Jude
= Judas. Among the apostles there were two who bore this name, (1) Judas (Jude 1:1; Matthew 13:55; John 14:22; Acts 1:13), called also Lebbaeus or Thaddaeus (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18); and (2) Judas Iscariot (Matthew 10:4; Mark 3:19). He who is called "the brother of James" (Luke 6:16), may be the same with the Judas surnamed Lebbaeus. The only thing recorded regarding him is in John 14:22.
The author was "Judas, the brother of James" the Less (Jude 1:1), called also Lebbaeus (Matthew 10:3) and Thaddaeus (Mark 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 2 Peter 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.
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.
- 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. (Jude 1:17-19) exhorting them to maintain their own steadfastness in the faith, vs. (Jude 1:20,21) while they earnestly sought to rescue others from the corrupt example of those licentious livers, vs. (Jude 1:22,23) and commending them to the power of God in language which forcibly recalls the closing benediction of the epistle to the Romans. vs. (Jude 1:24,25) cf. Romans 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. (Jude 1:9,14,15) The larger portion of this epistle, vs. (Jude 1:3-16) is almost identical in language and subject with a part of the Second Epistle of Peter. (2 Peter 2:1-19)
called also LEBBEUS and THADDEUS, Authorized Version "Judas the brother of James," one of the twelve apostles. The name of Jude occurs only once in the Gospel narrative. (John 14:22; Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:16; John 14:22; Acts 1:13) Nothing is certainly known of the later history of the apostle. Tradition connects him with the foundation of the church at Edessa.
After the Captivity this name was applied to the whole of the country west of the Jordan (Haggai 1:1, 14; 2:2). But under the Romans, in the time of Christ, it denoted the southernmost of the three divisions of Palestine (Matthew 2:1, 5; 3:1; 4:25), although it was also sometimes used for Palestine generally (Acts 28:21).
The province of Judea, as distinguished from Galilee and Samaria, included the territories of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Dan, Simeon, and part of Ephraim. Under the Romans it was a part of the province of Syria, and was governed by a procurator.
1. Called also Judah and Judaea
The southern division of Palestine, extending from the Jordan and Dead Sea to the Mediterranean, and from Shiloh on the north to the wilderness on the south
Matthew 4:25; Luke 5:17; John 4:47; John 4:54
Applies to all Palestine
Luke 1:5
Applies to the territory east of Jordan
Matthew 19:1; Mark 10:1; Luke 23:5
2. Wilderness of
Called Beth-Arabah
Joshua 15:6; Joshua 15:61
Assigned to Benjamin
Joshua 18:22
John the Baptist preaches in
Matthew 3:1; Luke 3:3