Jude

About this book

Jude is a one-page letter with an urgent purpose. The author had planned to write about the salvation all believers share, but news of false teachers who had slipped into the church made him change course and urge his readers to contend for the faith once delivered to God's people. He warns that these teachers twist God's grace into an excuse for immorality and deny the Lord who bought them. To show that judgment on such behavior is not new, he recalls Israel in the wilderness, angels who abandoned their proper place, and Sodom and Gomorrah, and he mentions Cain, Balaam and Korah. He also draws on Jewish writings outside the Bible, which Christians have understood in different ways. Then the tone turns from warning to care: build yourselves up in faith, pray, keep yourselves in God's love, show mercy to the doubting and rescue others. The letter closes with one of the most beloved doxologies in the New Testament, praising the God who is able to keep believers from stumbling.

Author

Jude, servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, traditionally understood as a brother of Jesus.

Date

Uncertain; often placed between about AD 60 and 90, with some scholars favoring the earlier end.

Audience

Believers in a church or churches troubled by false teachers; the location is not named.

Themes

Outline

1. 1:1–1:2Greeting
2. 1:3–1:4The call to contend for the faith
3. 1:5–1:16Examples of judgment and the false teachers
4. 1:17–1:23Remember, persevere and show mercy
5. 1:24–1:25Closing praise

Key verses