TOM · The Owner's Manual · New Testament

Jude 1

Before you read Jude: who, when, why

BOOK 65 OF 66 · NEW TESTAMENT · LETTER

Contend for the Faith

AUTHOR: Jude, a brother of James, 1:1, and so a brother of Jesus, Mark 6:3. Some scholars think a later writer used his name.
WRITTEN FROM: He does not say. Many think somewhere in the land of Israel, where Jesus' family lived.
DATE WRITTEN: About AD 50 to 80. Scholars who doubt Jude wrote it say about AD 80 to 120.
WRITTEN TO: Believers he calls called, loved and kept, 1:1. They knew the Old Testament and Jewish stories well.
WHY HE WROTE: False teachers had crept into the church and turned grace into an excuse to sin. Jude tells believers to fight for the faith.
KEY VERSE: Jude 1:3. Contend earnestly for the faith entrusted once for all to the saints.

Jude in Codex Sinaiticus

Codex Sinaiticus, copied about AD 330 to 360. This column is the start of Jude, verses 1 to 6, with the name Ioudas written small at the top. In verse 5 this copy says the Lord, written short as KS, where other old copies say Jesus. Kept at the British Library, London. Public domain. OLDER STILL. Papyrus 72, about AD 300, has the whole letter. It is a strange little book that also holds 1 and 2 Peter, a story of Mary's birth, a Passover sermon and some Psalms. In verse 5 it reads God Christ. Papyrus 78, from about the same time, has verses 4 to 8 on a tiny folded sheet; see The Jude Amulet? Field Notes page. SLOW TO BE ACCEPTED. About AD 325 Eusebius listed Jude among the books some still questioned (Church History 3.25). About AD 392 Jerome wrote that many rejected it because it quotes the Book of Enoch, but that its age and use had won it a place among the Scriptures (Lives of Illustrious Men 4). HOW IT WAS FOUND. Constantin von Tischendorf found Codex Sinaiticus at St. Catherine's Monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai in 1844 and 1859. Most of it is now in London; other leaves are in Leipzig, at the monastery and in St. Petersburg.

The Setting

Jude grew up in Nazareth in Jesus' family, and at first he did not believe in Him, John 7:5. After the resurrection he was praying with the disciples, Acts 1:14, and later the Lord's brothers traveled as preachers, 1 Corinthians 9:5. He planned to write a warm letter about the salvation we share. Then word came that men had slipped into the churches who used grace as a license for immorality and slandered anything holy. So he wrote a short, sharp warning full of Bible examples that his readers knew by heart.

What Was Going Wrong

Creeping in. Ungodly men slipped in unnoticed, 1:4.
Grace As License. They turned God's grace into an excuse for immorality, 1:4.
Denying Jesus. By how they lived they denied our only Master and Lord, 1:4.
Slander. They mocked authority and glorious beings they did not understand, 1:8 and 1:10.
Greed And Grumbling. They ran after money like Balaam, flattered people and complained, 1:11 and 1:16.
Division. They split churches and did not have the Spirit, 1:19.

Where to Find Jesus

Jude 1:1. Believers are kept in Jesus Christ.
Jude 1:4. Our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Jude 1:5. The oldest copies say Jesus delivered His people out of Egypt.
Jude 1:21. The mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ brings eternal life.
Jude 1:25. Glory to God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Cool Stuff Most People Miss

Jesus in the Exodus. Some of the oldest copies of verse 5 say Jesus led Israel out of Egypt.
Michael And the Devil. Verse 9 tells of a fight over the body of Moses that is not in the Old Testament. See What Origen Wrote.
Enoch Speaks. Verses 14 to 15 quote the book of 1 Enoch. See What Enoch Says.
Jude Loves Threes. Called, loved and kept; mercy, peace and love; Cain, Balaam and Korah.
The Grandsons. Jude's grandsons stood before the emperor Domitian and showed him their farmer's hands. See What Hegesippus Wrote.
A Famous Ending. Verses 24 to 25 are prayed as a blessing in churches all over the world.

What Happened Next?

Jude was slow to be accepted. Jerome says many set it aside because it quotes Enoch. But the Muratorian list, often dated to the late 100s, already names it, and Clement, Tertullian and Origen used it. Origen called it a letter of few lines but full of heavenly grace. Eusebius listed it among the disputed books, and Athanasius listed it among the 27 in AD 367. In 1522 Martin Luther moved it to the back of his New Testament with Hebrews, James and Revelation.

Chapter 1 in 30 seconds

Jude, a brother of Jesus, sat down to write a happy letter about salvation. Then he heard that fake teachers had slipped into church and turned grace into a free pass to sin, so he wrote a fire alarm instead. He reminds them of the Exodus, angels in chains, Sodom, Cain, Balaam and Korah, and calls the teachers clouds with no rain. He even quotes Enoch. Then he tells believers to build up, pray, stay in God's love and pull the wanderers out of the fire, and he signs off with one of the best blessings in the Bible.

Tap a color to hide it

In this chapterField Notes · ArchaeologyThe Jude Amulet? · after verse 8 The Big Question · Christians disagreeWhat Was the Angels' Sin? · after verse 8 The Big QuestionWhat Origen Wrote · after verse 10 The Big QuestionWhat Enoch Says · after verse 25 The Big Question · Christians disagreeDoes Quoting Enoch Make It Scripture? · after verse 25 The Big QuestionWhat Hegesippus Wrote · after verse 25 The Big Question · Christians disagreeCan a Believer Fall Away? · after verse 25

A Greeting from Jude// James 1:1

¹Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James,

To those who are called, loved by God the Father, and kept in Jesus Christ:

JUDE 1:1[NOTE]WHO JUDE WAS. Jude is Judas in Greek, a common name; English Bibles say Jude to keep him apart from Judas Iscariot. As a brother of James, the leader in Jerusalem, Acts 15:13, he was a brother of Jesus too, Mark 6:3, but he humbly calls himself a servant. He did not believe at first, John 7:5, but was praying with the disciples after Easter, Acts 1:14. Catholics and Orthodox read brother as cousin or stepbrother. Some scholars think a later writer used his name.

²Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

God’s Judgment on the Ungodly// 2 Peter 3:1–7

³Beloved, 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. ⁴For 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 1:3[NOTABLE]The faith was handed down whole. We guard it; we do not rewrite it.

⁵Although you are fully aware of this, I want to remind you that after Jesus had delivered His people out of the land of Egypt, He destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶And the angels who did not stay within their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling—these He has kept in eternal chains under darkness, bound for judgment on that great day. ⁷In like manner, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, who indulged in sexual immorality and pursued strange flesh, are on display as an example of those who sustain the punishment of eternal fire.

JUDE 1:5[ALLUDES TO]Refers to ← NUM 14:29-35
JUDE 1:5[NOTE]TEXT. Old copies disagree on who saved Israel from Egypt. Codex Vaticanus and Alexandrinus say Jesus, as here. Codex Sinaiticus and the KJV say the Lord. Papyrus 72 says God Christ. If Jesus is right, Jude says the Son was already at work in the Exodus, like 1 Corinthians 10:4.
JUDE 1:6[DEMONIC]Angels who left their proper home are kept in chains for judgment
JUDE 1:6[NOTABLE]Peter and Jude both seem to know the story in 1 Enoch 6 to 16, where angels sinned with human women and were locked up until the judgment. Genesis 6 does not say this outright, but many Jews in their day believed it.
JUDE 1:6[NOTE]ANGELS IN CHAINS. See What Was the Angels' Sin? See also Spirits in Prison in 1 Peter, and What Hesiod Wrote in 2 Peter.
JUDE 1:7[ALLUDES TO]Refers to ← GEN 19:24-25
JUDE 1:7[NOTE]STRANGE FLESH. Most Christians through history read this as the sexual sin of Sodom, including the men of the city going after the two visitors, Genesis 19:4 to 5. Others note that in like manner points back to the angels of verse 6; the visitors were angels, so strange flesh may mean a different kind of flesh. Ezekiel 16:49 adds pride, plenty and ignoring the poor. Many hold more than one.

⁸Yet in the same way these dreamers defile their bodies, reject authority, and slander glorious beings. ⁹But even the archangel Michael, when he disputed with the devil over the body of Moses, did not presume to bring a slanderous charge against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” ¹⁰These men, however, slander what they do not understand, and like irrational animals, they will be destroyed by the things they do instinctively. ¹¹Woe to them! They have traveled the path of Cain; they have rushed for profit into the error of Balaam; they have perished in Korah’s rebellion.

JUDE 1:8[NOTE]DREAMERS. They may have claimed visions in their dreams to back their teaching, like the false prophets of Deuteronomy 13:1 to 5 and Jeremiah 23:25 to 32. Or Jude means they live in a dream world.
JUDE 1:9[MIRACLE]Michael disputed with the devil over Moses' body
JUDE 1:9[NOTABLE]Michael arguing with the devil over the body of Moses is not in the Old Testament. Early writers say Jude took it from a Jewish book called the Assumption of Moses, whose ending is now lost.
JUDE 1:9[ALLUDES TO]Refers to ← ZECH 3:2
JUDE 1:9[NOTE]MICHAEL AND MOSES. Early writers say this comes from a lost Jewish book, the Assumption of Moses. Michael would not insult even the devil but left it to the Lord, Zechariah 3:2. See What Origen Wrote.
JUDE 1:11[DEMONIC]They rushed for profit into the error of Balaam, the hired diviner
JUDE 1:11[ALLUDES TO]Refers to ← GEN 4:8
JUDE 1:11[ALLUDES TO]Refers to ← NUM 16:1-3; 16:31-33
JUDE 1:11[NOTE]THREE MEN. Cain killed his brother out of envy, Genesis 4:8 and 1 John 3:12. Balaam took money to curse Israel, Numbers 22:7 and 31:16. Korah led a revolt against Moses, and the earth swallowed him, Numbers 16. Hate, greed and rebellion.

Field Notes · Archaeology

The Jude Amulet?

Papyrus 78

Jude 1:4 to 5 · 1:7 to 8 · P.Oxy. 2684

Papyrus 78, P.Oxy. 2684, both sides of the folded sheet, late 200s or 300s AD. Sackler Library, Oxford. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

WHAT IT IS: A tiny scrap of papyrus with Jude 4 to 5 and 7 to 8 in Greek. It is one small sheet folded in half, making four little pages. Each page is only about 3 cm tall and 5 cm wide, smaller than a matchbook.
HOW OLD IT IS: The handwriting dates it to the late 200s or the 300s AD, about the same age as Papyrus 72, the oldest full copy of Jude.
WHERE IT WAS FOUND: In the ancient trash heaps of Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, where Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt dug up thousands of papyri from 1896 on. It was published in 1968 as number 2684 and is kept in Oxford.
WHAT YOU CAN SEE: Bottom photo, left: arnoumenoi, denying, from verse 4. Under it: I want to remind you, brothers, verse 5. This copy adds the word brothers. On the right: aioniou diken, eternal punishment, verse 7. The top photo is the other side, with verse 8, they defile the flesh, and more of verse 4.
AN AMULET?: Because it is so small and was folded, Tommy Wasserman argued in 2006 that someone carried it as an amulet, a small charm kept close for protection. Others think it was a tiny book for private reading.
WHY IT MATTERS: About 200 years after Jude wrote, Christians in Egypt were copying his letter and keeping it close, even while some church leaders still debated it.
WHAT IT DOES NOT PROVE: We do not know who owned it or how it was used. The amulet idea is a good guess, not a fact.

CONFIDENCE: HIGH FOR THE DATE · THE AMULET IDEA IS A THEORY

The Big Question · Christians disagree

What Was the Angels' Sin?

Jude 6 and Genesis 6

Jude 1:6 to 7 · 2 Peter 2:4 to 5 · Genesis 6:1 to 4 · 1 Enoch 6 to 16

WHAT JUDE SAID: Angels did not stay within their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling, and God keeps them in chains under darkness for judgment, 1:6. Then: in like manner Sodom and Gomorrah indulged in sexual immorality and pursued strange flesh, 1:7. 2 Peter 2:4 to 5 puts the angels right before Noah's flood.
GENESIS 6: When people began to multiply, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful and took them as wives. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, the mighty men of old, Genesis 6:1 to 4. Right after, God decides to send the flood. The Bible never says who the sons of God were.
THE OLDEST READING: About 300 to 200 BC, 1 Enoch 6 to 16 told it as 200 angels called Watchers who came down, married women, fathered giants and were bound under the earth until judgment. Josephus, about AD 93, says angels of God lay with women. Some copies of the Greek Old Testament say angels of God in Genesis 6:2.
THE EARLY CHURCH: Justin Martyr about AD 155, Athenagoras about 177, Irenaeus about 180 and Tertullian about 200 all taught that angels sinned with women.
A NEW VIEW: About AD 220 Julius Africanus said the sons of God were the godly family of Seth and the daughters of men came from Cain's family. John Chrysostom and Augustine, City of God 15.23, agreed, and it became the main view for over a thousand years.
JEWISH TEACHERS: Many rabbis turned away from the angel view too. Some said the sons of God were kings and great men, and the Aramaic Targum Onkelos reads it that way.
TODAY: All three views have defenders. Many scholars today say the angel view is what Jude and Peter meant, whether or not they think it really happened. The next page gives every view.

Every View · The Case Each Side Makes

Jude 1:6 to 7 · Job 1:6 · Job 38:7 · Matthew 22:30 · Psalm 82:6 · Revelation 12:4 to 9

ANGELS AND WOMEN: Angels left heaven and took human wives. Best case: sons of God means angels in Job 1:6 and 38:7. Jude 7 says the men of Sodom sinned in the same way as these, going after a different kind of flesh, which sounds like angels crossing into human flesh. It is the oldest reading. Problem raised: Jesus said angels do not marry, Matthew 22:30. Answer given: He spoke of angels in heaven, and these left heaven.
THE FAMILY OF SETH: Godly men married ungodly women and the godly line was lost. Best case: Genesis 4 and 5 set the two families side by side, Genesis 6:3 judges man, not angels, and angels are spirits.
KINGS AND RULERS: Powerful men took any women they wanted. Best case: rulers in the ancient world were called sons of the gods, judges are called gods in Psalm 82:6, and Lamech had already taken two wives and bragged about killing, Genesis 4:19 to 24.
A FALL BEFORE CREATION: Some read Jude 6 apart from Genesis 6: angels left their place of rule when Satan first rebelled, Revelation 12:4 to 9. Calvin rejected the angel marriage idea. Best case: the Greek word for domain also means rule or position.
WHY IT MATTERS: How you read Genesis 6 shapes how you read the giants, the flood, Spirits in Prison in 1 Peter, and Tartarus in 2 Peter.
WHAT ALL SIDES AGREE ON: Some angels rebelled and are held for judgment. Jude's point is plain: if God did not spare angels, false teachers will not escape.

The Big Question

What Origen Wrote

Where Jude 9 Came From

Origen, On First Principles 3.2.1 · Clement of Alexandria on Jude · Jude 1:9

WHY THIS IS HERE: Jude 9 says the archangel Michael argued with the devil over the body of Moses. That story is not in the Old Testament. Two early Christian writers from Alexandria, Egypt, say where Jude found it.
WHO ORIGEN WAS: Origen, about AD 185 to 254, was the greatest Bible scholar of his day. He wrote On First Principles about AD 220 to 230. It survives mostly in a Latin translation made by Rufinus in AD 398.
WHAT HE WROTE: Here is how Origen opens book 3, chapter 2, section 1, in the English translation by Frederick Crombie, Ante Nicene Fathers, 1885. The rest of the section goes on to list other Bible passages about the devil.
ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 3.2.1: We have now to notice, agreeably to the statements of Scripture, how the opposing powers, or the devil himself, contends with the human race, inciting and instigating men to sin. And in the first place, in the book of Genesis, the serpent is described as having seduced Eve; regarding whom, in the work entitled The Ascension of Moses (a little treatise, of which the Apostle Jude makes mention in his Epistle), the archangel Michael, when disputing with the devil regarding the body of Moses, says that the serpent, being inspired by the devil, was the cause of Adam and Eve’s transgression.
WHO CLEMENT WAS: Clement of Alexandria, about AD 150 to 215, taught in Alexandria, and Eusebius says Origen was his student. His short notes on Jude survive in Latin, translated in the 500s for Cassiodorus.
WHAT HE WROTE: Here is his whole note on Jude 9, Ante Nicene Fathers, 1885. The words in quote marks are Jude's verse as Clement read it.
COMMENTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JUDE: “When Michael, the archangel, disputing with the devil, debated about the body of Moses.” Here he confirms the assumption of Moses. He is here called Michael, who through an angel near to us debated with the devil.

What It Tells Us · The Assumption of Moses

Jude 1:9 · Deuteronomy 34:5 to 6 · Zechariah 3:1 to 2 · 2 Peter 2:10 to 11 · Daniel 12:1

A LOST ENDING: A Jewish book called the Testament of Moses survives in one damaged Latin copy found in Milan and published in 1861. Its ending is missing. Origen calls the book Jude used The Ascension of Moses, and other old writers call it the Assumption of Moses. Most scholars think the lost ending told the story of Moses' burial.
THE STORY: Later Christian writers retell it this way: when Moses died, the devil claimed his body and accused him of murder, because Moses had killed an Egyptian, Exodus 2:12. Michael would not trade insults with him. He said, The Lord rebuke you, and buried Moses.
THE BIBLE BACKGROUND: God Himself buried Moses, and no one knows where his grave is, Deuteronomy 34:5 to 6. The words The Lord rebuke you come from Zechariah 3:1 to 2, where Satan accuses Joshua the high priest.
WHO MICHAEL IS: Michael is a great angel prince who fights for God's people, Daniel 10:13 and 12:1, and leads the angels against the dragon, Revelation 12:7. Jude is the only verse that calls him the archangel; 1 Thessalonians 4:16 mentions the voice of the archangel.
JUDE'S POINT: Even the highest angel did not mock the devil on his own authority. He left judgment to God. The false teachers slander glorious beings they do not understand, 1:8 and 1:10. 2 Peter 2:10 to 11 makes the same point without naming Michael.
WHAT IT DOES NOT PROVE: Using a story from a Jewish book does not make that book Scripture. See Does Quoting Enoch Make It Scripture?

¹²These men are hidden reefs in your love feasts, shamelessly feasting with you but shepherding only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried along by the wind; fruitless trees in autumn, twice dead after being uprooted. ¹³They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

JUDE 1:12[ALLUDES TO]Refers to ← EZK 34:2; PROV 25:14
JUDE 1:12[NOTE]LOVE FEASTS. The church's shared meal, often with the Lord's Supper, 1 Corinthians 11:20 to 22. Hidden reefs can also mean stains.
JUDE 1:13[ALLUDES TO]Refers to ← IS 57:20
JUDE 1:13[NOTE]WANDERING STARS. The planets, which wander across the sky; 1 Enoch 18 and 21 has stars bound in darkness for breaking God's order. You cannot steer by them.

¹⁴Enoch, the seventh from Adam, also prophesied about them:

“Behold, the Lord is coming

with myriads of His holy ones

JUDE 1:14[PROPHECY]Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds → STILL TO COME
JUDE 1:14[NOTABLE]Jude quotes 1 Enoch 1:9 and says Enoch prophesied. It is the only time a New Testament writer quotes a book outside the Old Testament by name. Paul quoted Greek poets too, Acts 17:28 and Titus 1:12, without making their books Scripture.
JUDE 1:14[NOTE]ENOCH. The seventh from Adam, counting Adam, Genesis 5. Jude quotes 1 Enoch 1:9, a book not in the Bible. See What Enoch Says and Does Quoting Enoch Make It Scripture?

¹⁵to execute judgment on everyone,

and to convict all the ungodly

of every ungodly act of wickedness

and every harsh word spoken against Him by ungodly sinners.”

¹⁶These men are discontented grumblers, following after their own lusts; their mouths spew arrogance; they flatter others for their own advantage.

A Call to Persevere// Hebrews 10:19–39; 2 Peter 3:1–7

¹⁷But you, beloved, remember what was foretold by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ ¹⁸when they said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow after their own ungodly desires.” ¹⁹These are the ones who cause divisions, who are worldly and devoid of the Spirit.

JUDE 1:17[PROPHECY]The apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts → STILL TO COMEMEDIUM
JUDE 1:17[NOTE]THE APOSTLES SAID IT. 2 Peter 3:3 has almost the same words: scoffers will come in the last days, following their own desires. See also Acts 20:29 to 30 and 2 Timothy 3:1 to 5.

²⁰But you, beloved, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹keep yourselves in the love of God as you await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life.

JUDE 1:20[NOTABLE]Four things to do while you wait for Jesus: build, pray, stay in His love and look for His mercy.
JUDE 1:21[NOTE]KEEP YOURSELVES. And God is able to keep you, verse 24. Can a believer fall away? See the Big Question pages.

²²And indeed, have mercy on those who doubt; ²³save others by snatching them from the fire; and to still others show mercy tempered with fear, hating even the clothing stained by the flesh.

JUDE 1:22[NOTABLE]People with questions need mercy, not a lecture.
JUDE 1:22[NOTE]TEXT. Some copies have three groups here; others, Papyrus 72 and the KJV have two: of some have compassion, making a difference, and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire.
JUDE 1:23[ALLUDES TO]Refers to ← ZECH 3:2-4

Doxology// Romans 16:25–27

²⁴Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished in His glorious presence, with great joy— ²⁵to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority through Jesus Christ our Lord before all time, and now, and for all eternity.

JUDE 1:24[NOTABLE]A letter full of warnings ends with a promise: God can keep you standing.

Amen.

JUDE 1:25[NOTE]TEXT. The KJV says to the only wise God our Saviour and leaves out through Jesus Christ our Lord and before all time, which the oldest copies have. Wise was likely added from Romans 16:27.

The Big Question

What Enoch Says

The Book Jude Quoted

1 Enoch 1:1 to 9 · Jude 1:14 to 15

WHY THIS IS HERE: Jude 14 to 15 says Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, and quotes him. The words come from 1 Enoch 1:9, the end of the opening poem of a Jewish book written long after Enoch's time. Here is the whole opening, so you can see what Jude was quoting.
WHAT IT IS: 1 Enoch is written as Enoch's visions. Only the Ethiopic version has the whole book. This English is by R. H. Charles, The Book of Enoch, 1917, made from the Ethiopic and the Greek.
CHARLES'S MARKS: ⸢ ⸣ words in the Greek copy but not the Ethiopic. ⸢⸢ ⸣⸣ words in the Ethiopic but not the Greek. [ ] words he thought were added later. ( ) words he added to make the sense clear.
1 ENOCH 1:1 TO 9: ⁠1. The words of the blessing of Enoch, wherewith he blessed the elect ⸢⸢and⸣⸣ righteous, who will be living in the day of tribulation, when all the wicked ⸢⸢and godless⸣⸣ are to be removed. 2. And he took up his parable and said—Enoch a righteous man, whose eyes were opened by God, saw the vision of the Holy One in the heavens, ⸢which⸣ the angels showed me, and from them I heard everything, and from them I understood as I saw, but not for this generation, but for a remote one which is for to come. 3. Concerning the elect I said, and took up my parable concerning them: The Holy Great One will come forth from His dwelling, 4. And the eternal God will tread upon the earth, (even) on Mount Sinai, [And appear from His camp] And appear in the strength of His might from the heaven ⸢of heavens⸣. 5. And all shall be smitten with fear, And the Watchers shall quake, And great fear and trembling shall seize them unto the ends of the earth. 6. And the high mountains shall be shaken, And the high hills shall be made low, And shall melt like wax before the flame

What It Tells Us · Jude and Enoch Side by Side

Jude 1:14 to 15 · 1 Enoch 1:9 · Deuteronomy 33:2 · Micah 1:3 to 4 · Zechariah 14:5

1 ENOCH 1:1 TO 9, CONTINUED: ⁠7. And the earth shall be ⸢wholly⸣ rent in sunder, And all that is upon the earth shall perish, And there shall be a judgement upon all (men). 8. But with the righteous He will make peace, And will protect the elect, And mercy shall be upon them. And they shall all belong to God, And they shall be prospered, And they shall ⸢all⸣ be blessed. ⸢And He will help them all⸣, And light shall appear unto them, ⸢And He will make peace with them⸣. 9. And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of ⸢His⸣ holy ones To execute judgement upon all, And to destroy ⸢all⸣ the ungodly: And to convict all flesh Of all the works ⸢of their ungodliness⸣ which they have ungodly committed, ⸢And of all the hard things which⸣ ungodly sinners ⸢have spoken⸣ against Him.
SIDE BY SIDE: Jude says myriads, Charles says ten thousands: the same Greek word. Jude adds the Lord.
WHICH LANGUAGE?: 1 Enoch was first written in Aramaic; pieces of chapter 1 were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. A Greek copy of chapters 1 to 32 turned up at Akhmim, Egypt, in 1886 to 1887. Jude's words are closest to the Greek.
WHERE ENOCH GOT IT: The poem borrows from Deuteronomy 33:2, the Lord came from Sinai with myriads of holy ones; Micah 1:3 to 4, mountains melt; and Zechariah 14:5.
WHO IS COMING?: In Enoch it is God coming to judge. In Jude the Lord is Jesus Christ, 1:17 and 1:21, so Jude reads it as Jesus' return. Clement of Alexandria, about AD 200, wrote on this verse: In these words he verifies the prophecy.

The Big Question · Christians disagree

Does Quoting Enoch Make It Scripture?

Jude and the Books Outside the Bible

Jude 1:9 · 1:14 to 15 · Acts 17:28 · 1 Corinthians 15:33 · Titus 1:12

WHAT JUDE DID: Jude says Enoch prophesied, and quotes 1 Enoch 1:9, 1:14 to 15. His story of Michael, 1:9, likely comes from the Assumption of Moses. Neither book is in the Old Testament.
THE EARLY CHURCH: The Letter of Barnabas, about AD 130, quotes Enoch as Scripture. Tertullian, about AD 200, said accept Enoch because Jude quotes him, On the Apparel of Women 1.3. Origen, about 248, said the churches did not receive Enoch as divine, Against Celsus 5.54.
JEROME: About AD 392 Jerome wrote that many rejected Jude because it quotes Enoch, but its age and use had earned it a place among the Scriptures, Lives of Illustrious Men 4.
AUGUSTINE: About AD 420 Augustine said Enoch surely wrote some things from God, since Jude says so, but the books under his name were left out because no one could prove they were his, City of God 15.23.
TODAY: Only the Ethiopian Orthodox Church counts 1 Enoch as Scripture.
A TRUE SAYING IN AN ORDINARY BOOK: Jude quoted one true prophecy without approving the whole book. Paul quoted Greek poets: Aratus, Acts 17:28; Menander, 1 Corinthians 15:33; Epimenides, whom he calls a prophet, Titus 1:12. Best case: it is how quoting works everywhere else in the Bible. Held by most Christians.
ENOCH IS SCRIPTURE: Best case: Jude says prophesied, and the first Christians read Enoch. Held by the Ethiopian church.
THEIR OWN BOOK: His readers loved Enoch, so he used a book they respected. Best case: it explains why he picked it.
A TRUE OLD TRADITION: Enoch's real words were passed down into the book, and Jude quoted them. Best case: Enoch really said it.
WHAT ALL SIDES AGREE ON: Quoting is not the same as listing a book in the Bible. 1 Enoch was never in the Hebrew Bible or on the lists of Hippo, Carthage or Trent. And the line Jude chose says what the rest of the Bible says: the Lord is coming to judge.

The Big Question

What Hegesippus Wrote

Jude's Grandsons and the Emperor

Eusebius, Church History 3.19 to 3.20.8 · Jude 1:1 · Mark 6:3

WHY THIS IS HERE: Jude calls himself a brother of James, 1:1, which makes him a brother of Jesus, Mark 6:3. An early writer tells what happened to his family.
WHO HEGESIPPUS WAS: A Christian writer who wrote five books of Memoirs about AD 180. They are lost, but Eusebius copied pieces into his Church History in the early 300s.
WHAT THEY WROTE: Here is the whole passage, book 3, chapter 19 and chapter 20 sections 1 to 8, McGiffert translation, 1890. The quote marks hold Hegesippus's own words; after that, Eusebius retells the rest. An Evocatus was an old soldier called back to duty.
CHURCH HISTORY 3.19 TO 3.20.8: But when this same Domitian had commanded that the descendants of David should be slain, an ancient tradition says that some of the heretics brought accusation against the descendants of Jude (said to have been a brother of the Saviour according to the flesh), on the ground that they were of the lineage of David and were related to Christ himself. Hegesippus relates these facts in the following words. “Of the family of the Lord there were still living the grandchildren of Jude, who is said to have been the Lord’s brother according to the flesh. Information was given that they belonged to the family of David, and they were brought to the Emperor Domitian by the Evocatus. For Domitian feared the coming of Christ as Herod also had feared it. And he asked them if they were descendants of David, and they confessed that they were. Then he asked them how much property they had, or how much money they owned. And both of them answered that they had only nine thousand denarii, half of which belonged to each of them; and this property did not consist of silver, but of a piece of land which contained only thirty-nine acres, and from which they raised their taxes and supported themselves by their own labor.”

What It Tells Us · The Family of Jesus

Jude 1:1 · Mark 6:3 · 1 Corinthians 9:5 · John 18:36 · Matthew 20:2

CHURCH HISTORY 3.20.5 TO 8, CONTINUED: Then they showed their hands, exhibiting the hardness of their bodies and the callousness produced upon their hands by continuous toil as evidence of their own labor. And when they were asked concerning Christ and his kingdom, of what sort it was and where and when it was to appear, they answered that it was not a temporal nor an earthly kingdom, but a heavenly and angelic one, which would appear at the end of the world, when he should come in glory to judge the quick and the dead, and to give unto every one according to his works. Upon hearing this, Domitian did not pass judgment against them, but, despising them as of no account, he let them go, and by a decree put a stop to the persecution of the Church. But when they were released they ruled the churches because they were witnesses and were also relatives of the Lord. And peace being established, they lived until the time of Trajan. These things are related by Hegesippus.
A REAL FAMILY: Jude had at least one son and two grandsons. About AD 430 Philip of Side, quoting Hegesippus, names them Zoker and James.
A NERVOUS EMPEROR: Domitian ruled Rome from AD 81 to 96 and feared anyone who might claim a throne. A family of King David, related to the Christ, sounded like trouble.
JUST FARMERS: The 9,000 coins Hegesippus names were about 9,000 days' wages, Matthew 20:2. The translator turned the old Greek land measure into acres. Either way, a small family farm.
THE KINGDOM ANSWER: The quick and the dead means the living and the dead. They said Christ's kingdom is heavenly, not earthly, and that He will come to judge the living and the dead. Jesus told Pilate the same: My kingdom is not of this world, John 18:36.
HOW SURE IS IT?: Hegesippus wrote about a hundred years later, and historians debate how much Domitian really persecuted Christians. But several early sources agree that relatives of Jesus led churches for generations.
WHY IT MATTERS: Jesus' family once thought He was out of His mind, Mark 3:21. Later Jude's grandsons stood before the emperor and would not deny Him.

The Big Question · Christians disagree

Can a Believer Fall Away?

Keep Yourselves, He Is Able to Keep You

Jude 1:1 · 1:21 · 1:24 · Hebrews 6:4 to 6 · John 10:28 to 29 · 1 John 2:19

WHAT JUDE SAID: Believers are kept in Jesus Christ, 1:1. Keep yourselves in the love of God, 1:21. To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, 1:24. So who does the keeping, God or us? Christians have argued about that for a very long time.
THE EARLY CHURCH: Most early Christian writers warned that a baptized believer could fall away and be lost. The Shepherd of Hermas, from the early 100s, allowed only one repentance after baptism. Hebrews 6 and 10 were often read this way.
AUGUSTINE: About AD 428 to 429 Augustine wrote On the Gift of Perseverance. He taught that staying faithful to the end is itself a gift God gives to those He chose. Some who seemed to be born again do fall away, but they were not among the chosen.
CATHOLIC TEACHING: Grace can be lost by a deadly sin and restored by repentance and confession. The Council of Trent, 1547, said no one can be sure he will keep going to the end without a special revelation from God.
LUTHER: Lutherans teach that a true believer can fall from grace and be brought back. The Augsburg Confession, 1530, article 12, rejects the idea that those once justified cannot lose the Holy Spirit.
CALVIN AND DORT: John Calvin taught that God's chosen will surely keep believing to the end. The Synod of Dort, 1618 to 1619, made it official for Reformed churches. It is the P in TULIP, the perseverance of the saints.
ARMINIUS AND WESLEY: The followers of Jacob Arminius, in 1610, left the question open for more study of Scripture. Later Arminians and John Wesley taught a believer can fall away; Wesley wrote Serious Thoughts upon the Perseverance of the Saints in 1751. Most Pentecostals agree.
ONCE SAVED, ALWAYS SAVED: Many Baptists and others teach eternal security: once you are truly saved, you can never be lost. Charles Stanley, Eternal Security, 1990. Free Grace teachers like Zane Hodges go further and say a believer who stops believing is still saved.
THE ORTHODOX: The Eastern Orthodox speak of salvation as a lifelong journey with God. A person can turn away, and can always return through repentance.

Every View · The Case Each Side Makes

Jude 1:21 to 24 · Philippians 1:6 · Ephesians 1:13 to 14 · Hebrews 10:26 to 29 · Galatians 5:4

THE CHOSEN WILL PERSEVERE: Reformed. God keeps every true believer, and they will keep believing to the end. People who leave for good were never truly saved, 1 John 2:19. Key verses: John 10:28 to 29, Romans 8:30, Philippians 1:6, Jude 24. Best case: God finishes what He starts.
ONCE SAVED, ALWAYS SAVED: Many Baptists and others. Salvation is a gift, and a gift once given is not taken back. Key verses: John 5:24, John 6:37 to 39, Ephesians 1:13 to 14, sealed with the Spirit. Best case: your assurance rests on what Christ did, not on how well you hold on.
SALVATION CAN BE LOST: Wesleyan, Arminian and most Pentecostal churches. A real believer can turn away and be lost. Key verses: Hebrews 6:4 to 6 and 10:26 to 29, 2 Peter 2:20 to 22, Colossians 1:23, and Jude 21, keep yourselves. Best case: the warnings would be empty if no one could fall.
LOST AND RESTORED: Catholic, Lutheran and Orthodox. Grace can be lost by serious sin and given back through repentance. Key verses: Galatians 5:4, 1 Corinthians 10:12, Luke 15:24, he was dead and is alive again. Best case: it takes both the warnings and the call to come home at face value.
THE WARNING PASSAGES: Every side reads Hebrews 6 its own way: real believers who are lost; people who tasted the gospel but were never saved; or a true warning God uses to keep His people going.
JUDE'S BALANCE: Jude puts both sides next to each other. Keep yourselves in the love of God, verse 21. He is able to keep you from stumbling, verse 24. Our part is real, and God's part is bigger.
WHAT ALL SIDES AGREE ON: Salvation is by grace. God is faithful. Real faith keeps going. Grace is no license to sin, verse 4. Pull the wanderer out of the fire, verse 23.

Jude 1

Jude in Codex Sinaiticus

The Setting

What Was Going Wrong

Where to Find Jesus

Cool Stuff Most People Miss

What Happened Next?

A Greeting from Jude// James 1:1

God’s Judgment on the Ungodly// 2 Peter 3:1–7

A Call to Persevere// Hebrews 10:19–39; 2 Peter 3:1–7

Doxology// Romans 16:25–27

See the whole Bible light up in color.

Frequently asked questions