The Epistle of Jude
The
Epistle of Jude. The epistle is titled as written by
"Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James"
(NRSV). If taken literally this means that the author is
a brother of Jesus, an attribution which is now
increasingly considered as the most probable. Though it
is held as canonical in the majority of Christian
churches, some scholars consider the letter a
pseudonymous work written between the end of the first
century and the first quarter of the 2nd century,
arguing from the references to the apostles (verse
1:17-18), tradition (1:3); the book's competent Greek
style and the opposition to Gnosticism. Nevertheless,
conservative scholars date it between 66 to 90.
The Epistle of Jude is a brief book of only a single
chapter with 25 verses. It was composed as an encyclical
letter—that is, one not directed to the members of one
church in particular, but intended rather to be
circulated and read in all churches. The form, as
opposed to the earlier letters of Paul, suggests that
the author knew Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians or even
that the Pauline epistles had already been collected and
were circulating when the text was written. The
epistle's style is combative, impassioned, and rushed.
Many examples of evildoers and warnings about their
fates are given in rapid succession. The epithets
contained in this writing are considered to be some of
the strongest found in the New Testament.
The epistle concludes with a doxology, which is
considered to be one of the highest in quality contained
in the Bible. The fact that the Epistle of Jude is
notably similar to Second Epistle of Peter indicates the
possibility that the writing of one of the epistles was
influenced by the content of other. Because this epistle
is much shorter than 2 Peter, and due to various
stylistic details, the scholarly consensus is that Jude
was the source for the similar passages of 2 Peter. The
Epistle of Jude references two other books, one which is
non-canonical in all churches, the other non-canonical
in most churches.
Verse 9 refers to the dispute between Michael the
Archangel and the devil about the body of Moses. A
passage in a non-canonical book, the Assumption of
Moses, provides an account of this dispute. Verse 14-15
contains a direct quote of a prophecy from the Book of
Enoch. It also attributes the quote to "Enoch, the
seventh from Adam", indicating Jude accepts the
antediluvian patriarch Enoch as the author. The Book of
Enoch is not considered canonical by most churches,
although it is by the Ethiopian Orthodox church.
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