We have gone through the book of Jude. We learnt that contending for the faith begins with a better understanding of God’s mercy, love, and peace. We have seen that faith is the body of doctrine that was given by God through the Apostles to the church. We do not have to believe in the doctrine of ‘once saved forever saved’ because if God did not spare the chosen Israelites who did not continue to believe, then we cannot also be exempted except we believe.
We discovered in detail some of the characteristics that false doctrines carried in those days and their implications for today. Amongst them were the way of Cain and the error of Balaam. The “way of Cain” is the way of pride, where a man establishes his own righteousness and rejects the righteousness of God that comes through faith in Christ only.
They were also seen as empty clouds that raised the hopes and aspirations of farmers whose crops desperately needed the rains but in the end failed to give the rains. Like the raging seas and the wandering stars, these apostates only produced garbage at the shores after their seeming storms and cause travelers to get lost at night because of their unstable light.
We however concluded that we can overcome all these lies only when we are built up in our faith as we pray in the Spirit and study His word. “Building yourselves up” is about progressing in the knowledge of faith that was the teaching of the apostles. The apostates are in the business of tearing down, but each Christian must be involved in building up.