Lives of Scripture

Judas -- rendered "Jude" in most English translations of his epistle, to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot -- is named among Jesus' brothers in Nazareth, alongside James, Joseph, and Simon (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3). Like his brothers, he is not counted among Jesus' followers during His earthly ministry, since "not even His brothers were believing in Him" (John 7:5), and by the traditional identification, he came to faith only after the resurrection. The short epistle of Jude identifies its author simply as "Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James" (Jude 1:1) -- a self-description many find striking, since he could have claimed to be the Lord's own brother by blood but instead identifies himself by service. The letter urges believers to "contend earnestly for the faith" against false teachers who had infiltrated the church, warns of God's judgment on rebellion using vivid Old Testament examples (Cain, Balaam, Korah), and closes with one of the New Testament's best-known doxologies, praising the God "who is able to keep you from stumbling" (Jude 24-25). The identification of the epistle's author with Jesus' brother, rather than another Judas in the New Testament, is the traditional and majority view but is not stated explicitly in the text itself and remains debated among scholars.