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 taxgatherer, James the son of Alphaeus and Lebbaeus whose surname is Thaddaeus,
Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the zealot,
Judas, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, to those who have been called, who are beloved by God the Father and kept by 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 this not the son of the joiner? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?
So as he sat on the Hill of Olives the disciples came up to him in private and said, "Tell us, when will this happen? What will be the sign of your arrival and of the end of the world?" Jesus replied, "Take care that no one misleads you; read more. for many will come in my name, saying 'I am the Christ,' and they will mislead many.
for many will come in my name, saying 'I am the Christ,' and they will mislead many. You will hear of wars and rumours of wars; see and do not be alarmed. These have to come, but it is not the end yet. read more. For nation will rise against nation, and realm against realm; there will be famines and earthquakes here and there. All that is but the beginning of the trouble. Then men will hand you over to suffer affliction, and they will kill you; you will be hated by all the Gentiles on account of my name. And many will be repelled then, they will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will rise and mislead many.
Many false prophets will rise and mislead many. And in most of you love will grow cold by the increase of iniquity;
And in most of you love will grow cold by the increase of iniquity; but he will be saved who holds out to the very end. read more. This gospel of the Reign shall be preached all over the wide world as a testimony to all the Gentiles, and then the end will come. So when you see the appalling Horror spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing erect in the holy place (let the reader note this), then let those who are in Judaea fly to the hills; a man on the housetop must not go down to fetch what is inside his house, and a man in the field must not turn back to get his coat. Woe to women with child and to women who give suck in those days! Pray that you may not have to fly in winter or on the sabbath, for there will be sore misery then, such as never has been from the beginning of the world till now ??no and never shall be. Had not those days been cut short, not a soul would be saved alive; however, for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short. If anyone tells you at that time, 'Here is the Christ!' or, 'there he is!' do not believe it; for false Christs and false prophets will rise and bring forward great signs and wonders, so as to mislead the very elect, ??if that were possible. (I am telling you this beforehand.)
Is this not the joiner, the son of Mary and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not his sisters settled here among us?" So they were repelled by him.
Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot (who turned traitor).
IN my former volume, Theophilus, I treated all that Jesus began by doing and teaching
On entering the city they went to the upper room where they were in the habit of meeting; there were Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James (the son of Alphaeus) and Simon who had been a Zealot, with Judas the son of James.
Now for some time previous a man called Simon had been practising magic arts in the town, to the utter astonishment of the Samaritan nation; he made himself out to be a great person, and all sorts and conditions of people attached themselves to him, declaring he was that Power of God which is known as 'the Great Power.' read more. They attached themselves to him because he had dazzled them with his skill in magic for a considerable time. But when they believed Philip, who preached the gospel of the Reign of God and the name of Jesus, they had themselves baptized, both men and women; indeed Simon himself believed, and after his baptism kept close to Philip, utterly astonished to see the signs and striking miracles which were taking place. When the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they despatched Peter and John, who came down and prayed that the Samaritans might receive the holy Spirit. (As yet it had not fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the holy Spirit. Now Simon noticed that the holy Spirit was conferred by the laying on of the apostles' hands; so he brought them money, saying, "Let me share this power too, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the holy Spirit." Peter said to him, "Death to you and your money, for dreaming you could buy the gift of God! You come in for no share or lot in this religion. Your heart is all wrong in the sight of God. So repent of this wickedness of yours, and ask God whether you cannot be forgiven for your heart's purpose. For I see you are a bitter poison and a pack of evil." Simon replied, "Beseech the Lord for me! Pray that nothing you have said may befall me!"
They covered the whole island as far as Paphos, where they fell in with a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet called Bar-Jesus; he belonged to the suite of the proconsul Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man who called for Barnabas and Saul and demanded to hear the word of God. read more. But the sorcerer Elymas (for that is the translation of his name) tried to divert the proconsul from the faith. So Saul (who is also called Paul), filled with the holy Spirit, looked steadily at him and said, "You son of the devil, you enemy of all good, full of all craft and all cunning, will you never stop diverting the straight paths of the Lord? See here, the Lord's hand will fall on you, and you will be blind, unable for a time to see the sun." In a moment a dark mist fell upon him, and he groped about for someone to take him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had happened; he was astounded at the doctrine of the Lord.
When they heard this, they had themselves baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and after Paul laid his hands on them the holy Spirit came upon them, they spoke with 'tongues' and prophesied. read more. They numbered all together about twelve men.
Many believers would also come to confess and disclose their magic spells; and numbers who had practised magic arts collected their books and burned them in the presence of all. On adding up the value of them, it was found that they were worth two thousand pounds.
So too the Spirit assists us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray aright, but the Spirit pleads for us with sighs that are beyond words,
[Now to Him who can strengthen you by my gospel, by the preaching of Jesus Christ, by revealing the secret purpose which after the silence of long ages has now been disclosed and made known on the basis of the prophetic scriptures (by command of the eternal God) to all the Gentiles for their obedience to the faith ??27 to the only wise God be glory through Jesus Christ for ever and ever: Amen.]
The unspiritual man rejects these truths of the Spirit of God; to him they are 'sheer folly,' he cannot understand them. And the reason is, that they must be read with the spiritual eye.
I did not mean you were literally to avoid contact with the immoral in this world, with the lustful and the thievish, or with idolaters; in that case you would have to leave the world altogether.
But in giving you the following injunction I cannot commend you; for you are the worse, not the better, for assembling together.
Then, fourteen years later, I went up to Jerusalem again, accompanied by Barnabas; I took Titus with me also.
and when they recognized the grace I had been given, then the so-called 'pillars' of the church, James and Cephas and John, gave myself and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship. Our sphere was to be the Gentiles, theirs the circumcised.
Before certain emissaries of James arrived, he ate along with the Gentile Christians; but when they arrived, he began to draw back and hold aloof, because he was afraid of the circumcision party.
so as to set you consecrated and unblemished and irreproachable in his presence ??23 that is, if you adhere to the foundations and stability of the faith, instead of moving away from the hope you have learned in the gospel, that gospel which has been preached to every creature under heaven, and of which I Paul was made a minister.
fixed and founded in him, confirmed in the faith as you have been taught it, and overflowing with thankfulness to God.
O brothers beloved by God, we know he has chosen you;
Let nobody delude you into this belief, whatever he may say. It will not come till the Rebellion takes place first of all, with the revealing of the Lawless One, the doomed One,
As I asked you when I was on my way to Macedonia, stay where you are at Ephesus and warn certain individuals against teaching novelties
To the King of eternity, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever: Amen.
Some people's sins are notorious and call for judgment, but in some cases sin only comes out afterwards.
and constant friction between people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the Truth. They imagine religion is a paying concern.
for the time will come when people will decline to be taught sound doctrine and will accumulate teachers to suit themselves and tickle their own fancies;
Do your best to come soon to me,
Remind them to be submissive to their rulers and authorities; they must obey, they must be ready for any good work,
which he poured upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour,
It is a sure saying. I want you to insist on this, that those who have faith in God must profess honest occupations. Such counsels are right and good for men.
Give a hearty send-off to Zenas the jurist and Apollos; see that they want for nothing.
Judas, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, to those who have been called, who are beloved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ:
Judas, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, to those who have been called, who are beloved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ: mercy, peace and love be multiplied to you. read more. Beloved, my whole concern was to write to you on the subject of our common salvation, but I am forced to write you an appeal to defend the faith which has once for all been committed to the saints; for certain persons have slipped in by stealth (their doom has been predicted long ago), impious creatures who pervert the grace of our God into immorality and disown our sole liege and Lord, Jesus Christ. Now I want to remind you of what you are perfectly aware, that though the Lord once brought the People safe out of Egypt, he subsequently destroyed the unbelieving,
Now I want to remind you of what you are perfectly aware, that though the Lord once brought the People safe out of Egypt, he subsequently destroyed the unbelieving,
But these people scoff at anything they do not understand; and whatever they do understand, like irrational animals, by mere instinct, that proves their ruin.
These are the people who set up divisions and distinctions, sensuous creatures, destitute of the Spirit. But do you, beloved, build up yourselves on your most holy faith and pray in the holy Spirit, read more. so keeping yourselves within the love of God and waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that ends in life eternal. Snatch some from the fire, and have mercy on the waverers,
Snatch some from the fire, and have mercy on the waverers, trembling as you touch them, with loathing for the garment which the flesh has stained.
trembling as you touch them, with loathing for the garment which the flesh has stained. Now to him who is able to keep you from slipping and to make you stand unblemished and exultant before his glory ??25 to the only God, our saviour through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and for all time: Amen.
I know your doings, your hard work and your patient endurance; I know that you cannot bear wicked men, and that you have tested those who style themselves apostles (no apostles they!) and detected them to be liars;
Still, you have this in your favour: you hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, and I hate them too.
But I have one or two things against you: you have some adherents there of the tenets of Balaam, who taught Balak how to set a pitfall before the sons of Israel by making them eat food which had been sacrificed to idols and give way to sexual vice. So even with you; you likewise have some adherents of the tenets 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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we are not to be like Cain, who belonged to the evil One and slew his brother. And why did he slay him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's just.
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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Still, false prophets did appear among the People, as among you also there will be false teachers, men who will insinuate destructive heresies, even disowning the Lord who ransomed them; they bring rapid destruction on themselves, and many will follow their immorality (thanks to them the true Way will be maligned); read more. in their lust they will exploit you with cunning arguments ??men whose doom comes apace from of old, and destruction is awake upon their trail. For if God did not spare angels who had sinned, but committing them to pits of the nether gloom in Tartarus, reserved them under punishment for doom: if he did not spare the ancient world but kept Noah, the herald of righteousness, safe with seven others, when he let loose the deluge on the world of impious men: if he reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorra to ashes when he sentenced them to devastation, and thus gave the impious an example of what was in store for them, but rescued righteous Lot who was sore burdened by the immoral behaviour of the lawless (for when that righteous man resided among them, by what he saw and heard his righteous soul was vexed day after day with their unlawful doings) ??9 then be sure the Lord knows how to rescue pious folk from trial, and how to keep the unrighteous under punishment till the day of doom,
particularly those who fall in with the polluting appetite of the flesh and despise the Powers celestial. Daring, presumptuous creatures! they are not afraid to scoff at the angelic Glories; whereas even angels, superior in might and power, lay no scoffing charge against these before the Lord. read more. But those people! ??like irrational animals, creatures of mere instinct, born for capture and corruption, they scoff at what they are ignorant of; and like animals they will suffer corruption and ruin, done out of the profits of their evil-doing. Pleasure for them is revelling in open daylight ??spots and blots, with their dissipated revelling, as they carouse in your midst! ??14 their eyes are full of harlotry, insatiable for sin; their own hearts trained to lust, they beguile unsteady souls. Accursed generation!
they have gone wrong by leaving the straight road, by following the road of Balaam son of Bosor, who liked the profits of evil-doing ??16 but he got reproved for his malpractice: a dumb ass spoke with human voice and checked the prophet's infatuation.
These people are waterless fountains and mists driven by a squall, for whom the nether gloom of darkness is reserved. By talking arrogant futilities they beguile with the sensual lure of fleshly passion those who are just escaping from the company of misconduct ??19 promising them freedom, when they are themselves enslaved to corruption (for a man is the slave of whatever overpowers him).
Beloved, my whole concern was to write to you on the subject of our common salvation, but I am forced to write you an appeal to defend the faith which has once for all been committed to the saints; for certain persons have slipped in by stealth (their doom has been predicted long ago), impious creatures who pervert the grace of our God into immorality and disown our sole liege and Lord, Jesus Christ. read more. Now I want to remind you of what you are perfectly aware, that though the Lord once brought the People safe out of Egypt, he subsequently destroyed the unbelieving, while the angels who abandoned their own domain, instead of preserving their proper rank, are reserved by him within the nether gloom, in chains eternal, for the doom of the great Day ??7 just as Sodom and Gomorra and the adjacent cities, which similarly glutted themselves with vice and sensual perversity, are exhibited as a warning of the everlasting fire they are sentenced to suffer.
Despite it all, these visionaries pollute their flesh, scorn the Powers celestial, and scoff at the angelic Glories. Now the very archangel Michael, when he disputed the body of Moses with Satan, did not dare to condemn him with scoffs; what he said was, The Lord rebuke you!
Now the very archangel Michael, when he disputed the body of Moses with Satan, did not dare to condemn him with scoffs; what he said was, The Lord rebuke you! But these people scoff at anything they do not understand; and whatever they do understand, like irrational animals, by mere instinct, that proves their ruin. read more. Woe to them! they go the road of Cain, rush into Balaam's error for what it brings them, and perish in Korah's rebellion. These people are stains on your love-feasts; they have no qualms about carousing in your midst, they look after none but themselves ??rainless clouds, swept along by the wind, trees in autumn without fruit, doubly dead and so uprooted, wild waves foaming out their own shame, wandering stars for whom the nether gloom of darkness has been reserved eternally. It was of these, too, that Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied, when he said, Behold the Lord comes with myriads of his holy ones,
It was of these, too, that Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied, when he said, Behold the Lord comes with myriads of his holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the impious of all the impious deeds they have committed, and of all the harsh things said against him by impious sinners.
to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the impious of all the impious deeds they have committed, and of all the harsh things said against him by impious sinners. For these people are murmurers, grumbling at their lot in life ??they fall in with their own passions, their talk is arrogant, they pay court to men to benefit themselves. read more. Now, beloved, you must remember the words of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; they told you beforehand, "At the end of things there will be mockers who go by their own impious passions." These are the people who set up divisions and distinctions, sensuous creatures, destitute of the Spirit. But do you, beloved, build up yourselves on your most holy faith and pray in the holy Spirit, so keeping yourselves within the love of God and waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that ends in life eternal. Snatch some from the fire, and have mercy on the waverers, trembling as you touch them, with loathing for the garment which the flesh has stained. Now to him who is able to keep you from slipping and to make you stand unblemished and exultant before his glory ??25 to the only God, our saviour through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and for all time: Amen.