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Epistle of Jude - Christogenea on Talkshoe 05-11-2012

This name is actually Ioudas, the Greek form of Judah as is evident in the genealogies given in Matthew and Luke. Aside from the patriarch, there were two men in the New Testament associated with Christ who had this name Ioudas, and others who also bore it were mentioned. Attempting to distinguish these men is sometimes difficult, and therefore this epistle was entitled Jude in the A.V., although where he is mentioned in Scripture he is Judas, and the spelling is the same as that given also for that infamous apostle, Judas Iscariot.

Eusebius doubted the canonicity of Jude. Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History at 6:14 discusses the work of the earlier Clement of Alexandria, and Eusebius states of Clement that “In the work called Hypotyposes, to sum up the matter briefly, he gave us abridged accounts of all the canonical Scriptures, not even omitting those that are disputed, I mean, the Book of Jude, and the other general epistles.” Unfortunately, so far as I have seen, Eusebius does not elaborate to tell us why these epistles were disputed. Fragments of the work of Clement of Alexandria found in the writings of Cassiodorus show that he esteemed this Epistle of Jude to be canonical on other occasions as well as those cited by Eusebius, and he even quoted it at length along with some commentary. Clement also quoted and cited Jude in both his Paedagogus (The Instructor) and in his Elucidations. Irenaeus does not mention Jude by name, but he clearly quotes verse 7 of this epistle in chapter 36 of the fourth book of his Against Heresies, and he quotes verse 3 elsewhere in fragments which are attributed to him. Polycarp also quoted Jude verse 3 in his epistle to the Philippians. Tertullian both quotes and alludes to Jude over a hundred years before Eusebius' expressions of doubt, as do Hippolytus and Novatian and several other early Christian writers, all of them esteeming the epistle to be legitimate. Origen, in his Second Book of the Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, in chapter 10, said of Jude that he “wrote a letter of few lines … but filled with the healthful words of heavenly grace”, referring to this very epistle. So it is clear, that while Eusebius and others may have at a late time doubted the veracity of Jude nearly three centuries after it was written, the early Christian writers did not doubt it.