EXPLORE IT - Jude Week 1

Our Scripture passages for this week and next are from the book of Jude.  This short letter is only twenty-three verses long and tucked away in the back of the New Testament right before the book of Revelation.  It is written by Jude, a very common name in this time.  The Greek work for Jude (Iou,daj) can also be rendered as Judas, Judah, and Judea.  The most famous man with this Greek name is Judas Iscariot.

Because this is a very common name, the author specifies who he is in the opening of his letter.  By declaring he is “a slave” or “a servant” or Jesus, we identify this Jude as one of the few involved in the early church.  With his declaration to be a brother of James, we recognize this Jude as being the brother of Jesus.  The recipients of this letter would understand James to be the brother of Jesus.

We know this letter was written prior to A.D. 68 because Peter borrows some of the material from this letter in his own letter we know as the book of 2 Peter.  Jude wrote to Christians within the church, alerting them of false brothers in the faith who were infiltrating the churches.  These false believers and false teachers were encouraging division, doubt, and cynicism and being motivated by greed and lust.  Jude is emphasizing Jesus as Lord and even though freedom comes with our faith, it is not a license to do whatever we wish.  These teachings from Jude are very timely as we too need to be alert for false teachers trying to lead us astray.  We need to heed Jude’s instruction to pray, persist in faithfulness to God, and continue to be merciful to one another.

Blessings,
Pastor Amy