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INTRODUCTION

AUTHOR.--He calls himself in the address "the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James." See

Introduction

to the Epistle of James, in proof of James the apostle, and James the Lord's brother, the bishop of Jerusalem, being one and the same person.

Ga 1:19

alone seems to me to prove this. Similarly, Jude the brother of our Lord, and Jude the apostle, seem to be one and the same. JEROME [Against Helvidius], rightly maintains that by the Lord's brethren are meant his cousins, children of Mary and Cleophas (the same as Alphæus). From

1Co 9:5

(as "brethren of the Lord" stands between "other apostles" and "Cephas"), it seems natural to think that the brethren of the Lord are distinguished from the apostles only because all his brethren were not apostles, but only James and Jude. Jude's reason for calling himself "brother of James," was that James, as bishop of Jerusalem, was better known than himself. Had he been, in the strict sense, brother of our Lord, he probably would have so entitled himself. His omission of mention of his apostleship is no proof that he was not an apostle; for so also James omits it in his heading; and Paul, in his Epistles to the Philippians, Thessalonians, and Philemon, omits it. Had the writer been a counterfeiter of the apostle Jude, he would doubtless have called himself an "apostle." He was called also Lebbæus and Thaddeus, probably to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot, the traitor. Lebbæus, from Hebrew "leeb," "heart," means courageous. Thaddeus is the same as Theudas, from Hebrew "thad," the "breast." Luke and John, writing later than Matthew, when there would be no confusion between him and Judas Iscariot, give his name Judas. The only circumstance relating to him recorded in the Gospels occurs in

Joh 14:22,

"Judas saith unto Him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world?" JEROME [Commentary on Matthew] says that he was sent to Edessa, to Abgarus, king of Osroene, or Edessa, and that he preached in Syria, Arabia, Mesopotamia, and Persia, in which last country he suffered martyrdom. The story is told on EUSEBIUS' authority, that Abgarus, on his sickbed, having heard of Jesus' power to heal, sent to beg Him to come and cure him, to which the Lord replied, praising his faith, that though he had not seen the Saviour, he yet believed; adding, "As for what thou hast written, that I should come to thee, it is necessary that all those things for which I was sent should be fulfilled by Me in this place, and that having filled them I should be received up to Him that sent Me. When, therefore, I shall be received into heaven, I will send unto thee some one of My disciples who shall both heal thy distemper and give life to thee and those with thee." Thomas is accordingly said to have been inspired to send Thaddeus for the cure and baptism of Abgarus. The letters are said to have been shown Thaddeus among the archives of Edessa. It is possible such a message was verbally sent, and the substance of it registered in writing afterwards (compare

2Ki 5:1-27; and Mt 15:22).

HEGESIPPUS (in EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 3.20]) states that when Domitian inquired after David's posterity, some grandsons of Jude, called the Lord's brother, were brought into his presence. Being asked as to their possessions, they said that they had thirty-nine acres of the value of nine thousand denarii, out of which they paid him taxes, and lived by the labor of their hands, a proof of which they gave by showing the hardness of their hands. Being interrogated as to Christ and His kingdom, they replied that it was not of this world, but heavenly; and that it would be manifested at the end of the world, when He would come in glory to judge the living and the dead.

AUTHENTICITY.--EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 3.25], reckons it among the Antilegomena or controverted Scriptures, "though recognized by the majority." The reference to the contest of Michael, the archangel, with the devil, for the body of Moses, not mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament, but found in the apocryphal "Book of Enoch," probably raised doubts as to its authenticity, as JEROME [On Illustrious Men, 4] says. Moreover, its not being addressed to one particular Church, or individual, caused it not to be so immediately recognized as canonical. A counterfeiter would have avoided using what did not occur in the Old Testament, and which might be regarded as apocryphal.

As to the book of Enoch, if quoted by Jude, his quotation of a passage from it gives an inspired sanction only to the truth of that passage, not to the whole book; just as Paul, by inspiration, sanctions particular sentiments from ARATUS, EPIMENIDES, and MENANDER, but not all their writings. I think, rather as there is some slight variation between Jude's statement and that of the book of Enoch, that Jude, though probably not ignorant of the book of Enoch, stamps with inspired sanction the current tradition of the Jews as to Enoch's prophecies; just as Paul mentions the names of the Egyptian magicians, "Jannes and Jambres"

(2Ti 3:8),

not mentioned in the Old Testament. At all events, the prophecy ascribed to Enoch by Jude was really his, being sanctioned as such by this inspired writer. So also the narration as to the archangel Michael's dispute with Satan concerning the body of Moses, is by Jude's inspired authority

(Jude 9)

declared true. The book of Enoch is quoted by JUSTIN MARTYR, IRENÆUS, CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, &c. Bruce, the Abyssinian traveller, brought home three copies of it in Ethiopic, from Alexandria, of which Archbishop Lawrence, in 1821, gave an English translation. The Ethiopic was a version from the Greek, and the Greek doubtless a version from the Hebrew, as the names of the angels in it show. The Apostolic Constitutions, ORIGEN [Against Celsus], JEROME, and AUGUSTINE, pronounce it not canonical. Yet it is in the main edifying, vindicating God's government of the world, natural and spiritual, and contradicting none of the Scripture statements. The name Jesus never occurs, though "Son of man," so often given to Messiah in the Gospels, is frequent, and terms are used expressive of His dignity, character, and acts, exceeding the views of Messiah in any other Jewish book. The writer seems to have been a Jew who had become thoroughly imbued with the sacred writings of Daniel. And, though many coincidences occur between its sentiments and the New Testament, the Messianic portions are not distinct enough to prove that the writer knew the New Testament. Rather, he seems to have immediately preceded Christ's coming, about the time of Herod the Great, and so gives us a most interesting view of believing Jews' opinions before the advent of our Lord. The Trinity is recognized (Enoch 60:13,14). Messiah is "the elect One" existing from eternity (Enoch 48:2,3,5); "All kings shall fall down before Him, and worship and fix their hopes on this Son of man" (Enoch 61:10-13). He is the object of worship (Enoch 48:3,4); He is the supreme Judge (Enoch 60:10,11; 68:38,39). There shall be a future state of retribution (Enoch 93:8,9; 94:2,4; 95; 96; 99; 103); The eternity of future punishment (Enoch 103:5). VOLKMAR, in ALFORD, thinks the book was written at the time of the sedition of Barchochebas (A.D. 132), by a follower of Rabbi Akiba, the upholder of that impostor. This would make the book Antichristian in its origin. If this date be correct, doubtless it copied some things from Jude, giving them the Jewish, not the Christian, coloring.

EUSEBIUS [Demonstration of the Gospel, 3.5] remarks, it accords with John's humility that in Second and Third John he calls himself "the elder." For the same reason James and Jude call themselves "servants of Jesus Christ." CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA [Adumbrations, in Epistle of Jude, p. 1007] says, "Jude, through reverential awe, did not call himself brother, but servant, of Jesus Christ, and brother of James."

TERTULLIAN [On the Apparel of Women, 3] cites the Epistle as that of the apostle James. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA in Miscellanies [3.2.11] quotes

Jude 8, 17

as Scripture, in The Instructor [3.8.44],

Jude 5.

The MURATORI fragment asserts its canonicity [ROUTH, Sacred Fragments, 1.306]. ORIGEN [Commentary on Matthew 13:55] says, "Jude wrote an Epistle of few lines, but one filled full of the strong words of heavenly grace." Also, in his Commentary on Matthew 22:23, ORIGEN quotes

Jude 6;

and on Matthew 18:10, he quotes

Jude 1.

He calls the writer "Jude the apostle," in the Latin remains of his works (compare DAVIDSON, Introduction to the New Testament, vol. 3, p. 498). JEROME [On Illustrious Men, 4] reckons it among the Scriptures. Though the oldest manuscripts of the Peschito omit it, EPHREM THE SYRIAN recognizes it. WORDSWORTH reasons for its genuineness thus: Jude, we know, died before John, that is, before the beginning of the second century. Now EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 3.32] tells us that James was succeeded in the bishopric of Jerusalem by Symeon his brother; and also that Symeon sat in that see till A.D. 107, when as a martyr he was crucified in his hundred twentieth year. We find that the Epistle to Jude was known in the East and West in the second century; it was therefore circulated in Symeon's lifetime. It never would have received currency such as it had, nor would Symeon have permitted a letter bearing the name of an apostle, his own brother Jude, brother of his own apostolical predecessor, James, to have been circulated, if it were not really Jude's.

TO WHOM ADDRESSED.--The references to Old Testament history,

Jude 5, 7,

and to Jewish tradition,

Jude 14,

&c., make it likely that Jewish Christians are the readers to whom Jude mainly (though including also all Christians,

Jude 1)

writes, just as the kindred Epistle, Second Peter, is addressed primarily to the same class; compare

Introduction

to First Peter and

Introduction

to Second Peter.

The persons stigmatized in it were not merely libertines (as ALFORD thinks), though no doubt that was one of their prominent characteristics, but heretics in doctrine, "denying the only Lord God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Hence he urges believers "earnestly to contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints"

(Jude 3).

Insubordination, self-seeking, and licentiousness, the fruit of Antinomian teachings, were the evils against which Jude warns his readers; reminding them that, to build themselves in their most holy faith, and to pray in the Holy Ghost, are the only effectual safeguards. The same evils, along with mocking skepticism, shall characterize the last days before the final judgment, even as in the days when Enoch warned the ungodly of the coming flood. As Peter was in Babylon in writing

1Pe 5:13,

and probably also in writing Second Peter (compare

Introduction

to First Peter and

Introduction

to Second Peter), Jude addressed his Epistle primarily to the Jewish Christians in and about Mesopotamian Babylon (a place of great resort to the Jews in that day), or else to the Christian Jews dispersed in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia

(1Pe 1:1),

the persons addressed by Peter. For Jude is expressly said to have preached in Mesopotamia [JEROME, Commentary on Matthew], and his Epistle, consisting of only twenty-five verses, contains in them no less than eleven passages from Second Peter (see my

Introduction

to Second Peter for the list). Probably in

Jude 4

he witnesses to the fulfilment of Peter's prophecy, "There are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained (rather as Greek, "forewritten," that is, announced beforehand by the apostle Peter's written prophecy) to this condemnation, ungodly men denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." Compare

2Pe 2:1,

"There shall be false teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction." Also

Jude 17, 18

plainly refers to the very words of

2Pe 3:3,

"Remember the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus; how they told you there should be mockers in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly lusts." This proves, in opposition to ALFORD, that Jude's Epistle is later than Peter's (whose inspiration he thus confirms, just as Peter confirms Paul's,

2Pe 3:15, 16),

not vice versa.

TIME AND PLACE OF WRITING.--ALFORD thinks, that, considering Jude was writing to Jews and citing signal instances of divine vengeance, it is very unlikely he would have omitted to allude to the destruction of Jerusalem if he had written after that event which uprooted the Jewish polity and people. He conjectures from the tone and references that the writer lived in Palestine. But as to the former, negative evidence is doubtful; for neither does John allude in his Epistles, written after the destruction of Jerusalem, to that event. MILL fixes on A.D. 90, after the death of all the apostles save John. I incline to think from

Jude 17, 18

that some time had elapsed since the Second Epistle of Peter (written probably about A.D. 68 or 69) when Jude wrote, and, therefore, that the Epistle of Jude was written after the destruction of Jerusalem.

Jude 1-25.

ADDRESS: GREETING: HIS OBJECT IN WRITING: WARNING AGAINST SEDUCERS IN DOCTRINE AND PRACTICE FROM GOD'S VENGENANCE ON APOSTATES, ISRAEL, THE FALLEN ANGELS, SODOM AND GOMORRAH. DESCRIPTION OF THESE BAD MEN, IN CONTRAST TO MICHAEL: LIKE CAIN, BALAAM, AND CORE: ENOCH'S PROPHECY AS TO THEM: THE APOSTLES' FOREWARNING: CONCLUDING EXHORTATION AS TO PRESERVING THEIR OWN FAITH, AND TRYING TO SAVE OTHERS: DOXOLOGY.

1. servant of Jesus Christ--as His minister and apostle.

brother of James--who was more widely known as bishop of Jerusalem and "brother of the Lord" (that is, either cousin, or stepbrother, being son of Joseph by a former marriage; for ancient traditions universally agree that Mary, Jesus' mother, continued perpetually a virgin). Jude therefore calls himself modestly "brother of James." See my

Introduction.

to them . . . sanctified by God the Father--The oldest manuscripts and versions, ORIGEN, LUCIFER, and others read, "beloved" for sanctified. If English Version be read, compare

Col 1:12; 1Pe 1:2.

The Greek is not "by," but "in." God the Father's love is the element IN which they are "beloved." Thus the conclusion,

Jude 21,

corresponds, "Keep yourselves in the love of God." Compare "beloved of the Lord"

2Th 2:13.

preserved in Jesus Christ--"kept." Translate not "in," but as Greek, "FOR Jesus Christ." "Kept continually (so the Greek perfect participle means) by God the Father for Jesus Christ," against the day of His coming. Jude, beforehand, mentions the source and guarantee for the final accomplishment of believers' salvation; lest they should be disheartened by the dreadful evils which he proceeds to announce [BENGEL].

and called--predicated of "them that are beloved in God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ: who are called." God's effectual calling in the exercise of His divine prerogative, guarantees their eternal safety.

2. Mercy--in a time of wretchedness. Therefore mercy stands first; the mercy of Christ

(Jude 21).

peace--in the Holy Ghost

(Jude 20).

love--of God

(Jude 21).

The three answer to the divine Trinity.

be multiplied--in you and towards you.

3. Design of the Epistle (compare

Jude 20, 21).

all diligence--

(2Pe 1:5).

As the minister is to give all diligence to admonish, so the people should, in accordance with his admonition, give all diligence to have all Christian graces, and to make their calling sure.

the common salvation--wrought by Christ. Compare Note, see on

2Pe 1:1,

"obtained LIKE precious faith," This community of faith, and of the object of faith, salvation, forms the ground of mutual exhortation by appeals to common hopes and fears.

it was needful for me--rather, "I felt it necessary to write (now at once; so the Greek aorist means; the present infinitive 'to write,' which precedes, expresses merely the general fact of writing) exhorting you." The reason why he felt it necessary "to write with exhortation," he states,

Jude 4,

"For there are certain men crept in," &c. Having intended to write generally of "the common salvation," he found it necessary from the existing evils in the Church, to write specially that they should contend for the faith against those evils.

earnestly contend--Compare

Php 1:27,

"striving together for the faith of the Gospel."

once, &c.--Greek, "once for all delivered." No other faith or revelation is to supersede it. A strong argument for resisting heretical innovators

(Jude 4).

Believers, like Nehemiah's workmen

(Ne 4:17),

with one hand "build themselves up in their most holy faith"; with the other they" contend earnestly for the faith" against its foes.

the saints--all Christians, holy (that is, consecrated to God) by their calling, and in God's design.

4. certain men--implying disparagement.

crept in unawares--stealthily and unlawfully. See on

2Pe 2:1,

"privily shall bring in damnable heresies."

before . . . ordained--Greek, "forewritten," namely, in Peter's prophecy

Jude 17, 18;

and in Paul's before that,

1Ti 4:1; 2Ti 3:1;

and by implication in the judgments which overtook the apostate angels. The disobedient Israelites, Sodom and Gomorrah, Balaam and Core, and which are written "for an example"

(Jude 7, and Jude 5, 6, 11).

God's eternal character as the Punisher of sin, as set forth in Scripture "of old," is the ground on which such apostate characters are ordained to condemnation. Scripture is the reflection of God's book of life in which believers are "written among the living." "Forewritten" is applied also in

Ro 15:4

to the things written in Scripture. Scripture itself reflects God's character from everlasting, which is the ground of His decrees from everlasting. BENGEL explains it as an abbreviated phrase for, "They were of old foretold by Enoch

(Jude 14,

who did not write his prophecies), and afterwards marked out by the written word."

to this condemnation--Jude graphically puts their judgment as it were present before the eyes, "THIS." Enoch's prophecy comprises the "ungodly men" of the last days before Christ's coming to judgment, as well as their forerunners, the "ungodly men" before the flood, the type of the last judgment

(Mt 24:37-39; 2Pe 3:3-7).

The disposition and the doom of both correspond.

the grace of our God--A phrase for the Gospel especially sweet to believers who appropriate God in Christ as "our God," and so rendering the more odious the vile perversity of those who turn the Gospel state of grace and liberty into a ground of licentiousness, as if their exemption from the law gave them a license to sin.

denying the only Lord--The oldest manuscripts, versions, and Fathers omit "God," which follows in English Version. Translate as the Greek, "the only Master"; here used of Jesus Christ, who is at once Master and "Lord" (a different Greek word). See on

2Pe 2:1.

By virtue of Christ's perfect oneness with the Father, He, as well as the Father, is termed "the ONLY" God and "MASTER." Greek, "Master," implies God's absolute ownership to dispose of His creatures as He likes.

5.

(Heb 3:16; 4:13.)

therefore--Other oldest manuscripts and Vulgate read, "But"; in contrast to the ungodly

Jude 4.

though ye once--rather, "once for all." Translate, "I wish to remind you, as knowing ALL (namely, that I am referring to; so the oldest manuscripts, versions, and Fathers) once for all." As already they know all the facts once for all, he needs only to "remind" them.

the Lord--The oldest manuscripts and versions read, "Jesus." So "Christ" is said to have accompanied the Israelites in the wilderness; so perfectly is Jesus one with the God of the Israelite theocracy.

saved--brought safely, and into a state of safety and salvation.

afterward--Greek, "secondly"; in the next instance "destroyed them that believed not," as contrasted with His in the first instance having saved them.

6.

(2Pe 2:4.)

kept not their first estate--Vulgate translates, "their own principality," which the fact of angels being elsewhere called "principalities," favors: "their own" implies that, instead of being content with the dignity once for all assigned to them under the Son of God, they aspired higher. ALFORD thinks the narrative in

Ge 6:2

is alluded to, not the fall of the devil and his angels, as he thinks "giving themselves over to fornication"

(Jude 7)

proves; compare Greek, "in like manner to these," namely, to the angels

(Jude 6).

It seems to me more natural to take "sons of God"

(Ge 6:2)

of the Sethites, than of angels, who, as "spirits," do not seem capable of carnal connection. The parallel,

2Pe 2:4,

plainly refers to the fall of the apostate angels. And "in like manner to these,"

Jude 7,

refers to the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, "the cities about them" sinning "in like manner" as "they" did [ESTIUS and CALVIN]. Even if Greek "these,"

Jude 7,

refer to the angels, the sense of "in like manner as these" will be, not that the angels carnally fornicated with the daughters of men, but that their ambition, whereby their affections went away from God and they fell, is in God's view a sin of like kind spiritually as Sodom's going away from God's order of nature after strange flesh; the sin of the apostate angels after their kind is analogous to that of the human Sodomites after their kind. Compare the somewhat similar spiritual connection of whoremongers and covetousness. The apocryphal book of Enoch interprets

Ge 6:2

as ALFORD. But though Jude accords with it in some particulars, it does not follow that he accords with it in all. The Hebrews name the fallen angels Aza and Azael.

left--on their own accord.

their own--Greek, "their proper."

habitation--heaven, all bright and glorious, as opposed to the "darkness" to which they now are doomed. Their ambitious designs seem to have had a peculiar connection with this earth, of which Satan before his fall may have been God's vicegerent, whence arises his subsequent connection with it as first the Tempter, then "the prince of this world."

reserved--As the Greek is the same, and there is an evident reference to their having "kept not their first estate," translate, "He hath kept." Probably what is meant is, He hath kept them in His purpose; that is their sure doom; moreover, as yet, Satan and his demons roam at large on the earth. An earnest of their doom is their having been cast out of heaven, being already restricted to "the darkness of this present world," the "air" that surrounds the earth, their peculiar element now. They lurk in places of gloom and death, looking forward with agonizing fear to their final torment in the bottomless pit. He means not literal chains and darkness, but figurative in this present world where, with restricted powers and liberties, shut out from heaven, they, like condemned prisoners, await their doom.

7. Even as--ALFORD translates, "I wish to remind you

(Jude 5)

that."

Sodom, &c.--

(2Pe 2:6).

giving themselves over to fornication--following fornication extraordinarily, that is, out of the order of nature. On "in like manner to them" (Greek), compare Note, see on

Jude 6.

Compare on spiritual fornication, "go a whoring from thee,"

Ps 73:27.

going after strange flesh--departing from the course of nature, and going after that which is unnatural. In later times the most enlightened heathen nations indulged in the sin of Sodom without compunction or shame.

are set forth--before our eyes.

suffering--undergoing to this present time; alluding to the marks of volcanic fire about the Dead Sea.

the vengeance--Greek, "righteous retribution."

eternal fire--The lasting marks of the fire that consumed the cities irreparably, is a type of the eternal fire to which the inhabitants have been consigned. BENGEL translates as the Greek will admit, "Suffering (the) punishment (which they endure) as an example or sample of eternal fire (namely, that which shall consume the wicked)."

Eze 16:53-55

shows that Sodom's punishment, as a nation, is not eternal. Compare also

2Pe 2:6.

8. also--rather, "In like manner nevertheless" (notwithstanding these warning examples) [ALFORD].

these . . . dreamers--The Greek has not "filthy" of English Version. The clause, "these men dreaming" (that is, in their dreams), belongs to all the verbs, "defile," "despise," and "speak evil." All sinners are spiritually asleep, and their carnal activity is as it were a dream

(1Th 5:6, 7).

Their speaking evil of dignities is because they are dreaming, and know not what they are speaking evil of

(Jude 10).

"As a man dreaming seems to himself to be seeing and nearing many things, so the natural man's lusts are agitated by joy, distress, fear, and the other passions. But he is a stranger to self-command. Hence, though he bring into play all the powers of reason, he cannot conceive the true liberty which the sons of light, who are awake and in the daylight; enjoy" [BENGEL].

defile the flesh--

(Jude 7).

dominion--"lordship."

dignities--literally, "glories." Earthly and heavenly dignities.