The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (285 page)

Author
 The writer of the letter calls himself "Jude" (in Greek,
Ioudas
) and was known to his readers as the "brother of James" (Jude 1). Several persons mentioned in the NT share this popular Jewish name, including the early Christian prophet "Judas called Barsabbas" (Acts 15:22) and the two apostles "Judas the son of James" (Lk 6:16), also called "Thaddaeus" (Mk 3:18), and "Judas Iscariot" (Mt 10:4; Lk 6:16). Though some have attributed the letter to the first or second of these figures, and others have declared him to be otherwise unknown, the majority of scholars identify the author with still another "Judas", who is listed in the Gospels as one of the four kinsmen of Jesus (Mt 13:55; Mk 6:3). This is the only Judas in the NT who is known to have had a brother named James. This also explains how readers could be expected to identify the author simply by the mention of his brother's name. James, after all, was a prominent figure in apostolic times as the leader of the Jerusalem Church following the departure of Peter from the city (Acts 12:17; 15:13; 21:18). He was popularly known as "the Lord's brother" (Gal 1:19).

One objection raised against this view concerns the literary quality of the epistle. All agree that the Letter of Jude is a well-written and skillfully organized composition. Some think it unlikely that Jude, assuming he was a Galilean tradesman of some sort, would have possessed the education necessary to produce a Greek document of such high caliber. The objection has some force, supposing that Jude, like his kinsman Jesus, stood among the lower social classes of the day. However, the linguistic question is more difficult to access, since a growing body of evidence indicates that Greek language and culture had made significant inroads into first-century Galilee. The situation described by scholars is that of a thoroughly bilingual society, in which Aramaic and Greek were both spoken among the working classes. So there is good reason to think that Jude, quite apart from any formal education in Hellenistic studies, would have been conversant in Greek. How well he commanded the language beyond that is all but impossible to tell, given the number of variables involved (his personal intelligence and aptitude for languages, the linguistic competence of his fellow laborers and/or clientele, the number of years he spoke the language before the epistle was written, etc.). For this reason, the objection on literary grounds that Jude himself could not have written the epistle bearing his name is inconclusive. Ascribing the letter to a different Jude, or to an unknown author writing in Jude's name, is therefore not required by the data.

Date
 It is difficult to determine when the Letter of Jude was written. The range of suggested dates has spanned from the 50s to the early second century. This divergence of opinion is due, not only to the disagreements over authorship noted above, but also to the absence of dateable historical information within the letter. Attempts to narrow the range of possible dates usually focus on three questions of interpretation.
(1)
One concerns the identity of Jude's opponents. Those who identify them as Jewish or Jewish-Christian propagandists tend to date the letter earlier, when Jewish concerns were felt most acutely in the Church. On the other hand, those who identify them as either Gnostics or their forerunners are inclined to date it later, since the problem of Gnosticism erupted with full force only in the second century.
(2)
Another question concerns the literary relationship that seems to exist between Jude and 2 Peter. Scholars generally hold that one of these letters draws material from the other, either Jude from 2 Peter or, more likely, 2 Peter from Jude. Either way, the date one assigns to 2 Peter has a direct bearing on the date one assigns to Jude.
(3)
Still another issue concerns statements made in Jude 3 and 17-18 and whether they imply a date for the epistle later than the apostolic age. Some claim they do, though neither passage strictly requires such an interpretation. In the end, the little evidence one has to work with tilts toward an earlier date, perhaps in the 50s or 60s. Not only is it probable that 2 Peter was written in the early to mid-60s, thus requiring a still earlier date for Jude, but the prominence of Jewish themes and traditions utilized by the author are better accounted for if the letter was written in a Jewish-Christian environment toward the middle of the first century.

Destination
 Jude addresses a Christian community that is threatened by the intrusion of false teachers. Its location is uncertain because Jude never identifies his whereabouts or that of his readers. It is clear only that Jude is informed about the troubles these believers are facing (Jude 8, 12, 16) and that he regards them as "beloved" (3, 17, 20). Apparently the Churches involved were founded by the original apostles (17-18). The most likely hypothesis, given the Jewish tone and outlook of the letter, is that Jude is writing to Jewish-Christians in Palestine who are expected to know the Hebrew Scriptures, as well as the apocryphal literature of Judaism (9, 14-15).

Themes and Characteristics
 The Letter of Jude is an emergency dispatch that issues both a solemn appeal and a stern warning to an endangered community of Christians. The
appeal
is for believers to fight for the true faith against an incoming hoard of deceivers (Jude 3-4). In practical terms, Jude urges readers to deepen their grasp of apostolic doctrine (20), to wait prayerfully and patiently upon the Lord (21), and to steady the faith of others who are either wavering in doubt or overcome by deception (22-23). The
warning
is that believers must raise their guard against the corruption of the recently arrived false prophets. Though their doctrinal errors are only hinted at, it is clear that Jude regards these troublemakers with intense disapproval and sees their influence as a significant threat to the faith. Most of the letter is a denunciation of these deceivers (5-19).

Distinctive of this short letter is the careful arrangement that Jude gives to an array of traditions that foretell the judgment of the wicked. Drawing from biblical (5-7, 11), apocryphal (9, 14-15), and apostolic teachings (17-18), Jude illustrates how certain events in biblical history foreshadow the disastrous end of the ungodly (argument from typology), while oracles uttered by Enoch and the apostles foretell their demise in more explicit terms (argument from prophecy). Interspersed among these are brief applications that Jude adds to demonstrate that the sayings of the past are taking shape in the present threat of the false teachers. The exegesis of Scripture that lies behind Jude's argument is quite sophisticated and bears a certain likeness to the techniques of biblical interpretation exhibited in the Dead Sea Scrolls. «

OUTLINE OF THE LETTER OF SAINT JUDE

1. Opening Address (
vv. 1-2
)

2. Initial Appeal (
vv. 3-4
)

3. Condemnation of False Teachers (
vv. 5-19
)

   A. Three Biblical Warnings (
vv. 5-8
)

   B. One Extrabiblical Warning (
vv. 9-10
)

   C. Three Biblical Warnings (
vv. 11-13
)

   D. One Extrabiblical Warning (
vv. 14-16
)

   E. One Apostolic Prophecy (
vv. 17-19
)

4. Parting Appeal (
vv. 20-23
)

   
5. Closing Doxology (
vv. 24-25
)

THE LETTER OF

Salutation

1
 
Jude
, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,

To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:

2
 May
mercy, peace, and love
be multiplied to you.

Occasion of the Letter

3
 Beloved, being very eager to write to you of our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
⁴
For
admission has been secretly gained
by some who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly persons who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
^a

Judgment on the Ungodly

5
 
Now I desire to remind you
, though you were once for all fully informed, that he
^b
who
saved
a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
⁶
And the angels that did not keep their own position but
left their proper dwelling
have been kept by him in eternal chains in the deepest darkness until the judgment of the great day;
 
*
⁷
just as
Sodom and Gomor'rah
and the surrounding cities, which likewise acted immorally and indulged in unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

8
 Yet
in like manner
these men in their dreamings defile the flesh, reject authority, and revile the glorious ones.
^c
9
But when the
archangel Michael
, contending with the devil, disputed about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a reviling judgment upon him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you."
 
*
¹⁰
But these men revile whatever they do not understand, and by those things that they know by instinct as irrational animals do, they are destroyed.
¹¹
Woe to them
! For they walk in the way of Cain, and abandon themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error, and perish in Ko'rah's rebellion.
¹²
These are
blemishes
^d
on
your love feasts
, as they boldly carouse together,
looking after themselves
; waterless clouds, carried along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted;
¹³
wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars for whom the
deepest darkness
has been reserved for ever.

14
 
It was of these also that Enoch
in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord came with myriads of his holy ones,
¹⁵
to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness which they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him."
¹⁶
These are
grumblers
, malcontents, following their own passions, loud-mouthed boasters, flattering people to gain advantage.

Warnings and Exhortations

17
 But you must remember, beloved, the
predictions of the apostles
of our Lord Jesus Christ;
¹⁸
they said to you
, "In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions."
¹⁹
It is these who set up divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.
²⁰
But you, beloved,
build yourselves up
on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit;
²¹
keep yourselves in the love of God; wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
²²
And convince some, who doubt;
²³
save some, by snatching them
out of the fire
; on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
^e

Benediction

24
 
Now to him
who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the presence of his glory with rejoicing,
²⁵
to the only God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and for ever. Amen.

Commentary on The Letter of Saint Jude

1 Jude:
Literally, "Judas", which is a Greek form of the Hebrew name "Judah". For his identity, see introduction:
Author.
servant:
Or, "slave".
brother of James:
Jude's brother is the James who assumed pastoral leadership over the Jerusalem Church after the Apostle Peter left the city for missionary lands (Acts 12:17). Both men were kinsmen of Jesus (Mt 13:55). See also introduction to James:
Author.
called . . . beloved . . . kept:
Believers are called by God (Rom 8:30), embraced by his love (1 Jn 3:1), and kept sound and blameless (1 Thess 5:23). 
Back to text.

2 mercy, peace, and love:
Expands on the traditional Jewish greeting of
shalom,
"peace". 
Back to text.

3 I found it necessary:
Circumstances forced Jude to caution readers against the dangers of false teachers (4, 8).
the faith:
Not the personal faith of believers, but the deposit of faith that comes from the apostles and serves as the standard of orthodox teaching (Rom 6:17). The deposit is entrusted to the Church for safekeeping (1 Tim 6:20) (CCC 17075).
once for all delivered:
The final installment of God's revelation came through Christ and the Spirit in the apostolic age.
See note on Heb 1:1-4
. • Vatican II thus decrees that the Church expects to receive no new public revelation from Christ before his return in glory (Dei
Verbum
4). 
Back to text.