The New Testament book of Jude is a short but vivid account of what was happening in the first century Church of God (v1-3). He became aware of the great need to earnestly appeal to God’s Church to contend or fight for the faith which had been delivered to them. Apostasy was fast setting in; individuals were turning to error and leading away disciples after themselves. The Church was being divided. What is "the faith?" Whose teachings are we to look to? What principles and examples of errors can we learn from? What can we today be taught, if anything, by carefully noticing the meaningful words of Jude?
“The faith” means the body of beliefs and practices handed down by the apostles, which forms the essence of the meaning of God's Church (Eph. 2:20). Even Paul was often amazed at how easy it was for false teachers to deceive God’s people (Gal. 1:6-7). In just a few years the NT Church was facing great internal difficulties. It is no wonder that by the time Jude wrote his epistle, in the 70s or 80s AD, he had to urgently remind them to stand up for the truth which they had received from the apostles.
To get back to the faith, to know and come to understand that faith, we must study the writings of the prophets and the apostles (HWA). It is the purpose of Scripture to give us insight into that original set of beliefs. God has not left us without a witness today (literature). The almost 2000 years since the writing of Jude has seen the world grow overwhelmingly worse and apostasy in God’s Church. The Bible gives stark warnings against those who would follow false doctrine and heresy leading to apostasy. Many of the original teachings of Christ and the apostles have been forgotten or simply watered down. What do we do about it now? Now is high time to return to the faith which was truly once and for all delivered by Christ and the apostles (HWA). And the only true remedy is a sincere and willing heart together with a diligent searching of the Scriptures and original Church literature.
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