Book Intro › General Letters

Jude

Ἰούδα Ἐπιστολή Iouda Epistolē, “letter of Jude”. Letter of warning. 1 chapters, 25 verses.

A short, urgent letter calling believers to “contend earnestly for the faith” against intruders who turn God’s grace into an excuse for indecency.

Read Jude 1 →

Overview

Jude meant to write about “our common salvation,” but felt compelled instead to urge his readers “to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (1:3). Certain people have “crept in secretly,” turning “the grace of our God into indecency” (1:4).

Most of the letter is a denunciation built on examples: Israel destroyed in the wilderness, angels who left their proper place, Sodom and Gomorrah (1:5–7), then Cain, Balaam and Korah (1:11). The intruders are drawn in a string of images, “clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead” (1:12). The letter then turns to the readers, “keep building up yourselves on your most holy faith” (1:20), and closes with one of the best-known doxologies (closing words of praise) in the Bible, to him “who is able to keep them from stumbling” (1:24–25).

Author and date

The writer calls himself “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James” (1:1).

Traditional view

Jude, brother of James and of Jesus · c. AD 50–80

Tradition identifies the writer with the Judas listed among Jesus’ brothers in Mark 6:3, brother of the James who led the Jerusalem church. He introduces himself as a servant of Jesus and through his better-known brother. Holders of this view see this as the modesty of a member of Jesus’ family.

Academic view

A later writer in Jude’s name · c. AD 80–120

Many scholars think the letter was written in Jude’s name by a later Jewish-Christian teacher, pointing to its good Greek and to its appeal to what was “spoken before by the apostles” (1:17), as if their time were past. Others accept that Jude, or someone writing on his behalf, could have written it in his lifetime.

Both views see a writer at home in Jewish tradition, and both relate Jude to 2 Peter, which shares much of its material.

Audience and setting

The readers are not named. The letter assumes they know the Old Testament stories well, and Jewish traditions beyond them, which suggests Jewish-Christian readers, perhaps in Palestine or Syria. The intruders’ sexual immorality and contempt for authority (1:8) could fit many places.

Genre, and how to read it

Jude argues in a Jewish way. He sets examples from Scripture beside the present and says of the intruders, again and again, that these are the people meant (1:12, 1:16, 1:19). It also draws on writings outside the Hebrew Bible. The prophecy of Enoch, “Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones” (1:14), comes from 1 Enoch, an ancient Jewish book written in Enoch’s name. According to early church writers, the story of Michael disputing with the devil over the body of Moses (1:9) came from a work called the Assumption of Moses.

Readers take Jude’s use of these books in different ways: as a sign that Jude regarded 1 Enoch as Scripture, or as Jude quoting a work his readers valued, as Paul quotes Greek poets, without endorsing all of it. Doubts over these quotations slowed Jude’s acceptance in some churches, though it was widely read by the end of the 2nd century.

Jude and 2 Peter, side by side

Jude has 25 verses, and 12 of them reappear in the second chapter of 2 Peter, in nearly the same order: the intruders, the fallen angels, Sodom and Gomorrah, Balaam, the waterless clouds, the mockers of the last days. In the WEB one line reads word for word the same in both. Four Greek words are found in these two letters and nowhere else in the New Testament.

  1. Intruders who deny the Master Jude 4 denying our only Master 2 Pet 2:1–3 denying even the Master who bought them Shared Greek words:condemnationindecencyMasterdeny
  2. Angels kept for judgement Jude 6 kept in everlasting bonds under darkness for the judgment 2 Pet 2:4 pits of darkness to be reserved for judgment Shared Greek words:angelkeepjudgementdarkness
  3. Sodom and Gomorrah Jude 7 Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them 2 Pet 2:6 the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes Shared Greek words:SodomGomorrahcity
  4. Flesh, authority, slander Jude 8 defile the flesh, despise authority 2 Pet 2:10 walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement and despise authority Shared Greek words:fleshauthoritygloryslander
  5. Not even angels accuse Jude 9 dared not bring against him an abusive condemnation 2 Pet 2:11 don’t bring a slanderous judgment against them Shared Greek words:judgementLord
  6. Like creatures without reason Jude 10 like the creatures without reason 2 Pet 2:12 as unreasoning creatures Shared Greek words:slanderwithout reasoncreaturedestroy
  7. The way of Balaam Jude 11 the error of Balaam for hire 2 Pet 2:15 the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages Shared Greek words:wayBalaamwages
  8. Feasting with you Jude 12 when they feast with you 2 Pet 2:13 while they feast with you Shared Greek words:feast with
  9. Without water Jude 12 clouds without water 2 Pet 2:17 wells without water Shared Greek words:without water
  10. The blackness of darkness Jude 13 the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever 2 Pet 2:17 the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever Shared Greek words:darknessblacknesskeep
  11. Swelling words Jude 16 their mouth speaks proud things 2 Pet 2:18 uttering great swelling words Shared Greek words:lustswelling
  12. Remember the apostles Jude 17 remember the words which have been spoken before by the apostles 2 Pet 3:2 remember the words which were spoken before Shared Greek words:rememberwordspeak beforeapostleLord
  13. Mockers in the last time Jude 18 there will be mockers, walking after their own ungodly lusts 2 Pet 3:3 mockers will come, walking after their own lusts Shared Greek words:lastmockerlustwalk

The chips under each pair are the nouns, verbs and adjectives the two passages share in the site’s Greek; the dark ones are found nowhere else in the New Testament. The fourth such word, to live in an ungodly way, is in passages that are not parallel (Jude 15, 2 Pet 2:6). Each letter also has its own material. Only Jude has Israel saved out of Egypt, then destroyed (Jude 5); Michael and the body of Moses (Jude 9); Enoch’s prophecy (Jude 14–15). Only 2 Peter has Noah preserved (2 Pet 2:5) and righteous Lot delivered (2 Pet 2:7–8): examples of rescue alongside the judgements. Most scholars think 2 Peter drew on Jude; some think the reverse, or that both used a common source.

Outline

Key themes

Contending for the faith
The faith was “once for all delivered to the saints” (1:3), and the readers must defend it.
Kept by God
The readers are “kept for Jesus Christ” (1:1), are told “Keep yourselves in God’s love” (1:21), and are commended to the God “who is able to keep them from stumbling” (1:24).

At a glance

12 people and 3 places named.

Most mentioned: Jesus Christ, Adam, Balaam, Cain, Enoch (father of Methuselah)

Main places: Egypt, Gomorrah, Sodom

In the Almanac: Michael