The Letter of Jude: Contend for the Faith
1. The Author and Greeting
“Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: may mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.” (Jude 1–2)
Jude — or Judas Thaddaeus — identifies himself humbly not as “brother of the Lord,” though he was, but as servant of Christ.
He addresses a Church under pressure — assaulted by false teachers who twist grace into licence.
St Bede the Venerable writes:
“He who calls himself servant teaches us that no nearness of blood avails without obedience of faith.” (Commentary on the Catholic Epistles, Jude 1)
“Mercy, peace, and love” summarise the Christian life — mercy in God, peace in conscience, and love in community.
2. The Occasion and Purpose
“Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” (v. 3)
Jude had wished to write a joyful letter on “common salvation,” but necessity turned him to warning.
The faith is not a private opinion but a sacred deposit entrusted to the Church — unchanging, complete, and handed down once for all.
St Augustine declares:
“The faith once delivered is not to be remade but guarded; we are not its masters but its stewards.” (Sermon 131.10)
To “contend” means not quarrel but stand firm — fidelity with charity.
3. The Corruption of False Teachers
“Certain men have crept in unnoticed… ungodly persons who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” (v. 4)
This is the perennial danger: distorting grace into permission for sin.
To “deny Christ” need not mean open blasphemy; it may be moral rebellion cloaked in religious words.
St John Chrysostom warns:
“They confess Christ with the mouth and crucify Him in their deeds; they praise grace but despise discipline.” (Homilies on Jude, 1)
Catholic faith holds that true grace purifies, not excuses — it heals the wound, not indulges it.
4. Divine Judgements Remembered
“The Lord who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.” (v. 5)
Jude reminds them that salvation history itself is a warning.
God’s mercy is never moral indifference. The same Lord who saves also purifies.
He cites three examples:
Unbelieving Israel in the desert.
Fallen angels who rebelled against their proper place.
Sodom and Gomorrah, destroyed for unchastity and unnatural vice.
St Gregory the Great comments:
“He who spares to correct sins when they begin, becomes their accomplice. God, who is love, is also justice.” (Moralia in Job XX.1)
These examples teach that God’s grace calls to holiness, not to compromise.
5. The Arrogance of the Apostates
“These dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and revile the glorious ones.” (v. 8)
Their three marks: sensuality, rebellion, and irreverence.
They claim private visions yet despise the Church’s authority.
St Bede notes:
“He calls them dreamers because they sleep in the shadow of sin, imagining their own fantasies as revelations.” (Commentary on Jude, v. 8)
Rejection of apostolic order leads to spiritual lawlessness — the essence of every heresy.
6. The Archangel Michael
“But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, disputed about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a reviling judgement upon him, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’” (v. 9)
This mysterious reference — drawn from an ancient Jewish tradition — teaches humility in spiritual warfare.
Even Michael, prince of angels, rebukes not in his own name but in the Lord’s.
St Augustine explains:
“The higher a spirit is, the humbler he must be. For authority without humility becomes the devil’s likeness.” (City of God X.21)
The Church’s exorcisms echo this: victory is always in the Lord’s Name, not our own strength.
7. The Way of Cain, Balaam, and Korah
“Woe to them! For they walk in the way of Cain, and abandon themselves to Balaam’s error for gain, and perish in Korah’s rebellion.” (v. 11)
Three ancient patterns of sin:
Cain — envy and hatred of the righteous.
Balaam — greed and corruption of spiritual gifts.
Korah — rebellion against divinely appointed authority.
St Cyril of Jerusalem warns:
“Every heresy has these roots: envy of holiness, love of gain, and pride against the shepherds.” (Catechetical Lectures VI.15)
These remain the temptations of every age, clerical and lay alike.
8. Images of Apostasy
“These are blemishes on your love-feasts, feeding themselves without fear; waterless clouds, carried along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars for whom the nether gloom of darkness has been reserved for ever.” (vv. 12–13)
Jude’s language becomes poetic and prophetic.
He describes corruption in vivid natural imagery — fruitless, restless, self-destructive.
St Bede reflects:
“The Church’s sacraments are their table, but they feed without fear. For those who receive outwardly but live wickedly profane what they handle.” (Commentary on Jude, v. 12)
Moral disorder leads to cosmic disorder: those who reject the divine order fall into chaos within and without.
9. Enoch’s Prophecy
“Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgement on all.” (vv. 14–15)
Quoting the ancient Book of Enoch, Jude affirms the universal judgement of Christ.
The early Church did not treat this quotation as canonising that text, but as drawing upon a known tradition to illustrate divine justice.
St Augustine clarifies:
“He cited what was true, not what was canonical; the Holy Spirit may use even human words to declare divine truth.” (On Christian Doctrine II.8)
The certainty of judgement is meant to awaken repentance, not despair.
10. Grumblers and Worldly-Minded Mockers
“These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own passions; loud-mouthed boasters, flattering people to gain advantage.” (v. 16)
“In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” (v. 18)
The false teachers’ mark is self-centredness — speech without reverence, religion without restraint.
They divide the faithful by appealing to worldly motives.
St John Chrysostom observes:
“Nothing so tears the Church as the tongue unruled; it builds not the body but feeds the ego.” (Homilies on Jude, 2)
Catholic tradition therefore prizes humility and silence as the first defence of orthodoxy.
11. The Call to Perseverance
“But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” (vv. 20–21)
The antidote to error is not anxiety but holiness.
Jude gives four practical means of perseverance:
Build — remain grounded in apostolic teaching.
Pray — live in communion with the Spirit.
Keep — guard charity as the bond of unity.
Wait — live in hopeful expectation.
St Bede comments:
“To keep oneself in love is to cling to the Cross; for there we see what love is.” (Commentary on Jude, v. 21)
12. Mercy with Discernment
“Convince those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.” (vv. 22–23)
Here Jude outlines the Catholic balance between zeal for truth and compassion for souls.
Different souls require different medicines: reason for the doubting, firmness for the endangered, mercy for the fallen.
St Augustine beautifully says:
“Love the person, hate the fault; the wound must be touched, but with a healing hand.” (Letter 211.11)
This is the pastoral art of the Church — mercy without compromise, truth without harshness.
13. The Doxology
“Now to Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the presence of His glory with rejoicing, to the only God, our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and for ever. Amen.” (vv. 24–25)
This concluding hymn is one of the most magnificent in Scripture.
It lifts the reader from warning to worship.
St Ambrose reflects:
“He who warns of danger ends in praise, for vigilance without hope is despair, but vigilance with grace is joy.” (On the Holy Spirit II.9.110)
The final word is not fear but faith — confidence in God’s keeping power.
14. Theological Summary
| Theme | Revelation |
| Faith once delivered | The unchanging deposit of apostolic truth |
| False teachers | Distortion of grace into licence |
| Examples of judgement | Holiness demanded by mercy |
| Authority and humility | Obedience of the angels vs pride of rebels |
| Spiritual vigilance | Perseverance in prayer and charity |
| Mercy with discernment | Pastoral care guided by holiness |
| Final doxology | Confidence in divine preservation |
St Bede sums up:
“Jude, though brief, contains the sum of faith and morals — to hold the truth firmly, to live it purely, and to crown it with praise.” (Commentary on Jude, Prologue)
15. Moral and Spiritual Application
Guard the faith. Know what the Church teaches, love it, and live it.
Reject false mercy. Grace never excuses sin; it heals and strengthens against it.
Practise spiritual humility. Say with Michael, “The Lord rebuke you.”
Build and pray. Study the faith and nurture the interior life.
Show merciful firmness. Correct others gently but clearly — both truth and tenderness are duties of love.
16. Christ the Keeper of the Faithful
In Jude’s vision, the Church is not an anxious fortress but a bride kept safe by her Bridegroom.
Christ is both the Faith given and the Power that guards it.
He is the One who:
Delivers the deposit of faith.
Rebukes the fallen angels.
Preserves the saints.
Comes with glory to judge and to save.
St Augustine writes:
“He keeps us from falling not by removing the battle but by giving strength to stand.” (Enchiridion 31)
17. Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, Keeper of the Faithful,
You have delivered to Your Church the faith once for all entrusted to the saints.
Guard us from error, pride, and false mercy;
build us up in truth, inflame us with charity,
and present us blameless before the Father in the joy of the Spirit.
To You be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority,
before all ages, now and for ever. Amen.
St. Mary's, St. John Bosco and St. Edward's 