been 'once delivered to the saints' and by further exhorting them, as he does

in verse 17, 'to remember the words which were spoken before of the apostles

of our Lord Jesus Christ', it is evident that the common salvation or the

faith they were called upon to defend was known to his readers, and based

upon the teaching of the apostles.  It is a sad comment upon the human heart,

that both Jude and Paul lived to see the truth which had been committed to

them from heaven, not only ignored, but despised and distorted.

Let us consider the term, 'earnestly contend'.  In this same epistle,

Jude speaks of a contending of which none of us would otherwise have any

knowledge.  Speaking of those who 'despise dominion and speak evil of

dignities', an attitude that savours more of anarchy than true concern for

the faith, he said,

'Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed

about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing

accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee' (9).

The despisers of dominion 'blasphemed' dignities, but Michael did not

dare to bring against Satan a 'blasphemous' accusation.  It is salutary that

we should be aware of the dangers and pitfalls that await any who would

'contend for the faith'.  In all their contention, they will avoid despising

or railing.  With all their courage and faith, they will, with the meekness

that becomes even an archangel, say, 'The Lord rebuke thee'.

We are exhorted to 'contend', but forbidden to be 'contentious'.

Contention may be merely the expression of rivalry, eris, eritheia, anything

that savours of faction or party -spirit, as these words imply.  In classical

usage, the word eris means 'electioneering or intriguing for office, hence,

in the New Testament, courting distinction, a desire to put oneself forward,

a partisan and factious spirit' (Thayer).  Such contention is a mark of the

carnal Christian (1 Cor. 1:11; 3:3), and is a work of the flesh (Gal. 5:20).

It arises out of ignorance and pride (1 Tim. 6:3,4), and must be avoided

(Tit. 3:9).

Ellicott, commenting on Galatians 5:20, stresses the fact that eritheia

is derived from erithos, 'a day -labourer', and in the course of time coming

to mean a scheming or intriguing for office (as in Aristotle's Pol. verses

2,3).  The believer will therefore avoid contending for his own advancement,

his own good name, his reputation, or anything that savours of self or sect.

Such contending is foreign to the thought of Jude.

Another form of contention that must be avoided is that spoken of in 1

Corinthians 11:16, 'If any man seem to be contentious, we have no such

custom, neither the churches of God'.  Philoneikos, the word used in this

passage, means 'love of dispute or war'.  The spring of this action is not

love of the truth, but the overwhelming desire to fight and conquer another.

This, too, is entirely out of place in Christian conflict.

Yet one further type of contention must be avoided, even though the

apostle Paul himself gave place to it on one occasion.  It is the contention

that can justly be called a paroxysm, a word used by medical men for 'the

exacerbation of a disease', 'a fit', and, by geologists, for the violent

eruption of a volcano.  Of such was the quarrel between Paul and Barnabas, as

recorded in Acts 15:39.  Its peculiar nature is discovered in other usages,

such as 'to provoke unto love and to good works' (Heb. 10:24), and where the