The Letter of Jude

Jude is one of the shortest writings in the New Testament. It comes from one of Jesus’ own brothers (or cousins, or stepbrothers, depending on the tradition). Written in the early years of the Jesus movement, the letter addresses a Jewish community in Jerusalem or Galilee, made up of disciples who likely grew up with Jesus and knew his family. Jude (or Judah in Hebrew or Judas in Greek) is deeply rooted in the Hebrew Bible. His writing shows these roots through consistent biblical language and tons of hyperlinks. But who was Jude, and what do we know about his family and ancestors? In this episode, Jon and Tim introduce the background of this short letter and the larger world surrounding its author.

In the introduction to his letter, Jude (or Judah) shares that he had hoped to write about the community’s “shared rescue” of salvation in Jesus. But urgent problems in the church forced him to send a warning instead. He calls his readers to “contend for the faith once for all handed down,” describing this faith as made up of trust in the story of Jesus and loyalty to Jesus’ way of life. But what is the threat Jude wants them to guard against, and how does he describe it? In this episode, Jon and Tim break down the introduction to the letter of Jude, revealing a multitude of Hebrew Bible hyperlinks and a method of reading Scripture as unified meditation literature.