his original intention to write a letter which would be based upon subjects common to our salvation such as the major doctrinal teach ings of Scripture (vs. 3). The word "needful" in the third verse, as it is found in the original Greek, means "to compress." In other words, there was pressure brought upon Jude. Personally, I think this is an excellent portion of Scripture, indicating the fact that the Word of God is not just a device of man but that it has been verbally inspired (II Peter 1:19-21). Recently I was watching the tel evision program, The Today Show. (We like to get the early news ev ery morning before heading to work.) The hosts were interviewing several different authors of popu lar books. One was asked how he happened to go into this field and he responded, "Oh, I write for
money! Quite frankly, whenever I get hungry I just sit down and author a book." Such motives are frequently true. The Bible has no hoax behind any of the statements given. Holy men of old did not de vise clever fables. The Scripture, in totality, is the inspired Word of God! This "common salvation" simply means that it is the common pos session of all who have placed their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Philippians 1:27, the exhorta tion is to be "striving together for the faith of the gospel." Now, it is one thing to be contentious, but this is not what Jude is talking about. Two little girls in the same family were arguing one day about which one of them would receive the better gift when their father returned home from his business trip. He had promised to bring
Al Peterson (I.) and Jack Vandenburg looking over the selection of books in the Biola Bookstore.
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