Jude Chapter 1, Verse 1

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Book of Jude Chapter 1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

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On the general form of Jude's Address see notes on 1 Pet 1:1, 2 Pet 1:1, and ICC Introductions to 1 and 2 Pet.

Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ. Jude has "Iesou Christou doulos" "the servant/slave of Jesus Christ" in common with 2 Peter.

And brother of James. See Barnes Introduction to Jude. If the view taken in Barnes Introduction to the epistle is correct, Jude was closely related to the Lord Jesus, being, as James was, "the Lord's brother," Gal 1:19. Jude did not use that title here to identify himself or to claim authority to deliver his message. The reasons for not doing so could be some of these:

1. that the right to speak did not rest on his mere family relationship to the Lord Jesus, but on the fact that Jesus had called apostles and had authorized them to do it
2. that a reference to this relationship, as a ground of authority, might have created negative feelings such as jealousies among the apostles themselves.
3. that a family relationship to Jesus may have only reinforced the thinking of the doubters who believed that Jesus was a fraud. If one were a fraud (not saying Jesus was such), perhaps the easiest accomplices to recruit would be your family members.

Jude, foremost, calls himself "the servant of the Lord Jesus," that is, a Christian in a humble relationship to his Lord. Perhaps Jude held (and from him we can learn) that that distinction is probably more desirable and honorable than being the earthly brother of Jesus Christ. Compare Mt 12:46ff.

For a discussion of the authorship of Jude, most relevant to this verse, see Authorship of Jude.

Recipients

τοις εν θεω πατρι ... κλητοις:

The TR text carries "beloved" adjective while the Westcott and Hort text (NU) has "sanctified." Thus you see KJV and NKJ using the former and NIV, etc. using the latter.

ICC translated this: "To the Called, which in God the Father are beloved and kept unto Jesus Christ."

ICC comments: The Father is our Father. kletois is a substantive, as in Rom 1:6; 1Cor 1:24. The word is not used by Peter in either of his Epistles, and belongs to the Pauline vocabulary; the same thing is true of agioi, ver. 3; phuchikoi and pneuma, ver. 19.

ICC comments: en can hardly mean "by," for the preposition appears to be never used to denote the agent. Nor is it possible to translate "who in God are beloved by me and kept unto Jesus Christ," because both participles must be referred to the same agent. Yet again, there is no instance of en theo being used in that general sense which belongs to en kurio or en Christo in the Pauline Epistles (unless 1Thess 1:1; 2 Thes 1:1 are in point), and, even if there were, the sense required, "who in God are beloved by God," is not obtained without difficulty. But this seems to be the meaning. In Jude 1:21 St. Jude has eautous en agape theou teresate. St. Peter does not speak of the love of God, and here again we may possibly detect the same affinity between St. Paul and St. Jude that has already appeared in the word kletois.

Barnes: To them that are sanctified by God the Father. To those who are holy, or who are saints. See Barnes Rom 1:7 and Phil 1:1. Though this title is general, it can hardly be doubted that he had some particular saints in his view, to wit, those who were exposed to the dangers to which he refers in the epistle. See Barnes Introduction and Jude 1:3. As the epistle was probably sent to Christians residing in a certain place, it was not necessary to designate them more particularly, though it was often done. The Syriac version adds here, "To the Gentiles who are called, beloved of God the Father," etc.

And preserved in Jesus Christ. See Barnes 1 Pet 1:5. The meaning is that they owed their preservation wholly to him. If they were brought to everlasting life it would be only by him. What the apostle here says of those to whom he wrote, is true of all Christians. They would all fall away and perish if it were not for the grace of God keeping them.

And called. Called to be saints. See Barnes "Rom 1:7"; See Barnes "Eph 4:1".

The NIV and other translations pull the "And called" text to the beginning of the clause. X? claims it must be that way because they must be called first. That reasoning assumes that something must happen between the calling step and the loving/sanctifying and preserving step. A healthy alternative view is that the loving/sanctifying/preserving all come through the Gospel of Christ on the Cross for our sins and hence this Gospel could "call" one to become a fellow slave of Christ.

ICC: The Epistle cannot have been meant for the Church at large. It is directed to some group of Churches in which St. Jude was personally interested, and called forth by definite and peculiar circumstances.

Variants

The variants tois ethnesin tois en theo and thois en theo patri egiasmenois have very little support. The latter was probably suggested by the embarrassment of the text; the former shows that at an early date the recipients of the Epistle were thought to have been Gentiles.

Content edited from starting see of and

. Throughout, reference is given to each of these author's contributions.

References

• "Jude" Lk 6:16
• "are sanctified" Acts 20:32
• "preserved" 1 Pet 1:5
• "called" Rom 8:30

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Editorial note: this comment from ICC is not well understood by the editor Buchs 03:54, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

In common with 2 Peter, a similarly general description of those to whom the Epistle is directed, the verb plethunthein, and the word eirene, which, however, is here combined with eleos and agape. If we suppose that 2 Peter is here copying Jude, we must also suppose either that he went back to 1 Peter for part of his formula, or that (as Professor Harnack thinks) he forged both addresses, but adopted a simpler and more archaic form than that of Jude. But the easier inference is that Jude followed Peter ; indeed, this is a necessary conclusion, if it is allowed that Jude here uses Pauline phrases.

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