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Bible Encyclopedias
Jude
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or or, rather, JUDAS (Ι᾿ούδας, i.q. JUDAH; (See JUDA) ). There were two of this name among the twelve apostles — Judas, called also LEBBAEUS and THADDAEUS (Matthew 10:4; Mark 3:18), and Judas Iscariot. Judas is likewise the name of one of our Lord's brethren (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3), but it is not agreed whether our Lord's brother is the same with the apostle of this name. Luke (Gospel, 6:16; Acts 1:13) calls him Ι᾿ούδας Ι᾿ακώβου , which in the English Auth. Vers. is translated "Judas, the brother of James." This is defended by Winer (Gramm. of N.T. Dict.), Arnaud (Recher. Crit. sur l' Ep. de Jude), and accepted by Burton, Alford, Tregelles, Michaelis, etc. The ellipsis, however, between Ι᾿ούδας and Ιακώβου is supplied by the old Syriac translator (who was unacquainted with the Epistle of Jude, the writer of which calls himself Ι᾿ούδας ἀδελφὸς Ι᾿ακώβου, Jude, Acts 1:1), with the word son, and not brother. Among our Lord's brethren are named (along with Judas) James and Joses (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3). If, with Helvidius among the ancients (see Jerome, Contra Helvidium), and Kuinö l, Neander, and a few other modern commentators, we were to consider our Lord's brethren to be children of Joseph and the Virgin Mary, we should be under the necessity of supposing that there was a James, a Joses, and a Judas who were uterine brothers of our Lord, together with the apostles James and Judas, who were children of Mary, the sister or cousin of the Virgin (see Pearson, On the Creed, art. 4). Otherwise it remains for us to choose the opinion that our Lord's brethren were children of Joseph by a former wife (Escha or Salome, according to an apocryphal tradition), which was the sentiment of the majority of the fathers (still received in the Oriental Church), or the opinion adopted in the Western Church, and first broached by Jerome (Cont. Helvid.), that the brethren of our Lord were his cousins, as being children of Mary, the wife of Cleophas, who must therefore be considered as the same with Alphaeus. If we consider James, the brother of our Lord, to be a different person from James, the son of Alphseus, and not one of the Twelve, Jude, the brother of James, must consequently be placed in the same category; but, if they are one and the same, Jude must be considered as the person who is numbered with our Lord's apostles. The most plausible solution of the whole difficulty is by means of the following hypotheses: Alphoeus, otherwise called Clopas, was the brother of Joseph, the reputed father of Christ, and married Mary (not necessarily a blood relative of the Virgin); dying without issue, he left his wife, thenceforth designated as Mary, the wife (i.e. widow) of Clopas, to his brother Joseph, who had by her several children, namely; James, Judas, Simon, and Joses (and perhaps others, including sisters), the eldest of whom (James) was especially. designated as the son of Alphaeus, as being his heir. (Deuteronomy 25:5). The first two of these (being probably older than Jesus) were the James and Judas, or Jude, mentioned among the apostles, as also the authors of the epistles bearing their respective names, being half brothers of Christ, as the reputed son of the common parent Joseph. (See ALPHEUS); (See JAMES); (See JOSEPH); MARY.
We are not informed as to the time of the vocation of the apostle Jude to that dignity. Indeed, the only circumstance relating to him which is recorded in the Gospels consists in the question put by him to our Lord (John 14:22): "Judas saith unto him (not Iscariot), Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself to us, and not unto the world?" Nor have we any account given of his proceedings after our Lord's resurrection, for the traditionary notices which have been preserved of him rest on no very certain foundation (Lardner's History of the Apostles). There may be some truth in the tradition which connects him with the foundation of the church at Edessa; though here again there is much confusion, and doubt is thrown over the account by its connection with the worthless fiction of "Abgarus, king of Edessa" (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 1, 13; Jerome, Comm. in Matthew 10). Nicephorus (Hist. Eccl. 2, 40) makes Jude die a natural death in that city after preaching in Palestine, Syria, and Arabia. The Syrian tradition speaks of his abode at Edessa, but adds that he went thence to Assyria, and was martyred in Phoenicia on his return; while that of the West makes Persia the field of his labors and the scene of his martyrdom. Jude the apostle is commemorated in the Western Church, together with the apostle Simon (the name, also, of one of our Lord's brethren), on the 8th of October. Eusebius gives us an interesting tradition of Hegesippus (Hist. Eccl. 3, 20, 32) that two grandsons of Jude, "who, according to the flesh, was called the Lord's brother" (comp. 1 Corinthians 9:5), were seized and carried to Rome by order of Domitian, whose apprehensions had been excited by what he had heard of the mighty power of the kingdom of Christ; but that the emperor having discovered by their answers to his inquiries, and the appearance of their hands, that they were poor men, supporting themselves by their labor, and having learned the spiritual nature of Christ's kingdom, dismissed them in contempt, and ceased from his persecution of the Church, whereupon they returned to Palestine, and took a leading place in the churches, "as being at the same time confessors and of the Lord's family" (ώς ¨ ν δὴ μάρτυρας ὁμοῦ καὶ ἀπὸ γένεος ὄντας τοῦ Κυρίου ), and lived till the time of Trajan. Nicephorus (1, 23) tells us that Jude's wife was named Mary. For further discussion, see Bertholdt, Einl. 5, 2679; 6, 31, 79; Perionii Vitoe Apostol. p. 166; Assemani. Biblioth. Orient. 3, 2, 13; 1, 302, 611; Bayer, Hist. Osrhoen. et Edessen. p. 104; Credner, Einl. 1, 611; De Wette, Einl. ins N.T. 1). 340; Harenberg, in Miscell. Lips. nov. 3, 373; Michaelis, Einl. 2, 1489; and the monographs cited by Volbeding, Index, p. 32. On the pretended Gospel of Thaddaeus, see Kleuker, Apokr. N.T. p. 67 sq. (See LEBBAEUS).
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Jude'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/j/jude.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
