Jude 1:3-4
"I exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints" (Jude 1:3)
This sentence is one of the most pertinent messages from the Word of God to His church today.
John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Movement, says this in his commentary about this verse:
“When I gave all diligence to write to you of the common salvation - Designed for all, and enjoyed by all believers. Here the design of the epistle is expressed; the end of which exactly answers the beginning. It was needful to exhort you to contend earnestly - Yet humbly, meekly, and lovingly; otherwise your contention will only hurt your cause, if not destroy your soul. For the faith - All the fundamental truths. Once delivered - By God, to remain unvaried for ever.”
-John Wesley
John Wesley held that The essentials of the faith are changeless. He shared this quote from St. Augustine which sums this all up pretty well:
“In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.”
Our founder held that there is a core, essentials of the faith that all believers hold in common. These essentials are pretty well outlined in the historic creeds, the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed.
Jude was writing to the church to exhort them to stay on track with the essentials and not be led astray by false teachers and teachings within the church.
