“Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:” (Jude 1 ESV)
“God’s truthfulness means that he is the true God, and that all his knowledge and words are both true and the final standard of truth.” – Dr. Wayne Grudem
Conclusions are certain regarding who wrote the Epistle of Jude. Evangelical scholars agree Jude was the brother of James (James 1:1) and both Jude and James were the half-brothers of Jesus (Matt. 13:55; Mark 6:1-3).
What biblical scholars and students of Scripture are less certain is who were the recipients of Jude’s letter? No particular church, and no particular person, is mentioned throughout the epistle.
“There is no indication in the letter of its place of writing or its destination. While some believe Jude’s use of the Old Testament (OT) and Jewish apocryphal literature points to a Jewish Christian audience, this material may reveal more about his own background than that of his readers. Perhaps Jude wrote his epistle as a circular letter to a number of churches whose conditions he knew from having conducted an itinerant ministry among them (I Cor. 9:5),” explains Dr. R. C. Sproul.
“The tone of the letter demonstrates that the original recipients may have been Christian Jews of Palestine who were gathered into local fellowships. The references made to Old Testament incidents and to extrabiblical literature identified the recipients as people who would understand these references with no need for explanation. Egypt, Sodom and Gomorrah, Moses, Cain, Balaam, Korah, Enoch, Adam, and the fallen angels all point to a people familiar with Old Testament history and possibly apocryphal literature,” states Dr. Edward C. Pentecost.
“Who are the original readers of Jude’s epistle? Frankly, we do not know where they resided, because the envelope with the address is lost, so to speak. By examining the content of the letter, we are able to make a few observations about these readers,” states Dr. Simon Kistemaker.
“The recipients of the epistle are well versed in the Old Testament Scriptures, for the author commends them for knowing pertinent facts concerning the exodus (v. 5), angels (v. 6), and Sodom and Gomorrah (v. 7). They know the names of Cain, Balaam, and Korah (v. 11). And they are acquainted with Jewish literature current in the first century (vv. 9, 14). We surmise, therefore, that the recipients were Jewish converts to the Christian faith.”
“Jude’s letter contains no explicit or implicit references to a Gentile audience. The content of this epistle is such that only Jewish people can fully understand the meaning of Jude’s writing. However, we should also consider the letter from the writer’s point of view: Jude wrote as a Jew and thus reflected his own Jewish background. Perhaps we do well to say that Jude addressed Jewish Christians living in dispersion in any of the large Jewish centers of the Middle East. From the content of the two epistles of Peter we are able to conclude that these letters were addressed to Jewish and Gentile Christians living in Asia Minor (1 Peter 1:1). From the content of Jude’s epistle, however, we are unable to determine its place of destination,” concludes Dr. Kistemaker.
What we initially do know about Jude’s audience is contained in the epistle’s second triad. These recipients were called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ. In other words, these were believers in Christ who God the Father declared righteous by grace alone, through faith alone in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone.
To be called (κλητοῖς; kletos) in this context means to be invited and summoned into a covenant relationship with the Lord. These individuals, for the adjective is in the plural, are believers in Christ. They had experienced the reality of God’s foreordination, predestination, calling, justification, and glorification (Romans 8:29-30). They were converted.
God the Father also beloved them., Beloved (ἠγαπημένοις; egapemenois) is a perfect, passive, plural participle. From this grammatical observation, Jude’s usage of this verb reveals God converted these believers in the past and this past completed act had continuing results in the present and future. Also, these individuals were passive recipients of the Lord’s active work. Like all saved sinners, they had not saved themselves. Thirdly, more than one person experienced this salvation for this is a plural verb.
In this context, to be beloved means to have received God the Father’s self-sacrificial love of the will (John 3:16; Romans 5:8-10; I John 4:7-11). Jude’s usage of the phrase God the Father respectively depicts the Lord as not only transcendent and sovereign but also immanent, near and caring.
“Of the three persons of the Trinity, the Father’s deity is perhaps the most evident in the text of Scripture. For instance, Jesus refers to His God and Mary’s God—the God of the Jews, of the Old Testament—as Father (John 20:17). Elsewhere in the New Testament, we see references to “God the Father” (e.g., Phil. 2:11; 1 Peter 1:2; Jude 1). The Apostle Paul’s conviction of the deity of the Father can be seen in that often he simply says “God” in a context where he is clearly referencing the Father (e.g., 2 Cor. 13:14). Turning to the Old Testament, we see references to Israel’s being the “son” of Yahweh, the one true God, in texts such as Exodus 4:22–23. That, of course, would make God the Father of Israel. To sum it up, plainly God the Father is divine,” explains one commentator.
Finally, they are kept for Jesus Christ. To be kept (τετηρημένοις; teteremenois) means to be guarded, retained and to continue. This verb is also a perfect, passive, plural participle. God the Father continually guarded these believers on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ for an eternal salvation (John 6:35-44).
“To those who have been called.” Jude fails to mention the epistle’s place of destination. In his letter Jude provides no evidence that he functions as a spiritual father to a specific group of people. Nevertheless, he writes to Christians who need counsel and encouragement to oppose the doctrines of false teachers. Jude first describes the spiritual gifts the believers have received. They have been called by God to be his people. That is, those who have been called are Christians. They have left the world of sin and have entered the light of life,” explains Dr. Kistemaker.
“Who are loved by God the Father.” Jude uses language that is similar to Paul’s letter to the Romans: “You … who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. To all in Rome who are loved by God” (1:6–7). When God calls sinners to himself through Jesus Christ, he as their Father expresses his love to them. He welcomes sinners into the family of believers and the household of God. Through Christ, then, believers experience the continual love of God the Father.”
“And kept by Jesus Christ.” These words echo the prayer of Jesus concerning his disciples: “While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me” (John 17:12). Jesus protects his followers from the evil one. Although the previously mentioned clause is a faithful translation, another version has the reading kept for Jesus Christ. This version places the emphasis not on Jesus’ constant watchfulness over the believers, but on the believers being kept by God for the day of Jesus Christ. The Father protects the followers of Jesus from the attacks of Satan (John 17:15) and keeps them whole and complete at the coming of Jesus Christ (1 Thess. 5:23). We conclude that scriptural support for both translations is strong, for these two strands of teaching were current in the early church. Furthermore, the writers of the New Testament epistles often do not carefully differentiate between the work of the Father and the work of the Son,” concludes Dr. Kistemaker.
Soli deo Gloria!
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