The book of Jude in the New Testament is a single chapter of twenty three verses. It is addressed to the church in general though Jude never says specifically who his intended recipients were to be, it is presumed by the reference to Jewish history that the recipients were the Jewish Christians of the day.

One source belives that the book was written for us in the end times. Believers in Peter and Jude’s day believed they were in the end times.

References to false teachers and prophets being a part of the church applies then as well as today. Today there are teachings in the churches that do not line up with the original teachings of Jesus and the apostles as recorded in the New Testament.

Who is Jude? In verse one Jude says he is the brother of James. In Matthew 13, Jesus is teaching and ministering to the crowds and getting little sleep. His mother and His brothers come to Him to urge Him to slow down and take care of Himself. In this chapter of Matthew the brothers are listed as James, Simon and Jude. It is believed that Jude is the half brother of Jesus and full brother of James, Jesus’ half brother.

In Mark, James and Jude are listed as Jesus’ brothers.

Jesus’ brothers were not believers until after His death and resurrection. Both James and Jude became leaders in the church. It was James who established that the Gentile Christians did not have to adhere to the Mosaic law. That is they did not have to become Jews to be Christian. They did not have to be circumcised specifically. They must abstain from sexual immorality and refrain from eating blood.

Jude appears to be a leader of the church but we don’t know what position he held when he wrote this epistle. Some believe that Jude was an apostle and others question what his position was.

Jude was written between 60 and 90 AD. There is a parallel between 2 Peter 2 and Jude. It appears that one borrowed from the other’s writing though no one is sure who borrowed from whom.

The message was that false teachers had crept into the body of believers and were corrupting the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. They were saying that because we are under grace it doesn’t matter what we do and how we behave, God will forgive us. It’s OK to sleep around. We are under grace and God will forgive us. Paul addresses this issue in some of his epistles. Some were saying the more we sin the more grace abounds. Paul responds with “God forbid.”

So what do we do about these that have crept in and wrongly influenced the church? Jude tells us to contend for the faith. Pray in the Spirit and stand true to the teachings of Christ and the apostles. For those of us who have the written Word of God available to us, we need to stay in the Word and continue to renew our minds with the truth.

We have technology today that allows us to listen to good teachers in video or audio format which can help us to be encouraged and keep us on track spiritually.

Spend time studying and meditating on the Word of God and pray.