THE LETTER OF JUDE

Introduction

The letter opens with the basic facts about the writer. He is by name Jude; by birth,
brother of James; and by calling, a servant of Jesus Christ. The letter of Jude, nothing is known
about the letter’s place of origin. it was probably written in the mid-60s A.D. According to
modern scholars Jude is forward to 2 peter and even served as the basis of the criticism of
heretics in the latter.

In many aspects Jude is different. It is a letter “never planned” but eventually considered
essential by its author. It is thankful to Jewish apocalyptic ideas and morality, but addresses a
Gentile audience. It employs ancient literary and oratorical forms, but is not sure to them. It
insists on loyalty to the past, but its author adapts scriptural traditions and authoritative
witnesses to achieve his own argumentative strategies.

Occasion and purpose

Considering the letter’s apparent Jewish perspective, Jude’s audience was probably
Jewish Christians, or a mixture of Jewish and Gentile readers where the Gentiles were familiar
with Jewish traditions. It is authenticated by different ancient sources. The Muratorian
fragment mentions it as Jude's Epistle. Clement of Alexandria cites it as Scripture, as well as
Tertullian and others. The theories of some objecting critics need not to be considered. To
whom the Epistle was originally addressed is not stated. Some have guessed that like James
and the Petrine Epistles Jude addressed originally Jewish believers. This may be true, for Jude
mentions, prominently, like Peter, Old Testament facts, besides some Jewish traditional
matters, which thereby are confirmed as facts. Concerning the apocryphal writings, which
especially the book of Enoch, which Jude is charged with having used in the composition of
his Epistle, we shall have more to say in the observations.

Gnostic teachers who lead libertine life are active among the faithful, they defile the
love feasts or agape celebrations, pervert God’s grace into licentiousness and foam out their
shame. They are dreamers, there for men who claim to have supernatural visions, talk to much,
there for boast of their spiritual gifts, claim to be above all authority, scorn God and the angelic
beings, and deny Christ, the only master and lord.
 The tenets of the Gnostics are not refuted, but instead the heretics are ridiculed and
branded as waterless clouds, fruitless trees, twice dead, uprooted, wild waves of the sea, and
so on; they are threatened with nether gloom of darkness, punishment such as befell the
unbelieving Israelites, the wicked angels Sodom and Gomorrah, Cain, Balaam and Korah and
those associated with him.

We know little about this Jude or his activities, and why the author chose this penname
is not self-evident. At best we can suggest that he chose the name because of Jude’s connection
with the early leaders of the Church and the authority that would have implied.

The call to remember the apostolic predictions in verse 17 has been used as a key for
the dating of the epistle. Scholars disagree about what Jude meant with the phrase “by the
apostles”. Some consider this a reference to specific missionaries who had preached to the
audience. Others take the term in a collective sense and think that Jude was referring not to any
specific apostles but to all those known by that title. They thus suggest that the term had a
technical sense like “the prophets” or “the ancestors” which would not have occurred until late
in the first century.

Probably Jude did use the term with a collective sense , but this does not imply that the
letter with a written at the very end of the first century. The call to remember the predictions
of the apostles suggests only that his audience was familiar with early Christian eschatological
tradition. It says nothing about when these predictions were made. As a result, the verse proves
neither that the apostolic age has passed nor that there were readers of the letter who were
converted directly by some apostles. Jude simply states that the readers were taught that
“scoffers” would come in the future during the end time. Thus, despite initial appearance, the
phrases in verses 17 and 18 do not provide a basis for an early dating of the letter or a very late
one.

The problem addressed in the letter the appearance of false teachers and the clarification
of the church’s moral boundaries were typical concerns of the early gentile church. Hence the
letter might be dated anywhere from 50- 100 CE. Since it is likely that Jude was a source for 2
Peter, an upper limit would be somewhere before 100 CE. The references to the early Church’s
received faith and to the apostles as a corporate authority suggest a date between 75- 100 CE.
 Theological Aspects

Jude emphasize God’s holy nature, but this is done indirectly through references to
God’s initiatives toward and for human beings: establishing the believing community as holy
executing judgment on the disobedient, and preserving the unblemished ones for glory. God’s
holiness also is implied by repeated reference to “ungodliness” that are contrasted with the
steadfast nature of God which demands reverence and awe. Thus while the ungodly pervert
God’s grace, turning it into licentiousness, and act and speak in rebellion , God delivers humans
from bondage and peril, loves the believers steadfastly, and protects the beloved community.

Given his interest in exposing the nature of ungodliness, it is interesting that the author
provides no specific descriptions of sin, other than its relationship to disobedience. The author
does not concern himself with initial states of sin or distance from God, but concentrates on
the life required of those who have accepted God’s work through Christ. As a result, purity
and fidelity became matters of remaining in the grace of God, rather than individual traits or
behaviors.

The letter connects Christ to God primarily in reference to Christ’s eschatological

function. The author believed that he lived at the end of time and the eschatological appearance
of Christ dominates his thought. Holy believers are kept for the appearance of Christ. Through
Christ, God has established sovereignty and by him will execute eschatological judgment.
Salvation will occur in Christ but only as an eschatological reality, guaranteed by obedience.
The proper response to the eschatological Lord is obedience, which the author understands as
the natural response of trust. Accepting this, it is through Christ that the church expresses its
praise and glorification of God while it awaits the Lord’s return.

Jude is not an epistle one reads for comfort or to consider mysterious questions about
theology; it is a letter of challenge. It is a letter of outrage and we are unfamiliar to this much
passion. The letter’s uncompromising insistence that faith is an ethical entity forces its readers
into critical self – examination and causes us to examine our habits of self-deception. Jude calls
the readers to the responsibility of their beliefs and one reads it not hear about release of the
captives, but to learn of the responsibilities of being released.
 conclusion

We have concluded our brief study of the letter of Jude. First, Jude's appeal to you to
fight for the truth. Second, Jude's appeal to you to always keep in mind that the primary threat
to the Church does not come from outside, from some kind of persecution, but primarily from
within. So, first, to care about the true doctrine, and secondly, to be aware of the continuing
threat against the truth.

Bibliography

➢ Kraftchick J. Steven, Abingdon New Testament Commentaries Jude 2 Peter, Nashville,

Abingdon Press, 2002.
➢ Luke. K, The TPI Companion to the Bible New Testament, Bangalore, Theological
Publications in India, 2011.
➢ Carson. D. A, R. T. France, A. J. Motyer, G.J. Wenham, New Bible Commentary 21st
Century Edition, Secunderabad, Authentic Books, 2011.
➢ Wintle Brian, South Asia Bible Commentary A one- volume commentary on the whole
Bible, Rajasthan, Open Door Publications, 2015.
➢ John .E.C, Vedapusthaka Vyakhyanam, Thiruvalla, Daivasasthra Sahithya Samithi,
2014.
➢ www.biblestudytools.com/nas/jude/
➢ https://www.bib le-history.com/new-testament/bookofjude.html
ASSIGNMENT
THE LETTER OF JUDE

Submitted to

Rev. NINAN JACOB

NEW TESTAMENT

KUT SEMINARY

Submitted by

JOHNCY PHILIP

BD.1.B

KUT SEMINARY