Jude, compelled by a crisis he did not plan to address, calls his readers to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints, marshals a battery of biblical and Jewish examples to expose the character and doom of false teachers who have crept into the community, and closes with one of the New Testament's most magnificent doxologies.
New Testament
Jude
Jude identifies himself as “a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,” traditionally understood as Jesus' brother. Some scholars accept that identification and date the letter around AD 60–80; others view it as a later work in Jude's name, near the end of the first century. Neither its place of writing nor its recipients are known, though Jewish scriptural and traditional imagery suggests an audience able to follow such allusions. This urgent general exhortation replaces a planned reflection on shared salvation with a call to “contend for the faith” against intruders who turn grace into moral license. Jude combines fierce judgment oracles with mercy, prayer, perseverance, and trust in God's keeping power. Its use of 1 Enoch and Moses traditions illuminates Jewish Christianity, while its close literary relationship with 2 Peter links the two canonical warnings.
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