The Letter of Jude
Jude originated as a personal letter from a leader in the apostolic church to one or more of the congregations dispersed throughout the Roman empire. The dangers facing the church at this time were not those of outright persecution and extinction but of heretics and distorters of the faith.
The author identifies himself as Jude, another form of the Hebrew name Judah. He was most likely Judas the brother of our Lord. The letter was probably written about A.D. 65.
Although Jude was eager to write to his readers about salvation, he thought he must instead warn them about certain immoral men circulating among them who were perverting the grace of God. Apparently these false teachers were trying to convince belivers that being saved by grace gave them license to sin since their sins would no longer be held against them. It has been though that these false teachers were Gnostics, who believed that the spirit is entirely good and matter is entirely evil, probably forerunners of second-century, fully developed Gnosticism.
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