Commentary on The Catholic Epistle of St. Jude the Apostle

 

St. Jude was one of the Apostles of Jesus and was martyred for his faith. St. Jude was martyred in the Middle East and was beaten to death by an axe and club. He spread the Word of God all over the Middle East until martyred. 

His epistle was one of the last books of the Bible to be written. Most of the other Apostles had already been martyred and he is now writing this Letter (Epistle) to the Church. Once written, it was then passed from Church to Church around the known world. In each of the Churches it was sent to, they made copies of it for preservation, instruction, and accurate translation to the language of the people. It was likely first written in Latin- the most common language of the people at the time. 

The letter is only one chapter in length and addresses the heresies that were creeping into the Church. Jude is remembered for his great faith and his prayers for the needs of the people. Today, people all over the world still ask St. Jude, who is now in Heaven, to pray for them before the throne of God. 

The first verse of the Epistle is a salutation stating that the letter is from Jude the Apostle of Jesus and the brother of James. Jude’s brother, James, was also one of the Apostles who had already been martyred. 

In verse one, Jude is writing to those who are beloved by God the Father and preserved in Jesus the Christ (meaning “Messiah”, “Messias”, or the “Anointed One”). The people he is writing to are people who were called to be Bishops (Pastors of the Churches) and were ordained into this ministry. 

After reading the letters, the bishops would then read the letters to their congregations during the beginning of the Liturgy. A portion of the Old Testament was read, then a portion of a letter from the Apostles was read, and then the people stood for a portion of one of the Gospels being read. This is how God’s people worshiped in the early Church each time they met for worship. After the readings, they would partake of the Body and Blood of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.

In verse two, St. Jude is praying for those in the Church that they would receive mercy from God. Notice that “mercy” is not anything we do. Mercy is given to us as a gift. It is not something we can earn. It is the gift of God. St. Jude says, “Mercy unto you”. Oh, how we need the mercy of God- His divine mercy to forgive us our sins and make us into His children.

As children of God, peace and charity grow from that mercy. The mercy we receive from God overflows to both our neighbors and to our enemies. We are people of peace and love. We give to those in need. Our minds and hearts are fixed on God our Savior. Charity is more than spiritual love. It is the physical love of doing for others. It is action, not only feeling. St. Jude prays for us that God’s peace and charity would be fulfilled in us. Faith without works is dead.

In verse three, St. Jude says that he is writing to us, the Church, about our common salvation. The word “common” translates “universal,” or “catholic” (the Latin word meaning “universal”) faith. St. Jude is saying here that the Gospel is for everyone. That the Church is united. It is one. We are one family in God. 

We hear St. Jude asking us to go back to the teachings of the Apostles. Go back to the Gospel that Jesus taught. Go back to the faith taught by the Saints of the Church, many of whom were already martyred. 

He is asking them to remember and to follow what they were originally taught and to not get caught up in the heresies of the day. Oh, how the Church needs to hear this today- that we need to go back to the teachings of the Bible, the early Church Fathers, and the teachings of the Church. We have strayed and gone our own ways. We need to return to the Church that God built. The Apostolic Church that has handed down to us how to worship and Who to worship. One God in Three Persons. Abandon all the heresies and return to the One Church and, when in that Church, adhere to the teachings of the Church and not to our own sets of beliefs, superstitions, and heresies. This is what St. Jude is teaching to the early Church and to us today. 

In verse four, we are shocked to hear that those heretics spoken about are not outside the Church, but rather inside the Church. These wolves in sheep’s clothing have secretly come into the Church. They became members and false teachers. St. Jude is saying that their false teachings hinged on two main heresies. One is that we can live like the world lives. No, God forbid. Because Our Lord died and rose from the dead, we are to live in Newness of life. We must seek holiness even more because we are saved through faith. Our faith must produce works. 

The second heresy (“fallacy”, “lie”) is that Jesus is not God. Oh, how subtle and wicked this false teaching is! They say Jesus is a Son of God but is not Himself God. This teaching is so prevalent among Christians today. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are God. Three Persons in one God. God is sovereign, God is Lord over all. St. Jude is teaching that there are those in the Church teaching that Jesus is not God. This is false and must be rejected. If you have seen Jesus, you have seen the Father. The Father and Jesus are One. Do not believe any other teaching about Jesus. He Is not a created being or an angel or anything other than God.

In verse five, St. Jude is going to remind the Church about the things they should already know. He reminds them that it was God Who saved them out of Egypt and they ended up in sin. He tells the Church that just because God saved them “out of Egypt,” they should have continued in the Faith. Yes, we were baptized and yes, we were born again but, as we grow older, we must confirm that faith for ourselves and live a life in Christ. Holiness is not an option. It is life.

In verse six, Jude continues the same teaching, only now using Angels as the example. They once worshipped the true God and then one third of them turned against God. St. Jude is saying to hold on to Jesus through your whole life.

In verse seven, he continues the same teaching, only now using Sodom and Gomorrah as the example. A people that made grace into license. Yes, we are saved by faith but, like a tree planted in a garden, we must produce fruit. We have a purpose in this life, and we must live out this purpose. Our purpose is to love God with our whole heart, mind, and soul. We were made to love God, worship God, and serve God. We were made to love each other and care for each other.

In verse eight, he continues the same teaching, but now talks about their relationship with the Church. They defile the flesh. Some might say this scripture is referring to the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah when they defiled marriage and fornicated with one another with the intention of abandoning God and attempting to follow their own wicked designs. I think, though, that there might be a deeper meaning referring to the Eucharist. They come to Church seeking some wine and some bread and defile the Flesh of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. They do not acknowledge the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus. 

There were those in the Church that did not want to surrender themselves to the teachings of the Church. Even today, they take the teachings of the Church found in the Catechism and make up their own teachings. Listen closely to the false teachers and you will be shocked at some of their teachings. These false teachers have crept into the Church, and they blaspheme even God. 

In verse nine, St. Jude commends Michael the Archangel in that he listened to God and simply stated what God had said. No more, no less. Today we have individuals making up their own stories and trying to add or take away from the teachings of the Church. Let’s not argue with people about the Faith. Let’s just state, “it says this and that”, and be done with it. 

In verse ten, St. Jude tells it like it is. These false teachers that have crept into the Church and have defiled the Church are beasts. They blaspheme what they don’t know and, what they do know, they corrupt. 

In verse eleven, St. Jude gets down to the actual false teachings that are being spread. The first is the sin of Cain, then of Balaam, and then of Core. 

The heretics of Cain are killing the souls of the Church. We are all sinners saved by grace. We must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, be baptized, and live a life in Christ. No amount of money you give to the Church is going to get you to Heaven. No amount of charitable giving is going to get you to Heaven. It is only by the Blood of Jesus that you can be saved. “What must I do to be saved” says the Scripture. “Believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins and confess with your mouth that He Is Lord and you shall be saved”. The thief on the cross believed and, that day, he was with Jesus in paradise. Jesus taught that there are false teachers that put heavy yokes upon the people. So heavy that they cannot bear it. No amount of sacrifice, no amount of giving, can pay for our sins. It is only by the Blood of Jesus that our sins can be forgiven. Come to Jesus and He will send His angels to you when you die, and they will carry you straight to Heaven. He paid the price- not you. 

Next, there is the sin of Balaam. A prophet of God. One called by God to teach the people. Yet greed set into his heart and his hands became idle and they dipped into the money meant for God’s Word. Balaam- like Judas. Only speaking God’s Word to fill his own pockets with the money meant for God’s work. Balaam- a wolf in sheep’s clothing. 

The next sin is that of Core. How many false teachers change the teachings of the Church and manipulate them for their own power! They have left the teaching of the Apostles and have created a Church of themselves for themselves. They no longer listen to the Church but have decided that they know the scriptures better. They teach falsehoods about Jesus, the Church, and the Scriptures. They sit in their ivory towers and decide what is and isn’t the Word of God. They speak of the sources of scripture instead of the Author and Finisher of our Faith. Core disobeyed authority. Core represents the Nicolaitans in the Bible. A group of people that departed from the teaching of the Apostles and created their own religion- a diabolical religion.

In verses twelve and thirteen, St. Jude talks about what is happening during their time of worship. In the early Church, the people gathered for the Eucharist as they do now. But when some gathered, they did not honor Holy Communion and acknowledge the Real Presence of Jesus. They saw it as only a ritual. A memory. A way to get some bread and wine. 

Some of the false teachers did not even believe that what they were holding was the actual Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord and Savior Jesus. St. Jude calls them “clouds without water”. A shell of what they are supposed to be. Following the ritual and forsaking the spiritual. They are moved by every new teaching that comes their way. 

These false teachers didn’t teach in the authoritative words of the Apostles. They teach their own ideas. They write their own Bibles- or distort what the Bible actually says. They teach and are taught that they have all the secrets of God and should not share them with the lowly congregations they are supposed to be shepherding. They have gone astray, says St. Jude, and they need to return to our Common Faith. 

How some false teachers today are wandering from the Faith of our Fathers! How these false teachers need to return to the Church and once again preach and teach the truth! They must return to their first Love and not be overcome with the falsehoods taught by others.

Verses fourteen and fifteen tell us about the prophesy of Enoch that judgement would come upon the earth and the ungodly. Those who reject Christ and His Love will be judged. 

In verses fifteen and sixteen, St. Jude informs us about these false teachers of the Church that spread false gossip about others. Those that boast about their goodness and those that are only in the Church to see how much money they can steal. 

These are the things St. Jude is referring to. Those who kill the spirit, those who are in the ministry only to gain money and fame, and those who are not in submission to the teachings of the Church. 

St. Jude is telling us in verse seventeen that we need to read the writings of the Apostles (the Scriptures) and take heed to what they teach. 

Verse eighteen states that the Apostles taught that, in the last days, there will be those who teach false teachings that are not found in Scripture but are the creation of their own imaginations. 

In verse nineteen, Jude states that there will be those who separate themselves from the Church to create their own “churches”- that false teachers would turn away from the Church and start their own “churches”, preaching so-called “reform” and a “new Christianity” which, however, in reality, is Satanism, though the act of these people playing God. 

Verses twenty and twenty-one tell us to build ourselves in the most Holy Faith. The Faith of our Fathers. The most Holy Catholic (“Universal”) Faith. Delivered to the Apostles by Jesus and carried on by the early Church Fathers, and continued today in the most Holy Catholic (“Universal”) Church.

Verses twenty-two and twenty-three tell us that some will be judged for their sin and others will come back to the Faith. 

Verse twenty-four tells us that, at the time of a believer’s death, the presence of Jesus will purify us from all that is not Heaven and He will enjoin us into His Heavenly presence forever.