Jude 1:1

THE GENERAL LETTER OF JUDE

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:

For the significance of this verse in understanding the authorship and date of the epistle, see in the introduction.

James ... One of the brothers of Jesus Christ (Matthew 13:55), and therefore, at first, not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ whom he here acknowledges as his Lord (John 7:2-5).

Servant ... The word for "servant" here is (Greek: [@doulos]),[1] meaning one "born into slavery," thus witnessing to the fact of Jude's being "twice born," having experienced the new birth. Although the meaning of this word in the Greek is "slave," the translators have wisely rendered it "servant," because of the degrading associations connected with the other word.

And brother of James ... This is added by way of identification, and also as a basis of his expecting to be heard. "It is almost impossible that an apostle should have urged such a claim, and yet not have stated the much higher claim of his own office."[2] The powerful inference, of course, is that the writer of Jude was not an apostle.

Called ... in the New Testament always has the sense of a call accepted and obeyed.

Beloved in God ... Here we have "a parallel to the Pauline in Christ."[3] One's being either "in God" or "in Christ" being automatically equivalent to his being in the other, it is clear that here is another New Testament witness to the conception reaching back to the Lord himself of the "corporate body" of God's people.

And kept for Jesus Christ ... Wallace noted that, "The verb here translated kept points toward Christ's return."[4]

[1] Delbert R. Rose, Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. 10 (Kansas City, Missouri: Beacon Hill Press, 1967), p. 428.

[2] Alfred Plummer, Ellicott's Bible Commentary, Vol. VIII (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1959), p. 508.

[3] David H. Wheaton, The New Bible Commentary, Revised (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970), p. 1275.

[4] David H. Wallace, Wycliffe Bible Commentary, New Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1971), p. 1040.