Bible Commentaries
Jude

INTRODUCTION.

After all my investigations, and after fully considering everything that has fallen under my observation, I am still of the opinion that everyone of the epistles to the churches and to individual Christians, from Romans to Revelation, were written by apostles. This, of course, in-cludes the Epistle of James, and the one of Jude now be-fore us.

My first reason for believing that the writer of Jude was one of the chosen twelve is to be found in the character of the document itself. The appearance therein of the claims of the right or authority to speak in the name of the Lord certainly cannot be questioned. His failure to call himself an apostle makes but little difference, since, he assumes to speak as one. No true man, no trusting and loving follower of Christ, would assume to speak as his ambassador, as Jude evidently does in this epistle, without possessing that authority from his divine head.

My second reason is, that in the selection of his chosen witnesses, whom he designates apostles, we find the name of the writer of this epistle mentioned: "And when it was day, he called unto, him his disciples and of them he chose twelve, whom he also named. apostles ; Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon called Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James , and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor" ( Luk_6:13-16 ). This is a paragraph from Luke separate by itself and follows immediately upon a night of prayer on the mountain. Jude, in this epistle, says he was the brother of James, and so it appears in the above list of apostles. Now, by turning to the first chapter of the Acts, and at the thirteenth verse, you will discover exactly the same names and in the same order, Judas Iscariot only being left out. Considering now that all the evangelists agree that twelve only were chosen, it will prove of advantage to see the list of names given by the other writers. In Matthew, tenth chapter, commencing at the second verse, he says : "Now the names of the twelve apostles are these" ; and then in the following verse, after James the son of Alpheus, he adds : "and Lebbeus, whose surname was Thaddeus." Two by the name of James and but one Judas. Consulting the third chapter of Mark, com-mencing at the fourteenth verse, where Christ ordained twelve to be with him, in the succeeding verses they are named ; and in the eighteenth verse we have: "And James the son of Alpheus, and Thaddeus." Again, two named James and but one Judas. Matthew has Lebbeus surnamed Thaddeus, while Mark says nothing about his being called Lebbeus. I therefore conclude that Jude or Judas, the brother of James, the son of Alpheus, was none other than Lebbeus whose surname was Thaddeus. That he must have been an apostle seems almost certain by his continual presence with the Master, and the privilege he exercised as such, which appears from John's statement. ( Joh_14:21-23 .)

Third reason : The writer says he was a brother of James. Now, this was not the James who was -a, son of Zebedee, for all are agreed that this James was slain by Herod. It must, therefore, have been the James who pre-sided at Jerusalem at the council, and we have the authority of Paul that he was an apostle, and being one of the twelve, he was James, the son of Alpheus.

The expression of "the Lord's brother," as applied to James and Jude, contains no valid objection to this view. This may mean no more than that they were cousins, for it would appear that this term "brother" is so used in Scripture.

TIME AND PLACE OF WRITING.

Here all is conjecture. It appears that some things contained in the letter would indicate the knowledge of one written by Peter, or that Peter had knowledge of this letter written by Jude. Both speak of the same subject, and both use almost the same identical language. Be this, however, as it may, since it is fairly certain that Peter wrote his last letter about A. D. 65, it can not be that Jude's was written much earlier or much later. Where the writer was at the time of writing is unknown. He wrote to Christians, most probably Jewish, who were at the time passing through serious trial in the various countries in which they were sojourning, and the main object of the epistle was to warn them of the dangers menacing them, which were calculated to lead to apostasy, and to comfort, strengthen and establish them in the faith.

ANALYSIS OF THE EPISTLE.

In this letter the writer tells, first of all, who he is, thus exhibit-ing his authority for writing, and follows this by saying to whom he addresses himself to the sanctified, to the called. In this he means the true members of Christ's body, the church. In the outset he wishes them an increase of love and peace. He next explains why he writes to them. The salvation God has designed for the whole human family engrosses his attention, and in relation to this he urgently exhorts them to earnestly contend. He calls it the faith once for all given to the saints. He informs them that the necessity for writing at this time, is because false teachers will appear among them. He fully describes them, shows their proud and presumptuous claims to inspiration; shows the falsity of their claims by their evil conduct, and, while they have slyly crept into the church without their characters being fully known, that will not exempt them from certain punishment. Illustrates this point by a reference to the Hebrews brought out of bondage, and their subsequent destruction for disobedience; the punishment of angels even for their wrong-doing, and also the cities of the plain. While these false teachers pretend that they are free from punishment, they say and do things that even Michael the archangel did not even pretend to have the right to say or do. These false teachers are compared to spots that mar any white surface clouds having no rain, trees that bear no fruit actually plucked up waves of the sea casting up dirt and mire, wan-dering stars so unstable are they. He shows them that the coming of these was foretold, and the certainty of their punishment. He then exhorts them to faithful adherence to the words of the apostles of Christ, to build themselves up in the most holy faith, praying always in spirit to keep themselves in the love of God until the coming of the Lord, that the eternal life promised should be their reward. He charges them to aid in the salvation of others to the extent, of their ability, and closes with a most sublime ascription of praise to God.