Jude 1-Identification of the Author and Recipients of the Epistle
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Saturday April 16, 2022
Jude Series: Jude 1-Identification of the Author and Recipients of the Epistle
Lesson # 11
Jude 1 From Jude, a slave owned by Jesus Christ as well as James’s brother to those who are loved by God, who is your Father. Therefore, to those who are the effectually called ones who are being kept in the state of being protected by and for the benefit of Jesus Christ. (Lecturer’s translation)
The epistle of Jude begins with an opening which identifies the author and the recipients of this letter in verse 1 followed by a greeting in verse 2.
Now, the Jude who identifies himself in Jude 1 as the brother of James must be the brother of James who wrote one of the letters which appears in the Greek New Testament which bears his name and an apostle of Jesus Christ (cf. Acts 12:17; 15:13; 21:18; 1 Cor. 15:7; Gal. 1:19; 2:9, 12).
Consequently, James and Jude were half-brothers of Jesus (cf. Matt. 13:35; Mark 6:3).
The Jude who wrote the epistle of Jude, like his brother James and other half-brothers of Jesus did not believe that the latter was the Christ and incarnate Son of God prior to His resurrection (Mark 6:3; John 7:3–8).
He evidently believed in Jesus as the incarnate Son of God as a result of the resurrection since he appears with his mother Mary, his brothers, and the other apostles in the upper room after the ascension of Christ (Acts 1:14).
Therefore, he must have been converted during the forty days of Christ’s post resurrection appearances.
Jude presents a two-fold description of himself in verse 1.
The expression Iēsou Christou doulos (Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ δοῦλος), “a slave owned by Jesus Christ” presents the first of these two descriptions.
With this expression, he is affirming the fact that he has been redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ from the slave market of sin and delivered from Satan’s power and authority and is now possessed by Him.
The noun doulos, “slave” is ascribed to Jude expressing the fact that this man was totally and completely under the control of Jesus Christ.
It means that he is under the power and authority of Jesus Christ and is His property because His substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the cross redeemed or purchased him out from the slave market of sin and Satan’s kingdom.
The expression adelphos de Iakōbou (ἀδελφὸς δὲ Ἰακώβου), “James’s brother” presents the second description of the author of this epistle.
After identifying himself as the author of this epistle and providing a two-fold description of himself in verse 1, Jude proceeds to identify the recipients of the individuals he was writing to and provides a three-fold description of them while doing so.
This three-fold description of the recipients of the epistle of Jude is one of the many triads which appear in this letter.
As we noted in our introduction to the epistle of Jude, the recipients of the epistle of Jude appear to be appear Jewish Christians.
First of all, Jude describes the recipients of this letter with the expression tois en theō patri ēgapēmenois (τοῖς ἐν θεῷ πατρὶ ἠγαπημένοις), “to those who are loved by God, who is your Father.”
This expression indicates that the recipients of this letter experienced the love of God the Father at the moment of their justification when they exercised faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior indicating that they are children of God.
Also, this expression indicates that the recipients of the epistle of Jude were experiencing the love of God the Father after their justification as a result of exercising faith in the Spirit’s testimony in the gospel that the Father loved them through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ when they were unregenerate enemies of God (Rom. 5:6-8).
It also indicates that the recipients of the epistle of Jude were experiencing God the Father’s love for them at the moment of their justification through the baptism of the Spirit when the Spirit identified them with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father when they were dead in their sins and transgressions (Eph. 2:1-10).
Lastly, it also indicates that the recipients of the epistle of Jude were experiencing the Father’s love for them after their justification through faith in the Spirit’s testimony in the gospel that the Father raised them up and seated them with Jesus Christ through the baptism of the Spirit at their justification when they were dead in their sins and transgressions (Eph. 2:1-10).
The second description employed by Jude to describe the recipients of this letter is tois klētois (τοῖς κλητοῖς), “those who are the effectually called ones.”
This expression does not refer to the “call of God,” which is related to “common grace” meaning grace given to all sinners by God in the form of being exposed to the gospel or in other words, it does not refer to the “invitation” to receive the gift of salvation by trusting in Jesus Christ as Savior.
Rather, it refers to those sinners who have responded to the divine invitation or call of God when they were presented the gospel and have exercised faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.
Thus, it is an “effectual call” as many commentators describe it.
Therefore, tois klētois (τοῖς κλητοῖς), “those who are the effectually called ones” refers to those sinners who have accepted Christ as Savior and by responding in faith they manifested in time that they have been elected to privilege by God.
God who is omniscient looked down the corridors of time and saw that the Christian would trust in His Son Jesus Christ as Savior and had prepared in advance a plan for them and elected to privilege these justified sinners.
Therefore, when the Christian placed his or her trust in Jesus Christ as Savior, he or she was manifesting the fact that they have been elected to privilege by the Father.
He did not coerce the Christian’s volition by electing them but rather elected them to privilege when He saw through His omniscience that they would believe in His Son.
The third and final description employed by Jude to describe the recipients of this epistle is Iēsou Christō tetērēmenois (Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ τετηρημένοις), “who are being kept in the state of being protected by and for the benefit of Jesus Christ.”
This expression contains a dual idea of the recipients of Jude being protected and kept by and for the benefit of Jesus Christ and specifically, it is expressing the idea of these individuals existing in the state of being kept in the state of being protected by and for the benefit of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, it speaks of the recipients of the epistle of Jude existing in the state or condition of being kept in the state of being protected by and for the benefit of Jesus Christ.
They are “protected” in the sense that they are shielded from being harmed by Satan as well as being shielded from destruction in the eternal lake of fire and they are “kept” or “maintained” in the condition or state of being children of God up to the time when they receive their resurrection bodies at the rapture of the church.
They were existing in a state of being protected and kept by and for the benefit Jesus Christ as a result of the Father’s past actions on their behalf.
The first past action would be God the Father declaring the recipients of the epistle of Jude as justified when they exercised faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.
Another past action is that of the Father identifying them with His Son Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father when they were dead in their sins and transgressions through the baptism of the Spirit, which took place at their justification (Eph. 2:1-10).
Therefore, the recipients of the epistle of Jude were existing in the present state of being kept in the state of being protected by and for the benefit of Jesus Christ which is the direct result of the Father declaring them justified through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
It also expresses the idea that the recipients of this epistle were being kept in the state of being protected by and for the benefit of Jesus Christ as a result of the Father identifying them with His Son in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at His right hand when they were spiritually dead in their sins and transgressions through the baptism of the Spirit at their justification.
This last description of the recipients of the epistle of Jude speaks of their eternal security or in other words, it emphasizes that they are eternally secure as a result of being declared justified through faith in Jesus Christ and identified with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father through the baptism of the Spirit at their justification.
The conjunction kai is functioning as a marker of result which indicates that the second and third descriptions of the recipients of this letter presents the result of the first.
This indicates that they were the effectually called ones who are being kept in the state of being protected by and for the benefit of Jesus, who is the Christ “as a result of” existing in the state of being loved by God, their Father.
They entered into the state of being loved by God and as a result those who are the effectually called ones who were being kept in the state of being protected by and for the benefit of Jesus, who is the Christ when they were declared justified by the Father through faith in His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.
In other words, they entered into the state of experiencing being loved by the Father and as a result the state of being the effectually called ones who are being kept in the state of being protected by and for the benefit of Jesus Christ at the moment of their conversion when the Father declared them justified through faith in His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.
It was at the moment of their justification that they were first experiencing being loved by the Father since they now possessed His Son’s righteousness, which they received when they exercised faith in His Son.