Some scholars believe that Jude’s description of faith as having been “once for all delivered to the saints” suggests a formal and even codified body of beliefs and practices. But that body was under attack, so Jude urged believers to “contend earnestly for the faith.”
The most important battle that early Christians faced was not with the Jewish Council, the Roman government, or the plethora of esoteric philosophies and mystery religions that pervaded the ancient world. The true danger came from within—from people who claimed to follow Jesus but twisted the truth into blasphemy. Curiously, Jude doesn’t name any names, except from the Old Testament: sinful Israel (Jude 5; Num. 14:22, 23), rebellious angels (Jude 6), Sodom and Gomorrah (v. 7; Gen. 19:24, 25), Cain (Jude 11; Gen. 4:3–8), Balaam (Jude 11; Num. 22–24), and Korah (Jude 11; Num. 16:19–35).
Jude’s readers—probably Jewish Christians—understood these references as powerful symbols of subversion and rebellion against God. Jude warned his readers that, like those who caused the ancient Hebrews so much evil, mockers and false teachers were infiltrating the church with poisonous lies. Yet why did the author not call out specific blasphemers of his own day? Perhaps the point was to encourage his readers to develop their own discretion so that they could defend themselves. Or perhaps he was protecting his readers from retaliation.
At any rate, it is significant that Jude’s oblique references recall Judas Iscariot: the danger is inside the camp, Jude warned, but you don’t always know who it is. Like the disciples at the Last Supper, Jude’s readers would look around and ask, in effect, “Which of us is it?” (Matt. 26:20–22; John 13:25).
In the two thousand years since this letter was composed, Christians have always needed to be on their guard against deceivers who lead people astray. This book reminds us that faith is no game. The ancient rebels mentioned in Jude came to gruesome ends, and so will the false teachers of today.
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Suggesting that someone is wrong can be highly offensive in our relativistic culture. Even worse is asserting the existence of such a thing as absolute truth. The modern notion that everything is equally true contradicts logic—at least if we can agree with Webster that truth is “the state of being the case: fact” or “the body of real things, events, or facts: actuality.”
Jesus claimed to be the truth, not just a truth (John 14:6). He also often explicitly stated that He was telling His listeners the truth (for example, Matt. 5:18, 26; Mark 10:15, 29; Luke 21:3, 32; John 3:3–11; 16:7–23). But as the Book of Jude demonstrates, not all who begin to follow God’s truth make it to the end:
• When Israel fled Egypt, some disbelieved and died (Jude 5; Num. 14:26–45).
• Some angels turned from God and were banished from their positions (Jude 6; Matt. 25:41; 2 Pet. 2:4).
• Sodom and Gomorrah serve as evidence that sin invites destruction (Jude 7; Gen. 13:10—19:28).
• Cain chose selfishness, greed, hatred, and murder (Jude 11; Gen. 4:3–8).
• Balaam gave in to error and became confused about truth (Jude 11; Num. 22–24; 2 Pet. 2:15, 16).
• Korah mistakenly opposed God’s chosen leaders and paid for it dearly (Jude 11; Num. 16).
We are not to be arrogant that we possess the truth, but our loyalty to the facts about Christ should lead us to challenge people who offer anything less than the truth (Jude 17–23). We don’t need to call attention to every minor inaccuracy, but we cannot overlook major errors for the sake of peace. We must mercifully proclaim God’s truth (v. 22), for all will perish without it (v. 23).
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Courage for Christ
Billy Sunday (1862–1935) made no bones about what he stood for. He was in favor of God and all things good, and he reviled every form of evil. “I’m against sin,” he once said. “I’ll kick it as long as I’ve got a foot, and I’ll fight it as long as I’ve got a fist. I’ll butt it as long as I’ve got a head. I’ll bite it as long as I’ve got a tooth. And when I’m old and fistless and footless and toothless, I’ll gum it till I go home to Glory and it goes home to perdition.” This outgoing and plain-talking former Major League baseball player became the best-known evangelist of his era, delivering colorful sermons to millions of listeners and bringing hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, to Christ.
Sunday’s father died of pneumonia during the Civil War, and his mother was so poor that she was forced to send her children to live in an orphanage. Sunday excelled at sports, and in 1883 he was signed as an outfielder by the champion Chicago White Stockings. He struck out in his first thirteen trips to the plate, but he was prized for his speed on the base path. Fans went wild over him, and although he was prone to errors in the outfield, his gloveless diving catches never failed to entertain. By the time Sunday retired in order to pursue a new calling, he had been traded to the Philadelphia Athletics, where he was batting .261 and had stolen 84 bases.
After hearing a team of street preachers on a Sunday afternoon in Chicago in 1886, Sunday began attending services at the Pacific Garden Mission, drawn in part by the hymns, which reminded him of his mother. His conversion was accompanied by a change in his behavior that was recognized by both his teammates and his fans. When he began attending a new church closer to his home, he met and married his wife Nell, who later took charge of organizing his ministry.
Sunday had felt an increasing call to preach, and in 1891 he turned down a baseball contract so he could begin speaking at churches and YMCAs, which at the time held programs to promote biblical Christianity as well as physical fitness and sporting events. Sunday’s new career paid about one-third as much as he had earned on the field. With help from the famous evangelist J. Wilbur Chapman, Sunday improved his public speaking skills, studied theology, practiced prayer, and saw the inner workings of evangelistic campaigns.
Sunday began holding meetings of his own in 1896. He was an acrobatic preacher, running and sliding across the stage, standing on pulpits, even occasionally smashing chairs. His vocabulary was rough and plain, drawing criticism from some but also drawing listeners, a fact that Sunday was proud of. “I want to preach the gospel so plainly,” he said, “that men can come from the factories and not have to bring a dictionary.”
Unlike many other evangelists of his era, Sunday also addressed social issues. He supported women’s voting rights, condemned child labor, and welcome blacks at his revivals, even when he visited the Deep South. Though he was somewhat ambivalent concerning one of the hottest topics of his day—the theory of evolution—Sunday was a conservative at heart. He preached against dancing, card playing, theatres, and novels. His tirades against “Mr. Booze” helped to spur on Prohibition. And he was a traditionalist when it came to the gospel: “Nowadays we think we are too smart to believe in the Virgin birth of Jesus and too well educated to believe in the Resurrection. That’s why people are going to the devil in multitudes.”
Sunday continued preaching throughout his life, though his audiences diminished after World War I as radio and movies drew more and more attention. Before his death, Sunday had preached nearly twenty thousand sermons, boldly proclaiming the kingdom of God.
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