Jude: The Brother of James

Jude 1-3

This is one of the shortest "books" of the Bible. It is so short that it is not divided into multiple chapters. We must remember that, though we call them books, they are actually letters written to real people to address real situations they were facing. Because it was not explicitly stated, we do not know exactly who Jude was writing to. Even though it is short, Jude packs a punch!

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Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ: Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

Jude 1-2

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"Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James...". There are differing views of who Jude is, and I will not try to list them all. One view, and the one that I hold, is that he is the half brother of Jesus. He is the full brother to the James that wrote the Epistle of James. Matthew recorded the following event in the life of Jesus:

When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works?  Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?  And His sisters, are they not all with us?

Matthew 13:54-56

Jude is a shortened form of Judas. The main argument against Jude being the half brother of Jesus comes from the Catholic Church's belief that Mary was a perpetual virgin. Since they believe that she never lost her virginity, then she could not have other children. If these were indeed Jesus's half-brothers, then they had to be Joseph's by another marriage. Another position is that they were cousins of Jesus. The Bible does not teach that Mary was a perpetual virgin. It actually states that she was not (Matthew 1:25). I will not be dogmatic about this, but I do believe that Jude is the half brother of Jesus.

Regardless, it is shocking that Jude calls himself the "bondservant of Jesus". This is a nicer way of saying, "Jude, the slave of Jesus". Jude understood that Jesus had paid the price for his sins and purchased Jude unto Himself (Galatians 3:13-14). That is what the word "Redeemed" means. However, there is another side to this as well. In Exodus 21, there is this weird law that permits a person to keep themselves enslaved to a master. Their ear would be pierced with an aul. Because of a loving relationship with their master, the slave sold themselves into slavery for the rest of their life. It was a decision made of their own free will. Jude is saying that he made such a decision to his brother Jesus, because he recognized that His brother was 1) the Son of God, 2) the Messiah, and 3) the One who died for his sins.

We also see in verse one the work of salvation in the believer's life. We are called to salvation, we are sanctified by the Father. This means we are set apart from the rest of the world to be Holy. We are supposed to be different from everyone else because we have Jesus in our hearts. We look more and more like Him, and less and less like ourselves. Finally, we are preserved in Jesus Christ. During His earthly ministry, Jesus said, "This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day" (John 6:39).

Finally, Jude says "Grace, peace, and love be multiplied to you". This is not just that the people would have grace, peace, and love, but that each of these would increase in his readers' lives. Grace is God's undeserved favor in our lives. Peace is God's calm in the midst of life's storms. Love is the very nature of God emanating from us. We become so filled by God's love towards us, that we share that love with those around us. What a prayer!

Father, may we be like Jude in that we willingly become the slaves of Jesus. May we do this, not because we are compelled to do so, but because we love Him that much. As we live our lives in service to Him, may your grace, peace, and love be multiplied in us so that it pours out on those around us and they see You in us.