'Do you not know that in the foot -race the runners all run, but that

only one gets the prize?  You must run like him, in order to win with

certainty.  But every competitor in an athletic contest practises

abstemiousness in all directions.  They indeed do this for the sake of

securing a perishable wreath, but we for the sake of securing one that

will not perish.  That is how I run, not being in any doubt as to my

goal.  I am a boxer who does not inflict blows on the air, but I hit

hard and straight at my own body and lead it off into slavery, lest

possibly, after I have been a herald to others, I should myself be

rejected' (1 Cor. 9:24 -27, Weymouth 3rd. Ed. 1909).

In several passages this striving or conflict is associated with

prayer.  In the Garden of Gethsemane, the Lord being in an agony, 'prayed

more earnestly'.  The great 'conflict' which Paul had for the Colossians and

for them at Laodicea (Col. 2:1) is in structural correspondence with the

'fervent labour in prayer' of Epaphras (Col. 4:12), and in Romans 15:30, the

apostle, facing as he was the hostility of those in Judaea that did not

believe, said:

'Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for

the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers

to God for me'.

'Contend earnestly', said Jude, 'for the faith'.  Contend without self -

seeking, without pride or party -spirit, without mere fondness for debate or

desire to worst your opponent.  We should likewise 'Look off unto Jesus',

remembering the agony and bloody sweat of Gethsemane; think of Paul's

triumphant cry, 'I have fought a good fight'; keep in mind the athletes and

the Greek games; remember to keep ourselves and our bodies in their right

places; never be so concerned about motes in others' eyes that we forget the

beam in our own.

We shall keep in mind, too, what the conflict is about.  It is 'for the

faith' -- nothing else.  Position, usefulness, success, may all be legitimate

objects to pursue, but here in Jude 3 we have set before us 'one thing'.

If the faith perish from any man, hope dies with it.  Love will be

impossible and stark, anti-christian anarchy will take its place.  If there

be no faith, there can be no salvation, no service, no fellowship.  When we

fight for the faith, we fight for our all.  If you would retain the liberty

wherewith Christ has set you free, 'contend earnestly for the faith'.  If you

would see men and women enter into life eternal, 'contend earnestly for the

faith'.  If you would do all to the glory of God, 'contend earnestly for the

faith'.  What that faith is, we have yet to consider, but it is clear, that

as the end of this age approaches, so the call to contend for the faith will

become more and more insistent.  May we take unto ourselves the whole armour

of God, and 'stand'.

From the double use of the words 'to write unto you' (Jude 3) it would

appear that, although Jude had in mind writing to the believer concerning

'the common salvation', yet when he did take up the pen it was to exhort them

to contend earnestly for the faith, so insistent was the need, and so

menacing was the attitude of certain men who had 'crept in unawares'.  This

term, therefore, comes before us for our most careful and prayerful

consideration.  Jude evidently conceived the faith as being the very citadel,