Jude 3 "Contend for the Faith"

A Reflection on Truth

“I felt compelled to write . . .” (Jude 3). These words from “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,” describe my feelings these days. I much prefer reading to writing; I usually discover that the things I would write have already been written more clearly and helpfully by someone else. Judy has encouraged me to take up the posting of my blog once again because she thinks that I should, at least, write about the books and articles I am reading and finding helpful. Jude was compelled by the Lord to write; I am compelled by Judy to write; however, I have a thought that she may be speaking the word of the Lord to me. So, my blog begins again.

Most recently I have read a collection of excerpts from the work of Lesslie Newbigin. He was a missionary to India and then, after retirement and a return to the UK he became a pastor at age 72 of a small inner city congregation in Birmingham. Paul Weston of  Ridley Hall, Cambridge University put together a reader of Newbigin’s work which provides a helpful biography and an introduction to his thought. I recommend Lesslie Newbigin, Missionary Theologian, A Reader, compiled and introduced by Paul Weston. Eerdmans Press, 2006. 

As a long time missionary Newbigin saw the present day frontier for gospel ministry to be the secular West. In order to face the “new and unprecedented” situation of a missionary-sending region becoming a region in need of missions, he made the call for a “declericalizing of theology.”  He wrote, “What is needed is the co-operative work of Christian laymen and women in specific sectors of public life: industry, politics, medicine, education, local government, welfare, administration, the media, literature, drama, and the arts. In each of these and other sectors of public life there is a need to examine the accepted axioms and assumptions that underlie the contemporary practice, to examine them in the light of the gospel. That will not happen as long as theology is the preserve of the clergy or, what is equally dangerous, simply an enclave within a secular academic community.” (Reader, p. 212f)

In the Jude passage the text continues this way, “I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. For certain individuals . . . pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.” (Jude 3-4, NIV)

Newbigin argued in his writings that in order to contend effectively for the faith and to give a strong witness to the secular West believers will develop a critique of the prevailing modernist world view which has undercut Christian faith. This modernist philosophy rests upon assumptions that are not recognized and therefore go unchallenged in popular thought. The truth of Newbigin’s argument has come to me in many conversations in which people will make a point with these words, “Science says.” In the minds of many folks this statement, “science says,” brings all debate to a close. Newbigin wrote, “Science is still widely seen as being part of this body of public truth to be acknowledged by all.” Of course, the scientific method has produced remarkable progress in our knowledge, but such knowledge will continue to be corrected and improved upon. There is seldom, if ever, a final word from science, and there is no “Mr. Science,” to whom we can go for a definitive answer on the most profound questions of life. 

When our youngest son graduated from the University of Virginia Medical School one of the deans gave the commencement address. He made this memorable statement: “Half of what we have taught you is wrong; we just don’t know which half.” This commencement speaker is certainly a scientist; he is, perhaps, a post-modern scientist. He understands the limits of all claims to knowledge. 

All ways of knowing go forward on the basis of assumptions. Famed chemist and philosopher Michael Polanyi has argued that all knowledge is personal. We make our assumptions. We theorize, and we test our theories. Copernicus took that approach. He went forward with an imaginative theory that contradicted what his senses observed. In time his theory was shown to explain the world more accurately than the Ptolemaic system had done. 

Christian faith goes forward on the assumption that Jesus Christ is Lord. As Jude said, he is our “sovereign.” We interpret life through our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. In time our assumption that Jesus is Lord will be proven true or false. The sovereignty of Christ will be true for no one or it will be true for everyone. All truth is public truth.

In today’s secular culture which predominates in the West, people have accepted the erroneous idea that religious truth is private, that is, it can be truth for you but not for me. However, scientific truth, in the assumption of the dominant culture, must be true for everyone. The law of gravity is true for everyone. As Christians we conduct our lives with the truth that Jesus is sovereign, and we operate by this truth as confidently as we live by the law of gravity. 

What is difficult for us, as moderns, is to realize that scientific knowledge, as it is called, is developed experimentally and from assumptions. What seems unassailable today could, in fact, be understood quite differently in a later century. So, the dean of the medical school can say, “Half of what we have taught you is wrong; we just don’t know which half.” In the mean time we live by what we know or what we believe to be true. As Christians, we live by what we know or what we believe in faith to be true. Our experience with Jesus Christ, and the presence of the Holy Spirit give us conviction of the truth, and with God’s grace we are willing to place our very lives in the hands of the Lord. Truth is truth for everyone or it is not truth at all.