The Letter of Jude

Synopsis

Jude identifies its author as "the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James" (v. 1), and opens by explaining that although he had intended to write about the faith more generally, he found it necessary instead to urge his readers to "earnestly contend for the faith" against certain people who had "crept in unawares," turning God's grace into an excuse for immorality (v. 3–4). The bulk of this short letter draws on a rapid sequence of examples from Israel's history and Jewish tradition to illustrate the certainty of judgment against such people: the Israelites who were rescued from Egypt but later destroyed for unbelief, angels who did not keep their proper position and are now kept in chains, and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, followed by Cain, Balaam, and Korah as further examples of corrupted leadership and rebellion (v. 5–11).

Strikingly, the letter directly quotes a prophecy attributed to "Enoch, the seventh from Adam" (v. 14–15), a quotation drawn from the Jewish apocalyptic book known as 1 Enoch, a text not included in the Old Testament canon, and alludes in verse 9 to a dispute between the archangel Michael and the devil over the body of Moses, a story likewise not found in the Old Testament but paralleled in another Jewish text from the period. The letter closes with one of the New Testament's best-known doxologies, praising God who is "able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy" (v. 24–25).

Historical Background

Tradition identifies the author as Jude, one of Jesus's own brothers, listed alongside James in Mark 6:3 and Matthew 13:55, and the letter's own self-description as "brother of James" is generally read as identifying him with James the Just, the leader of the Jerusalem church discussed on this site's page about the letter of James. Some scholars accept this identification and date the letter relatively early, perhaps AD 60 to 80. Others are more cautious, noting the letter gives no additional detail to confirm the identification beyond the shared name, and some propose a later, pseudonymous author, particularly given the letter's close literary relationship with 2 Peter, discussed further below, which several scholars think reflects a slightly later stage of developing church controversy over false teachers.

The letter's intended audience is not specified beyond a general address "to them that are sanctified by God the Father" (v. 1), giving no indication of a particular city or region, unlike most other New Testament letters.

Scholarly Discussions and Open Questions

Quoting 1 Enoch

Jude's direct quotation of 1 Enoch as prophecy has attracted extensive scholarly discussion, since it raises the question of how the New Testament's own authors related to Jewish religious literature outside what later became the Old Testament canon. Scholars generally read this not as Jude treating 1 Enoch as formally equivalent to the Hebrew scriptures, but as reflecting the reality that first-century Jewish and Jewish-Christian readers, including apparently Jude himself, could draw on respected non-canonical religious writings as meaningful and even authoritative for a particular argument, a common feature of the period's religious culture that modern readers, working with a later and more settled sense of canon, sometimes find surprising.

The Dispute over Moses's Body

Verse 9's brief allusion to Michael the archangel disputing with the devil over Moses's body is generally connected by scholars to a lost or only partially surviving Jewish text known as the Assumption of Moses or Testament of Moses, of which only a fragment survives today, making Jude one of the few surviving windows into a story otherwise largely lost.

Relationship to 2 Peter

As discussed on this site's page about 2 Peter, that letter's second chapter closely parallels Jude in both content and, in many places, wording. Most scholars conclude 2 Peter drew directly on Jude, though a minority propose the reverse, or a shared source behind both.

Key Themes

Contending for the faith. The letter's opening appeal frames its entire purpose as urgent defense of a faith under threat from within.

The certainty of judgment. Jude's rapid sequence of historical and traditional examples builds a cumulative case that corrupted leadership and rebellion do not go unanswered.

Kept by God. Despite its warnings, the letter closes not in anxiety but in confident doxology, trusting God's power to keep believers from falling.

Common Questions