Jud 1:1 Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:

JUDE…BROTHER OF JAMES—Jude was a common name among the Jews in the first century.  There are nine persons with the name of Jude in the New Testament (Woods 381). Three of these individuals play significant roles in the Bible.  Two of these are apostles and the other is the brother of the Lord.  Judas Iscariot can be ruled out because he had already died before the writing.  This leaves the reader with two possibilities:  Judas the brother of James the apostle, or Judas the brother of Jesus (Davidson 1161).

The most logical conclusion for the author of the book is Jude the brother of Jesus for the following reasons:

1.                  The opening of the epistle does not declare he was an apostle.

2.                  Jude 17 and 18 infer Jude was not an apostle because he separates himself from the group (Moorehead 1767).

3.                  James is most logically the brother of Jesus who was popular in Palestine and was held in high esteem by the church (Barclay 170).

4.                  It is probable that in Luke 6:16 and Acts 1:13 the translation of Jude the “brother of James”, is better rendered “son of James” like in the American Standard Version.  Therefore the apostle Jude cannot be considered here because he is not truly James’ brother (Hiebert 193).

5.                  Clement (Comments on the Epistle of Jude) and Origen (Gospel of Matthew 10.2), declare the epistle was written by the Lord’s brother.

The conclusion is that the Jude who wrote this book is the brother of our Lord.  James, therefore, is the author of the book with his name and the brother of Jesus.  This being true it is an encouragement to all to see the turn around in these brothers’ lives, going from unbelievers (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3) to inspired writers (Perkins 100).

A BOND-SERVANT OF JESUS CHRIST—The word bond-servant was used of someone who submitted his or her will to another.  It was used often to refer to preachers and teachers of the gospel and is the sense here (Thayer 158).  The word carried the idea of someone born into slavery.  To Jude being born again into a slave relationship with Christ was more important than his physical relationship with Jesus (Coffman 525). 

TO THOSE WHO ARE THE CALLED, BELOVED IN GOD THE FATHER—The definite article is not in the original language and therefore the verse could be properly translated, ‘called’ like in the New King James Version. Christians are called by the gospel of Jesus Christ (II Thessalonians 2:14).  When man hears and obeys the word of God, they become children of God, and are therefore loved by God and can be called beloved (Sheerer 1107).  

AND KEPT FOR JESUS CHRIST—Kept (tereo) is a keyword and thread in the Epistle of Jude, it is used in verses 1, 6, 13, and 21.  The word means to maintain, preserve, guard, or watch over (Risenfeld 142).  In the Epistle it refers to the idea of being maintained in a certain locale.  The beloved are maintained for Christ Jesus.  The wicked are maintained for judgment (6, 13).  These beings are not caused by God to be maintained in these areas but rather it is a consequence of their choice (6, 21).  As God maintains us for Jesus Christ we need to make sure to maintain ourselves in his love (1 cf. 21).   The opposite of keeping in the book of Jude is to go beyond God’s plan for the beings life.  This is why angels can be said to ‘not keep’ when they leave their own domain and why Christians must ‘keep’ themselves in God’s love.  It is important for the Christians of Jude’s day to keep themselves in Jesus Christ and not to be a part of those men who no longer follow God’s way. 

The idea of ‘for Jesus Christ’ shows these Christians they are being maintained for a purpose to be revealed when Jesus returns

This verse fits into the purpose of the book, which is seen in 1:3, because it is a heed to Christians to realize they are beloved and reserved for Jesus Christ in ‘the faith’ they now hold.

Jud 1:2 May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.

MERCY AND PEACE—Whenever these two words are used together mercy deals with the act of God; while peace is the result every Christian receives because of God’s mercy (Vine 404). 

LOVE—This is a salutation peculiar only to the book of Jude (Vincent’s e-sword).  It can either refer to the love of God to man or the love from man to man (Clarke e-sword).  Since, “mercy and peace” are both in reference to what God does to man, contextually love would be in reference to God toward man (Sheerer 1107).

MULTIPLED TO YOU—In view of the errors that had crept into the church, those holding to the gospel needed these blessings poured out abundantly on them.  In order for these to be multiplied to the Christian, the Christian needs to know he/she is in need of these blessings and must be willing to do the activities that promote such blessings.  These activities include bible study, prayer, and times for meditation and application of God’s word (Wolff 50).

A literary device used throughout this book is describing entities in triplets.  Jude has already used two sets in verse 1 and he uses another set here.  The reader should note throughout the book the use of these triplets as Jude describes different entities (Wolff 48).