Contend for the Faith

The human search for truth is relentless and happens in every category of life. Our family still chuckles at my mother’s response when someone asked her if she would like an egg. She replied, “I don’t know. Are they in this year?”

This restless search takes place in the spiritual realm too. Pet doctrines come and hopefully go as people want to hear something that fits their personal desires, mainly to allow them to control their own lives.

O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,” for by professing it some have swerved from the faith. (1 Timothy 6:20–21)

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2 Timothy 4:3–4)

In the early days of the church, the Apostles continually faced the challenge that salvation required human good works or at least included religious practices and rules long established by those who claimed their authority came from God, the same people who crucified God’s Son. Even though the good news of the Gospel won that battle, the human heart still cries out, “I must do something” regarding earning eternal life.

Jude, the half-brother of the Savior, wrote: “Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” (Jude 3)

The author of today’s devotional says a sizable number of Christians have drifted from a thoughtful, Biblical, God-centered theology to one that is increasingly mystical, non-Biblical, and man-centered . . . with a proliferation of extra-Biblical revelations that certain people are claiming to receive directly from God.

I share his dismay and his reliance on the Bible as our source of truth. Even though we may not fully understand every verse, it says this:

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16–17)

First of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:20–21)

It also warns us repeatedly that this truth must be tested and held firmly:

Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. (1 Thessalonians 5:20–21)

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1)

God teaches me that If a teaching doesn’t conform to Scripture, it must be rejected. If it does conform, it isn’t a new revelation. That is, additional revelation is unnecessary. It may come in a still, soft voice, or a dream, or through the words of another person, but it will conform to what God has already revealed. Besides, there is danger in adding to it:

You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you. (Deuteronomy 4:2)

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. (Revelation 22:18–19)

This is why those who defend the faith say: “Don’t be swayed by supposed new revelations. Devote yourself to what has already been revealed” and then point to these words:

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2 Timothy 4:1–4)

PRAY: Jesus, as the days become filled with news of wars, increased earthquakes, and crimes against the masses, I’m also tempted to forget what I know about You and panic into teaching that will make me feel more comfortable. Today’s headlines challenge what I believe about Your goodness, but they do not put a ripple in the reality of Your holiness and Your right to deal with the sinfulness in this world. Guard my heart and my faith in You. Don’t let me wander into any teaching that denies what Your Word reveals.

PONDER: Psalm 37 is a good place to start. It reminds me that God is still on His throne and that He is not yet finished with those who continually challenge the truth He has revealed. In the end, Jesus wins.