Jude

What This Book Is

Twenty five urgent verses warning about teachers who exploit a community, ending with one of the most beautiful blessings in Scripture.

Overview

Jude says outright that he changed his subject. He was eager to write about the salvation they share, and instead found it necessary to write appealing to them to contend for the faith once delivered.

The reason is that certain people have crept in unnoticed, turning God's grace into a licence for whatever they want and denying Christ. His concern is not honest doubt or theological disagreement but exploitation dressed up in religious language.

His warnings come as a rapid sequence of examples from Israel's history and beyond: a people rescued and then destroyed, angels who left their proper place, Sodom and Gomorrah, Cain, Balaam, Korah. Then a string of images, each one memorable: hidden reefs at your love feasts, waterless clouds carried along by winds, fruitless trees uprooted, wild waves foaming out their own shame, wandering stars.

He is blunt about their character. They are grumblers and malcontents, following their own desires, loud mouthed boasters, showing favouritism to gain advantage.

Jude quotes material from outside the Hebrew Bible, including a passage from 1 Enoch, and refers to a dispute over the body of Moses that is not in the Old Testament. This has been discussed since the early church and is worth knowing rather than being surprised by.

Then the tone turns entirely. Build yourselves up in your most holy faith, pray in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God. Have mercy on those who doubt. Save others by snatching them out of the fire, and to others show mercy with fear.

The closing doxology is one of the most loved in Scripture: to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy.

Structure

• Verses 1 to 4: The occasionA change of subject, and people who crept in unnoticed.
• Verses 5 to 16: The warningHistorical examples and vivid images of empty teachers.
• Verses 17 to 23: The responseBuild, pray, keep, and show mercy to doubters.
• Verses 24 to 25: The blessingTo him who is able to keep you from stumbling.

Themes

Why It Matters

Jude is short, fierce, and pastorally careful at the same time. It insists that there is something worth defending, and then immediately describes that defence as building each other up, praying, staying in God's love, and showing mercy to doubters. That combination keeps the letter from being a licence for combativeness. Its final blessing has closed Christian gatherings for centuries.

How to Read It

• Read the whole letter in five minutes; the turn at verse 20 lands better that way.
• Notice that contending for the faith is immediately defined in terms of building, praying, and mercy.
• Read verses 22 and 23 for how to treat those who are wavering.
• Read Jude alongside 2 Peter 2 and notice how much they share.

Key Verse

Did You Know?

• Jude quotes from 1 Enoch, a book outside the Hebrew and Christian canons, which the early church discussed at length.
• Jude and 2 Peter 2 share a great deal of material and imagery.
• The closing doxology in verses 24 and 25 is among the most widely used benedictions in Christian worship.

Where to Start Reading