Scripture
Jude 3
Jude urges believers to contend for the faith entrusted once for all to the saints.
Beloved, although I made every effort to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt it necessary to write and urge you to contend earnestly for the faith entrusted once for all to the saints.
Once for all
Jude presents the Christian faith as a received deposit entrusted to the saints, not as an undefined message waiting for replacement.
Where this passage comes up
- A great apostasy made restoration necessaryThe New Testament warns of apostasy but promises the gospel will endure, and the apostles' message was preached without a break from the first century on.
- The Bible lost plain and precious truthsThe manuscripts show small, documented copying changes, not an early removal of doctrine, and the Bible already teaches what the Book of Mormon calls plain and precious.
- The apostolic gospel is finalPaul and Jude describe the apostles' message as a trust to guard. So any later revelation can be tested by one question: does it preach the same gospel?