Judah, Judas, Jude

The Jude Series - Introduction

This is the first article in a series I’m writing on the book of Jude. If this is your first time reading or your seventy-seventh, please leave a comment to let me know what you thought and if you have any questions.

It’s the first century AD, shortly before Jerusalem is raised to the ground, and about thirty years after the most consequential public execution in all of history. A religious group we’ll name ‘the Called’ has been steadily growing throughout the Roman Empire and beyond, having faced dangers and persecution on all sides since the beginning. As if they didn't have enough to deal with, false teachers have begun to infiltrate this group of believers, leading some astray; and so a member of the faithful sends out a letter commanding them to contend for ‘the faith.’ The letter is short, succinct, and powerful; yet, two-thousand years later has largely fallen into obscurity.

This letter isn’t hard to get a hold of, and it isn’t long, but it is complicated. Although scholarship had begun to take place in the early twentieth century, this was done in German and so, shortly after, it too went largely unread. The twenty-first century produced some great work on the book, but bundled it together with 1 & 2 Peter¹ and so the book is often relegated to be read once a year in a Bible reading plan, and that in a single day.

This series won’t be quite like a commentary and I don’t intend for it to be written at a scholarly level. The primary difference between this book² and modern commentaries is that I want to focus in here not primarily on the human authorial context, but the inspiration of the Spirit upon and through that human author. I also have no qualms about saying that I believe that the author in question is Jude, the brother of James and Jesus and that the book was written in the first century AD. I’ve read good scholarship on the subject that I think affirms that³ fact, but I’m also a firm believer in the innerancy of Scripture and that, of course, includes this book. I say that because in many commentaries I’ve read, a lot of time is given to proving that fact and disputing alternative theories.

So, in short, I believe Jude was written by Jude—or Judah, or Judas … but we’ll get to that.

With that said, there are some key elements of the letter that are important to understand so we can build on that context later down the line.

This letter is catholic. To be clear, when I say “catholic,” I don’t mean “Roman Catholic.” The term throughout most of history meant general or universal. The best example of this is the Apostle’s Creed, which biblically faithful churches throughout history have all held to, which concludes:

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.

The “holy catholic church” shouldn’t be understood here to pay homage to the Pope or affirm his rule, but rather to declare that the true church which exists today—wherever she is found—is part of the apostolic tradition and faith that has been handed down since Pentecost. The reason the word catholic is important to note in this case is because this letter is part of a set we find in the New Testament called “the catholic epistles” which includes James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John and Jude.

Unlike the letters of Paul, which were written to specific persons (Timothy, Philemon, Titus) or peoples (the Romans, Thessalonians, Colossians), the catholic epistles are more broadly addressed—Peter addresses his first epistle “To those chosen, living as exiles dispersed abroad” (1 Peter 1:1) and James sends his to “To the twelve tribes dispersed abroad” (James 1:1.) If you’re a believer, you should see yourself reflected in what Jude himself says, “To those who are the called, loved, by God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ” (Jude 1.)

Through these epistles Peter, John, James, and Jude teach about church polity, false teachers, our relationship to governments, our relationships to one another, the use of Holy Scripture (inc. the New Testament), how to exercise one’s faith, the place of works, as well as the responsibilities of leaders and church members.

This set also contains some overlap, particularly between Jude and 2 Peter 2-3:3. This overlap has led some to overlook Jude over the years, but this would be unwise. We don’t turn away from 1-2 Chronicles because it reiterates what we already know, or exclude certain Psalms because they’re found in other passages of Scripture. these parallels don’t dilute Scripture, but point towards the internal consistency found within.

In addition, this repetition points towards something Jude speaks to in his letter, namely, the catholic faith. As in, the faith that we all share as Christians. It’s clear from the repetition we see throughout the New Testament that the Apostles were united in that faith and so we should expect there to be choruses that ring out throughout the song of scripture.⁴

Darian R. Lockett says:

“…the faith here is understood not as the subjective faith of the community but as the central message of salvation through Jesus Christ—the apostolic faith handed down to the community.”

Letters for the Church - Darian R. Lockett

He is not writing to a people about their faith, but about THE faith, the holy apostolic faith which they all had received, and invited them to contend for it with him. This letter is from the Church, to the Church, for the Church, via the messenger Jude, inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Although this letter is for the Church, and therefore for Christians, it is also a Jewish letter. This isn't a contradiction in terms, Jude is a Jew by birth and a Christian by second-birth. Just as my writing is influenced by my Britishness⁵ Jude is writing from a Jewish context, and likely to a largely Jewish audience.

Given that Jude grew up in the Jewish tradition it shouldn't be a surprise to us that his style, like his brother James—not to mention Jesus!—is influenced by Jewish teaching. In form, in style, in reference⁶, Jude is distinctively Jewish and so that has a bearing on the way that we read this letter.

We can often be too quick to apply our own context to the Bible, or vice versa. One of the ways to combat this is by taking a moment to sit with the original audience. This helps us to hear it as it was intended to be heard. Although this letter is written to the whole church and applicable to our lives today, we shouldn’t jump straight there.

Everyone is most likely to follow the style they grew up with. I’ve heard lots of people discuss the reasons why preachers use sports analogies, perform topical preaching, or rely on the same stories over and over, but the reality is quite simple:

Most preachers do so because it is all they’ve ever known.

Jude is no different.

As a young Jewish man, he would have heard Jewish exegetical methods applied in Synagogues and therefore we shouldn’t be surprised that he would use the same, or similar methods himself.

Jude would also be far quicker to draw from stories he was familiar with than new ones. Jesus’ own parables are heavily influenced by themes and types from the Old Testament. I mentioned Jude’s brother James, whose own writing is often spoken of as Paranesis, which is used in both the Bible (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes) as well as in extra-biblical Jewish Literature (such as Wisdom and Sirach.)

These styles are often unfamiliar to us as western Christians, and so take a bit more work to understand, but doing so will ultimately be incredibly fruitful. Jude is Jewish and that influences his exegetical⁷ method, namely, a form of Jewish exegesis known as a Midrash. Which, in short, is a form of exegesis of one or more texts from scripture explained and expounded upon, often through the use of storytelling.

Jesus’ use of parables and narrative to explain concepts is a good way of understand what this might look like. This isn’t something we’ve always done well as Protestants, and in the introduction to the RCS commentary on Gen 1-11, the editors mention:

“(Speaking of the Reformers) Christian commentators on Genesis typically displayed a love-hate relationship toward Jewish sources, as we will see: they are often found to admire rabbinic insights and to find corroboration of their own views in the Targums, but the excesses of midrash, with its penchant for creative storytelling, is almost always heavily criticized… Jerome and Augustine are also targets of criticism for … what is usually described as allegorical excess.”

John L. Thompson
Genesis 1–11: Old Testament Reformation Commentary on Scripture

We should be aware of any inherited bias and do what we can to eschew it. The first three chapters of this book will look specifically at this method of exegesis, so I don’t want to diver too deeply just yet, but suffice it to say for now that this might be the most difficult part about understanding this letter.

But an exciting one all the same

A helpful way to understand and remember the context of this letter, is to draw upon another storytelling device, based on the name of the author.

Judah → Judas → Jude

These are the three names that we know Jude by, the Hebrew, the Greek and the Modern one we find in our bibles today. Judah is the name he was likely named after, Judas is likely the form of that name he was given, and Jude is the one that ended up in our bibles—I bet you’ll never be able to guess why that decision was made.⁸

Think of it like this, Judah represents the Jewish nature of the book, the heritage and the tradition that comes from the Old Testament and the Jewish people. Judas for the continuation of that story through the New Testament and the Apostles, and, finally, Jude, the name we use today, the interpretation into our own language stands for the exegetical process going on in the letter.

Here’s a summary you can return to in later weeks, the epistle of Jude is:

1. Jewish (Judah) - Jewish in structure, in style, as well as using Jewish narratives and those from the Old Testament.

2. Catholic (Judas) - for the whole Church, by a leader of the Church, and for the good of all.

3. Exegetical (Jude) - though different in form from what we would consider to be exegetical, Jude expounds upon scriptures from the Old Testament, applying them to our lives today, by the use of extra-biblical narratives to tell the truth through stories, as well as with the authority and teaching of the apostles.

I’ve barely scratched the surface in this article, so I’m looking forward to going deeper and deeper as the weeks and months roll on. I hope you’re looking forward to joining me on that journey.

Grace and Peace,

Adsum Try Ravenhill

Articles of the Week

I’m incredibly thankful for

E.L Sherene Joseph

’s honesty in this important look at the shockwaves that ensue when we’re hurt by the church. I resonated with so much of this. Whether you have been hurt by your church or you’re looking to safeguard against it in your own context, this is an important read.

Leaving A Church,Carrying the pain

Jake

from The Workbox wrote an article this week on what mulch has to teach us about friendship. If you read my piece about deep footprints a couple of weeks ago, this in the mud you’ll find those footprints in.

Heart Mulch

Aaron Earls

shared this fantastic piece outlining C.S. Lewis’ writing advice and, honestly, I think that short description should sell it to you all on its own!

C.S. Lewis‘ Writing Advice

1. Although this was for good reasons we’ll look at later down the line.

2. In case you missed last week’s newsletter, I’m intending this to be more like a serialised book than a traditional article series.

3. For the simplest explanation I’ve found, I’d recommend the Expositor’s Bible Commentary edited by Frank Gaebelein.

4. Furthermore: This goes beyond Scripture. We know that the early church often used a text known as the the Didache (or the teaching of the apostles) for training those who were to be Baptised (known as Catechumen) and so repetitive teaching would be commonly used on multiple occasions, even by various people, to speak to similar issues.

We also see that the apostles’ repeat and utilise the teachings of Jesus; not to mention that Jesus repeated himself on occasion—probably far more than we’re even aware of. Repetition isn’t a bad thing.

5. Init tho

6. We will look in later chapters at Jude’s inclusion of extra-biblical texts including 1 Enoch and the Assumption of Moses.

7. Exegesis is the practice of digging into a biblical text to discover its meaning. Like an archaeologist at a dig site, the idea isn’t to place things into the text, but to discover what that text says for itself.

8. Hint: Imagine turning to the book of Judas !