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NASB | Jude 1:3 ¶ Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Jude 1:3 ¶ Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I was compelled to write to you [urgently] appealing that you fight strenuously for [the defense of] the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints [the faith that is the sum of Christian belief that was given verbally to believers]. |
Subject: What do we believe? |
Bible Note: On the origin of the number 30000, see http://www.ntrmin.org/30000denominations.htm Whatever the number, it is clear that division in the church has run amok. There is also variation within a denomination, however it is defined, and discernable changes within a single church on the basic way that they do things. One is led to ask, “Is there anything to stop these people from doing whatever they want?” Maybe there is. On my journey today I found myself saying, “Thank God for the Bible“ and asking, “What would we do without it?” Without the Bible, I fear there would be even greater division, and there would really be chaos. I am not sure if the people had the Torah when Judges 17:6 was happening, but it is apparent that the book of the law was lost once. Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan read it before the king. And when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes “because”, he said, “our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written” (2 Kings 22). It is good that we have the book. And we all believe in the book. That there are so many differences in spite of the book is interesting because the book says there should be no schism in the body (1Corinthians 12:25). But again I would suggest that it is not up to us to say what we believe about the Bible, or what it is in the Bible that we believe. When we get saved we become a part of the church. It is the Bible, the prophets and the apostles, that should tell us what we believe. When we believe in Jesus, we believe in everything he says. This may seem a strange statement, but I hope we will give it some thought. |