1. ΙΟΥΔΑΣ ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ δοῦλος, ἀδελφὸς δὲ Ιακώβου, τοῖς] ἐν
1 τοις θεῳ .. . και εν |ησου conj. H (Sel. Read. p. 106).
Vv. 1, 2.—Salutation. Jude a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who have received the divine cal- ling, beloved of the Father, kept safe in Jesus Christ. May mercy, peace and love be richly poured out upon you!
I. ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ δοῦλος. The same phrase is used by St. James in the In- scription to his epistle, also by St. Paul in Rom. and Phil. In 1 Pet. the phrase used is ἀπόστολος |. X., in 2 Pet. δοῦλος καὶ ἀπόστολος. It is, 1 think,a mistake to translate δοῦλος by the word “ slave,” the modern connotation of which is so different from that of the Greek word (cf. 2 Cor. iv. 5). There is no opposition between δουλεία and ἐλευθερία in. the Christian’s willing service. It only be- comes a δουλεία in the opposed sense, when he ceases to love what is com- manded and feels it as an external yoke.
ἀδελφὸς δὲ ᾿Ιακώβου. Cf. Tit. i. 1, Φδοῦλος Θεοῦ, ἀπόστολος δὲ “I. X. See Introduction on the Author.
τοῖς ἐν Θεῷ πατρὶ ἠγαπημένοις καὶ ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστῷ τετηρηµένοις κλητοῖς. On the readings see Introduction on the text. The easier reading of some MSS., ἡγιασμένοις for ἠγαπημένοις, is probably derived from 1 Cor. i. 2, Ἡγιασμένοις ἐν Χ. *l. There is no precise parallel either for ἐν Θεῷ Hy. or for Χριστῷ τετ. The pre- position ἐν is constantly used to express the relation in which believers stand to Christ: they are incorporated in Him as the branches in the vine, as the living stones in the spiritual temple, as the members in the body of which He is the head. So here, ‘‘ beloved as members of Christ, reflecting back his glorious image ’’ would be a natural und easy conception. Lightfoot, commenting on Col. ili. 12, ἐκλεκτοὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἅγιοι καὶ ἠγαπημένοι, says that in the N.T. the last word ‘‘ seems to be used always of the objects of God’s love,”’ but it is diffi-
cult to see the propriety of the phrase, ‘Brethren beloved by God in God”, Ἠγαπημένοι is used of the objects of man’s love in Clem. Hom. ix. 5, τῶν αὐτοῖς ἠγαπημένων τοὺς τάφους vaocis τιμῶσιν, and the cognate ἀγαπητοί is constantly used in the same sense (as below ver. 3), as well as in the sense of “beloved of God”. If, therefore, we are to retain the reading, I am disposed to interpret it as equivalent to ἀδελφοί, “beloved by us in the Father,” i.¢., ‘‘ be- loved with Φιλαδελφία as children of God,” but I think that Hort is right in considering that ἐν has shifted its place in the text. See his Select Readings, p. 106, where it is suggested that ἐν should be omitted before Θεῷ and inserted before *Inoov, giving the sense “to those who have been beloved by the Father, and who have been kept safe in Jesus from the temptations to which others have succumbed,” ἠγαπημένοις being followed by a dative of the agent, as in Nehem. xii, 26, ἀγαπώμενος TO Θεῷ ἦν.
κλητοῖς is here the substantive of which ἠγαπημένοις and τετηρηµένοις are predicated. We find the same use in Apoc. xvii. 14 (νικήσουσιν) ot per’ αὐτοῦ κλητοὶ κ. ἐκλεκτοὶ κ. πιστοί, in St. Paul’s epistles, as in Rom. i. 6, ἐν ots ἐστε καὶ ὑμεῖς, κλητοὶ ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ, © Cor. i. 24, κηρύσσομεν Χριστὸν ἐσταυρω- µένον, ᾿Ιουδαίοις μὲν σκάνδαλον .. . αὐτοῖς δὲ τοῖς κλητοῖς Χριστὸν Θεοῦ δύναμιν. We have many examples of the Divine calling in the Gospels, as in the case of the Apostles (Matt. iv. 21, Mark i. 20) and in the parables of the Great Supper and the Labourers in the Vineyard. This idea of calling or elec- tion is derived fromthe O.T. See Hort’s n.on I Pet. i. 1 Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐκλεκ- τοῖς: ‘* Two great forms of election are spoken of in the O.T., the choosing of Israel, and the choosing of single