JUDE THADDEUS. – The apostle distinguished in the lists from the namesake traitor by the qualification "J. [brother] of James" (in Lk 6:16 in the penultimate place; in Acts 1:13 in the last place, since the Iscariot is missing), or by the epithet Thaddeus (in Mt 10:3 and Mk 3:18 in the third-to-last place). Instead of Thaddeus ("broad-chested, magnanimous"), some manuscripts (D, k, Origen) read Lebbaeus ("courageous") in Mt 10:3. Other textual witnesses combine Lebbaeus with Thaddeus (EFGKL). Some ancient Latin manuscripts write Judas Zelotes (a b g h q).
Some, following the Arabic and Dutch recensions of Tatian’Diatessaron (v.), think that the expression "J. of James" means "J. son of James." But in formulas of this kind, when the person in the genitive is better known than the father, the article *toū* ("of") can imply another degree of kinship. For example, in Mk 15:40, "Mary of James" does not mean "daughter of James," but "mother of James," that is, of James the Less (v.), head of the Church in Jerusalem. The author of the Epistle of J. clearly identifies himself as "J., brother of James." For the kinship of J. with James and Jesus, V. JAMES THE LESS.
Jn 14:22 preserves a question put to Jesus at the Last Supper by J. "not the Iscariot": "Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?"
Tradition is uncertain about the rest of J.’s life. According to Nicephorus Callistus, J. first preached the Gospel in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, then in the cities of Syria and Mesopotamia, and died at Edessa, the city of Abgar (PG 1, 45, 86). Eusebius (Hist. ecc., I, 13; PG 20, 124) and Syriac writers distinguish our J. Th. from Thaddeus (Addai), who went to Edessa from Abgar. According to the Syriacs, he suffered martyrdom at Arad, near Beirut.
In the Latin liturgy he is commemorated with the apostle Simon (October 28) and invoked by the people in desperate cases.
After the inscription and greetings (vv. 1–2), the author states the purpose for which he writes: "to exhort you to contend for the faith" against intrusive false teachers (vv. 3–4). Against these he warns his readers by citing examples from biblical history and Jewish traditions (vv. 9–16). He reiterates admonitions and directives (vv. 17–23) and concludes with a fine doxology (vv. 24 ff.). The author presents himself as "Jude, servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James" (v. 1). The term "servant" does not exclude that he is an apostle, and specifically Jude Thaddeus.
As to its genuineness and canonicity, the Epistle was probably already used by 2 Peter. It is cited in the Muratorian Canon (ll. 68 ff.), attributed to the apostle J. by Tertullian (De cultu foem., 1, 3; PL 1, 138), commented on by Clement of Alexandria (PG 9, 731), and accepted in the canon by Origen (PG 12, 857; 13, 877). It was known to the Didachē (2, 7), by Polycarp, Theophilus of Antioch, and others.
Eusebius lists it among the disputed books (antilegomena: Hist. ecc., III, 25; PG 20, 269). The reason for doubts about its canonicity is indicated by St. Jerome on the grounds that the Epistle of Jude seems to quote the apocryphal Enoch (De viris ill., 4; PL 23, 645). For their part, Eusebius and St. Jerome used it as Holy Scripture.
The opponents of canonicity, cited by St. Jerome, based their objections especially on the fact Enoch (v.) thus: "Enoch, the seventh patriarch after Adam, also prophesied about these men, saying: ‘Behold, the Lord comes’" (vv. 14–15). These words are indeed found in the Greek fragments of Enoch 1:9.
To resolve this difficulty, some of the Fathers, with Tertullian and St. Augustine, thought that Enoch had indeed written something inspired; but St. Jerome observed that one does not thereby approve an entire book when only a small part is approved (In Tit., 1, 12; PL 26, 571). The question admits no other solution: it is noted that the term "prophet" can be used in an improper sense; thus Epimenides (v.) is so called by St. Paul in Tit 1:12; the verb "to prophesy" among the Jewish apocalyptic writers known to Jude and his Jewish readers often meant "to compose fictitious visions attributed to famous ancient figures." Thus the inerrancy of Scripture is preserved, on the supposition that author and readers were familiar with this literary device of apocalyptic.
The prologue is addressed generally: "to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ." But from the context and the fact that the author identifies himself as "brother of James," it follows that the Epistle of Jude is not a circular letter but a writing intended for specific Jewish-Christian readers of the Diaspora, to whom James had already addressed his epistle. Among the readers were indeed false teachers who made a kind of syncretism between Judaism, paganism, and Christianity. Jude warns the faithful against such impious, dishonest men who are "blemishes at your love-feasts" (v. 12), who deny the only Master and our Lord Jesus Christ (v. 4), who defile the flesh, despise authority, and revile the glorious ones (v. 8), who are grumblers, arrogant (v. 16).
The Epistle of Jude seems to have been composed after the death of James (A.D. 62) and before 2 Peter, which uses it (A.D. 67). One may, with Corneley, place an approximate date around A.D. 65. J. Chaine, who considers 2 Peter pseudepigraphal, places the date of composition of our epistle between A.D. 70 and 80. Non-Catholic scholars are divided: some, with Jülicher, go as low as A.D. 180; Renan, who sees in it an anti-Pauline writing, pushes it back to A.D. 54.
Numerous Semitisms confirm the Hebrew origin of the author. The style is simple, lively, fond of the so-called triplet (groups of three parallel expressions): e.g., vv. 2, 4, 6–7, 8, 11, 19, 20–21, 22–23.
The principal truths of the Creed are contained in this brief writing; in particular, the doctrine concerning angels and demons is developed.