Jude: Contend, keep and show mercy

Where Jude sits

In the story

Act VI, Church · Rome, AD 60s and later

In the Bible

New Testament · Letters · book 65 of 66

Before it in the story

2 Peter

After it in the story

2 Timothy

The church has received the apostolic faith and awaits Christ's final mercy. Israel's history warns against unbelief, while God's preserving power sustains a holy and merciful people.

Jude summary

Jude greets people called, loved and kept, then explains why their shared salvation requires an urgent defense of the faith (1–4). Intruders misuse grace to justify immorality and deny Jesus Christ. Examples from Israel, rebellious angels and Sodom demonstrate that judgment is certain (5–7). Their arrogant speech and corrupt conduct resemble earlier rebels and expose the emptiness of their influence (8–13). Enoch's prophecy and the apostles' warnings further identify their danger (14–19). The beloved must build on their faith, pray in the Spirit, remain in God's love and await Christ's mercy, while helping endangered people with both mercy and caution (20–23). The letter ends by praising the only God, who can keep His people from stumbling and bring them blameless into His glorious presence, through Jesus Christ our Lord (24–25).

Jude in context

Written by

Jude, servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James (1). He is usually identified with Jesus' brother named in Matthew 13:55, though this letter does not explicitly state that relationship.

Written to

Believers addressed as called, loved by the Father and kept in Jesus Christ (1). Their location and ethnic composition are not stated.

Setting

Ungodly intruders participate in the community while promoting immorality, rejecting authority and causing division (4, 8, 12, 19). Familiarity with Israel's Scriptures and Jewish traditions is assumed.

When

Within the first-century apostolic setting; a precise date is uncertain, partly because the relationship to 2 Peter is debated.

Why

To urge the saints to contend for the received faith, resist corrupt influence and practice faithful, merciful perseverance (3–4, 17–23).

Themes of Jude

• The received faith
• Grace and obedience
• Certain judgment
• Kept and keeping
• Discerning mercy

Key verses in Jude

• Jude 1:3

  Beloved, although I made every effort to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt it necessary to write and urge you to contend earnestly for the faith entrusted once for all to the saints.

• Jude 1:4

  For certain men have crept in among you unnoticed—ungodly ones who were designated long ago for condemnation. They turn the grace of our God into a license for immorality, and they deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

• Jude 1:21

  keep yourselves in the love of God as you await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life.

• Jude 1:24

  Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished in His glorious presence, with great joy—

Jude chapter by chapter

1. 1
   Jude 1: Contend for the faith

   Contend for the faith against ungodly intruders whose judgment is sure; keep yourselves in God's love, for He keeps you.

See the outline of Jude