Reference: Jude, Epistle of
Easton
The author was "Judas, the brother of James" the Less (Jude 1:1), called also Lebbaeus (Mt 10:3) and Thaddaeus (Mr 3:18). The genuineness of this epistle was early questioned, and doubts regarding it were revived at the time of the Reformation; but the evidences in support of its claims are complete. It has all the marks of having proceeded from the writer whose name it bears.
There is nothing very definite to determine the time and place at which it was written. It was apparently written in the later period of the apostolic age, for when it was written there were persons still alive who had heard the apostles preach (ver. 17). It may thus have been written about A.D. 66 or 70, and apparently in Palestine.
The epistle is addressed to Christians in general (ver. 1), and its design is to put them on their guard against the misleading efforts of a certain class of errorists to which they were exposed. The style of the epistle is that of an "impassioned invective, in the impetuous whirlwind of which the writer is hurried along, collecting example after example of divine vengeance on the ungodly; heaping epithet upon epithet, and piling image upon image, and, as it were, labouring for words and images strong enough to depict the polluted character of the licentious apostates against whom he is warning the Church; returning again and again to the subject, as though all language was insufficient to give an adequate idea of their profligacy, and to express his burning hatred of their perversion of the doctrines of the gospel."
The striking resemblance this epistle bears to 2PE suggests the idea that the author of the one had seen the epistle of the other.
The doxology with which the epistle concludes is regarded as the finest in the New Testament.
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Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew, the tax-farmer; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;
And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot;
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James, to those of God's selection who have been made holy by God the Father and are kept safe for Jesus Christ:
Hastings
This short epistle is an earnest warning and appeal, couched in vivid and picturesque language, addressed to a church or a circle of churches which have become suddenly exposed to a mischievous attack of false teaching.
1. Contents
(1) Text.
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Is not this the woodworker's son? is not his mother named Mary? and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?
And while he was seated on the Mountain of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, Make clear to us, when will these things be? and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the world? And Jesus said to them in answer, Take care that you are not tricked. read more. For people will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ; and a number will be turned from the true way through them.
For people will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ; and a number will be turned from the true way through them. And news will come to you of wars and talk of wars: do not be troubled, for these things have to be; but it is still not the end. read more. For nation will be moved against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and men will be without food, and the earth will be shaking in different places; But all these things are the first of the troubles. Then they will be cruel to you, and will put you to death: and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. And numbers of people will be turned from the right way, and will give one another up and have hate for one another. And a number of false prophets will come, causing error.
And a number of false prophets will come, causing error. And because wrongdoing will be increased, the love of most people will become cold.
And because wrongdoing will be increased, the love of most people will become cold. But he who goes through to the end will get salvation. read more. And this good news of the kingdom will be given through all the world for a witness to all nations; and then the end will come. When, then, you see in the holy place the unclean thing which makes destruction, of which word was given by Daniel the prophet (let this be clear to the reader), Then let those who are in Judaea go in flight to the mountains: Let not him who is on the house-top go down to take anything out of his house: And let not him who is in the field go back to get his coat. But it will be hard for women who are with child and for those with babies at the breast in those days. And say a prayer that your flight may not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. Because in those days there will be great sorrow, such as there has not been from the start of the world till now, or ever will be. And if those days had not been made short there would have been no salvation for any, but because of the saints those days will be made short. Then if any man says to you, See, here is the Christ, or, Here; do not put faith in him; For there will come up false Christs, and false prophets, who will do great signs and wonders; so that if possible even the saints might be tricked. See, I have made it clear to you before it comes about.
Is not this the woodworker, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were bitter against him.
And Judas, the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, he who was false to him.
I have given an earlier account, O Theophilus, of all the things which Jesus did, and of his teaching from the first,
And when they came in, they went up into the room where they were living; Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James, the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas, the son of James.
But there was a certain man named Simon, who in the past had been a wonder-worker and a cause of surprise to the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was a great man: To whom they all gave attention, from the smallest to the greatest, saying, This man is that power of God which is named Great. read more. And they gave attention to him, because for a long time his wonder-working powers had kept them under his control. But when they had faith in the good news given by Philip about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, a number of men and women had baptism. And Simon himself had faith and, having had baptism, he went with Philip and, seeing the signs and the great wonders which he did, he was full of surprise. Now when the Apostles at Jerusalem had news that the people of Samaria had taken the word of God into their hearts, they sent to them Peter and John; Who, when they came there, made prayer for them, that the Holy Spirit might be given to them: For up to that time he had not come on any of them; only baptism had been given to them in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they put their hands on them, and the Holy Spirit came on them. Now when Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given through the touch of the Apostles' hands, he made them an offering of money, saying, Give me this power, so that when I put my hands on anyone he may get the Holy Spirit. But Peter said, May your money come to destruction with you, because you had the idea that what is freely given by God may be got for a price. You have no part in this business, because your heart is not right before God. Let your heart be changed, and make prayer to God that you may have forgiveness for your evil thoughts. For I see that you are prisoned in bitter envy and the chains of sin. And Simon, answering, said, Make prayer for me to the Lord, so that these things which you have said may not come on me.
And when they had gone through all the island to Paphos, they came across a certain wonder-worker and false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus; Who was with the ruler, Sergius Paulus, an able man. This man sent for Barnabas and Saul, desiring to have knowledge of the word of God. read more. But Elymas, the wonder-worker (for that is the sense of his name), put himself against them, with the purpose of turning the ruler from the faith. But Saul, whose other name is Paul, being full of the Holy Spirit, looking hard at him, said, O you, who are full of false tricks and evil ways, a son of the Evil One, hating all righteousness, will you for ever be turning people from the right ways of the Lord? And now, see, the hand of the Lord is on you, and you will be blind and not able to see the sun for a time. And straight away a dark mist came down on him; and he went about looking for a guide. Then the ruler, when he saw what was done, had faith, being full of wonder at the teaching of the Lord.
And hearing this, they had baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had put his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them; and they had the power of talking in tongues, and acting like prophets. read more. And there were about twelve of these men.
And a number of those who had faith came and made a public statement of their sins and all their acts. And a great number of those who were experts in strange arts took their books and put them on the fire in front of everyone: and when the books were valued they came to fifty thousand bits of silver.
And hope does not put to shame; because our hearts are full of the love of God through the Holy Spirit which is given to us.
And in the same way the Spirit is a help to our feeble hearts: for we are not able to make prayer to God in the right way; but the Spirit puts our desires into words which are not in our power to say;
Now to him who is able to make you strong in agreement with the good news which I gave you and the preaching of Jesus Christ, in the light of the revelation of that secret which has been kept through times eternal, But is now made clear; and by the writings of the prophets, by the order of the eternal God, the knowledge of it has been given to all the nations, so that they may come under the rule of the faith; read more. To the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory for ever. So be it.
For the natural man is not able to take in the things of the Spirit of God: for they seem foolish to him, and he is not able to have knowledge of them, because such knowledge comes only through the Spirit.
But I had not in mind the sinners who are outside the church, or those who have a desire for and take the property of others, or those who give worship to images; for it is not possible to keep away from such people without going out of the world completely:
But in giving you this order, there is one thing about which I am not pleased: it is that when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse.
Then after the space of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus with me.
When they saw the grace which was given to me, James and Cephas and John, who had the name of being pillars, gave to me and Barnabas their right hands as friends so that we might go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcision;
For before certain men came from James, he did take food with the Gentiles: but when they came, he went back and made himself separate, fearing those who were of the circumcision.
In the body of his flesh through death, so that you might be holy and without sin and free from all evil before him:
Rooted and based together in him, strong in the faith which the teaching gave you, giving praise to God at all times.
Being conscious, my brothers, dear to God, that you have been marked out by God's purpose;
Give no belief to false words: because there will first be a falling away from the faith, and the revelation of the man of sin, the son of destruction,
It was my desire, when I went on into Macedonia, that you might make a stop at Ephesus, to give orders to certain men not to put forward a different teaching,
Now to the King eternal, ever-living, unseen, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. So be it.
The sins of some men are clearly seen, going before them to be judged; but with others, their sins go after them.
Bitter talk of men who, being evil in mind and dead to what is true, take the faith to be a way of making profit.
For the time will come when they will not take the true teaching; but, moved by their desires, they will get for themselves a great number of teachers for the pleasure of hearing them;
Do your best to come to me before long:
Make clear to them that they are to put themselves under rulers and authorities, to do what they are ordered, to be ready for every good work,
Which he gave us freely through Jesus Christ our Saviour;
This is a true saying; and it is my desire that you may give certain witness about these things, so that those who have had faith in God may give attention to good works. These things are good and of profit to men;
Send Zenas, the man of law, and Apollos on their journey with all care, so that they may be in need of nothing.
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James, to those of God's selection who have been made holy by God the Father and are kept safe for Jesus Christ:
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James, to those of God's selection who have been made holy by God the Father and are kept safe for Jesus Christ: May mercy and peace and love be increased in you. read more. My loved ones, while my thoughts were full of a letter which I was going to send you about our common salvation, it was necessary for me to send you one requesting you with all my heart to go on fighting strongly for the faith which has been given to the saints once and for ever. For certain men have come among you secretly, marked out before in the holy Writings for this evil fate, men without the fear of God, turning his grace into an unclean thing, and false to our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Now it is my purpose to put you in mind, though you once had knowledge of all these things, of how the Lord, having taken a people safely out of Egypt, later sent destruction on those who had no faith;
Now it is my purpose to put you in mind, though you once had knowledge of all these things, of how the Lord, having taken a people safely out of Egypt, later sent destruction on those who had no faith;
But these men say evil about such things as they have no knowledge of; and the things of which they have natural knowledge, like beasts without reason, are the cause of their destruction.
These are the men who make divisions, natural men, not having the Spirit. But you, my loved ones, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, and making prayers in the Holy Spirit, read more. Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for life eternal through the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. And have pity on those who are in doubt;
And have pity on those who are in doubt; And to some give salvation, pulling them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the clothing which is made unclean by the flesh.
And to some give salvation, pulling them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the clothing which is made unclean by the flesh. Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to give you a place in his glory, free from all evil, with great joy, read more. To the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, let us give glory and honour and authority and power, before all time and now and for ever. So be it.
I have knowledge of your doings, and of your hard work and long waiting, and that you will not put up with evil men, and have put to the test those who say they are Apostles and are not, and have seen that they are false;
But at least you have the credit of hating the works of the Nicolaitans, as I do.
But I have some things against you, because you have with you those who keep the teaching of Balaam, by whose suggestion Balak made the children of Israel go out of the right way, taking food which was offered to false gods, and going after the desires of the flesh. And you have those who keep the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
Morish
Written by Jude the brother of James, and apparently the same person as the apostle JUDAS, q.v. The Epistle is addressed to "the called ones, beloved in God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ." Apostasy had set in, and the saints are exhorted to contend for the faith divinely delivered. Ungodly ones had crept in, who abused the grace of God, and denied their only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.
Three instances are produced to show how apostasy had been punished:
1. Some of those saved out of Egypt were yet destroyed.
2. Fallen angels are kept in eternal chains for judgement.
3. Sodom and Gomorrha, which lie under the abiding effect of the judgement on them. Then the railers are put to shame by the conduct of Michael the archangel, who when rightly contending with Satan about the body of Moses did not rail against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke thee."
Three stages of departure from the way of truth are mentioned, with a woe upon those who are found in them:
1. The way of Cain
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Not being of the Evil One like Cain, who put his brother to death. And why did he put him to death? Because his works were evil and his brother's works were good.
Smith
Jude, Epistle of.
Its author was probably Jude, one of the brethren of Jesus, the subject of the preceding article. There are no data from which to determine its date or place of writing, but it is placed about A.D.
65. The object of the epistle is plainly enough announced ver. 3; the reason for this exhortation is given ver.
4. The remainder of the epistle is almost entirely occupied by a minute depiction of the adversaries of the faith. The epistle closes by briefly reminding the readers of the oft-repeated prediction of the apostles --among whom the writer seems not to rank himself --that the faith would be assailed by such enemies as he has depicted, vs.
exhorting them to maintain their own steadfastness in the faith, vs.
while they earnestly sought to rescue others from the corrupt example of those licentious livers, vs.
and commending them to the power of God in language which forcibly recalls the closing benediction of the epistle to the Romans. vs.
cf. Roma 16:25-27 This epistle presents one peculiarity, which, as we learn from St. Jerome, caused its authority to be impugned in very early times --the supposed citation of apocryphal writings. vs.
The larger portion of this epistle, vs.
is almost identical in language and subject with a part of the Second Epistle of Peter.
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But there were false prophets among the people, as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly put forward wrong teachings for your destruction, even turning away from the Lord who gave himself for them; whose destruction will come quickly, and they themselves will be the cause of it. And a great number will go with them in their evil ways, through whom the true way will have a bad name. read more. And in their desire for profit they will come to you with words of deceit, like traders doing business in souls: whose punishment has been ready for a long time and their destruction is watching for them. For if God did not have pity for the angels who did evil, but sent them down into hell, to be kept in chains of eternal night till they were judged; And did not have mercy on the world which then was, but only kept safe Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when he let loose the waters over the world of the evil-doers; And sent destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah, burning them up with fire as an example to those whose way of life might in the future be unpleasing to him; And kept safe Lot, the upright man, who was deeply troubled by the unclean life of the evil-doers (Because the soul of that upright man living among them was pained from day to day by seeing and hearing their crimes): The Lord is able to keep the upright safe in the time of testing, and to keep evil-doers under punishment till the day of judging; But specially those who go after the unclean desires of the flesh, and make sport of authority. Ready to take chances, uncontrolled, they have no fear of saying evil of those in high places: Though the angels, who are greater in strength and power, do not make use of violent language against them before the Lord. But these men, like beasts without reason, whose natural use is to be taken and put to death, crying out against things of which they have no knowledge, will undergo that same destruction which they are designing for others; For the evil which overtakes them is the reward of their evil-doing: such men take their pleasure in the delights of the flesh even in the daytime; they are like the marks of a disease, like poisoned wounds among you, feasting together with you in joy; Having eyes full of evil desire, never having enough of sin; turning feeble souls out of the true way; they are children of cursing, whose hearts are well used to bitter envy; Turning out of the true way, they have gone wandering in error, after the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who was pleased to take payment for wrongdoing; But his wrongdoing was pointed out to him: an ass, talking with a man's voice, put a stop to the error of the prophet. These are fountains without water, and mists before a driving storm; for whom the eternal night is kept in store. For with high-sounding false words, making use of the attraction of unclean desires of the flesh, they get into their power those newly made free from those who are living in error; Saying that they will be free, while they themselves are the servants of destruction; because whatever gets the better of a man makes a servant of him.
My loved ones, while my thoughts were full of a letter which I was going to send you about our common salvation, it was necessary for me to send you one requesting you with all my heart to go on fighting strongly for the faith which has been given to the saints once and for ever. For certain men have come among you secretly, marked out before in the holy Writings for this evil fate, men without the fear of God, turning his grace into an unclean thing, and false to our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. read more. Now it is my purpose to put you in mind, though you once had knowledge of all these things, of how the Lord, having taken a people safely out of Egypt, later sent destruction on those who had no faith; And the angels who did not keep to their kingdom but went out from the place which was theirs, he has put in eternal chains and in dark night till the great day of the judging. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the towns near them, having like these, given themselves up to unclean desires and gone after strange flesh, have been made an example, undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. In the same way these dreamers make the flesh unclean, having no respect for authorities, and say evil of rulers. Now when Michael, one of the chief angels, was fighting against the Evil One for the body of Moses, fearing to make use of violent words against him, he only said, May the Lord be your judge.
Now when Michael, one of the chief angels, was fighting against the Evil One for the body of Moses, fearing to make use of violent words against him, he only said, May the Lord be your judge. But these men say evil about such things as they have no knowledge of; and the things of which they have natural knowledge, like beasts without reason, are the cause of their destruction. read more. A curse on them! They have gone in the way of Cain, running uncontrolled into the error of Balaam for reward, and have come to destruction by saying evil against the Lord, like Korah. These men are unseen rocks at your love-feasts, when they take part in them with you, keepers of sheep who without fear take the food of the sheep; clouds without water rushing before the wind, wasted trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots, Violent waves of the sea, streaming with their shame, wandering stars for whom the darkest night is kept in store for ever. The prophet Enoch, who was the seventh after Adam, said of these men, The Lord came with tens of thousands of his saints,
The prophet Enoch, who was the seventh after Adam, said of these men, The Lord came with tens of thousands of his saints, To be the judge of all, and to give a decision against all those whose lives are unpleasing to him, because of the evil acts which they have done, and because of all the hard things which sinners without fear of God have said against him.
To be the judge of all, and to give a decision against all those whose lives are unpleasing to him, because of the evil acts which they have done, and because of all the hard things which sinners without fear of God have said against him. These are the men who make trouble, ever desiring change, going after evil pleasures, using high-sounding words, respecting men's position in the hope of reward. read more. But you, my loved ones, keep in memory the words which were said before by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, How they said to you, In the last days there will be men who, guided by their evil desires, will make sport of holy things. These are the men who make divisions, natural men, not having the Spirit. But you, my loved ones, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, and making prayers in the Holy Spirit, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for life eternal through the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. And have pity on those who are in doubt; And to some give salvation, pulling them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the clothing which is made unclean by the flesh. Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to give you a place in his glory, free from all evil, with great joy, To the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, let us give glory and honour and authority and power, before all time and now and for ever. So be it.