THE EPISTLE OF JUDAS
Overview
Students will read through the Epistle of Judas and explore a) who Judas was, b) why he wrote his epistle (the problems his church was dealing with), and c) the significance of the epistle in its original context.
Objectives
Who was Judas?
“[Judas], a [doulos] of Jesus Christ and [adelphos] of James” (1a NRSVue)
“δοῦλος (doulos). n. masc. servant, slave. Refers to someone who is the property of another.
“A servant (doulos) is someone who is a slave and obeys the commands of his or her master. For example, in Matt 8:9 the centurion claims that he says to his servant (doulos), “Do this,” and he does it. Paul often refers to himself as the servant (doulos) of Jesus Christ (Rom 1:11; Gal 1:10). The idea that he is a slave to Christ carries the sense of belonging to him—Christ has bought him, and owns him.” -Lexham Theological Workbook
Judas refers to himself as the “[adelphos] of James” but does not refer to Jesus as his adelphos.
With this view, Judas refers to himself as a slave to Jesus and brother to James because he is not physically related to Jesus so it would not be true for him to call Jesus his brother. The term for brother can also refer to cousins: “Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me and between your herders and my herders, for we are [adelphos]” (Genesis 13.8 LXX; cf. 11.27). Abram calls Lot his adelphos though they are cousins.
However, the term is also used more generally to refer to friends: “[David] said, ‘Let me go, for our family is holding a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. So now, if I have found favor in your sight, let me get away and see my brothers.’ For this reason he has not come to the king’s table.’” (1 Samuel 20.29 LXX; cf. vv. 18-19). David says that his adelphos had commanded him to go to a festival in his city yet his friend Jonathan was the one to command him to go. The term is also used throughout many epistles referring to all congregants of a church as adelphos.
This view is often taken by Christians that believe Mary stayed a virgin even after marrying Joseph and so Jesus could not have had any half-brothers.Also possible with this view is that Joseph had children from a previous marriage which would mean Judas and James are brothers but only step-brothers of Jesus (view 2).
With this view, Judas does not refer to Jesus as brother because they are not related by blood at all but refers to James as his brother since they would have been assumed to come together as full blood-brothers by their father Joseph’s previous marriage.
This view is also believed by some that wish not to believe that Mary lost her virginity after her marriage.
With this view, Judas does not see himself as worthy to call himself the brother of Jesus because of his lordship and divinity but desires to accredit himself as being the brother of James (James was an important leader of the early church in Jerusalem - He presided over an important counsel [Acts 15.12ff], had Paul report to him concerning his missionary work [21.17-19], and is referenced by Paul as an important apostle and a pillar of the church [Galatians 1.17-19; 2.9). Judas also could have kept from referencing Jesus since he would only be his half-brother, whereas he would still be the full brother of James.
This term is used by Jesus in reference to relatives close as his mother (nuclear family) in Mark 3.31-35, Matthew 12.46-50, and Luke 8.9-21. In Mark 6.3 and Matthew 13.55, people doubt Jesus’ divinity saying that he is the son of Mary and names James and Judas as being relatives in a way that would make most sense if they were physically related to some degree (or at least step-brothers).
This view (or at least the view that they were step-brothers) is easiest to make sense of in accordance with multiple accounts where Jesus seems to refer to Judas and his siblings as being immediate brothers rather than more distant relatives.
Who was Judas writing to?
“To those who are called, who are beloved in God the Father and kept safe for Jesus Christ” (1b NRSVue).
Judas’ epistle is considered a general or catholic epistle - “catholic” coming from the Greek word to refer to “universal” - meaning that Judas wrote his epistle to the church in general rather than one specific church. Judas’ epistle lacks any list of names or references to any specific situation pertaining to a single church to certain people, so it seems that his epistle dealt more with the problems in many churches at his time.
Judas did assume that the churches he was writing his letter to were already familiar not only with some of the lesser-known stories from the Torah but also extra-scriptural traditions concerning those stories (like those found in “the Book of Watchers” or “the Assumption of Moses”).
What was Judas’ intent in writing?
“Beloved, while eagerly preparing to write to you about the salvation we share, I find it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once and for all handed on to the saints” (3 NRSVue).
Judas first wanted to write an epistle or possibly even a treatise about salvation but found that the problems of many churches compelled him to write to the problems that they were facing immediately. The fact that Judas was preparing a general work in the first place makes it even more evident that his epistle was a general epistle rather than to any one specific church.
Opening benediction (1)
A call to contend for the faith (3)
Call out of current false teachers (4-5)
God’s past judgment on the lawless (6-10)
Woe on those that bring corruption! (11)
God’s coming judgment on sinners (12-15)
Prophesy of false teachers to come (16-19)
A command to build on faith (20-21)
Closing benediction (24-25)
Judas’ epistle was written to churches that were contending with antinomians. Antinomianism is a later term from the Greek words ‘anti’ (meaning “opposing”) and ‘nomos’ (“law”). It’s about people who take advantage of God’s grace and use it as a means to live lawlessly. They abuse their freedom in Christ to give into their passions and live their own way. While the term is not in the Scriptures, it was later used by many Christians to talk about heretics who misunderstood and misused the grace of God. Judas speaks of these antinomians as “defil[ing] the flesh, reject[ing] authority” (v. 8) and using speech to flatter others and gain money for themselves (v. 16). He also compares these antinomians to those in Sodom and Gomorrah in “indulg[ing] in sexual immorality and pursu[ing] unnatural lust” (v. 7) and to Balaam in misusing God’s gifts for gain (v. 11). Ultimately, they are “ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into indecent behavior and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (v. 4 NASB).
These teachers apparently made problems at the church gatherings - Which Judas refers to as “love feasts”. These “love feasts” were most likely the center part of what it meant for the early church coming together: they would have a meal that concluded in taking communion to remember Jesus’ death and look forward to his coming. Judas compares these antinomians to rocks that would crash a ship: they are hidden obstacles that will destroy others just before they arrive. He also compares them to selfish “shepherds caring only for themselves” (v. 12). They don’t care about other Christians but only themselves. They are empty and dead and even comparable with spiritual beings that go against God’s commands and are doomed for destruction (v. 13).
The solution to the antinomian problem in the churches that Judas begins in verse 3, telling the church to “contend for the faith”, is not elaborated on until verse 20. These people are to continue “building [themselves] up on the most holy faith” - in other words, trust and allegiance to Jesus that is set apart from evil and injustice practiced by these antinomians. They are to be “praying in the Holy Spirit” - Something which could simply refer to normal prayer led by the Spirit or angelic prayer (1 Corinthians 14.13-19; cf. 13.1). If it is the latter, it would be what Paul believes to be an individual practice for those that have the ability. Either way, the churches are to be defined by God’s love and practice proclaiming Jesus until He comes (v. 21). They are to understand and aid those that struggle with doubt (v. 22-23) while also staying away from those that are evil like the antinomians and could easily stain their righteous faith (v. 23).
How does Judas use Hebrew Scriptures?
Judas quotes from 6 stories from the Torah:
The first 3 of Juda’s references to the Hebrew Scriptures [The Old Testament] are all about God choosing to set specific people apart but taking advantage of that position to live how they want. They are earlier examples of the antinomians that God did not leave unjudged:
*There are a variety of different interpretations of this specific reference because of Manuscript differences.*
“But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him an abusive judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’” (9 NASB; cf. the Assumption of Moses?)
Judas provides an extra example from an extra-scriptural source of Michael debating with the devil over Moses’ body after he had died. Michael refuses to give it over but still does not judge the Devil but leaves that for God.
The second set of 3 examples are all of still specially chosen people who nevertheless disobey and go on to corrupt others. They are earlier examples of how these antinomians corrupt others and lead them in their ways:
The Angel (literally ‘messenger’) of the Lord is one sent from the Lord that is also often [appropriately] confused with the Lord Himself (Genesis 16; 22; & Exodus 3 for example). The New Testament authors often speak of Jesus as coming from God or being a representative of God distinct from God while also God Himself (1 Corinthians 10.1-4; Hebrews 1.1-4; Colossians 1.1-20). So pre-incarnate Jesus was seen as the Angel of the Lord that led Israel out of Egypt (Exodus 14.19-31) and promised to go ahead of them (23.20). Some manuscripts of Judas’ Epistle refer to Jesus as simply “Lord” (as in the Angel of the Lord) while others refer to Him as “Yeshua” (an ambiguous reference to either Jesus as Lord or Joshua [who has the same name as Jesus in Hebrew and Greek]).
“‘Jesus,’ which is the Greek rendering of Joshua (Yeshua). Many texts, especially of the Byzantine type, have ‘Lord’ here, and a few have ‘Christ God,’ but the best textual evidence favors ‘Jesus’ ...Alternatively, perhaps the name should be rendered ‘Joshua.’ I have hesitated to do so only because this passage seems to be the first in a series of descriptions of episodes of divine punishment of sinners (see vv. 6-7), rather than a simple warning that the one who saves the righteous is also the one who will punish the iniquitous. And in Exodus Joshua is not explicitly involved in the liberation of Israel from Egypt-though he soon appears as Moses’s lieutenant and chief warrior. And the mention of the destruction of the faithless might refer to Joshau’s presumed participation in the slaughter of the Israelite idolaters after the fashioning of the golden calf (Exodus 32:17-35), or perhaps simply to his campaign against the Amalkeites in Rephidim (Exodus 17:8-16), or even to his conquest of Canaan.” -David Bentley Hart’s note on Jude in his translation of the New Testament
Why did Judas quote extra-scriptural traditions?
Judas references an extra-scriptural tradition presumably found in a text called “The Assumption of Moses” and even quotes another extra-scriptural text called “The Book of Watchers” which would later be compiled with similar texts to make what we now know as I Enoch (or “Ethiopic Enoch”). Presuming the former to be true, both texts are pseudepigrapha (from the Greek ‘pseudo’ meaning “false” and ‘graphe’ text) - Extra-scriptural texts written after the completion of the Hebrew canon [the Old Testament] that offer explanations for stories in the Scriptures. The texts give readers today good insight into how Jews leading up to Jesus read the Hebrew Scriptures [the Old Testament]. A close-equivalent to these texts would be contemporary shows or movies that elaborate on the Scriptures: Prince of Egypt, The Chosen, Risen, Exodus: Gods and Kings, and Noah. A non-religious equivalent would be non-canonical or even popular fan-fiction videos, comics, books, or any other media in the Star Wars, Marvel, or DC universe.
Similar to this media, these texts were not considered canonical [part of the Scriptures] but were known about by most people in their days and after. Just like there are bad Bible movies (Noah, Exodus: Gods and Kings), there were also some bad pseudepigrapha (The Apocalypse of Adam) and many that had some bad or questionable ideas but also gave good insights. Just like many today are not aware of the traditions of fan-fiction and non-canonical nerdy material surrounding popular franchises, there are still some groups of people well aware of these traditions that assume them to be true and speak of them in that way (even though they know they are not canonical): Judas and his audience fall within this category. Other New Testament texts also make many allusions to traditions also found in pseudepigrapha or apocrypha (extra-scriptural texts not falsely attributed to any characters in the Scriptures but building off of their stories and ideas still). However, Judas stands out in being the only one to quote a text and he assumes his audience understands.
It should also be said that a lot of supposed connections between the New Testament and extra-scriptural texts should not always be assumed to be between the texts. There were many extra-scriptural traditions that were written down in these texts but assumed by much larger communities. For example, the idea that the Nephilim were giant human-divine hybrids was not entirely scriptural (the original Hebrew word means ‘fallen ones’ and is translated thus elsewhere in Scripture) but was presupposed by Ben Sira and I Enoch even though Ben Sira condemned the apocalyptic style of I Enoch (this tradition is also found in the Septuagint, Jubilees, Wisdom of Solomon, and many other texts). The New Testament also assumes much of the more expanded story of these rebellious divine giants found in the Book of Watchers but that does not mean every New Testament text that assumes it is referencing the Book of Watchers - Just the underlying source. This is similar to many contemporary extra-scriptural assumptions like that Jesus imagined everyone’s face as he died on the cross (not found in the New Testament), that Lucifer was the highest angel who was cast out of heaven with a third of the angels because of his pride (this is an interpretation of Isaiah 14.12-15 & revelation 12.3-4), and so on. While one of these is based on an in-depth interpretation of Scripture, the other is just an assumption. Many pastors today will have videos of their sermons recorded and preserved on the internet assuming these things. Were one to hear someone refer to that tradition, they cannot conclude that it came from one of those sermons - It came from wherever the oral tradition came from.
It cannot be concluded that Judas thought of the Scriptures including anything more than what his relative Jesus cited as Scripture: “the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms [a synecdoche for the Writings]” (Luke 24.44).
The Law / Torah | Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy |
The Nevi’im / Prophets | (Former Prophets) Joshua Judges Ruth Samuel Kings (Latter Prophets) Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel The 12 Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakuk Zephaniah Haggai Zachariah Malachi |
The Ketuvim / Writings | Psalms Proverbs Job (The Megillot) Ruth Song of Songs Ecclesiastes Lamentations Esther Daniel Ezra-Nehemiah Chronicles |
John F. Priest, scholar on “The Testament of Moses” notes that a certain Ceriani said that Jude vv. 9, 6, & 14 are all found written in “the Assumption of Moses”. “The Assumption of Moses” could be referring to a text called “Jubilees” or other texts, most have connected it to a text called “The Testament of Moses”. “The Testament of Moses” was not a popular pseudepigraphon and so all the surviving manuscripts end with an incomplete sentence and no one knows how much is lost. Another scholar on pseudepigrapha, R. H. Charles hypothesizes there were two separate works - “The Testament of Moses” and “The Assumption of Moses” that were later joined. This seems the most likely hypothesis. Either way, there is no surviving source for the tradition found in Jude v. 14, so it would not make sense that it is scriptural.
“The Book of Watchers” has always been the most popular pseudepigraphon by far but is often confused with the entire body of literature that it was later added onto - I Enoch. I Enoch is a text actually containing 5 separate sources that record earlier oral traditions concerning Enoch from Genesis 5.24 & expand on Genesis 6. “The Book of Watchers” was probably finished ~250~200 BC (whereas the other 4 texts were written ~40 BC, ~200 BC, ~200~160, ~200). These texts may have been joined around ~100 BC.