CHAPTER XXX. THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE EPISTLE OF ST. JUDE 365
CHAPTER XXXI. THE PURPOSE OF THE EPISTLE.--THE FAITH ONCE FOR ALL DELIVERED AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 377
CHAPTER XXXII. THE PERSONS DENOUNCED IN THE EPISTLE.--ITS RELATION TO 2 PETER 388
CHAPTER XXXIII. DOUBTFUL READINGS AND THE THEORY OF VERBAL INSPIRATION--THREE PALMARY INSTANCES OF DIVINE VENGEANCE UPON GRIEVOUS SIN 401
CHAPTER XXXIV. RAILING AT DIGNITIES.--"THE ASSUMPTION OF MOSES."--ST. JUDE'S USE OF APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE 415
CHAPTER XXXV. THE DESCRIPTION CORRESPONDING TO CAIN. THE LIBERTINES AT THE LOVE-FEASTS.--THE BOOK OF ENOCH 426
CHAPTER XXXVI. THE DESCRIPTION CORRESPONDING TO BALAAM: THE IMPIOUS DISCONTENT AND GREED OF THE LIBERTINES.--THE APOSTOLIC WARNING RESPECTING THEM 442
CHAPTER XXXVII. THE DESCRIPTION CORRESPONDING TO KORAH: MAKING SEPARATIONS.--EXHORTATIONS TO THE FAITHFUL TO BUILD UP THEMSELVES, AND THEN RESCUE OTHERS 450
CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE FINAL DOXOLOGY: PRAISE TO GOD, THE PROTECTOR OF HIS SERVANTS 463
This volume is to treat of the General Epistle of St. James and the General Epistle of St. Jude. According to the most common, but not invariable arrangement, they form the first and the last letters in the collection which for fifteen centuries has been known as the Catholic Epistles. The epithet "General," which appears in the titles of these Epistles in the English versions, is simply the equivalent of the epithet "Catholic," the one word being of Latin (_generalis_), the other of Greek (καθολικός) origin. In Latin, however, _e.g._ in the Vulgate, these letters are not called _Generales_, but _Catholicæ_.
The meaning of the term Catholic Epistles (καθολικαὶ ἐπιστολαι) has been disputed, and more than one explanation may be found in commentaries; but the true signification is not really doubtful. It certainly does not mean _orthodox_ or _canonical_; although from the sixth century, and possibly earlier, we find these Epistles sometimes called the Canonical Epistles (_Epistolæ Canonicæ_), an expression in which "canonical" is evidently meant to be an equivalent for "catholic." This use is said to occur first in the _Prologus in Canonicas Epistolas_ of the Pseudo-Jerome given by Cassiodorus (_De Justit. Divin. Litt._, viii.); and the expression is used by Cassiodorus himself, whose writings may be placed between A.D. 540 and 570, the period spent in his monastery at Viviers, after he had retired from the conduct of public affairs. The term "catholic" is used in the sense of "orthodox" before this date, but not in connexion with these letters. There seems to be no earlier evidence of the opinion, certainly erroneous, that this collection of seven Epistles was called "Catholic" in order to mark them as Apostolic and authoritative, in distinction from other letters which were heterodox, or at any rate of inferior authority. Five out of the seven letters, viz. all but the First Epistle of St. Peter and the First Epistle of St. John, belong to that class of New Testament books which from the time of Eusebius (_H. E._ III. xxv. 4) have been spoken of as "disputed" (ἀντιλεγόμενα), _i.e._ as being up to the beginning of the fourth century not _universally_ admitted to be canonical.[1] And it would have been almost a contradiction in terms if Eusebius had first called these Epistles "catholic" (_H. E._ II. xxiii. 25; VI. xiv. 1) in the sense of being universally accepted as authoritative, and had then classed them among the "disputed" books.
Nor is it accurate to say that these letters are called "catholic" because they are addressed to both Jewish and Gentile Christians alike, a statement which is not true of all of them, and least of all of the Epistle which generally stands first in the series; for the Epistle of St. James takes no account of Gentile Christians. Moreover, there are Epistles of St. Paul which are addressed to both Jews and Gentiles in the Churches to which he writes. So that this explanation of the term makes it thoroughly unsuitable for the purpose for which it is used, viz. to mark off these seven Epistles from the Epistles of St. Paul. Nevertheless, this interpretation is nearer to the truth than the former one.