An Introduction to an Urgent Letter

Bibleproject Jude Translation

View our full translation of the Letter of Jude.

Reflection Questions

• Where does the triad “loved, kept, and called” come from in the Hebrew Bible? What does it communicate about Jude’s view of the Church?

• What does “the faith” mean to Jude and to other New Testament writers? How is this different from the way the word faith is often used today?

• What is the urgent matter Jude needed to address with the church? Through what lens does he see those with a “lack-of-restraint” in the church?

• How does Jude use references to the Hebrew Bible throughout his letter? What does this tell us about how he and his Jewish community interacted with Scripture?

Chapter 1: Loved, Kept, And Called

Jude identifies himself as “a slave of Jesus Messiah and brother of James,” and addresses his audience as those who are “loved by Father God,” “kept by Jesus Messiah,” and “called” (Jude 1:1-2). These words echo the Servant Songs in Isaiah , where Israel is called beloved, chosen, and guarded by God (Isa. 41:8-9; 44:2; 42:6). Jude uses this insider language from the Hebrew Bible to link God’s promises to the Church and apply Israel’s covenant identity to Jesus’ followers.

Chapter 2: Contend For The Faith

Jude explains that while he planned to write to the church about “our shared rescue,” an urgent situation compelled him to write instead about contending for the faith (Jude 1:3). He urges his readers to wrestle like athletes to preserve “the faith.” The word “faith” here—pistis in Greek—carries a double meaning: first, trusting the story of Jesus and how it fulfills all of Scripture; second, the response of trust and fidelity to Jesus and the way of life he expects of his apprentices. Also, the phrase “the faith” is a common way the apostles in the New Testament express alignment with the truth and way of Jesus (Gal. 1:22-23; 1 Tim. 4:6).

Chapter 3: The Irreverent Ones

Jude changed the topic of his letter because he heard that “certain people” had “crept” into the community and “altered” God’s grace with “a lack-of-restraint” in their physical appetites toward food and sex (Jude 1:4). By labeling them “these people,” Jude frames the intruders as heirs of rebellion stories already written about in the Hebrew Bible. This lack-of-restraint was common in the early Church because people accustomed to worshiping Roman gods did not connect sexual purity with religious devotion (see the apostles confronting this issue in Romans 3:8; 6:1; 13:13 and 1 Peter 2:16-19). Sexual integrity as part of faithfulness to God was an utterly unique idea to Judaism and Christianity in the 1st century.

Chapter 4: The Literary Design Of The Letter

Jude’s letter has a carefully structured literary design, involving triads and chiasms. His letter alternates between citing Hebrew Bible narratives or prophecies and then applying them to the “irreverent ones,” creating a rhythm of pattern and application (including stories in Numbers 13-14, Genesis 6, Genesis 19, and the apocryphal work 1 Enoch). Jude’s literary design shows that his warnings are not random denunciations but careful meditations rooted in the Scriptures. This method reveals how the early movement of Jewish believers read the Bible as meditation literature containing wisdom for their time.