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 publican; James the son of Alpheus, and Lebbeus called Thaddeus;
and Andrew and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alpheus, and Thaddeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot,
Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to the called beloved in God the Father, and kept in 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 He the son of the carpenter? is not His mother called Mary? are not His brothers, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?
And He sitting upon the Mount of Olives; the disciples came to Him privately, saying, Tell us, when these things shall be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming and the end of the age? And Jesus responding said to them, See, lest any one may deceive you. read more. For many will come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and they will deceive many.
For many will come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and they will deceive many. And you will be about to hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that you are not disturbed: for it behooveth all these things to be, but the end is not yet. read more. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines and earthquakes in divers places. And all these things are the beginning of travails. Then they will deliver you into tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of my name, and then many will be offended; and they will betray one another, and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and deceive many.
And many false prophets will arise and deceive many. And because iniquity doth abound, the divine love of many will grow cold.
And because iniquity doth abound, the divine love of many will grow cold. But the one persevering to the end, the same shall be saved. read more. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a testimony to all the nations; and then the end shall come. Then when you may see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let him that readeth know), then let those who are in Judea fly to the mountains: and let him who is on the housetop not come down to take things out of his house: and let not the one in the field turn back to take his garment. But alas unto those who are in gestation and nursing in those days. But pray that your flight may not be in the winter, nor on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world even until now nor ever may be. And if those days were not shortened, no life would be saved: but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. Then if any one may say to you, Lo, here is Christ, or, there: believe him not: for false Christs and false prophets will rise up, and give great signs and wonders; so as to deceive even the elect, if possible. Behold, I have foretold you.
Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary? the brother of James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? Are not His sisters here with us? And they were offended in Him.
and Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, who also became His betrayer.
Truly, I made the first history, O Theophilus, concerning all things which Jesus began both to do and to teach,
And when they came in, they went up into the upper room, where Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James, were abiding.
And a certain man, by name Simon, was formerly practicing magic in the city, and bewitching the nation of Samaria, saying that himself was some great man: to whom all from small even unto the great gave heed, saying, This one is the power of God, called Great. read more. And they gave heed to him, because for a long time he had deceived them with his magic arts. But when they believed Philip preaching the gospel concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. But Simon himself also believed: and being baptized, was constantly with Philip, both seeing the miracles and the great dynamites performed, was astonished. But the apostles in Jerusalem, having heard that Samaria has received the word of God, sent to them Peter and John: who, having come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost. For he had not yet fallen on any of them: but they were only baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. But Simon seeing that by the laying on of the hands of the apostles the Spirit was given, offered them money, saying, Give me this power, that on whomsoever I may lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. And Peter said to him, Thy silver be unto destruction with thee, because thou hast thought to obtain the gift of God with money. There is neither part nor lot to thee in this word: for thy heart is not right before God. Therefore repent of this thy wickedness, and pray the Lord, if perchance the thought of thy heart shall be forgiven thee; for I see thou art in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity. And Simon responding said, You pray to the Lord for me, in order that none of these things of which you have spoken may come upon me.
And having gone through the whole island to Paphos, they found a certain man, a magician, a Jewish false prophet, to whom was the name of Bar-Jesus: who was with Sergius Paulus, the proconsul, an intelligent man. He, having called Barnabas and Saul, sought to hear the word of God; read more. but Elymas the magician (for thus his name is interpreted) opposed them, seeking to turn away the proconsul from the faith. And Saul, (who is also Paul), being filled with the Holy Ghost, fixing his eyes on him, said, O thou full of all guile and rascality, thou son of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease perverting the right ways of God? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a time. And immediately there fell on him a mist and darkness; and going about he was seeking people to lead him by the hand. Then the deputy, seeing that which took place, believed; being delighted with the teaching of the Lord.
And they, having heard, were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus; and Paul having laid his hands on them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they continued to speak with tongues, and prophesy. read more. And they were all about twelve men.
and many of those having believed came, confessing, and renouncing their practices. And many of those practicing curious arts, having brought their books, burnt them before all: and they estimated the price of them, and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver.
and hope makes not ashamed; because the divine love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Ghost who has been given unto us.
And likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmity. For we know not what we should pray for as it behooves us: but the Spirit himself makes intercession with unutterable groanings:
To Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery having been hidden during the eternal times, but having now indeed been made manifest, through the prophetical scriptures, and having been made known to all the Gentiles, according to the commandment of the eternal God, unto the obedience of faith; read more. to God who alone is wise, through Jesus Christ, to the glory unto the ages of the ages. Amen.
But the intellectual man receives not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; and he is not able to know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
not at all with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous and the extortioners, or with the idolators; since you ought therefore to come out of the world.
And proclaiming this, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse.
Then after fourteen years, I again went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking also Titus with me;
and having known the grace of God which was given unto me, James and Cephas and John, who seem to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcision;
For before certain ones came from James, he was eating along with the Gentiles: but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.
in the body of his cross through death, to present you holy and blameless and unreprovable before him,
having been rooted and grounded in him, and confirmed in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election,
Let no one deceive you in any way: because unless there may first be an apostasy and the man of lawlessness may be revealed, the son of perdition,
As I exhorted you to remain in Ephesus, I going into Macedonia, in order that you may command certain ones not to teach heterodoxy,
But to the King of the ages, the incorruptible, invisible, only God, be honor and glory unto the ages of the ages. Amen.
The sins of some men are manifest beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they also follow after:
wranglings of men having been corrupted as to their mind and turned away from the truth, considering that gain is godliness.
For the time will come when they will not endure healthy teaching; but according to their own lusts they will heap to themselves teachers itching as to their hearing;
Hasten to come to me quickly.
Remind them to submit to the governments, authorities, to obey the rule over them, to be ready unto every good work,
whom he poured out on us richly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour;
The word is faithful, and I wish you to be established concerning these things, in order that those having believed in God may think to excel in good works. These things are beautiful and useful to the people:
Send on Zenas the lawyer and Apollos speedily, in order that nothing may be lacking to them.
Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to the called beloved in God the Father, and kept in Jesus Christ.
Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to the called beloved in God the Father, and kept in Jesus Christ. Mercy to you, and peace, and divine love be multiplied. read more. Beloved, making all haste to write to you concerning our common salvation, I had need to write to you, exhorting you to agonize for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For certain men have crept in, who long ago were written down to this judgment, ungodly, transforming the grace of God into impurity, even denying Jesus Christ, our only Sovereign and Lord. But I wish you to remember, once having known all these things, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, destroyed them that believed riot, the second time:
But I wish you to remember, once having known all these things, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, destroyed them that believed riot, the second time:
But these blaspheme so many things as they know not: and so many things as they understand naturally, like irrational animals, in these they are corrupted.
These are they who are sidetracking [the people], intellectual, not having the Spirit. But you, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, read more. keep yourselves in the divine love of God, receiving the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And some of whom indeed convict, being judged:
And some of whom indeed convict, being judged: and some save, seizing them out of the fire; and some pity in their fear, you indeed hating the garment having been spotted by carnality.
and some save, seizing them out of the fire; and some pity in their fear, you indeed hating the garment having been spotted by carnality. But to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to establish you blameless in the presence of his glory with rejoicing. read more. to God our only Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and power, before every age, both now, and unto all the ages. Amen.
I know your works, and your labor, and your patience, and that you are not able to bear the wicked; and you have tried those who say they are apostles, and are not, and have found them to be liars:
But you have this, that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there those holding the teachings of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumblingblock before the sons of Israel, and to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication. So you also have those in a similar manner holding 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 as Cain was of the evil one, and slew his brother; and on account of what did he slay him? Because his own works were evil, and those of his brother righteous.
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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However there were indeed false prophets among the people, as there will also be false teachers among you, whosoever shall bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their impurities; through whom the way of truth will be slandered: read more. and in their covetousness they will sell you with their soft speeches: unto whom judgment from olden time tarries not, and their destruction does not slumber. For if God spared not the angels who sinned, but having sent them down to hell, committed them to chains of darkness to be kept unto judgment; and spared not the old world, but delivered Noah the eighth person, the preacher of righteousness, brings the flood upon the world of the ungodly; and having destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, with a catastrophe he condemned them, having put them forth as an example to those about to be ungodly: and he delivered righteous Lot, being grieved by the deportment of the ungodly in their debauchery: (for the righteous man dwelling among them, by seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds:) for the Lord knows how to rescue the godly out of temptations, and to keep the unrighteous unto the day of judgment enduring punishment: and especially those going after the flesh in the lust of pollution, and despising lordship. Audacious darers, blaspheming, they do not tremble at glories; where the angels, being greater in strength and power, do not bring a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like irrational animals having been born naturally for capture and destruction, blaspheming those things in which they are ignorant; in their own corruption they will indeed corrupt themselves; receiving the reward of unrighteousness, esteeming pleasure which is in the daytime; luxury; spots and blemishes, swelling in their deceits, feasting along with you, having eyes full of an adulteress, and unable to cease from sin; beguiling unestablished souls: having a heart which has been made fat with covetousness; children of the curse: leaving the straight way, they have wandered off, following in the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the reward of iniquity; and had the conviction of his own conscience: the dumb workbeast having spoken with the voice of a man, rebuked the madness of the prophet. These are fountains without water, and mists driven away by the storm, for which the blackness of darkness has been reserved. For speaking swelling words of vanity, in the lusts of the flesh they beguile with their impurities, those that have but partially escaped, who are still moving about in their delusion; promising them liberty, they themselves being the slaves of corruption: for to whatsoever any one has been subordinated, to this he has become enslaved.
Beloved, making all haste to write to you concerning our common salvation, I had need to write to you, exhorting you to agonize for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For certain men have crept in, who long ago were written down to this judgment, ungodly, transforming the grace of God into impurity, even denying Jesus Christ, our only Sovereign and Lord. read more. But I wish you to remember, once having known all these things, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, destroyed them that believed riot, the second time: and the angels who kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, has he kept in eternal chains unto darkness unto the judgment of the great day: as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them, in a manner like unto them committing fornication, and going after other flesh, present an example receiving the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise indeed these dreamers also pollute the flesh, and reject lordship, and blaspheme glories. But Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed over the body of Moses, did not dare to bring against him a judgment of blasphemy, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
But Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed over the body of Moses, did not dare to bring against him a judgment of blasphemy, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. But these blaspheme so many things as they know not: and so many things as they understand naturally, like irrational animals, in these they are corrupted. read more. Woe unto them! because they have gone off in the way of Cain, and in the delusion of Balaam they have been seduced by reward, and they perished in the gainsaying of Korah. These are rocks in your love-feasts, feasting along with you without fear shepherdizing themselves, clouds without water, driven away by the winds; withered trees, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own disgraces; wandering stars, for which the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever. And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied against these, saying, Behold, the Lord came with his myriads of saints,
And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied against these, saying, Behold, the Lord came with his myriads of saints, to execute judgment against all, and to convict all the ungodly of them for all the works of their ungodliness which they have impiously done, and for all their hard speeches which they have spoken against him, being ungodly sinners.
to execute judgment against all, and to convict all the ungodly of them for all the works of their ungodliness which they have impiously done, and for all their hard speeches which they have spoken against him, being ungodly sinners. These are querulous grumblers, going forth according to their own lusts; and their mouth speaking swelling words, admiring persons for the sake of gain. read more. But you, beloved, remember the words which have hitherto been spoken by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; that they said to you, At the last time there will be mockers, walking according to their own lusts after ungodly things. These are they who are sidetracking [the people], intellectual, not having the Spirit. But you, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the divine love of God, receiving the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And some of whom indeed convict, being judged: and some save, seizing them out of the fire; and some pity in their fear, you indeed hating the garment having been spotted by carnality. But to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to establish you blameless in the presence of his glory with rejoicing. to God our only Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and power, before every age, both now, and unto all the ages. Amen.