Session 11 - The Post-Salvation Unbelief (Saved for Eternity)
Description
OBJECTIONS AGAINST ETERNAL SALVATION (PART IX)
Jude 1:3–7 (The Post-Salvation Unbelief)
When we read this passage, some of us sincere believers might get the impression at first glance that Jude was warning and “threatening” authentic believers that if they didn’t keep the faith by behaving morally until the end of their lives and if they let themselves be influenced by those ungodly people infiltrated among them, they would lose their salvation and suffer the vengeance of eternal fire. Jude even provides two examples that imply this kind of thinking. The first example is about those people in Israel who were saved by the Lord out of Egypt at one time and then were destroyed due to their unbelief. The second example describes the angels who were once holy angels but then rebelled against God’s authority by deserting the realm God had established for them to abide in. They ended up in everlasting chains under darkness, waiting for the great day of judgment. These are thought to be the sons of God from Genesis 6:1–4 who came down to earth and married the daughters of men, giving birth to giants. Let’s see if this interpretation of Jude 1:1–7 is valid.
We Christians often have a significant disadvantage in interpreting accurately difficult passages because we have to rely only on what is written and even translated from other languages like Greek and Hebrew. Plus, the audience the Bible addressed belonged to cultures with certain customs, assumptions, and issues, many of which are foreign to us today. The fact that we were not present there to hear the tone and the attitude with which some things were said, as well as the cultural context and what was going on that required certain things to be said, should make us even more diligent and careful in our interpretation. When it comes to assurance of salvation, the epistle of Jude falls into this category of passages that require revelation from the Holy Spirit and increased attention to detail.
Jude says in Verse 3 that while he wanted to share with them things about the common salvation and about the blessings of salvation, he felt compelled to encourage them, to exhort and inspire them to contend for faith. Jude’s purpose was to encourage these believers and give them hope, not discourage them with threats and fear. As a general principle of interpretation, any Holy Spirit-inspired Word of Scripture will never bring fear to the heart of the believer, but faith, hope, and comfort. Romans 10:17 says hearing of the Word of God produces faith, and 1 Corinthians 14:3 tells us any word of prophecy, which is like the Word of God and inspired by the Holy Spirit, brings edification, exhortation, and comfort to men. If the reading of this passage from Jude left us with more fear than faith and hope, if it created fear of losing our salvation, something must not be entirely right with our interpretation. This is one clue that Jude might not have referred here to the possibility of genuine believers losing their eternal salvation.
Coming back to Verse 3, let’s notice that Jude doesn’t encourage believers to keep the faith or to watch in it in the sense of holy living, or even of the good fight of faith. Instead, he uses a different expression: to contend earnestly for the faith. Which faith? The one that was once and for all delivered to the saints. Here we have a hint that Jude doesn’t refer to holy living or trust in God, but specifically, to the body of faith, the accurate doctrines of it and of grace that were initially spoken to them by the apostles. Jude wants to encourage believers to contend for their Gospel beliefs and convictions and guard them from ungodly people and any other possible heresies, but not “contend” with themselves to not lose their faith. Why did Jude need to encourage them in this area? Because certain ungodly people crept into the church unnoticed, and they were changing the grace into licentiousness. They were denying Jesus Christ as God. From Jude’s description, these people were unbelievers who consciously joined the church, trying to convince believers through arguments that maybe Jesus was not the only way to salvation, that perhaps they should be more tolerant with all people since God loves them, and that physical lusts are normal and cannot be denied.
The book of Jude seems a very appropriate book for the times we live in as well, and it’s probably not by coincidence that is it located at the end of the Bible before Revelation. If we read it carefully, we cannot but notice that it describes in detail what is happening right now in the world with the LGBTQ propaganda, with science and technological development rising above God and trying to exclude Him altogether, and with an increasing number of influential people advocating that Jesus is not the only way of salvation and that salvation can be found in any religion of the world. For example, I don’t know if you have ever heard of it, but there is a book called The Secret which talks about getting whatever you want in life through the Law of Attraction and places all religions in the same category. This book calls God one immense energy field, one supreme mind, one consciousness, or one creative source of which all people are part, and every religion has its own name for it. Oprah Winfrey, a very influential person in the United States of America, who is supposedly a Christian, said publicly she didn’t think Jesus Christ was the only way to salvation. She even presented seemingly solid arguments for the hearts and minds that are not anchored in the Word of God. Moreover, most of the movies done by Hollywood or Netflix lately promote the LGBTQ agenda in one way or another, in the name of love and tolerance. Not only that, but many of the movies intentionally put Christians in a bad light in contrast with science, as if these are very narrow, short-sighted, and always denying science. And this is not true. Influential people, and even church pastors, are beginning to promote the idea that adultery, homosexual...