Category:Letter of Jude (text)

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The Letter of Jude (see Online Text) is a New Testament document.

Overview

An archaic christology

The Christology of the Letter is archaic. It still presents Jesus as “KYRIOS” (Lord), not “THEOS” (God), and makes reference to Jewish-Essene texts, like the Book of Enoch, who is called a prophet, announcing the coming of the Messiah-Son of Man (14-15; there are many allusions to the Books of Enoch in the New Testament but this is the only explicit quotation of them as Scripture).

The Letter is also written in the name of “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,” drawing authority from the family of Jesus [not Peter, Paul, John or Thomas]

Yet, this is clearly a second-generation text as it refers to “the predictions of the apostles of our Lord” (17ff) as something that belongs to the past.

A divided community

The Author is concerned about divisions in the Church. It compares this situation to the rebellion of the fallen angels “who did not keep their own position, but left their proper dwelling” (6). These are quite strong words which indicated growing tension and division among the Churches.

Mortal sins

The Sins in the Church (11) (a) Cain (Gen 4:9): Murder (cp. 1 Jn 3:12: “We must not be like Cain who was from the evil one and murdered his brother”) (b) Balaam (Num 22-24): Idolatry and fornication (cp. Rev 2:14 in the letter to the city of Pergamum: “You have some who hold the teachings of Balaam, who taught… so that [the Israelites] would eat food sacrificed to idols and practice fornication (porneia)”) (c) Korah (Num 16): Rebellion against Church Authorities?

References

• Jude, Letter of / Matt Jackson-McCabe / In: The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism (2010 Collins / Harlow), dictionary, 849-850

• / [[]] / In: The Anchor Bible Dictionary (1992 Freedman), dictionary,

External links

• Wikipedia
• Early Christian Writings