Jude Chapter 1, Verse 17
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17: υμεις δε αγαπητοι μνησθητε των ρηματων των προειρημενων υπο των αποστολων του κυριου ημων ιησου χριστου
17: But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before
of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
17: But you, my dearly beloved, be mindful of the words which have
been spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ:
17. "But ye, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ." υμεις is placed in front of the sentence with great emphasis in opposition to the ουτοι of Jude 1:16. A comparison with 2 Pet 3:2 will show that either Peter has greatly complicated the expression of Jude, or Jude has greatly simplified that of Peter. The latter seems more probable ; see Jude 1:10. The substance of this apostolic warning may be found in 1 Tim 4:1 (where the words το δε πνευμα Ïητως λεγει may introduce a prediction given orally by a Christian prophet) ; 2 Tim 3:1-5 ; Acts 20:29. These passages show that similar admonitions were current. But the exact form of the prophecy, as it is here expressed, is found only in 2 Pet 3:3, and it is there given by an apostle as his own. Neither Ïηματων nor the following των need be taken to show that St. Jude was referring to mere words, for Ïηματων is constantly used of scripture, and the phrase r/ ypac^ij Xe'yci is familiar. But, even if the words are taken in their strict sense, the possibility of a direct quotation from 2 Peter is not excluded. St. Jude reminds his readers that the apostles had often said that mockers would come, and then proceeds to quote an apostolic document in which this saying was recorded in a particular shape. See Mansel, Gnostic Heresies, p. 70.
St. Jude here distinctly tells us that he was not an apostle himself.
But, beloved, remember ye, etc. There is a striking similarity between these two verses and 2 Pet 3:1ff. It occurs in the same connexion, following the description of the false and dangerous teachers against whom the apostle would guard them, and couched almost in the same words. See it explained in Notes on the similar passage in Peter. When Jude (Jude 1:17) entreats them to remember the words which were spoken by the apostles, it is not necessarily to be inferred that he was not himself an apostle, for he is speaking of what was past, and there might have been a special reason why he should refer to something that they would distinctly remember which had been spoken by the other apostles on this point. Or it might be that he meant also to include himself among them, and to speak of the apostles collectively, without particularly specifying himself.
