Jude ver. 6, ἀγγέλους τοὺς μὴ τηρήσαντας τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀρχήν. (Of the angels some) ἔμειναν ἐφ᾽ ots αὐτοὺς ἐποίησεν καὶ διέταξεν ὁ Θεός, ot δὲ ἐνύβρισαν καὶ τῇ τῆς οὐσίας ὑποστάσει καὶ τῇ ἀρχῆ, and he adds that he asserts this on the authority of the prophets, which may perhaps refer both to Enoch and Jude. The form of salutation in Jude 2 ἔλεος καὶ εἰρήνη καὶ ἀγάπη πληθυνθείη is found in Mart. Polyc. Inscr. and Polyc. ad Phil. The earliest reference however to Jude is probably to be found in 2 Pet., which, as we have seen in the preceding Chapter I., is largely copied from him. There appears also to be an allusion to it in Didache ii. 7, οὗ µισήσεις πάντα ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλὰ οὓς μὲν ἐλέγξεις, περὶ δὲ ὧν προσεύξῃ, οὓς δὲ ἀγαπήσεις, cf Jude 22. Jude’s epistle was included in the Old Latin Version, but not in the Peshitto.
The most important passage in Jude bearing upon the circum- stances of its composition is ver. 17, where the readers are bidden to call to mind the words formerly spoken to them by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ (which would fit in with the suggestion that it was addressed to the Syrian churches) ὅτι ἔλεγον ὑμῖν "Ew ἐσχάτου Χρόνου ἔσονται ἐμπαῖκται, the latter words showing that these communications of the Apostles had now ceased, either by their death or by their re- moval from Jerusalem. Jude recognises that “the last time,” of which they had preached, had now arrived. The long retrospect which these words imply agrees with the far-away note of ver. 3, παρακαλῶν ἐπαγωνίζεσθαι τῇ ἅπαξ παραδοθείσῃ τοῖς ἁγίοις πίστει, as contrasted with such passages as Luke iv. 21 σήμερον πεπλήρωται ἡ γραφή αὕτη, though we must not forget that the idea of a Christian tradition is familiar to St. Paul, and that there are other examples in the N.T. of the objective use of πίστις.
It has been argued that this epistie must have been written before 70, or it would have contained some reference to the destruction of Jerusalem among the other notable judgments of God. We may grant that this is what we should have expected, if the letter were written shortly afterwards, though even then it is a possible view that a patriotic Jew might shrink from any further allusion to so terrible a subject, beyond the reference to the destruction in the wilderness (ver. 5); but this difficulty is lessened if we suppose the date of the Epistle to be nearer 80 than 70.
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