“Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the Cross!”

Part 1

“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation,”
Jude is writing to his brothers and sisters in Christ, the ones who are the “beloved.”  These are the ones “that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called” by Him (v. 1).

He is diligently writing about the “common salvation.”  “Common,” not in the sense of being inexpensive or ordinary, but in this sense; everyone who knows Jesus Christ personally has this same salvation.  All believers have this gift of salvation by grace through faith.  In his second letter notice what Peter call this,

“Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord” (2 Peter 1:1-2).

This salvation is common among all believers he calls, “like precious faith.”  Paul wrote to Titus and called this bond between believers a similar name.

“To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour” (Titus 1:4).

“In both passages[1] stress is laid on the ‘faith,’ or the ‘salvation,’ as being that in which all Christians were sharers, as distinct from the ‘knowledge’ which was claimed by false teachers as belonging only to a few.” [2]

“It was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you.”
Jude wanted to write to believers about their “common salvation,” but found that it was necessary (“needful”) to write about a different topic and to challenge them.[3]

Come back tomorrow, and we will see what Jude is going to challenge the brethren about.

[1]  Jude 1:3 and Titus 1:4.
[2]  Cambridge Bible, the electronic version in eSword.
[3]  He wrote about believers standing against apostasy and false teachers, instead.