Jude called himself “a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James” (v. 1). The James to whom Jude referred is not the son of Zebedee. He can be ruled out of consideration because he was martyred at an early date (Ac 12:1-2). The James to whom Jude refers is surely the well-known leader of the Jerusalem church (Ac 15:13-21; Gl 2:9). This is significant, for this James was the brother of Jesus (Mk 6:3). If Jude was a brother of James, then he was also a brother of Jesus. Rather than call himself Jesus’s brother outright, Jude chose humbly to designate himself as Christ’s servant.
Jude wrote to those who are “the called, loved by God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ” (v. 1). This designation is general enough to apply to Christian believers anywhere. But Jude clearly had a specific group in mind because he called them “dear friends” (vv. 3,17,20) and addressed a situation that affected them. The readers were probably Jewish Christians because of Jude’s several references to Hebrew history. Beyond this information we do not know exactly who the recipients of the letter were.
Jude is difficult to date precisely. If Jude the brother of Jesus was the author, the letter must be dated sometime within his lifetime. Any date for the letter’s writing must also allow time for the false teachings to have developed. Jude may be dated reasonably somewhere between AD 65 to 80. Nothing in the letter points to a date of writing beyond this time. A date within Jude’s lifetime rules out the viewpoint that the false teaching in question was second-century Gnosticism.
Jude is often overlooked because of its brevity. The book is also neglected because of unexpected features such as its quotation of 1 Enoch and its allusion to the Assumption of Moses. Some readers wonder how a canonical book could cite noninspired, nonbiblical writings. Furthermore, the message of Jude is alien to many in today’s world because Jude emphasized that the Lord will judge evil intruders who are attempting to corrupt the church. The message of judgment strikes many people today as intolerant, unloving, and contrary to the message of love proclaimed elsewhere in the NT.
Nevertheless, some of the Bible’s most beautiful statements about God’s sustaining grace are found in Jude (vv. 1,24-25), and they shine with a greater brilliance when contrasted with the false teachers who had departed from the Christian faith.
The message of judgment is especially relevant to people today. Jude’s letter reminds us that errant teaching and promiscuous living have dire consequences. Jude was written so believers would contend for the faith that was transmitted to them (v. 3) and so they would not abandon God’s love at a crucial time in the life of the church.
The epistle of Jude is a vigorous and pointed piece of writing. Scholars have often remarked that its Greek is quite good and that Jude used imagery effectively. The letter bears the marks of a careful and disciplined structure and was directed to specific circumstances in the life of the church. Jude was steeped in the OT and Jewish tradition, and he regularly applied OT types and texts to the false teachers who had invaded the church (vv. 8,12,16).
Pseudepigraphal writings are noncanonical books not written by their purported authors. Jude cited from the pseudepigraphal book of 1 Enoch (1:9) in Jude 14-15. He likely also referred to an event found in the Assumption of Moses (Jd 9). But this does not mean that Jude viewed these noncanonical books as authoritative Scripture. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he simply used them as illustrations.
The great business of the saints is to defend, if necessary with their lives, the faith once delivered to them. We are put in trust with the gospel. We are trustees of a divine deposit of invaluable truth, and we must be true to our trust at all costs.
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James:
To those who are the called, loved A by God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.
2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
3 Dear friends, although I was eager to write you about the salvation we share, I found it necessary to write, appealing to you to contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once for all. 4 For some people, who were designated for this judgment long ago, B have come in by stealth; they are ungodly, turning the grace of our God into sensuality and denying Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord.
5 Now I want to remind you, although you came to know all these things once and for all, that Jesus C saved a people out of Egypt and later destroyed those who did not believe; 6 and the angels who did not keep their own position but abandoned their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains in deep darkness for the judgment on the great day. 7 Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns committed sexual immorality and perversions, D and serve as an example by undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
QUOTE 6
If sin could drag an angel from the skies, it may well pluck a minister from the pulpit, a deacon from the communion table, or a church member out of the midst of his brothers and sisters.
8 In the same way these people — relying on their dreams — defile their flesh, reject authority, and slander glorious ones. 9 Yet when Michael the archangel was disputing with the devil in an argument about Moses’s body, he did not dare utter a slanderous condemnation against him but said, “The Lord rebuke you! ” 10 But these people blaspheme anything they do not understand. And what they do understand by instinct — like irrational animals — by these things they are destroyed. 11 Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, have plunged into Balaam’s error for profit, and have perished in Korah’s rebellion.
12 These people are dangerous reefs E at your love feasts as they eat with you without reverence. They are shepherds who only look after themselves. They are waterless clouds carried along by winds; trees in late autumn — fruitless, twice dead and uprooted. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shameful deeds; wandering stars for whom the blackness of darkness is reserved forever.
14 It was about these that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied: “Look! The Lord comes with tens of thousands of his holy ones 15 to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly concerning all the ungodly acts that they have done in an ungodly way, and concerning all the harsh things ungodly sinners have said against him.” 16 These people are discontented grumblers, living according to their desires; their mouths utter arrogant words, flattering people for their own advantage.
17 But you, dear friends, remember what was predicted by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18 They told you, “In the end time there will be scoffers living according to their own ungodly desires.” 19 These people create divisions and are worldly, not having the Spirit.
20 But you, dear friends, as you build yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting expectantly for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life. 22 Have mercy on those who waver; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; have mercy on others but with fear, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.
24 Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, without blemish and with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, A be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, B now and forever. Amen.
3 “Appealing to you to contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once for all.” The great business of the saints is to defend, if necessary with their lives, the faith once delivered to them. We are put in trust with the gospel. We are trustees of a divine deposit of invaluable truth, and we must be true to our trust at all costs.
6 “The angels who did not keep their own position but abandoned their proper dwelling.” The angels—think of how high they stood in their first estate. If sin could drag an angel from the skies, it may well pluck a minister from the pulpit, a deacon from the communion table, or a church member out of the midst of his brothers and sisters. Perseverance in holiness is the sign of eternal salvation. If we forsake the Lord and turn back to our former evil ways, it will be the evidence that we never really believed in Christ and that there was no true work of grace in our hearts.
24 “Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling.” The power to create a world, to divide the rocks, to shake the mountains or set them ablaze is inferior compared with the power that is able to keep us from stumbling. God has been pleased to make us free agents and never deprives us of our free agency. Yet, without the destruction of a quality necessary to our responsible personhood, God is nevertheless able to keep us from stumbling. He could do this by shutting us up in a prison or by depriving us of the power to commit sins. But he does not keep us in that way. He leaves us with every faculty and propensity that we had before. Yet, by some mysterious, omnipotent working of his Holy Spirit—which we can no more understand than we can the blowing of the wind—he keeps his people from stumbling.