From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Sat Jul 11 1998 - 08:18:32 EDT
Fearing that I may have poured too much cold water on an inquiry that
Jonathan suggested is worth pursuing for its own sake, let me plunge back
into the deep waters now. What follows is a paragraph from an off-list
exchange between Jonathan and myself.
At 4:16 PM -0400 7/10/98, Jonathan Robie wrote:
>At 03:54 PM 7/10/98 -0400, Carl W. Conrad wrote:
>>I agree that it is a legitimate question--and that it could open up some
>>interesting (whether or not useful) lines of inquiry. BUT it wasn't the
>>question that Eric raised, and what I really expect to see (if there IS a
>>discussion of PISTIS in Jude 3) is arguments for and against whether faith
>>is assent to an intellectual proposition regarding salvation (as I suspect
>>it IS in Jude 3) or trust.
Now, continuing. I have never really paid a lot of attention to Jude, other
than to the splendid benediction with which it closes. Nevertheless, with
respect to the sense of PISTIS in verse 3, it does seem to me that this
brief letter focuses sharply upon upholding orthodox teaching in the face
of threats of heretical teaching (which is a reason why some would classify
this is a late first-century "document of emerging Catholicism"). I thought
I would check the interesting NET version on the web, and here's what I
found (the text of verse 3 is followed by notes: "tn" = translator's note;
"sn" = commentator's note:
------------------
Netscape: The NET Bible 1996 Biblical Studies Press
http://www.bible.org/netbible/jud_note.htm#fn10
Saturday, July 11, 1998
Jude
Condemnation of the False Teachers
3 Dear friends, although I have been eager to write to you7 about our
common salvation, I now feel compelled8 instead to write to encourage9 you
to contend earnestly10 for the faith11 that was once for all12 entrusted to
the saints.13
11tn THi PISTEI here is taken as a dative of advantage ("on behalf of the
faith"). Though rare (see BAGD 664 s.v. 3.), it is not unexampled, and must
have this meaning here.
sn The term "faith" has a variety of meanings in the NT. Here, the faith
refers to the doctrinal content embraced by believers rather than the act
of believing. Rather than discuss the points of agreement that Jude would
have with these believers, because of the urgency of the present situation
he must assume that these believers were well-grounded and press on to
encourage them to fight for this common belief.
12sn The adverb once for all (Grk hAPAX) seems to indicate that the
doctrinal convictions of the early church had been substantially codified.
That is to say, Jude could appeal to written documents of the Christian
faith in his arguments with the false teachers. Most likely, these
documents were the letters of Paul and perhaps one or more gospel. First
and Second Peter may also have been among the documents Jude has in mind
(see also the note on the phrase entrusted to the saints in this verse).
---------------------
end of extract
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
Summer: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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