Articles
Guarding Against Apostasy
One would be hard pressed to find a book that more vividly describes the dangers and reality of apostasy in the church than the book of Jude. The book begins with the charge to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). The reason Jude so strongly exhorts us to contend for the faith is because “certain people have crept in unnoticed” who would turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 4). Such apostates, or false teachers, are called ungodly, divisive, worldly, and devoid of the Spirit (15, 19). Along with such strong warnings and descriptions of the characteristics of those who would slip into the church and teach error, Jude gives us some actions that we each must be engaged in constantly to prevent ourselves from falling into the ungodliness of apostasy.
Jude first tells us in verse 20 that we are to be “building [ourselves] up in the most holy faith.” The idea here is one of construction. Ephesians 2:20 reminds us that Christ is the chief cornerstone of the Gospel, and the teaching of the apostles and prophets are the rest of the foundation. In order to build a strong faith, one that will stand against apostasy, we must build on the firm foundation of truth. We cannot simply sit on the foundation and weather the storms of false teaching. Individual growth is essential, but growth as a church is crucial as well in protecting against the onslaught of error. In 1 Peter 2:2-5 we are told that when we truly come to Christ and desire growth, we will be “built up as a spiritual house, a holy priesthood...” Guarding against apostasy means that the church must be in the business of spiritual construction! We must be actively growing and developing on the foundation of Christ everyday. If we are building on error we will fail, and if we are not building on the truth we will fail (Matthew 7:24-27).
The second thing Jude exhorts us to do to strengthen ourselves against error is to be “praying in the Holy Spirit” (Jude 20). Prayer is possibly the easiest, most accessible form of growth available to us. At any time, day or night, we can communicate with our God. Once we have started building ourselves up in the faith, we must pray fervently to get the most out of that growth. Prayer is not only vital to our growth, it is vital to our defense against falsehood. If we live without diligent, daily prayer, we are neglecting a very powerful strength building tool. Paul urged that “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people” (1 Timothy 2:1). That means that not only do we pray for personal strength, but we pray for everyone, even those who have already been persuaded by the deception of false teachers. We must not only be constructing, but filling our spiritual structure with prayers for ourself and for others.
Furthermore, Jude tells us to “keep yourselves in the love of God” (Jude 21). The verb ‘keep’ used here means to “continue doing or do repeatedly or habitually.” That is, if we keep ourselves in the Love of God, we are doing whatever we can do on a regular, consistent basis that will be pleasing to God. 1 John 5:3 says, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.” It is obvious here that faithful obedience to God’s law will keep us in his love. We must be constantly doing spiritual maintenance work. Here, we must take an honest assessment of ourselves. We must notice and correct the areas in which we are weak and remove worldly things which do not belong in our lives. In 2 Corinthians 13:5, Paul says to “examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.” This means that we cannot become lazy and complacent, but must constantly be on guard to keep doing the things that are pleasing to God.
Lastly, Jude charges us all to be “waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life” (Jude 21). The idea here is the same as in Mark 13:32-33, when Jesus said, “Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is.” The time in reference is the coming of the day of the Lord. We should be always looking forward to the coming of Christ. His coming is when his mercy will be realized and eternal life will be given to those who have been faithful. We must actively be watching and waiting. Looking forward with hope will help us in our defense against error.
It is not easy to “contend earnestly for the faith.” The words building, praying, and waiting are all present participles. That means they are all action words that we participate in. We also must “keep doing” those things that keep us in the love of God. These are not just suggestions, but actions that are essential to the Christian and the church contending earnestly for the faith.
