Holy Apostle Jude
Selections from the Epistle
From the Catholic Epistle of Jude
The brother of James
Editor's note
The apostle whom Matthew and Mark call Thaddaeus is the one Luke and the Acts call Jude, 'the brother of James,' carefully distinguished from Judas Iscariot. He is the writer of the short catholic epistle that bears his name, in which he names himself with characteristic modesty not as an apostle of the Lord but as a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, the great bishop of Jerusalem. The opening of the letter is one of the warmest greetings in the New Testament.
Jude 1-2 (KJV)
ScriptureVerbatim Scripture.
Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:
Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.
Keep yourselves in the love of God
Editor's note
The body of the epistle is a sharp warning against teachers who had crept into the early communities and turned grace into license. But Jude does not end on alarm. He returns to his readers with a counsel that gathers up the whole apostolic ethic: contend, build, pray, keep, look. And he closes with one of the great doxologies of the New Testament, sung in the Orthodox Church at the daily services to this day.
Jude 20-21, 24-25 (KJV)
ScriptureVerbatim Scripture.
But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.