Epistle of Jude
Home > New Testament > Epistle of Jude Epistle of Jude At a Glance Treatise Genre: (4/5) **** Reliability of Dating: (5/5) ***** Length of Text: Greek Original Language: Ancient Translations: Modern Translations: Estimated Range of Dating: 90-120 A.D. Chronological List of Early Christian Writings Discuss this text on the Early Writings forum. Text American Standard Version King James Version World English Bible Resources e-Catena: References to the New Testament in the Church Fathers Patristic References to Jude Edgar Goodspeed: The Epistle of Jude and the Second Epistle of Peter Catholic Encyclopedia: Epistle of Saint Jude Offsite Links Perseus NT (English/Greek/Latin) Danger from False Teachers: An EasyEnglish Commentary Fight for the Faith: An EasyEnglish Commentary An Introduction to the New Testament: The Epistle of Jude Daniel Wallace's Introduction NAB Introduction Books Udo Schnelle, translated by M.
Eugene Boring, The History and Theology of the New Testament Writings (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998), pp. 416-423. Raymond Edward Brown, An Introduction to the New Testament (New York: Doubleday, 1997), pp. 748-760. Burton L. Mack, Who Wrote the New Testament? : The Making of the Christian Myth (San Francisco, CA: HarperCollins, 1996), pp. 210-211. J. Daryl Charles, Literary Strategy in the Epistle of Jude (Univ of Scranton Pr 1993) Kenneth R. Lyle, Ethical Admonition in the Epistle of Jude (Peter Lang Publishing 1998) Michael Green, The Second Epistle General of Peter and the General Epistle of Jude (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 1988) Recommended Books for the Study of Early Christian Writings Information on the Epistle of Jude Kummel presents the reasons that most scholars suspect Jude to be a pseudepigraph (Introduction to the New Testament, pp.
428): The author was presumably a Jewish Christian, since he knews such Jewish-apocalyptic writings as the Ascension of Moses (9) and the Enoch Apocalypse (14), and the Jewish legends (9, 11). But the author "speaks of the apostles like a pupil from a time long afterward" (17). Not only does he assume a concept of "a faith once for all delivered to the saints" (3), but against the statements of the false teachers of the End-tim, he adduces in similar manner Jewish and early Christian predictions (14 f, 17). All this points to a late phase of primitive Christianity, and the cultivated Greek language as well as the citations from a Greek translation of the Enoch Apocalypse do not well suit a Galilean.
The supposition repeatedly presented that Jude really does come from a brother of the Lord is accordingly extremely improbable, and Jude must be considered a pseudonymous writing. That is all the more fitting if Jude 1 contains a reference to a pseudonymous James (see 27.4). Norman Perrin writes the following on Jude (The New Testament: An Introduction, p. 260): The letter is pseudonymous, as is all the literature of emergent catholicism in the New Testament. The most interesting features of this letter are the characteristics of emergent Catholocism it exhibits. The letter speaks of "the faith once for all delivered to the saints"; faith is the acceptance of authoritative tradition, and the writer denounces the heretics and admonishes the faithful on the authority of that tradition.
There is also evidence of a developing Christian liturgy. In verses 20-21, "pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ" testifies to the liturgical development of a trinitarian formula. The closing benediction is a magnificent piece of liturgical language, so different in style and tone from the remainder of the letter that the writer has probably taken it from the liturgy of his church. Jude is dependent on James, and II Peter is dependent on Jude, setting the terminus a quo and the terminus ad quem for this epistle. It would be fair to date it to the turn of the second century. Some Contemporary Texts Gospel of John (90-120 A.D.) 1 John (90-120 A.D.) 2 John (90-120 A.D.) 3 John (90-120 A.D.) Epistle of Jude (90-120 A.D.) Flavius Josephus (93 A.D.) 1 Timothy (100-150 A.D.) 2 Timothy (100-150 A.D.) Titus (100-150 A.D.) Go to the Chronological List of all Early Christian Writings Please buy the CD to support the site, view it without ads, and get bonus stuff!