Monday, November 25, 2013

Jude



Last week, we completed our study of 2 Peter. Some scholars have suggested that if you read 2 Peter, you have read Jude. Most of Jude’s polemic letter is found in 2 Peter 2, altered and fitted within quite a different kind of letter. Some will say that there is a direct literary dependence, with the direction going from Jude to 2 Peter 2. Others argue for separate voices, and that “Jude in particular is done a disservice by being reduced to the level of a source for 2 Peter.”[i] Jude wrote not simply nor primarily to attack his opponents, but to encourage and exhort the “called” and “beloved” to struggle for the faith.
Jude’s style follows the classical rhetoric of Cicero. First, Jude lays out his intention, the topics, and then requests a hearing (vv. 1-3). Establishing a friendly status with his audience through his greeting and a prayer for their future, he proceeds to establish himself as one worthy of a serious hearing. Jude introduces topics that he will develop in the next section.
“The bulk of the letter (vv. 4-16) deals with the crisis provoking the letter, namely, an invasion of the holy church by godless scoffers.”[ii] Jude charges and convicts them using a “crime and punishment” pattern. In his honor-shame culture, crimes must be punished after establishing charges. As prosecutor, Jude charges evildoers with their crimes and proclaims judgment.

(Handout) If you look at the two outlines, you can follow both the rhetoric style and the crime and punishment pattern.

The early theologian, Origen, said that Jude was a small letter filled with a vigorous vocabulary. His letter contains 15 words found nowhere else in the New Testament. Another 22 are only rarely found in the NT. This suggests that Jude was educated in a literary environment that contained more than Hebrew and Christian Scriptures.
Jude also employs a pattern of triplets, a common feature in Scripture, to amplify by accumulation and form a cadence of expectation. Boom! Boom!! Boom!!! Used repeatedly, the prosecutor strengthens his case.
Authorship: Unlike many of Paul’s letters, because this letter lacks hard evidence of the author’s identity, we can only surmise it. Jude, calls himself the brother of James, who is one of the brothers of the Lord (Mt 13:55), and a leader in the early church. Although there is an apostle of the same name (Lk 6:16; Acts 1:13; Jn 14:22), Jude refers himself outside that group (v. 17). One hypothesis is that after his brother, James, was executed in 62 A.D., Jude followed his example and warned Jewish Christians against new threats to their faith.
We know from the letter itself that the author was a man trained as a scribe who practices writing with considerable sophistication. A Jewish Christian with blood ties to James and Jesus, he sees himself as an orthodox guardian of tradition. He assumes that his readers are familiar with all the sources he cites, canonical and noncanonical alike. … More on this later.

Greeting (1-2)
1Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: 2May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

Jude places himself on the same level as the addressees. His use of the word “servant” does not claim some title of honor, and is also used by Paul in Romans 1:1: “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,” and James in the opening of his letter: “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Again, Jude identifies himself by his relationship with James, a prominent figure in the early church. His readers are Jewish Christians personally familiar with James. The greeting gives us a glimpse not into Greek Christianity (Philippians, Corinthians, Thessalonians), but into Jewish Christianity.

Resist False Teaching (3-4)
3Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Jude reminds his readers that what is at stake is nothing less than salvation itself. By using the word - contend - we understand the gravity of the situation. The word is used as an athletic metaphor – contenders. Paul often used the word contend and other athletic metaphors.
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. (1 Cor 9:24-27)
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (1 Tim 6:12)
Why? Because in athletic competition, there can only be one winner. Jude is confident that if his readers contend for the prize by remaining faithful to the message of salvation, they will carry off the prize.
Those who are trying to take away the prize are most likely travelling missionaries who have “crept in unnoticed.” If someone came to church and knew the routine, he could present himself for communion as a church member. The reason it was so difficult for me to join the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod as an ordained minister is that the pastors charged with admitting men to ministry purposely made it so. They want to make sure that they are admitting someone who will be faithful to the teachings. Otherwise, you see from Jude the mess that occurs when you do not create a system that admits and rejects.
“Those who have crept in deny the Lord Jesus (v. 4) by refusing to live under his rule. Although the opponents do not see themselves as rejecting Christianity, Jude describes their way of life as denying the order established by the Lord”[iii]
Think for a moment how ordered and balanced Jude’s Church and world are. Everything must be in perfect balance for proper operation. Something that does not belong upsets the balance. Someone who does not belong upsets the balance. So, when people creep in unnoticed, at first you may not notice that the balance is out of sync, but eventually you notice that these individuals are akin to terrorists worthy of condemnation, which is what follows.

God Destroys the Unfaithful (5-7)
5Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— 7just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

“I want to remind you” or “I wish you to remember” marks the beginning of the argument from ancient examples. Jude uses it here and in v. 17. It is a reminder to recall what they have already learned from the apostles, and that their faith is not deficient. Jude’s readers are practicing and learned members of the church.
He then begins to employ his use of triplets: unfaithful people in the wilderness, rebellious angels and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
First example: “Among these there was not one of those listed by Moses and Aaron the priest, who had listed the people of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. For the Lord had said of them, “They shall die in the wilderness.” Not one of them was left, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.” (Numbers 26:64-65)
Second example: “When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.” (Gen. 6:1-4)
Third example: “The Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.” (Gen 19:24-25)
These 3 well-known examples appear frequently in the Bible and in other Jewish writings of the period. Because of their catechesis, Jude’s readers would have been familiar with them, as well as how God’s mercy and wrath go together. (See Sirach 16:11-23.)
The reason Jude uses the example of the wilderness generation is to point out that “those who have been saved by God can still be condemned if they are unfaithful.”[iv]
The fallen angels lust for women was popular in Jewish lore and commonly cited for their fall from heaven. They lusted after creatures that were not right for them to have. Likewise, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah exhibits a similar passion, homosexual activity. By choosing these familiar examples and the punishment involved grabbed his readers’ attention. Today, we are struck with horror when we read of brutal attacks on children or the elderly. These evoke cries for the death penalty or worse, cries of outrage.


God Condemns the Rebellious (8-13)
8Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. 9But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” 10But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. 11Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. 12These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; 13wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

False teachers (v. 8) committed “these sins because they defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme angels.”[v] Referring to them as dreamers, it could be that these people claimed some sort of divine inspiration for their teaching.
Jude must have relied upon a story that does not exist today because if you read the Testament of Moses, you will not find this dispute. The point of the story is that Michael the Archangel did not take upon himself the authority to exercise divine judgment. He left it to God. The quote is from Zechariah 3:2.
Satan knew and deserved punishment. Jude’s opponents blaspheme what they do not know. Jude likens them to unreasoning animals, reminding readers that if they act like animals, they will be destroyed like animals. The verse prepares readers for the woe to follow.
Jude arranges the next set of triplets – Cain, Balaam and Korah – in ascending order. If you have ever seen the Burma Shave signs, you know they make sense only in a set order. Here, the order is (1) walking on a road, (2) abandoning oneself to error, (3) perishing in a rebellion. Cain was the archetype of jealousy and envy. He denies that God judges. Balaam’s sin was greed, and he was rebuked by his donkey. (Num 22) Korah typified ambition, envy and challenge to the established order. For the schism he created, he was swallowed up. (Num 16:1-35)
What was Jude’s point? These false teachers, who crept in unnoticed and took part in the Lord’s Supper, are like Cain, Balaam and Korah, in that they do not fear God, are greedy and selfish, and are creating a schism. They are upsetting the good order of the community, the Church. Hence, Jude’s description of them in vv. 12-13.

Enoch Predicted Their Destruction (14-16)
14It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, 15to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.

Quoting Enoch’s prophecy about the end time and God’s judgment on all who oppose him serves to remind the readers that it was part of God’s plan from the beginning to judge the wicked.
The charges against them involve deeds and speech. Grumbling (v. 16) like the rebellious Israelites (v. 5) and Korah (v. 11), they follow their own passions or sinful desires.
How damaging is speech?



Remember the Warning of the Apostles (17-19)
17But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” 19It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.

Even if the readers may not be familiar with Enoch, they are familiar with the apostles. Scoffers ignore all the precepts of the law. Proverbs 9:7-8 reads, “Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury. Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.”
Scoffers also create divisions. These particular scoffers cannot be Christians, as they claim, because they are greedy, worldly, spirit-less, divisive persons.


Build Up Your Faith (20-23)
20But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. 22And have mercy on those who doubt; 23save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

Contrast the behavior of the scoffers to that of true believers. By encouraging Christians to build up the community, Jude employs his triplet mentioning the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity. By promoting holiness, Jude seeks to combat false teaching. Finally, he encourages Christians to practice mercy rather than hate.

Doxology
24Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Only God’s grace can keep us from stumbling. Praise God.

Jude’s use of noncanonical literature, that is, writings outside the Bible, has been a problem. As a book that is included in the New Testament, should we argue that he should have known not to cite these sources? On the other hand, should we argue that because Jude is the inspired Word of God, 1 Enoch and the Assumption of Moses, must have been inspired? 1st century Jews agreed unanimously that “the Law and the Prophets” were inspired and canonical, but not the other Writings.
The lack of a fixed canon at the time Jude was written is not the answer to our question. All we can say is that the author felt free to draw from the wide collection of Israelite and Christian traditions, and is not confined to a collection of written books ever deemed canonical by any group. In short, canonicity may have never entered the writer’s mind.
The introduction to Jude from the Jerusalem Bible suggests that although Jude employs two apocryphal sources (Book of Enoch in vv. 6 and 14, and Assumption of Moses in v. 9), which prompted hesitation in being accepted into the canon, bear in mind that quoting contemporary Jewish writings is hardly equivalent to recognizing their inspiration.


Discussion and Reflection Questions
In the printings of the Small Catechism during Luther’s lifetime, a woodcut and a Bible reference accompanied each commandment. The woodcut and reference for the Eighth was the story of Susanna from Daniel 13, where two prominent elders and judges falsely accuse the lovely Susanna of adultery because she rebuffed their advances. Luther and his colleagues chose not to include Daniel 13 into the Old Testament, but saw the value of this lesson.
In Jude 14, a non-canonical Jewish text from 1 Enoch is quoted as prophecy. What impact does this have on our understanding of canon and Scripture?



The late scholar, Raymond Brown wrote, “Today most would not appreciate or find germane its argumentation from Israelite tradition about the angels who sinned with women, Michael’s battle over the body of Moses, Sodom, Balaam, and Korah. We owe Jude reverence as a book of Sacred Scripture, but its applicability to ordinary life remains a formidable difficulty. It is interesting to note that in the three-year liturgical lectionary in use in the Roman Catholic and other prominent churches, a lectionary that covers a very large portion of Scripture, Jude is never read on any of the 156 Sundays, and on only one weekday (where vv. 17, 20-25, scarcely the heart of the letter, form the perciope.)”[vi]
What unique message does the church miss by not reading Jude?



[i] Luke Timothy Johnson, The Writings of the New Testament, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2010. p. 438.
[ii] Jerome H. Neyrey, 2 Peter, Jude, New York: Doubleday, 1993. p. 24.
[iii] Pheme Perkins, First and Second Peter, James, Jude, Louisville: John Knox Press, 1995. p. 148.
[iv] Perkins, 149.
[v] Perkins, 151.
[vi] Raymond E. Brown, An Introduction to the New Testament, New York: Doubleday, 1997. pp. 759-760.

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