How does someone contend for the Faith today?
This aspect of the Christian faith has always been fascinating to me, because when I read about the heroes of the faith, I see many people who have as part of their witness contended against fierce opposition to it. As Christians, we know that we are called and preserved for Eternity, however, with this great truth comes a communal response to confess the Faith. Now, we should be asking ourselves to what extent are we to contend or struggle together for this Faith? Not just as individuals but also as a network of churches. The Church has always been made of many local churches who profess a body of teaching concerning the truth about God. We call these professions of Faith, creeds or confessions of faith, and our church holds to a particular one known as the Westminster Confession of Faith. The reason why churches have always had confessions is to express what it is we believe as a body from the Word of God. Why this is an important and necessary practice for Christians is there will always be alternative worldly perspectives that teach believers false or distorted views about Jesus Christ and the Grace of God. This is nothing new and according to Jude it was evident in the early church (Jud 5-10). The purpose of confessions of faith is not to replace the Truth of the Bible but to provide a helpful summary of the Faith. In many cases creeds and confessions are largely the result of “contending for the faith.” These sometimes form a counter offensive and solid defensive perspective of who and what God has revealed about himself. The trouble we have today is we have forgotten this traditional practice which served God’s people well in providing a summary of the Faith they confessed alongside others.
For example, if you ask anyone of another faith or different religious worldview what do they believe? Then they would provide a summary or some statement of faith. The word “contend” used by Jude is a strong word and seems to imply a continual struggling for something (Jud 3). But why? Two things from Jude, firstly it is not optional but necessary that we must be contending for “The Faith” which was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people, because the truth about Jesus and God’s Grace can be distorted. And finally, it is necessary because there will be people of worldly perspectives who will be proactive in contending for their beliefs. Therefore, remember the Christian life is a continual struggling and contending for this Faith as part of our great calling as God’s people.
今天人如何為信仰奮力爭戰?
基督信仰的這一方面一直讓我感到興趣，因為當我閱讀那些信仰英雄的事蹟時，我看到許多人在他們的見證中曾與強烈的反對勢力抗爭。作為基督徒，我們知道自己是被召並保守到永恆的，然而，隨着這莫大的真理而來的，是我們要去承認信仰—認信作共同的回應。現在，我們當問自己：我們應該為這信仰共同奮戰或鬥爭到何等程度？這不僅僅是個人，同時也是眾教會共同面對的事。 教會向來是由許多地方教會組成的，而這些地方教會都持守一套有關神真理的教義。我們將這些稱為信仰宣言、信條或信仰告白，而我們的教會所持守的一套是「衛斯敏斯特信條」。歷來，教會之所以有這些信條，是為了從神的話語中表達我們作為一個羣體所相信的。為何這對基督徒來說是一項重要且必要的做法，是因為總會有其他世俗的觀點，向信徒教導關於耶穌基督與神恩典錯誤或扭曲的看法。這並不是什麼新鮮的事，根據猶大書，這種情況在初期教會就已經存在（猶大書 5-10節）。 信條之目的並不是取代聖經的真理，而是提供一個有助於理解信仰的摘要。在許多情況下，信條與信仰宣告正是「為信仰奮戰」帶來的結果。有時，這些也成為了神對祂自己的啟示的一種反攻或堅固的防禦。然而，今天我們面臨的問題，是我們已經遺忘了這傳統的做法——這曾經很好地為神子民提供信仰的摘要，叫他們能與其他信徒一起承認自己的信仰。
舉例説，如果你詢問其他宗教或擁有不同世界觀的人他們的信仰是什麼，他們通常會提供一個摘要或某種信仰宣言。猶大書使用的「奮戰」一詞是個強烈的詞彙，似乎暗示着一種持續不斷的奮戰（猶大書 3）。何解？從猶大書我們可以看到兩點：第一，這不是可有可無，而是我們必要去為從前一次交付聖徒的「真道」(信仰)奮戰，因為關於耶穌和神恩典的真理可能會被扭曲。其次，這是必要的，因為總有持世俗觀點的人積極地為他們所信的爭戰。因此，請記着，基督徒的生命是要為這信仰不斷的鬥爭與奮戰，這是我們蒙聖召作為神子民的一部分。
