Jude
Jude
The author of the biblical book of Jude was probably the brother of James (not one of Jesus' twelve disciples). Alternatively, it could be that Jude was just an assumed name.
The Epistle of Jude is the penultimate [next to last] book of the New Testament and the Christian Bible. It is traditionally attributed to Jude the Apostle, brother of James the Just, and thus possibly the brother of Jesus. Jude is a short epistle written in Koine Greek. It fiercely condemns certain people the author sees as a threat to the early Christian community but describes these opponents ambiguously. According to Jude, these opponents are within the Christian community but are not true Christians: they are scoffers, false teachers, mischief-makers, and dedicated to their lusts. The Epistle reassures its readers that God will soon judge these people. It is possible that the group referred to would have been evident to the letter's recipients. However, knowledge of the details has been lost if a specific group was meant. The one small part of their potential ideology discussed in the letter is that these opponents demean angels and their role. If this was a part of the ideology of this group, then the Epistle is possibly a counterpoint to the Colossians Epistle and to those who give angels undue prominence and worship them. This Epistle implies that the two letters might be part of an early Christian debate on angels.
Contents
Authorship
The Epistle introduces itself with a simple claim of authorship: "Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James" (NRSV). "James" is generally taken to mean James, brother of Jesus, a prominent leader in the early church. Introductions would typically refer to a father in the era, so the use of a brother suggests that this would only be done if the brother was famous within the community. Little is known about Jude himself. As the brother of James, it has traditionally meant Jude was also a brother of Jesus since James is described as being the brother of Jesus. This is why Clement of Alexandria (c. 150–215 AD) wrote in his work "Comments on the Epistle of Jude" that Jude, the author, was a son of Joseph and a brother of Jesus. However, there is a dispute about whether "brother" means someone who has the same father and mother, or a half-brother, cousin, or more distant family relationship. This dispute over the true meaning of "brother" grew as the doctrine of the Virgin Birth evolved. For example, Saint Jerome believed that not only Mary but also Joseph were virgins their entire lives, and thus James and, by extension, Jude were cousins.
Outside the book of Jude, a "Jude" is mentioned five times in the New Testament: three times as Jude the Apostle and twice as Jude the brother of Jesus (aside from references to Judas Iscariot and Judah (son of Jacob). Debate continues as to whether the Epistle's author is the apostle, the brother of Jesus, both, or neither. Scholars have argued that since the author of the letter has not identified himself as an apostle and refers to the apostles as a third party, and thus cannot be identified with Jude the Apostle. Other scholars have drawn the opposite conclusion: as an apostle, he would not have made a claim of apostleship on his behalf.
A reason to doubt that a relative of Jesus wrote the book is that they are unlikely to have been literate. Jesus's family were common laborers from Aramaic-speaking Galilee, and literary composition skills were overwhelmingly concentrated in the elite in antiquity. Few knew how to read, fewer wrote, and fewer still how to write complicated literary treatises. Jesus himself may have been able to read, presumably in Hebrew, but he was also exceptional and the family star. Even if somehow Jude had learned a little of how to read Hebrew, the Epistle is written in excellent, complicated Koine Greek, with knowledge of standard forms of rhetoric and argument of the era and seeming knowledge of the scriptures in Hebrew. All this would be exceptional for a country Galilean. Scholars who support the authorship of Jude generally assume that he must have embarked upon extensive travel and missionary work among Hellenized Jews to master Greek as the author did. Ultimately, it is impossible to know more details of Jude's life. One early Christian tradition states that Jude's grandchildren were brought before Emperor Domitian and interrogated; in the story, they defended themselves as not rebels and mere poor laborers eking out what they could from a single patch of land. While the story is apocryphal - Roman Emperors did not generally interrogate Galilean peasants - it does suggest that early Christians remembered Jude's family as lower-class laborers, not literate elites.
If the Jude writing the letter was not Jude the Apostle mentioned in the gospels, he was possibly an unknown Christian who happened to share the name and coincidentally also had a brother named James. A final possibility is that the Epistle is pseudepigrapha - that the author intentionally hinted to readers that it was from the more famous Jude, but only as a false attribution to give the letter more authority.
Date
The date of composition is not known but is loosely speculated to be between the years 50 and 110. Among those who favor the authorship of the Jude mentioned in the gospels, the letter is generally placed before the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD. Among those who favor the authorship of an unknown Christian, it is assumed to be a work of the early second century. Scholars who consider the letter a pseudonymous (writing or written under a false name) work generally favor the later dates due to the letter's references to the apostles (as if they lived in the past) and to tradition and because of its competent Greek style. Bo Reicke suggests around 90 AD; Heikki Räisänen concurs and believes it may have been written at the end of the first century. Bart Ehrman suggests an even later date, in the second half of the second century, due to particular terminology similar to the pastoral epistles that were uncommon in the first century.
Content
Jude urges his readers to "contend for the faith" against "certain intruders [who] have stolen in among you." He warns about false teachers who twist the grace of Christ as a pretext for wantonness. Jude asks the reader to recall how even after the Lord saved his people out of the land of Egypt, he did not hesitate to destroy those who fell into unbelief, much as he punished the angels who fell from their original exalted status and the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. He also paraphrases (verse 9) an incident apparently from the Testament of Moses about Satan and Michael the Archangel quarreling over the body of Moses.
Continuing the analogy from Israel's history, he says that the false teachers have followed in the way of Cain, have rushed after reward into the error of Balaam, and have perished in the rebellion of Korach. He describes in vivid terms the opponents he warns of, calling them "clouds without rain," "trees without fruit," "foaming waves of the sea," and "wandering stars." He exhorts believers to remember the words spoken by the Apostles, using language similar to the Second Epistle of Peter to answer concerns that the Lord seemed to tarry: "In the last time there will be scoffers, indulging their ungodly lusts," and to keep themselves in God's love, before delivering a doxology to God.
Jude quotes directly from 1 Enoch, a widely distributed work among the Old Testament Pseudepigraphai, citing a section of 1 Enoch 1:8 that is based on Deuteronomy 33:2.
Identity of the opponents
The Epistle fiercely condemns the opponents it warns of and declares that God will judge and punish them, despite being a part of the Christian community. However, the exact nature of these opponents has been a continuing interest for both theologians and historians, as the Epistle does not describe them in any more detail than calling them corrupt and ungodly. Several theories have been proposed. The most specific verse describing the opponents is verse 8:
In the same way, on the strength of their dreams, these ungodly people pollute their bodies, reject authority, and heap abuse on celestial beings.
—?Jude 1:8 (NIV)
Reject "authority" (?????t?ta, kyrioteta; alternate translations include "dominion" or "lordship") could mean several things. The most direct would be the rejection of civil or ecclesiastical authority: the opponents ignored guidance from leaders. Martin Luther and Jean Calvin agreed with this interpretation, and it is the most common one. Another possibility is that this referred explicitly to rejecting the authority of Jesus or God, which would agree with verse 4 and reinforce the claim that these opponents are not true Christians. A third possibility is that this is the singular of kyriotetes (Dominions), a class of angels. This would fit with the final part of the sentence "heap abuse on celestial beings," but, unusually, the singular is used. Versions of Jude vary, and some manuscripts, such as the Codex Sinaiticus, use the plural form.
"Heap abuse on celestial beings" is also a relevant statement, as it stands in some tension with the works of Paul the Apostle and the Epistle to the Hebrews. Paul's undisputed works indicate that believers are already on the same level as angels, that all existing powers are subject to Christ, and that believers are the future judges of angels. Later writings attributed to Paul, such as Colossians and Ephesians, go even farther, with Colossians criticizing the alleged worship of angels. A hypothesis is thus that the author may have been attacking forms of Pauline Christianity that were not suitably deferential to angels in their opinion. "Rejecting authority" may reference Paul's preaching that gentiles did not need to comply with Jewish Law. James was known to be a significant figure among Jewish Christians. This might indicate tension between the more Jewish strands of early Christianity represented by James and Jude set against Paul's message to the gentiles. However, the line about "heap abuse on celestial beings" might have essentially been another insult, in which case this entire line of thought is rendered moot.
The inherent vagueness of the Epistle means that the identities of these opponents may well never be known.
Similarity to 2 Peter
Shared passages
2 Peter Jude
1:5 3
1:12 5
2:1 4
2:4 6
2:6 7
2:10–11 8–9
2:12 10
2:13–17 11–13
3:2-3 17-18
3:14 24
3:18 25
Part of Jude is very similar to 2 Peter (mainly 2 Peter chapter 2), so much so that most scholars agree that either one letter used the other directly, or they both drew on a common source. Comparing the Greek text portions of 2 Peter 2:1–3:3 (426 words) to Jude 4–18 (311 words) results in 80 words in common and seven words of substituted synonyms.
Because this Epistle is much shorter than 2 Peter, and due to various stylistic details, some scholars consider Jude the source for the similar passages of 2 Peter. However, other writers, arguing that Jude 18 quotes 2 Peter 3:3 as past tense, consider Jude to have come after 2 Peter.
Some scholars who consider Jude to predate 2 Peter note that the latter appears to quote the former but omits the reference to the non-canonical book of Enoch.
Pseudepigrapha has falsely attributed works, texts whose claimed author is not the actual author, or a word whose real author attributed it to a past figure.
