JUDE, SAINT'. The Epistle of St. Jude, a book of the New Testa ment, was probably written by the Apostle Jude, who was surnamed Lebbmus and Thaddreus (Matt. x. 3; Mark iii. 18; John xix. 22). He is also called the brother of James (Luke vi. 16; Acts i. 13), and the brother of Christ (Matt. xiii. 55). This James was probably "James the Less," the non of Alpheus and Mary (Matt. x. 3; xxvii. 56 ; Mark xv. 40), who was also the brother of Christ. The meaning of the brother of Christ' has been already dbsenssed under JAMES. It has however been maintained that this epistle could not have been written by the Apostle Jude, since he does not describe himself as an apostle, but, on the contrary, refers to the authority of the apostles as superior to his own (e. 17). (De Wette's ' Lehrbuch,' sec. 182.) The object of this epistle is to guard believers against the false teachers who had crept into the church, and to exhort them to perse vere in their Christian profession. There is a great similarity between this epistle and the second epistle of St. Peter. Hug, in his ' Intro
duction to the New Testament,' argues, that since " the language of Judo is simple, unpremeditated, and expressive, without ornament; while that of Peter is artificial, and has the appearance of embellish ment and amplification," the Epistle of Jude was written first, and was used by St. Peter in the composition of his aecoud epistle. Tho Epistle of Jude appears to have been written shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem.
The canonical authority of this epistle has been rejected by many, because the apocryphal books of Enoch and the Ascension of Moses are supposed to be quoted in it (v. 14, 9). It is not contaiued in the 'Peshito,' and is classed by Ewsebius among the 'Antilegorneua (' Hist. Eec.,' ii. 23 ; iii. 25). Origen also expresses doubts respecting it (' Comment. in Matt,' iii. 814) ; but the greater number of the Fathers refer to it as a work of divine authority.