The epistle of Jude: authorship, moral authority, and eschatology

Epistle of Jude is one of the less-frequently studied books of the Bible, probably because it concentrates so heavily on the end of days, a topic that many Christians choose to ignore or minimize. However, it plays a critical role in defining and shaping the rest of the New Testament and in the formation of many modern Christian churches, especially churches that are highly associated with evangelicalism. In Jude, the author warns the readers about the dangers arising in the church. Apparently, some teachers are claiming to be prophets, and that their spiritually exalted status has freed them from moral obligations and moral authority, and given them license to engage in a variety of immoral behaviors. Jude heavily criticizes this approach, claiming that the Christian faith demands that one submit to the moral authority of Jesus Christ. He believes that those who encourage moral disobedience put the salvation of the faithful at risk, because moral disobedience is the equivalent of outright rejecting God's authority. Therefore, Jude's epistle is meant to warn the faithful of these dangers. Furthermore, it is meant to encourage an evangelical lifestyle, by encouraging Christians to live the gospel.

Author

Like many books in the Bible, there are questions about the authorship of Jude. Jude is believed to have been written by Jude or Judas, one of Jesus' brothers. A man identified as Jude and known as a brother of Jesus was known as a prominent early Christian leader in Palestine. Whether or not the book was actually written by Jude is questionable, and is actually quite controversial. For example, Catholics, and members of any Christian denomination that believes in the perpetual virginity of Mary may discount the idea that a brother of Jesus existed, much less wrote this book, though there have been some explanations that Jude was related to Jesus through Joseph, and played a step-brother role. However, there is no historical evidence or even Biblical evidence to support the assertion of such a relationship. There is also no Biblical evidence to bolster the idea of perpetual virginity, so that Jude could easily be Jesus' brother. Furthermore, though there is debate about the actual genetic relationship between Jesus and his siblings, there is at least recognition that Jesus had siblings. It was well-known that James was Jesus' brother, even if their genetic relationship was never specifically identified. According to the book itself, Jude was "a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James." (Jude 1).

However, some have argued that Jude was not actually written by Jude, but by someone taking that name as a pseudonym. According to Werner Georg Kummel, the author of Jude was a Jewish Christian. Kummel bases that assumption on the fact that the author was aware of the Jewish legends and Jewish-apocalyptic writings like the Ascension of Moses and the Enoch Apocalypse. (Kummel, p.428). However, Kummel believes that the author did not speak of the apostles with first-hand knowledge, but like someone who heard about them after their time. Moreover, the way that he wrote about both Jewish and early Christian predictions seems, to Kummel, to point to a late phase of primitive Christianity. (Kummel, p.428). The fact that the letter was written a Greek language, with citations to a Greek translation of the Enoch Apocalypse, seems to indicate it was unlikely to have been written by a contemporary of Christ. (Kummel, p.428).

Kummel is not the only Biblical scholar to assert that the author took the name Jude as a pseudonym. In fact, Perrin et al., seem to believe that all of the emergent Catholicism in the New Testament was written by those assuming pseudonyms (Perrin et al., p. 260). For example, Jude speaks of faith, but, according to Perrin et al., faith derives from an authoritative tradition and is not an element of the earliest Christianity. Because Jude admonishes the faithful based by relying on tradition, this position seems to be supported by the text. Moreover, the epistle demonstrates evidence of a developing Christian liturgy, consisting of Son, Father, and Holy Spirit. However, the development of the Holy Trinity is generally considered to have occurred subsequent to Jesus' own generation. (Perrin et al., p.260).

Other Biblical scholars simply dismiss those who do not believe that the book was written by Jude. According to Modlish, while the authorship of Jude "is under constant dispute by many theologians. The trouble with them is they can't read English. Jude 1 identifies who the writer is: [1] Servant of Jesus Christ. [2] Brother of James." (Modlish). Of course, Modlish's assertion ignores the fact that, of course, Jude was not written in English. It also ignores the idea that there could be more than one James. If Jude was Christ's brother, it certainly would have been easier for him to identify himself as Christ's brother, rather than as James' brother. However, following the death of Jesus, James was an extremely well-known leader in the Jerusalem church, which would explain why Jude would identify himself as James' brother, rather than Jesus' brother. Therefore, it seems probable that Jude was Jesus' brother.

Date Written

It is difficult to date the book of Jude because of the questions about its authorship. Those who believe that Jude was written by a literal brother of Jesus believe it must have been written in the mid-to-late first century. According to Modlish, it was written after the Epistle of Second Peter, which was written around 66A.D., placing Jude somewhere around 67-70A.D. (Modlish). Other scholars believe that Jude was written after James, but before II Peter. Moreover, there is substantial controversy surrounding when James and II Peter were written, making it difficult, if not impossible to date Jude based on those other two books. Therefore, the safest assumption is to conclude that one cannot date Jude with any real certainty, which means that the debate about Jude's date is more between centuries, than years. Most Christian churches consider Jude to be canonical, and they believe that it was already established in the canon by the second century, which would place its authorship firmly in the first century. Others, most particularly those suggesting that Jude was a pseudonymous work believe that its content was too developed to reflect early Christianity, so that it had to have been written in the second century. However, the way that Jude is written makes it clear that it was written during the era of Palestinian Christianity, which means it could be one of the earliest books in the New Testament.

Background

In order to really understand the book of Jude, one must understand the background context. While it is impossible to date Jude with any certainty, the book itself makes its background clear. It was almost certainly written in Christian Palestine. One must recall that the early church was newly developed and was very linked to the practice of Judaism. Christ had relieved Christians of their obligations to older Jewish laws, such as dietary prohibitions and the obligations to perform sacrifices. This release was viewed by some as being freed from the moral obligations imposed by the religion. Therefore, to some people, there was an association between the early Jewish Christianity and a relaxing of moral standards. It was against such a background that Jude wrote his book. In fact, the book was written to admonish Christians that they had not been freed from their moral and religious obligations. Jude warns, "For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ." (Jude 4). On the contrary, Jude believed that salvation was directly linked to obedience to God, which could not be divorced from the idea of moral obedience. There was no way to divorce faith from moral obedience, because one who had faith would demonstrate such obedience.

This lesson was particularly important when one considers that false prophets were a major threat to the emerging Christian church. The idea of a Messiah was well-developed in Jewish prophecy. In fact, modern-day Jews continue to await the arrival of a Messiah, because they do not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Moreover, the Old Testament is replete with tales of prophets, many of whom were morally inferior, but allowed to engage in such behavior because they had favored status with God. Of course, modern Christians accept as a fact that Christ was the last of the prophets, but this was not an idea that was necessarily embraced by early Christians, who had grown up as Jews or as the children of Jews, and were familiar with the idea of multiple prophets. Therefore, for religious teachers to claim the role of prophet would not have been anathema as it is now, but an accepted role. These teachers were claiming to be exempt from their moral obligations, because they had a favored status with God. From a modern perspective, one can imagine these teachers as being somewhat like David Koresh, claiming a special status and removing himself from the moral obligations expected of every day Christians. In fact, sexual moral obligations were one of the major concerns addressed by Jude, who cautioned that immoral behavior by teachers was dangerous. He believed that it had the ability to corrupt everyday Christians, and to keep them from attaining salvation. Therefore, he wrote Jude as a way of warning Christians against these false prophets, and against a life of immoral behavior.

Perhaps more significantly, Jude contains a very strong pro-evangelical message, because it encourages Christians to live their religions, making religion a part of daily life. For Jews who lived under religious laws, Judaism was necessarily part of daily life. Every single meal was dictated by religious facets. Moreover, religious law dictated choice of spouse, the ability to marry or divorce, the naming of children, and other facets of daily life. When Jesus freed Jews of their obligations under Jewish laws, it had the impact of making religion less of a factor in daily life, even if it increased the capacity for spirituality in the individual. Therefore, to address that issue, Jude admonished Christians to live their religion, so that they could set an example for others, and demonstrate the moral righteousness of Christianity.

Jude's condemnation of false teachers naturally makes one wonder who the false teachers were. "Many Protestant scholars have maintained that the false teachers denounced in Jude are Gnostics of the second century." (Knight). However, this view is considered unsupported by many scholars. First and foremost, Jude does not indicate who is considered to be a false teacher, nor does he explain any reason beyond their licentiousness for them to be considered false teachers. Therefore, while it is clear that Jude is upset with false teachers, there is nothing to suggest that those teachers were necessarily Gnostics. Of course, this issue becomes very important when viewed in the context of the debate over authorship and date that the book was written, since Jude could only have been writing against the Gnostics if he were writing in the second century. However, nothing in his text definitively points to a second-century authorship; there were sufficient false teachers during Apolistic times to encourage a treatise like Jude's epistle.

Key Verse

One of the most important verses in all of Jude refers to the idea of punishment and eternal damnation. Speaking of the judgment of false teachers, Judah states:

Now I desire to remind you, though you are fully informed, that the Lord, who once for all saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their own position, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains in deepest darkness for the judgment of the great

Day. Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which in the same manner as they, indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. (Jude 5-7).

This verse is very important because it serves to remind Christians of the other side of God's grace. The emphasis in modern Christianity is on the ability of salvation, with very little focus on damnation. From this verse, it appears that early Christians had the same perspective. This is not surprising, given that the Old Testament does not really discuss the idea of eternal damnation, because there was no corollary idea of eternal life. However, Jude is the first book to make it clear that the wrathful God of the Old Testament has not changed. While He has provided the people with Jesus as a means for salvation, and will no longer require them to engage in literal sacrifice for their sins that does not mean that He has agreed to permit sin without punishment. Instead, Jude reminds his fellow Christians, the God that destroyed the unbelievers in Egypt or destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah is the same God in charge of the afterlife for Christians.

Outline

The Epistle of Jude has a very simple outline, because it is a very brief book. It begins with a salutation, in which the author identifies himself as Jude, a servant of Christ and brother of James. It goes on to explain the occasion of the book, which is that licentious intruders have stolen in among Christians. Next, the author explains how God has previously wrought His judgment on false teachers. In this passage, Jude mentions the Exodus from Egypt, God casting the Angels out of Heaven, Sodom and Gomorrah, slanderers, Cain, Balaam, and Enoch. Jude then gives his advice for how to avoid falling prey to the false teachers, which consists of living one's religion, attempting to convert people to Christianity, and hating those who would threaten one's religion. Finally, Jude ends with a prayer.

Application

The overriding message in Jude is that moral obligation remains a central part of Christianity. He warns Christians that they absolutely should not listen to people, claiming to be Christian, who believe that they are somehow freed of their moral obligations towards other people. This concept remains a central part of modern Christianity and actually helps explain some of the debates between denominations, because those who feel that some denominations encourage moral disobedience believe that those people cannot be Christian.

Of course, Jude's reference to Sodom and Gomorrah is used, in connection with Old Testament vs. about the destruction of those cities, to suggest that homosexuality is evil. When one combines that with a later passage encouraging Christians to hate those who inspire fear, one could see Jude as an excuse or justification for homophobia or other fear-driven hate-mongering. This may be accurate, though that is certainly in doubt. What is certain is that Judge can be used in very positive ways to encourage Christian behavior. First, Jude can be used to help explain to modern Christians why it is important for them to comply with God's laws, even though modern societies, and many modern religious leaders, shy away from that requirement. While Jesus freed Jews from their obligation to adhere to the little laws that were part of Judaism, there is never any indication that Jesus freed Jews of their moral obligation to adhere to the Ten Commandments. Therefore, using Jude in combination with the Ten Commandments helps outline the type of moral behavior that one expects from a practicing Christian. Next, Jude can be used to explain the appropriate role of evangelical Christianity. Christians are asked to approach their non-Christian neighbors with mercy, and to try to help snatch them out of the fire. This makes it clear that Christians are expected to be evangelical, but also that they are expected to do so in a merciful and respectful manner. Finally, Jude can be used to help evangelical Christians understand that hate may be an appropriate response when encountering some people; Jude speaks against the notion of absolute forgiveness, and suggests that there are some people who are so evil that they should be feared and hated. Therefore, Jude can be used to free Christians of an obligation to convert all people, which, if taken to its most extreme, would mean that all Christians would have an obligation to engage in prison ministries and the like, exposing themselves to danger.