Jude 1-4

Read Jude 1-16, 17-25

Jude, which in the Greek is the same name as Judas, is a short letter but filled with good gospel truths, warnings on false teachings that were starting to show their head then and still persist today. Jude also probably has more than its fair share of controversy, as it is so short, the fourth shortest in fact after Philemon, 2 John and 3 John. The controversy starts with Jude himself, even though in verse 1 Jude identifies himself as the brother of James, and most scholars do agree that this is the same James from the book of James and both James and Jude are half-brothers of Jesus Christ, some others speculate that is either Judas the Apostle, but not Iscariot, because they translate and interpret brother of James to mean “of” James as the Apostle’s father was named James. Luke 6:16 “and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.” But this interpretation is not widely accepted, and also Jude does not identify himself as an apostle as Peter and Paul do in their letters 1 Peter 1:1 “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,” Romans 1:1 “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,”, some others say that Jude is the apostle Thomas based on the thought that Tomas was a surname and not a personal name and his name was Judas Thomas or Judas the twin, but again it would be likely that he would have used Thomas or identified himself as an apostle. Still others take brother of James to mean this to be brother in Christ to James and the author is Judas Barsabbas from Acts 15:22 “Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers,”, still other think that and anonymous author wroth this letter using Jude’s name. I believe from the language used in verse one that we will get into that Jude is the blood brother of James and they are both half-brothers of Jesus. There is also disagreement on when Jude’s letter was written, some as early as 50 AD and others as late as 160 AD have been speculated. The timing of the letter depends greatly on a couple of factors to commentators, one who the people were that Jude is warning against and the other on whether Peter used Jude as a template or reference to his second letter as they both bear similar themes and language. If one would interpret that Jude’s warning that the ones who have crept in to deceive and pervert the grace of our God was the Gnostic group then a later second century writing must be as they did not come on to the scene until after 100 AD. But if the group was not the Gnostic and rather a group of probably Gentile “Libertines” that claimed to be Christians but used the promise of forgiveness as a wright to act lewdly and as Jude calls them Godless, then a first century writing is more probable. Also because of the similarities with 2 Peter the thought is that Peter used Jude’s letter as a reference when his own speaking out against the same group of Godless infiltrators. But also the same but inverse is said, that Jude used 2 Peter as reference or inspiration. Here are some of the similarities:

Jude 4 “For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

2 Peter 2:1 “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.”

2 Peter 2:3 “And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”

Jude 6 “And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—”

2 Peter 2:4 “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;”

Jude 7 “just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.”

2 Peter 2:6 “if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;”

Jude 11 “Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion.”

2 Peter 2:15 “Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing,”

Jude 17–18 “But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.””

2 Peter 3:2–3 “that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.”

And there are more

I think it is likely that both Jude and 2 Peter were written closely in time but it would be impossible to say which came first or if one used the other as reference or inspiration. What I feel is more important is that the Holy Spirit used two men writing two separate letters to warn against the twisting and unholy use of the grace and forgiveness that we have through Jesus Christ. There are other points of contention to Jude’s letter stemming from him using some of the non-cannon Jewish texts, the book of Enoch and the Ascension of Moses, and that since the use of acrostic writings were used then Jude should be considered non-cannon or not inspired. But Jude was a Jew and was most likely writing to at least a mixed audience of Jews and Gentiles who would be familiar with these other writings and used them in his illustrations of what was to come for these persons who had crept into the church.

1

Jude 1 “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:”

Jude first after giving his name lists his credentials, and what he does not list first is his relationship to his brother James, who was very well respected in Jerusalem and the Jewish Christian community or that he himself was the half-brother of Christ, but that he is a servant of Jesus Christ. The word he uses for servant is doulos, which can also be translated as bond-servant or slave, this is not the same word used to describe a household servant though, which is diakonos, which we also get deacon from, but a slave under the full and total subservience of Jesus Christ, the slave that does not take the offered release from service but bonds himself to his master completely and willingly. Moses and David were also called this kind of servant to God in the Old Testament, and here Jude says the same think of himself, noting that Jude puts Jesus Christ where the Old Testament would have used God, or LORD meaning Yahweh. Jude is proclaiming that he has dedicated his life to Jesus. Remember that during Jesus’ earthly ministry he had been rejected by his brothers. Mark 6:3 “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.” Judas, and James like all of us at one time rejected Jesus, but through the grace of God was made spiritually alive, most likely after Jesus’ resurrection and before his ascension. He then lists his relationship to James as an identity of who he was humanly speaking, but not listing that he was a half-brother of Jesus because him now being a bond-servant of Jesus is the more important relationship that he now has and cherishes.

Jude then lists whom he is writing this letter to, those who are called. He does not identify a particular church or people, although he may have been writhing to a particular church or churches, and about a particular situation in those churches, we all benefit from Jude’s warnings and encouragements. One other possible reasons for using “those who are called” as to separate those who are actual Christians from those that he is warning us about. We could also talk about the calling that Jude is referring to, it is an effectual call from a sovereign God and not just a mere invitation for us to decide whether or not to come. God elects us, calls us, and changes us so that we are reborn and have the desire to place our faith in Jesus, but God’s calling is irresistible.

The last part of verse one is interpreted and translated a few different ways. The ESV, ASV, NIV and more modern translations have it “beloved in God, and kept for Jesus Christ” and I think means that God loved us so much that he called us and sent Jesus to redeem us and we now belong to Jesus, bought and paid for, and that love is permanent throughout our earthly life until we are united with Christ as his bride. The King James version has this translated as “sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ” Which seems to be more of a dual role, God the Father has sanctified us and Jesus Christ is the one preserving or keeping us. Either way you look at it though it is all a work of the triune God.

2

Jude 2 “May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.”

Douglass Moo says that Jude likes to group what he says in threes, in verse one he describes Christians as called, loved, and kept and here Jude prays that the readers of his letter have God’s mercy, peace, and love multiplied on us. One difference in Jude’s prayer that is different from most of the other New Testament introductory prayers like this is that his does not include grace and has mercy instead, which is in only a handful of other similar introductory prayers, 1 Timothy 1:2 “To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.” 2 Timothy 1:2 “To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.” and 2 John 3 “Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.” but as you will notice all of the others that include mercy also include grace. I don’t think there is really any deep meaning or conscious omission on Jude’s part and may have been due to his own mannerisms in his prayers. Jude is praying for our continual increase in God’s blessing on us and in us.

3

Jude 3 “Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.”

4

Jude 4 “For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”