CONTEND FOR THE TRUE FAITH:
THE WAY TO SALVATION IN THE BOOK OF JUDE
Shengmin Tchaikov
The Book of Jude, a single letter
containing only 25 verses in total, is indispensable to all the true members
and ministers in the end-time.
Significantly, it precedes the Book of Revelation, and may be considered
a prelude to Revelation. In the last
days false teachings abound, truth is confused and believers are threatened by
apostasy. This book thus reminds us to
“contend for the common salvation (or common faith) which was handed down once
for all” (Jude 3).
What Is the Common Faith, or the Apostolic Message
of Salvation?
The true message of salvation is
delivered once for all. Just as God
created the universe and the creation was good and complete (Gen 1), salvation
was given to men by the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross (Jn
19:30). The common salvation that the
Lord Jesus handed to the EarlyChurch furnishes mankind
with genuine faith, love, and hope. It
includes the sacrament of water baptism, sacrament of foot-washing, and
sacrament of Holy Communion, Spirit baptism, and the holy Sabbath under
spiritual grace and freedom. We must
come to the true knowledge and grace of God, and be obedient to the Lord Jesus
and the apostles so as to please God and receive the outcome of the common
faith - eternal life and bliss. The Lord
Jesus instituted the sacraments and commanded their performance in His Name as
Church ordinances.
1.
Sacrament of Baptism: The Lord Jesus told us to
be "born again from water and the Spirit" (Jn
3:5, Tit 3:5), and go and teach all nations, baptizing them in His Name (Mt
28:19, Acts 22:16, 10:43, 48, 19:5). Its
purpose is for remission of sins, justification, adoption of the children of
the Heavenly Father, putting on Christ and salvation (Mk 16:16, Acts 2:38, Gal
4:5, 3:27-29). One must believe the Lord
Jesus as the Savior, who died on the Cross was buried, resurrected, and
ascended to Heaven, and repent of his own sins before he accepts water baptism
performed by a holy and spiritual minister. The valid and effective mode of this "one
baptism" (Eph 4:5) has been given by the Bible is: baptized in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38), head bowed (Rom 6:3, 5, Jn
19:30), full immersion in the river, ocean, or spring (Jn
3:23, Acts 8:38).
2.
Sacrament of Foot-washing: As an integral part
of the sacraments instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ, foot-washing teaches us
to love, forgive, serve, and be humble and holy, so as to have a part, portion,
or fellowship with Jesus Christ in the Kingdom of God (Jn
13:8). The mode: As recorded in Jn 13:3-5, the minister, commissioned by the Holy Spirit,
performs in the name of the Lord Jesus the sacrament of foot-washing for the
newly baptized converts (Jn 13:3-7).
3.
The Holy Communion: As a remembrance of the
death of Jesus Christ (I Cor 11:23-24, 26, Lk 22:19), Holy Communion (the bread: unleavened bread, and
the cup: grape juice) is administered by the Spirit-commissioned minister. After consecration in the Name of the Lord
Jesus, the bread (broken by hand into pieces) and subsequently, the cup are
distributed to the Church members. The
importance of this sacrament: the flesh and the blood of Jesus Christ is
neither a transubstantiate neither real presence, nor
a mere symbol or token. The elements,
after consecration, become the flesh and the blood of Jesus Christ in the Holy
Spirit. To partake of the Holy Communion
is to have the nourishment of spiritual life, the prospect of eternal life and
resurrection at the Last Day, and above all, a mystic union between the Lord
Jesus and the individual believers (Jn
6:53-5,6). Only the guiltless and worthy
believers are permitted to enjoy this Communion (I Cor
11:2.7-32).
4.
Receiving the Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit is
called "the Comforter" (Jn 14:16), the
Spirit of God (I Cor 3:16), the Spirit of the living
God (II Cor 3:3), the Spirit of the Father (Mt
10:20), the Spirit of Christ (Rom 8:9), the Spirit of Jesus (Acts 16:7 RSV),
the Spirit of the Son (Gal 4:6), the Spirit of truth (I Jn
4:6) and so forth. The Spirit is one and
the same as God and Jesus Himself. Thefore His
ascension the Lord Jesus Christ told the disciples 1) to be endowed with the
power of the Holy Spirit, i.e., to receive, or to be baptized by the Holy
Spirit (Acts 1:4-5, Jn 20:21-23); 2) with the
commission of the Holy Spirit they must preach to the nations the gospel of the
kingdom (Mt 28:20, Luke 24:44-49, Acts 1:8). All Christians, ministers and
believers, must receive the Spirit to prove: 1) that they have been born from
the Spirit (Jn 3:5), belong to God (E7ph 1: 13.14, 2
Tim 2:19, Rev 7: 1 3), and are the children and heirs of God (Rom 8:16, Gal
4:6-7); 2) that receiving the Holy Spirit is a guarantee or a “passport” for
the heavenly inheritance (Eph 1:14, 2 Cor 1:22,
5:5). For this reason, Spirit baptism is
vitally related to salvation. It should be noted that the Holy Spirit is
equated with the truth (Jn 14:6, 16:13). If any church group or individual preaches
and adheres to Gospel truth, that church or person will certainly receive the
Spirit of the Lord, With the same Spirit of God Christians will come to the
unity of the common faith and the Spirit (Eph 4:3-6). As human traditions and religious hypocrisy
stand in God's way, and pulpit rhetoric is full of dry, artful, and worldly
oratory, we urge the Christians to return to the Bible and the ecclesiastical,
doctrinal, and spiritual experience of the Lord Jesus and His apostles in the EarlyChurch. If any one believes, repents and is baptized
in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins (Eph 1:7, 1 Jn 5:6-8, Acts 20:28, Heb 9:13,14,22,10:19-22), the
promised Holy Spirit will be given to anyone who asks in His Name (Lk 11:9-13). If one
receives the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the immeasurable Spirit will become a
living spring, overflowing unto eternal life (Jn
3:34, Is 32:15, Jn 7:37-39). The recipients of the Holy Spirit speak in
tongues, both in private and congregational prayer sessions. The spiritual tongues well up from the depth
of one's innermost being and are the mysterious utterances with which one
communicates with God and is one's spirituality edified (I Cor
14:2,4, Rom 8:26). To receive the Holy
Spirit is a Christian privilege of "praying in the Holy Spirit" (Jude
20) and a unity between God and His Children (Jn
14:16, 17, 1 Cor 2:10-16). With the help of the Holy
Spirit, the believers will bear the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23) and put
to death lusts and the lower nature of the flesh (Rom 8:4, 13). The believer's spiritual life is always
renewed and sanctified as "new creatures in Christ" (Tit 3:5, 2 Thes 2:13), having true holiness and righteousness of God
(Eph 4:24). Moreover, to receive the
Holy Spirit is to confirm the divine commission (Rom 10:14, 15) - the power and
authority from above, so as to remit or to retain sin (Jn
20:21-23, Acts 5:1-11), or to execute divine healing (Heb 2:3, 4). For Church
edification, the Holy Spirit grants various spiritual gifts (charismata):
utterance of wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, working of miracles, discernment
of spirits, various kinds of tongues, and interpretation of tongues (I Cor 12:1-12). To
reveal His special purpose God will give the special gift of tongues and of
interpretation to the congregation as a vocal or auditory miracle. This charisma is neither given all the time
nor to all the members (I Cor 14:5, 6, 12, 18, 19,
26, 1 Cor 12:30).
It is, however, wrong to assume that Christians
do not have to speak in tongues. The
apostles and believers of the Early Church and the members of the True Jesus
Church, for instance, have demonstrated the same spiritual phenomenon: speaking
in tongues (Acts 2:1-4,33, 8:14-19, 10:44-48, 11:15, 19:2-7, 1 Cor 12:2, 4) and enjoying the spiritual communication with
God. Furthermore, Christians should be
warned against the phenomena which might have ignorantly been taken as
"receiving the Spirit" or "Spirit baptism": rolling, spasm,
foaming, agony, wild screams, "to be spiritually slain" with its
resultant unconsciousness, or other weird expressions. The false tongues may be a sheer human
contrivance or a delusion from the other spirits. It should be noted that the good endowment
and perfect gift of God should be distinguishable from the earthly,
unspiritual, and devilish. The vibration
of the body and glossolalia are the visible and
audible manifestation of receiving the Holy Spirit, but God is the author of
decency and order (I Cor 14:33) and the gift of God
is pure, peaceable, powerful, and spiritually bright and joyful.
5.
The holy Sabbath under the spiritual blessing
and freedom of the Lord Jesus Christ: To keep the seventh day of the week is a
matter of Christian conscience and obligation in relation to the indisputable
Ten Commandments. God instituted the
Sabbath even from the beginning of the creation as He had rested, sanctified,
and blessed this day (Gen 2:1-3). Jesus
Christ, Lord of the Sabbath (Mk 2:27, 28), designated this day as a day of
spiritual joy and rest. He observed it
as his custom was (Lk 4:16) for worship and teaching,
while he repudiated the Pharisaic bondage to the legal restrictions evolved in
the oral and written Jewish traditions.
The Lord Jesus Christ wants His disciples to observe this seventh day in
a manner as in the Edenic innocence and freedom. Like
Jesus Christ, the apostles observed the day of Sabbath, enjoying the spiritual
blessing given by the truth and grace of God (Acts 13:14, 44, 16:13, 17:1,2,
18:4, Jn 1:14, 2 Cor
3:17). The apostle Paul kept this day as
his custom. He dissuaded the Christian
Jews from observing such Mosaic ordinances as cleansing rituals, days of
fasting, meat and drinking rules, special holidays and others (Rom 14:1-6, Gal
4:9, 10, Co] 2:14-17). Incidentally, all
theories about the Christian Sunday are not recorded in the Bible. The reference to the first day of the week
points to the verity of Jesus' resurrection against a definite setting (Mt
28:1, Mk 16:2,9, Lk 24:1, Jn
20:1,19), a special farewell gathering for the apostle Paul (Acts 20:7), or for
contribution collection (I Cor 16:2). These scriptures have nothing to do with the
celebration of the day of resurrection.
It is the Catholic Church that ordained the celebration of Sunday as
"the Lord's Day," and it is "Sunday" legislation that emerged
in the 4th century Roman Empire. A conscientious Christian must understand and
uphold the dignity and solemnity of the Ten Commandments including the Fourth
Commandment, despite the fact that the Leviticus ordinances regarding festival
days, priesthood, sacrifices, and others have been fulfilled by Jesus Christ. Indeed, if one loves God and other people as
himself, he will keep the Commandments of God and enjoy the Sabbath under His
grace.
A WARNING TO THE SAINTS (JUDE 5-11)
Jude in his letter cites the
unbelievers, backsliders, and turncoats from the history of the chosen people
to warn the saints against the danger of fallen faith. To be sure, the saints must constantly keep
what they have received from the Lord (2 Tim 1:6, Tim 4:6, 2 Pet 3:1), lest
they should fall away. Church ministers
must also be aware of faith crisis in order to carry out by the power of the
Lord Jesus a better pastoral work and maintain the purity of the saving
gospel. The following predicaments or
maladies of the faith must be removed from the body of Christ:
1. The
Israelites who did not believe (Jude 5-6).
Out of love, compassion, and great power, God delivered Israel from the
land of slavery into the prospect of entering the Promised Land. Unfortunately, most of them perished in the
wilderness because of disbelief (I Cor 10:5, Heb
3:15-19, 4:1-2). Even Moses and Aaron
were disqualified to enter Canaan on account
of their loss of faith (Num 20:12). The
faith of the Lord's disciples must always be strengthened by Jesus Christ (Lk 17:5). They must
"hold their first confidence to the end" for the participation in
Christ (Heb 3:14).
2. The
angels who did not keep their original position (6). Satan was originally an archangel in a high
position, but for his beauty and wisdom (Eze 28:17),
he had become proud and wanted to equate himself with the Most High (Is
14:14). For that reason, he and his
followers have kept in "eternal chains in the nether gloom until the judgement day" (6).
Their final destination is the "lake of fire" (Rev
20:20). Those who are beguiled by false
teachers and turn away from God will suffer the same horrible end (Rev 20:15).
3. The
wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (7).
Because of lust and perversion, Sodom and
Gomorrah were
destroyed (Gen 19:6-7, 2 Pet 2:6-7). On
account of lust and wickedness Noah's generation was destroyed by the flood
(Gen 6). The apostle Paul lists sexual
immorality as the prime in a myriad of sins.
Those who commit such a sin cannot inherit the kingdom of God
(I Cor 6:9-10). Another form of fornication is to
compromise with the world (Jas 4:4).
This is a spiritual fornication (Eze
6:9). The believers must keep good faith
and godliness. They must never gratify
the desires of the flesh (Gal 5:16), nor commit spiritual fornication.
4. The
self-righteous Cain (Jude 11a). Abel
offered a lamb and blood for atonement of sins, but Cain offered the fruit of
the land - an act of self -righteousness.
Sin entered the world through one man and all humans have sinned and
fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 5:12, 3:23). There is not a single righteous person and
all righteous deeds are like polluted garments (Rom 3:10, Is 64:6). Only through the redemption of Jesus' blood
(Rom 3:24) and sanctification of the Holy Spirit (I Cor
6: 11), can one have the share of the kingdom of heaven. The self-conceited Cain so wantoned in anger that he murdered Abel. Curse was heavy upon him (Gen 4:3-12).
5. The
greedy Balaam (11b). Originally a
prophet of God, Balaam "loved gain from wrongdoing" (2 Pet
2:15). Hired by Barak,
king of Moab,
Balaam was to curse the Israelites (Num 22-24).
God turned the curse into blessing (Num 23:4-5). Later on, Balaam became a false prophet. He even caused the Israelites to the sin of
idolatry and fornication (Rev 2:14, Num 25:1-3), and he himself was destroyed
(Num 31:8).
6. Rebellious
Korah (11c).
Defiant to the God-instituted leadership of Moses, Korah
instigated division and rebellion. Korah's arrogant usurpation of God's power brought forth an
unusual death to himself and his gang (Num 16:31-35, 49).
Important Steps into Spiritual Perfection, a
Requisite for Salvation (Jude 17-21)
Jude cites the prophecy of Enoch
to warn against the danger of apostasy.
Now he turns to the "beloved" brethren (Jude 3, 17, 20), once
again calling them to remember what the apostles had spoken about the
"scoffers" (2 Pet 3:3). The
scoffers follow their own ungodly passions, and cause division and strife. Devoid of the Holy Spirit, they mislead the
people away from the truth (Jude 17, 19).
Then, Jude points out four important steps, which lead one to ultimate
salvation:
1. Build
oneself upon the most holy faith (20): The most holy, true Gospel will sanctify
the believers (Jn. 17:17, 15:3), and build them up
until they become perfect and achieve salvation. One ought to diligently search and study the
word of God, and meditate on the way and law of God all day and all night (cf.
Ps 119:1, Dt 4:1-2, 5, 29-33, Ps 1:2-3).
2. Pray
in the Holy Spirit (20b): To receive the Holy Spirit and to pray in the
spiritual tongues viiii enable one to utter mysteries
and talk to God in spiritual depth.
Moreover, the Holy Spirit will intercede for the believers (Rom
8:26-27). If one prays and walks in the
Holy Spirit, he will bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22), so as to
perfect the spiritual and moral character.
3. Keep
oneself in the love of God (21a): The love that God has given to the world is
the salvation of Jesus Christ, the words of life, and the Holy Spirit. Only by keeping the truth and the Holy
Spirit, can one keep the love of God.
Besides, one must be holy, because the Bible addresses the chosen people
as the "holy and beloved" (Col
3:12). Without holiness one cannot see
God (He 12:14). God is holy and so we
must be holy so as to abide in the love of God (Lev 11:44, 19:2, 1 Pet 1:16),
and be qualified into the holy city (cf. Rev 21:27).
4. Wait
for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life (21b): Humans are
weak, and so must turn to the mercy of God for eternal life (Tit 3:5). Even in the daily life of the Christians,
temptation and attack come from without, and weakness and tendency to err from
within. Without the mercy and compassion
of the Lord, our wrongdoing can never be forgiven.
5. While
we are waiting for the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus and the Kingdom of Heaven, we must:
1.
Guard against the Devil (Eph. 4:27, Jas 4:7-8).
2.
Apply the true words to our life (Ja 1:22, Lk
11:28).
3.
Follow the Lord Jesus closely (Mt 7:24-25),
asking Him to strengthen our faith (Lk 17:5, Rom
15:4).
