1. The Epistle of St. Jude

2. The Epistle of St. Jude Author: + St. Jude the apostle is the author: “Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James” (Jude 1:1) - St. Jude chose not to accentuate his physical relation to the Lord Jesus, but his spiritual one ‘a bondservant of Jesus Christ,’ whereas St. Jude was a cousin to the Lord Jesus, and was thus called ‘His brother’ according to the Jewish culture: “Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” (Mark 6:3)

3. The Epistle of St. Jude - He defines himself as the brother of St. James, the author of the epistle of St. James, who was the the bishop of Jerusalem and was presider over the council of Jerusalem. He relates himself to him, due to his popularity and his famous role in the early church. - This St. James was most likely the son of Alphaeus (or Clopas), the husband of Mary, St. Mary’s sister, and one of the twelve disciples. + St. Jude was one of the twelve disciples and mostly he was the same as Lebbaeus, who was to be called Thaddaeus: “Now the names of the twelve apostles are these… and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus” (Matthew 10:2-3) + He was also known as Jude (not Iscariot), who inquired of the Lord…

4. The Epistle of St. Jude about His manifestation to the disciples: “Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him: Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world? Jesus answered and said to him: If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him” (John 14:22-23) Recipients: + The epistle was addressed to all the believers: “To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:1)

5. The Epistle of St. Jude + From the fact that St. Jude stated his readers were familiar with certain facts of Old Testament history, and that he made references to the Old Testament and the Jewish tradition, some scholars have speculated that the original readers of the letter were the Jewish Christians: “But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe” (Jude 1:5) Date and Location of Writing: + The epistle was written between (A.D. 68-70), before the destruction of Jerusalem, as there was no mention of it in the epistle. + It was probably written from Jerusalem.

6. The Epistle of St. Jude Characteristic Points about the Epistle: 1. The epistle of St. Jude is a warning of apostasy, and was written in response to certain false teachers who had infiltrated the church with their heresies, denying God and/or the divinity of the Lord Jesus and claiming that Christians are freed from the moral law by virtue of grace, stating that having faith that the blood of the Lord Christ forgives sins suffices, and spiritual strife is not needed. They wanted to turn the Grace of God that forgives sins into freedom and license to commit immoral acts and sin all the more. These refused to submit to the church and its authorities. 2. The epistle reveals our faith in the Holy Trinity, as a basis for our spiritual life: “To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in…

7. The Epistle of St. Jude Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:1) “Praying in the Holy Spirit” (Jude 1:20) 3. St. Jude clarifies that our spiritual strife to live a holy life is a mandate, which works along with God’s grace: “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life” (Jude 1:21) 4. The epistle shows the importance of the ecclesial life as a great help in our spiritual strife and highlights the role expected from the believers toward one another:

8. The Epistle of St. Jude “And on some have compassion, making a distinction” (Jude 1:22) 5. The epistle has been placed as the last epistle in the new Testament, and right before the book of Revelation, pointing to the end of ages, in which the heresies and the apostasies will increase. Thus, while the book of Acts explains the beginnings of the Church of God, the epistle of St. Jude tells about the last days, in which many will apostatize and deny the Lord Christ. 6. While in several passages throughout the New Testament, as in the words of our Lord Jesus, the epistles of St. Paul and St. Peter, we find warnings about impending apostasy, by the time the epistles of St. John and St. Jude, it was very much in existence: “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because…

9. The Epistle of St. Jude lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 24:11-13) “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1) “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction” (2 Peter 2:1) “And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you…

10. The Epistle of St. Jude have heard was coming, and is now already in the world” (1 John 2:3) “These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit” (Jude 1:19) 7. If the danger of apostasy was already present in the first century, we should not thus be surprised that the danger exists nowadays as well. This makes the epistle of St. Jude especially relevant, as it specially dedicated to confronting apostasy. 8. The content of the letter reveals certain traits of St. Jude’s character: a) He was zealous for the gospel, for the church and preserving the true Christian faith and life. He was concerned that they may be preserved from falling as a prey to the licentious teachings in their midst, and that…

11. The Epistle of St. Jude those who had fallen, to be delivered: “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 1:24) b) Through his blistering condemnation of the false teachers, there shines his love and pastoral concern for his fellow Christians’ faith and salvation: “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation” (Jude 1:3) 9. The epistle appears to be sharp in nature and language: “But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they…

12. The Epistle of St. Jude know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves” (Jude 1:10) 10. St. Jude wrote with some figures of speech: “They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots” (Jude 1:12) 11. The book of Jude deals with two incidents not found anywhere in the Holy Bible, however they were kept through tradition. This confirms the importance of tradition and it role in conveying the teachings from generation to generation: a) The contention between archangel Michael and the devil, concerning the body of Moses the prophet:

13. The Epistle of St. Jude “Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said: The Lord rebuke you!” (Jude 1:9) b) The prophecy of Enoch: “Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying: Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him” (Jude 1:14-15) 12. There are striking similarities to the 2 nd epistle of St. Peter:

14. The Epistle of St. Jude + It is mostly accepted that the epistle of St. Jude was written after St. Peter’s 2 nd epistle, and that it carried some ideas and statements elaborating on what St. Peter has mentioned. - St. Jude’s epistle came reporting them as facts, those about which St. Peter had been prophesizing. Additionally, we see St. Jude stating in his epistle that the apostles prophesized about those events, where he possibly had St. Peter in mind among those who prophesized: “But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts” (Jude1:17-18) “That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the…

15. The Epistle of St. Jude holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts” (2 Peter 3:2-3) + However, there is another assumption, which claims that one of the two apostles quoted from the other. - This opinion is weak though. The resemblance between the two epistles might in fact be due to them being written in a real close time, dealing with heresies that were threatening the church at that time. The two apostles had possibly met and talked over these issues and came up to some unified decisions to combat those heretics. In addition, the Holy Spirit is One, who inspired them both in their writings, and thus witnessed the same witness against such heresies, to be a clear testimony and warning for the believers as not to follow them.

16. The Epistle of St. Jude The Purpose of Writing the Epistle: 1. To Urge the Believers to Contend for the Faith that had been Entrusted to them: “I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3) 2. To Expose the False Teachers and their Licentiousness: “For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men” (Jude 1:4) 3. To Encourage the Members of the Church to Extricate Those in their Midst who had Fallen Prey to the Licentiousness:

17. The Epistle of St. Jude “But others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh” (Jude 1:23) Contents: I. Greetings to the Called: (vv. 1-2) “Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you” (Jude 1:2) II. Keeping the Faith in the Face of Apostasy: (vv. 3-4) “Who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:4)

18. The Epistle of St. Jude III. Past Examples of Apostasy: (vv. 5-7) “And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day” (Jude 1:6) “As Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude 1:7) IV. Character and Doom of False Teachers: (vv. 8-19) “Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and…

19. The Epistle of St. Jude speak evil of dignitaries” (Jude 1:8) “Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah” (Jude 1:11) “Raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever” (Jude 1:13) “These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage” (Jude 1:16) V. Foundations of Spiritual Life: (vv. 20-23)

20. The Epistle of St. Jude “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit” (Jude 1:20) VI. Concluding Doxology: (vv. 24-25) “To God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen” (Jude 1:25)