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JUDE, THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF
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See also:JUDE, THE See also:GENERAL See also:EPISTLE OF , a See also:book of the New Testament. As with the epistle of See also: Eus. H. E. iii. 20, 7). These two grandsons of Judas thereafter " lived until the See also:time of See also:Trajan," ruling the churches " because they had (thus) been witnesses (martyrs) and were also relatives of the See also:Lord." But in that See also:case we must either reject the testimony of the same Hegesippus that up to their See also:death, and that of Symeon son of Clopas, successor in the See also:Jerusalem see of James the Lord's brother, " who suffered martyrdom at the See also:age of one See also:hundred and twenty years while Trajan was See also:emperor and See also:Atticus See also:governor," " the See also: 111.32, 3) is inconsistent with both the previous statements regarding the " martyrdom " of Zoker and James, that they were cited as the only surviving Christian Davididae, and that the, persecution on this ground collapsed through the See also:manifest absurdity of the See also:accusation. But even if we date the rise of heresies in the reign of Domitian instead of Trajan,2 the attributing of this epistle against 2 On this point (date of the outbreak of See also:heresy) there is some inconsistency in the reported fragments of Hegesippus. In that quoted below from Eus. H.E. iii. 32. 7 seq., it is expressly dated after the martyrdom of Symeon and death of the grandsons of Jude under Trajan. In iii. 19 the " See also:ancient tradition " attributing the denunciation of these to " some of the heretics " is perhaps not from Hegesippus; but in iv. 22 the beginning of heresy is traced to a certain Thebuthis, a See also:candidate for the bishopric after the death ei James, as See also:rival to Symeon. The same figure of the church as a pure virgin is also used as in iii. 32. But as it is only the envious feeling of Thebuthis which is traced to this See also:early date, Hegesippus doubtless means to place the outbreak later.
corrupting heresy to " Jude the brother of James " will still be incompatible with the statements of Hegesippus, our only informant regarding nis ._er See also:history.
The See also:Greek of Jude is also such as to exclude the See also:idea of authorship in See also:Palestine by an unschooled Galilean, at an early date in church history. As F. H. See also:Chase has pointed out: (I) the terms KAfroi, vcor'qpia, 7rLOTLS, have attained their later technical sense; (2) " the writer is steeped in the See also:language of the LXX.," employing its phraseology independently of other N.T. writers, and not that of the canonical books alone, but of the broader non-Palestinian See also:canon; (3) " he has at his command a large stock of stately, sonorous, sometimes poetical words," proving him a " See also:man of some culture, and, as it would seem, not without acquaintance with Greek writers."
If the superscription be not from the See also:hand of the actual brother of Jesus, the question may well be asked why some apostolic name was not chosen which might convey greater authority ? The See also:answer is to be found in the direction toward which the See also:principal defenders of orthodoxy in 1oo—15o turned for " the See also:deposit of the faith " (Jude 3) in its purity. The See also:Pastoral Epistles point to " the See also:pattern of See also:sound words, even the sayings of our Lord Jesus See also:Christ." (I Tim. vi. 3, &c.), as the See also:arsenal of orthodoxy against the same foe (with I Tim. vi. 3—10; cf. Jude 4, II, 16, 18 seq.). See also:Ignatius's See also:motto is to " be inseparable from Jesus Christ and from your See also:bishop " (ad Trail. vii.), See also:Polycarp's, to " turn unto the word delivered unto us from the beginning " (cf. Jude 3; I See also: 7, iii. 23, iv. 21), " the oracles of the Lord," which the false teachers " pervert to their own lusts." See also:Papias, his eraipos (See also:Irenaeus), turns in fact from " the vain talk of the many, and from the " See also:alien commandments " to such as were " delivered by the Lord to the faith," offering to the Christian world his See also:Interpretation of the Lord's Oracles based upon See also:personal inquiry from those who " came his way," who could testify as to apostolic tradition. Hegesippus, after a See also:journey to all the principal seats of Christian tradition, testifies that all are holding to the true See also:doctrine as transmitted at the See also:original seat, where it was witnessed first by the apostles and afterwards by the kindred of the Lord and " witnesses " of the first See also:generation. All these writers in one See also:form or other revert to the historic tradition against the See also:licence of innovators. Hegesippus indicates plainly the seat of its authority. For the See also:period before the See also:adoption of a written See also:standard the resort was not so much to " apostles " as to " disciples " and " witnesses." The See also:appeal was to " those who from the beginning had been See also:eye-witnesses and ministers of the word " (See also:Luke i. 2); and these were to be found primarily (until the See also:complete destruction of that church during the revolt of See also:Barcochebas and its suppression by See also:Hadrian) in the See also:mother community in Jerusalem (cf. Acts xv.2). Its life is the measure of the period of oral tradition, whose See also:requiem is sung by Papias. Hegesippus (ap. Eus. H.E. iii. 32, 7 seq.) looks back to it as the safe See also:guardian of the deposit " of the faith " against all the depredations of heresy which " when the sacred See also:college of apostles had suffered death in various forms, and the generation of those that had been deemed worthy to hear the inspired See also:wisdom with their own ears had passed away .. . attempted thenceforth with a bold See also:face, to proclaim, in opposition to the See also:preaching of the truth, ` the knowledge which is falsely so-called (¢evS ivvp.os -yvBevis).' " For an appeal like that of our epistle to the authority of the past against the moral laxity and antinomian teaching of degenerate Pauline churches in the Greek world, the natural resort after See also:Paul himself (Pastoral Epp.) would be the " kindred of the Lord " who were the " leaders and witnesses in every church " in Palestine. Doubtless the framer of Jude r would have preferred the See also:aegis of " James the Lord's brother," if this, like that of Paul, had not been already appropriated. Failing this, the next most imposing was " Judas, the brother of James." The superscription in the case of Jude, unlike that of James, takes hold of the substance of the book. See also:Verse 3 and the farewell (v. 24 seq.) show that Jude was composed from the start as an " epistle." If this See also:appearance be not fallacious, the obvious relation between the two superscriptions will be best explainedby the supposition that the author of Jude gave currency to the existing See also:homily (James) before composing under the See also:pseudonym of Jude. On the interconnexion of the two see Sieffert, s.v. " Judasbrief " in Hauck, Realencykl. vol. ix. Judas is conceived as cherishing the intention of discussing for the benefit of the Christian world (for no See also:mere See also:local church is addressed) the subject of " our See also:common salvation " (the much desiderated authoritative See also:definition of the orthodox faith), but diverted from this purpose by the growth of heresy. Few writings of this See also:compass afford more copious See also:evidence of date in their See also:literary See also:affinities. The references to See also:Enoch (principally ver. 14 seq. = Eth. En. i. 9, but cf. F. H. Chase, s.v. " Jude " in See also:Hastings's Dict. See also:Bible) and the See also:Assumption of See also:Moses (v. 9) have more a See also:geographical than a See also:chronological bearing, the stricter canon of Palestine excluding these apocryphal books of 90 B.C. to A.D. 40; but the Pauline writings are freely employed, especially 1 Cor. x. 1—13, Rom. xvi. 25 seq., and probably Eph. and See also:Col. Moreover, the author explicitly refers to the apostolic age as already past, and to the fulfilment of the Pauline prediction (I Tim. iv. I sqq.) of the See also:advent of heresy (v. 17 seq.). The Pauline doctrine of " See also:grace " has been perverted to lasciviousness, as by the heretics whom Polycarp opposes (Ep. Polyc. vii.), and this doctrine is taught for " hire " (vv.'', 12, 16; cf. 1 Tim. vi. 5). The unworthy " shepherds " (v. 12; cf. Ezek. xxxiv. 8; John x. 12 seq.) live at the expense of their flocks, polluting the " love-feasts, corrupting the true disciples. According-to See also:Clement of See also:Alexandria this was written prophetically to apply to the Carpocratians, an antinomian Gnostic See also:sect of c. 150; but hyper-Paulinists had given occasion to similar complaints already in Rev. ii. 14, 20 (95). Thus Paulinism and its perversion alike are in the past. As regards the undeniable contact of See also:Didache ii. 7 with Jude 22 seq. (cf. Didache, iv. 1, Jude 8) priority cannot be determined; and the use of 1 John iii. 12 in Jude II is doubtful. On the other hand, practically the whole of Jude is taken up into 2 Pet., the author merely avoiding, so far as he discovers them, the quotations from apocryphal writings, and prefixing and affixing sections of his own to refute the heretical See also:eschatology. On the priority of Jude see especially against See also:Spitta Zur Gesch.u. Litt. d. Urchristenthums, ii. 409—411, F. H. Chase, loc. cit. p. 803. (On 2 Pet. see See also:PETER EPISTLES OF.) Unfortunately, the date of 2 Pet. cannot be determined as earlier than See also:late in the second See also:century, so that we are thrown back upon See also:internal evidence for the inferior limit. The treatment of the heresy as the See also:anti-Christ who precedes " the last See also:hour " (v. 18), reminds us of I John ii. 18, but it is indicative of conditions somewhat less advanced that the heretics have not yet " gone out from " the church. The treatment of the apostolic age as past, and the deposit of the faith as a See also:regula fidei (cf. Ign. ad Trail. ix.), the presence of antinomian See also:Gnosticism, denying the doctrine of lordship and " glories " (v. 8), with " discriminations " between " psychic " and " pneumatic " (v. 19), strongly oppose a date earlier than See also:loo. Sieffert, on See also:account of the superscription, would date as early as 70-8o, but acknowledges the hyper-Pauline See also:affinity of the heresy, its See also:propagation as a doctrine, and See also:close relation to the Nicolaitan of Rev. ii. 14. To these phenomena he gives accordingly a correspondingly early date. The nature of the heresy, opposed, however, and the resort to the authority of Jude " the brother of James " against it, favour rather the period of Polycarp and Papias (117—150). The history of the reception of the epistle into church canons is similar to that of James, beginning with a See also:quotation of it as the See also:work of Jude by Clement of Alexandria (Paed. iii. 8), a reference by See also:Tertullian (De cult. See also:fern. i. 3), and a more or less hesitant endorsement by See also:Origen (" if one might adduce the epistle of Jude," In Matt. torn. xvii. 30) and by the Muratorianum (c. 200), which excepts Jude and 2 and 3 John from its condemnation of apocryphal literature, placing it on a See also:par with the Wisdom of See also:Solomon " which was written by See also:friends of his in his See also:honour." The use of apocryphal literature in Jude itself may account for much of the See also:critical disposition toward it of many subsequent writers. See also:Eusebius classed it among the " disputed" books, declaring that as with James " not many of the ancients have mentioned it " (H. E. ii. 23, 25).
The Introd. to the New Test. by See also:Holtzmann, Pincher, See also:Weiss, Zahn, See also:Davidson, See also:Salmon, See also: B. See also:Mayor (1907). (B. W. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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