Jude 1:3 (The Bone of Contention!)

These days, a sling of truth can still make Goliath fall (Tom Althouse)

Bone of Contention?

What is a "bone of contention"? Sounds ominous, like something one might find in a fantasy novel. The tagline might sound something like this:

--"And thou, noble knight, must find and bring back the BONE OF CONTENTION before you may free the princess!" 

Or this:

--"A misguided troupe of misfit adventurers find themselves in a race against time to find the BONE OF CONTENTION before demonic forces can use it to bring about the end of the world!"

Contending for the Truth

Alas, a "bone of contention" is not so dramatic. First recorded in the year 1705, a "bone of contention" is, quite simply, the bone two dogs find themselves fighting over.  Metaphorically speaking, our culture finds itself contending over several bones, but most notable for many years has been contention over the bone of truth. This is especially so now in an age of AI fakes, deepfakes, image manipulation, and disinformation. Sadly, contending over the truth is not for our generations only. Truth has been a bone of contention since human beings first emerged in this space-time continuum. And this struggle for truth is, truthfully (see what I did there?), the crux of Jude's letter to the Church.

Three Things Every Group Needs

Remember that Jude is how-to guide for Christian leadership. He started off with identity, both for himself and his readers. His readers are "Called, Cherished, and Kept." He ties identity to the immutable truth of God Himself. In verse 3, he continues by providing the three things every group needs to keep truth in the forefront: vision, challenge, and expectations.

Vision

Vision is vital to any successful team. It is the expression of the one or more ideas the team can coalesce around, live for, and, if necessary, fight for! Jude puts forth his vision to his reading audience and it's one that we in the 21st-century should also take to heart. Believers are to be one community based upon one profession of faith (see Acts 16:31). "Dear friends" addresses the called, cherished, and kept from verse 2. These people are significant to Jude; there is an intimacy alluded to; this community is bound by what Jude calls a "common salvation." This salvation (see 1 Cor 15:1-11) is common to those who are reading this, and it reaches across all ethnic, racial, social, economic, and relational barriers. Paul expresses the same concept in Galatians 3:28 when he writes, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." The vision of the Gospel is that believers are tied together in "one accord" (Acts 2:1) and belong to one Kingdom (Colossian 1:13). Thus, the material things of this earthly life become secondary; the truth of this spiritual community becomes paramount.

Challenge

A faithful leader challenges the followers to "strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield" (Ulysses, Lord Tennyson). Leaders want their people to keep striving, to hold fast the truths that have been taught, to keep pushing forward without diluting the vision. The word used in the New English Translation is "encourage"; the King James Version writes "exhort"; the actual Greek is παρακαλέω, and is defined as "to address, to speak to, to summon, to exhort." I like the word "challenge" for this. For Jude is not simply saying positive and good things to the readers; he is, in fact, calling them like troops to a battle! The vision is spiritual community; the challenge is not to let that spiritual community be disrupted by those who would preach a different Gospel. They must contend for the truth!

Expectations

And this is where Jude, as the leader, sets expectations. I recently had my team take a survey and one of the questions was, "What does Chaplain Smith need to work on?" A couple of responders wrote that they were unsure what I really wanted them to work on or what was truly important to me. I failed, in some areas, to set expectations. Jude makes no such mistake. He wants his readers to "contend earnestly" (i.e., sincerely struggle and fight for) "for the faith" (that body of truth handed down by the Apostles which Christians believe) "that was once for all" (these truths are unchanging) "entrusted to the saints" (i.e., the Apostles and early disciples, the Early Church, those before errors began to creep in). He is very clear that he wants his readers to FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT for a pure, unadulterated Christian faith. Let's be clear here--he's not speaking about any of the denominations or Christian-adjacent faith groups. Jude speaks of the simple proclamation that Jesus Christ came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10).

Bottom Line

Bottom line is this--having established their identity, the Christian leader sets the vision, challenges the people, and places expectations upon them for how to best contend for the TRUTH!

Reflection

1. What vision do your people have before them?

2. Is that vision eternal or material?

3. How are your people challenged and to what end?

4. What about expectations? Do your people know what is expected of them when it comes to behavior, truth, appearance, etc.?

5. What truth do you wish your team to hold hard and fast?