. I could’ve been somebody.” Compromise brought shame and regret.

In Jude’s short letter, he gets right to the point: “contend for the faith.” As with other references in the New Testament, we find a strong allusion to athletics. To contend is to strive or struggle with intense effort in the arena. The reason for his urgency is that the “faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people,” was under attack. God’s people had been infiltrated by pretenders and posers, ungodly people who were distorting the truth for their immoral purposes. It was apparent that Jude intended to write about salvation, but instead, he sounded the alarm and issued a call to action.

Jude’s call to action is every bit as applicable today as it was then. Within and without the church, efforts are being applied to bring about a dilution of the truth. The world is telling the church that for it to remain relevant, it must change and conform. The “cancel culture” is an intimidation tactic, designed to put fear in people’s hearts. The conflict is real, and we must be willing to remain firm and “contend for the faith.”

If you are still following me at this point, the next question should be, “How can we contend for the faith?” First, we must understand the true nature of the conflict. How often do we need to be reminded: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms Ephesians 6:12 (NIV). A failure to recognize the spiritual battle will result in using the wrong weapons and the wrong tactics.

A significant source of turmoil within the early church was the inclination to forsake grace alone and embrace the law. The reason for this should be obvious; grace can get messy whereas the law provides structure and comfort. When we rely upon the law to tell us what we can and cannot do, grace and faith are nullified. For instance, do we really believe that if we overturn Roe vs. Wade and outlaw abortion, that hearts will change? We know that is not true, but there is a comfort in having the “right law.”

So, if we cannot “contend for the faith” by legislation, what can we do? A modest proposal would be that we can contend for the faith by living it:

Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night Philippians 2:14–15 (The Message)

We would not claim that to “contend for the faith” is not a difficult struggle. The Greek word translated as contend in Jude 3 speaks of a “vigorous, intense, determined struggle to defeat the opposition. Our word “agony” is the English spelling of the noun form of this word. The Greek athletes exerted themselves to the point of agony in an effort to win the contest.^[1]” We contend for the faith because it alone can rescue those who live in darkness and are bound by sin. We contend for the faith, not alone in our own strength, but by the Holy Spirit, who has empowered us (Colossians 1:29). We contend for the faith by utilizing the gifts that have been given to us by the Holy Spirit (Romans 12:6-8). We contend for the faith, by loving one another (John 13:34-35).

There will always be those who try and infiltrate the church, to dilute and compromise the truth, and to divide us because they are following their own “ungodly desires” (Jude 17-19). We, however, “are not ignorant of Satan’s schemes” (2 Corinthians 2:11), and so we will not contend on his terms. Jude concludes his letter with this encouragement:

But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. Jude 20–23 (NIV)

To contend for the faith is not about advancing a political agenda, it is not about making life easy and comfortable, but it is about taking a stand for the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news that the world so desperately needs to hear. We do not want to look back on our lives with a sense of regret because we compromised the truth of the gospel. Be a contender!

Steve Ekeroth

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^[1] Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 16 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 235.