Faith Delivered
“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 NKJV
I love the truth of this verse and I would like to share it with you starting at the end of the verse. Jude ends this verse by sharing an amazing truth. He is talking about “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints”. There is one faith that he refers to here, one faith which was once for all people. He is talking about the faith that we have which is the faith of Jesus Himself. The faith that He has given you, the very faith you needed for salvation, was His faith, not yours. There is one faith, His faith that was provided by Jesus one time for all people who would look to Him. It is THE faith that has been delivered to all the saints.
So we don’t need to wonder whether we have enough faith to believe for what He has promised us, we do! It is not your faith because that would never be enough. It is His faith in you, His faith that he has provided and invested in you. That is the faith that you have, so no matter what you believe for you have all the faith you need to see the matter through to the end, to the place of victory, to the great end He has for you despite how things may appear.
But you do have a part to play in this. Just before that phrase, Jude says we have to contend earnestly for the faith. He is exhorting us to contend. What does that mean? Does it mean that it is a greatly difficult thing that requires some monumental effort on our part to obtain this faith?
No, it is His faith which He already gave you and that you already have within you. You don’t need to contend to get this faith. The contention comes because the doubts will threaten to blur our ability to see this faith and use it. We have to contend with the doubts and the unbelief. Remove the doubt and then the faith that you have, His faith that is in you, will reel in that future deliverance and promise.
J Todd Hostetler