“〔我〕就不得不写信劝你们，要为从前一次交付圣徒的真道竭力地争辩。” - 犹 3
有些人反对教会使用信经，他们说：“我相信上帝，但是我只接受圣经中的真理。”使徒信经虽然不是引自圣经，然而它却是一个忠于圣经教导的信仰概要。
篇幅短小的犹大书指出，我们需要有一个真理概要。在犹大生活的那个时代，人们迫切需要为耶稣基督的真道竭力争辩。和今天的情况一样，第一世纪存在很多关于真理的思辨和信仰的宣言，面对这些像漩涡般的击荡时，人们很容易便会被错谬的教训误导了。身为初期教会领导人和作为耶稣兄弟的犹大，看到那些错谬的教训有可能会误导教会，他便劝信徒们要谨守交付给他们的真道。
上帝的圣灵使用耶稣的使徒亲身的经历，成为记载在新约圣经中，我们所读到的真道。此后，从初期教会那时开始，经过以后的几个世纪，领袖和教师们把这些真道的要点列出纲要，来教导预备接受洗礼的新信徒。此后大约在第四世纪时，一个汇编后的信仰告白便形成了，我们称这宣言为使徒信经。
即使在今天，我们对上帝真道的理解仍然会面对危机。当我们诵念使徒信经时，我们就是在诵念上帝恒久不变的真道，来帮助我们在对基督的信心上坚定不移，而我们也是与历代历世和在世界各地的信徒一同如此遵行。
祷告
主啊，今天在我们与世人分享你的真道时，惟愿你这恒久不变的真道也来塑造我们的信心。阿们。
犹大书 1-4, 17-21
1耶稣基督的仆人、雅各的弟兄犹大，写信给那被召、在父神里蒙爱、为耶稣基督保守的人。
2愿怜恤、平安、慈爱多多地加给你们！
3亲爱的弟兄啊，我想尽心写信给你们，论我们同得救恩的时候，就不得不写信劝你们，要为从前一次交付圣徒的真道竭力地争辩。
4因为有些人偷着进来，就是自古被定受刑罚的，是不虔诚的，将我们神的恩变做放纵情欲的机会，并且不认独一的主宰——我们 主耶稣基督。
17亲爱的弟兄啊，你们要记念我们主耶稣基督之使徒从前所说的话。
18他们曾对你们说过：末世必有好讥诮的人随从自己不敬虔的私欲而行。
19这就是那些引人结党、属乎血气、没有圣灵的人。
20亲爱的弟兄啊，你们却要在至圣的真道上造就自己，在圣灵里祷告，
21保守自己常在神的爱中，仰望我们主耶稣基督的怜悯，直到永生。
A Summary Of The Truth
“I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.” - Jude 3
Some people object to creeds in the church, saying, “I believe in God, but I only accept the truth of the Bible.” Though the Apostle’s Creed isn’t printed in the Bible, it faithfully summarizes the Bible’s teaching.
Jude’s short letter reveals the need for a summary of the truth. In his day there was an urgent need to defend the truth about Jesus Christ. In some ways like us today, people in the first century faced a swirling clash of ideas and claims about truth and religion, and it was easy to be misled by false teachings. Jude, an early church leader who was also a brother of Jesus, saw that false teaching threatened to mislead the church. He urged believers to hold on to the truth entrusted to them.
God the Holy Spirit, using the eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ apostles, forged the truth that we find in the New Testament. Then, from the days of the early church through the next few centuries, leaders and teachers summarized the main points of that truth as they taught new believers who were preparing for baptism. And by around the fourth century, a general statement emerged that has become known as the Apostles’ Creed.
Our grasp of God’s truth can still be threatened today. When we say the Apostles’ Creed, we are reciting God’s eternal truth to help us stand firm in our faith in Christ, and we do so with believers down through the centuries and around the world.
Prayer
Lord, may your eternal truth shape us today as we share it with the world. Amen.
