Jude Series: Literary Genre of Jude

Jude is written according to the pattern of letter writing found in the ancient world during the first century called the “epistle.”

The epistle is among the oldest forms of communication.

In fact, the epistle is among the oldest and most abundantly preserved types of texts that we have today from the ancient world.

These extant documents are extremely important to us today for historical, literary and biblical research.

The Babylonian royalty employed epistolary communication as far back as 2275 B.C.

The Egyptians used this form of written communication extensively as evidenced by remains from the second millennium B.C.

Akkadian letters have been found on potsherds and clay tablets.

The greatest epistolary activity occurs during the Greco-Roman period.

The Greek language was diversified into various dialects such as Aeolic, Doric, Ionic, Attic, but yet mutually intelligible.

Eventually, all of these dialects were joined into one “common” language, the Koine Greek, which Alexander the Great spread throughout the rest of the world which he had conquered.

The Romans spoke Latin but very much influenced by the Greeks and their culture.

In fact, the Roman Empire at its height spoke primarily Koine Greek.

The Romans wrote their Law in Latin but their literary prose was in Greek.

Latin was not used by Roman historians until Cato in 160 B.C.

Latin is practical and economical like the Romans themselves, whereas the Greeks were much more colorful in their speech and thought and therefore, produced a more complicated language.

There are over 14,000 extant epistles from the Greco-Roman period.

This was the result of the increase in scribal learning and influence as well as the growing demands for careful documentation in the areas of: (1) Commerce & travel (2) Official propaganda (3) The administrative concerns in government (4) Military (5) Law (6) Apologetic considerations (7) Philosophical speculations (8) Rhetorical practice (forensic, didactic, and epideictic).

The needs in these various areas produced various responses, which can be categorized as such: (1) Business letters (2) Official communiqués (3) Letters for public consumption (4) Letter essays (5) Letters of introduction and commendation (6) Poetic letters (7) Epistles of consolation (8) Encyclical documents (9) Rhetorical paradigms (10) Legal pleas.

Letters can also be classified according to the form of preservation and the writing materials employed.

The English word “epistle” is from the Greek verb epistello, which refers to the “act of sending or writing a military or an administrative order.”

In classical Greek, epistello meant, “to send, announce, order through the passing on of a message or commission either in writing or by verbal communication.”

In the Septuagint, it meant only “to write,” rather than “to send a message orally.”

In the New Testament, the verb meant “to send a communication, to inform, to instruct by letter.”

Epistello is used in an authoritative and official nature in the Greek New Testament and occurs 3 times (Acts 15:20; 21:25; Heb. 13:22).

The noun epistole occurs 24 times and means “a letter,” or “epistle.”

It originally meant in classical Greek a message of any kind, either written or verbal.

Where the verb epistello meant the act of writing a message, the noun epistole meant “that which is transmitted or written,” the message or letter itself.

The noun epistole in classical Greek referred to a wide range of written communication.

By the Septuagint and the New Testament periods, epistole had lost its oral meaning and meant only the written message, hence, a letter, or epistle.

Epistole was not only used in an informal sense in the New Testament as in secular writings, but more importantly it was employed in an authoritative and official sense.

The apostolic epistles in the New Testament were authoritative in nature.

They were authoritative because they originated from the throne room of God.

The apostolic epistles are unique from secular epistles in that sense alone.

The Christian epistle claimed divine authorship.

They claimed to be the very words of God.

The Christian epistle is unique simply by the fact that they claim divine authorship.

Pasa graphe theopneustos, “All Scripture, God-breathed!”

The general form of a first century letter contained the following elements: (1) The author identifies himself (2) The author identifies the recipient (3) The greeting (4) Main body of the epistle (5) Closing greeting (usually a simple word wishing the recipient good health) (6) Final signature of endorsement by the writer of the letter.

The final signature of endorsement authenticated the letter’s contents and served as protection against fraudulent correspondence.

The final signature was also important because frequently an amanuensis was employed to write the letter.

Jude follows the correct chronological order of a first century letter’s introduction.

First, the author identifies himself first in verse 1 and then identifies the recipient of the letter in this same verse.

Then, in verses 3-23, we have the body of the letter followed by the closing doxology in verses 24-25.

Some scholars believe that the epistle of Jude contains Greco-Roman rhetorical techniques and forms.

However, before the advent of this approach, most interpreters have viewed epistolary rhetoric as more appropriate and I am in agreement with them.

The study of Graeco-Roman rhetoric is useful for several reasons.

The first is that the New Testament letters were intended to be read aloud like a speech.

Secondly, the majority of people in the Roman Empire were very familiar with rhetoric and plus many were trained in rhetoric.

However, it is my view that one must not embrace this approach to interpretation of the epistle of Jude or any of the New Testament letters too rigidly so as to force these letters into a particular pattern which cannot account for the extent of their content or structure.

In fact, the early church fathers such as John Chrysostom, Theodoret of Cyrus, and Theodore of Mopsuestia were trained in classical rhetoric and taught on the New Testament letters and none of them read these letters according to the pattern of Graeco-Roman rhetoric, though they frequently made rhetorical observations.