“Introduction To Jude”

Monday, November 13, 2017

While it cannot be verified with absolute certainty, the author of this letter was most likely the biological half-brother of our Lord Jesus Christ. We read in Mark 6:3 that Mary and Joseph had four other sons besides Jesus named “James and Joses and Judas and Simon,” and “Jude” is a shortened form of the name “Judas”. The Apostle Paul tells us that “James, the Lord’s brother” (Galatians 1:19) was a prominent leader of the church in Jerusalem (Galatians 2:9), and Jude introduced himself as “a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James (Jude 1:1). Some or all of the Lord’s brothers had become His followers shortly after His resurrection and ascension (Acts 1:14), and it is logical to conclude that Jude associated himself with his better-known brother to lend credibility and authority to his critical, urgent, inspired epistle.

The message of Jude’s greatly neglected letter bears a striking resemblance to that of the Peter’s second epistle. Peter wrote to confront the corrupting influence of “false teachers” (2 Peter 2:1), and Jude warned his audience about the same type of “ungodly persons” who had “crept in unnoticed” (Jude 1:4). These workers and teachers of evil “despised” and “rejected authority” (2 Peter 2:10; Jude 1:8), and turned the “grace of our God into licentiousness,” engaging in all types of despicable acts of greed and carnality (2 Peter 2:13-14; Jude 1:4). The Lord’s brother had initially planned to write a much more pleasant message to his fellow Christians concerning their “common salvation” they shared, but the urgency of the current predicament compelled him instead to encourage them to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints” (Jude 1:3). The truth is worth fighting for, and its defense and preservation take precedence over all other issues. If we learn this monumental truth alone from this astounding little letter, we have acquired that which delivers the greatest impact upon the souls of all humankind.

Duane Warden, PH. D. wrote in his Truth for Today Commentary on “1 & 2 Peter And Jude” the following concerning the relationship of Jude to 2 Peter: “When Jude and 2 Peter are compared, it is apparent that there is some literary relationship between the two works—that is, one of the authors knew and used the letter written by the other…the description each author gives of the teachers they denounce is too similar to be accidental. Of Jude’s twenty-five verses, fifteen of them have significant parallels in 2 Peter. In addition, the two authors used the same illustrations and ideas in their denunciation of the teachers. They even placed them in approximately the same order. They saw the threat to the churches they addressed similarly. Both reasoned that God would judge the false teachers as He had judged the disobedient in the past. Both used God’s judgment of angels and of Sodom and Gomorrah to bolster their messages. The points of comparison go on from there. That there is a literary dependence between 2 Peter and Jude is hardly questioned by scholars.”

Both inspired authors express that God’s condemning judgment upon the false teachers has been determined from long ago (2 Peter 2:3; Jude 1:4). Both assert that rebellious angels are being kept in bonds until the Day of Judgment (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6). Both refer to the false teachers as creatures of instinct and unreasoning animals (2 Peter 2:12; Jude 1:10), and say that they follow the error of Balaam (2 Peter 2:15; Jude 1:11). This is just a small sampling of the similarities and exact quotations that abound between these two letters. While it cannot be determined precisely when or to whom these authors wrote their words of warning, or why they mirror each other so greatly, the uncertainty does not affect the authenticity of either epistle or the significance of their communication. It does appear that both were written to primarily Jewish audiences as Peter used an abundance of Old Testament references and Jewish thought trends, and Jude did so as well along with references to extra-biblical, Jewish apocryphal literature. It also appears that Peter wrote his letter first and Jude borrowed from it since Jude appealed to the authority of the Apostles as support for his message (Jude 1:17).

Please read Jude 1:1-4 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

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