David E. Malick Introduction: Jude, p. 1 ______________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF JUDE I. AUTHOR: Jude the brother of James and half brother of Jesus A. External Evidence: There are traces of Jude in the following works 1 which attest well to its use in an early period. It seems that questions arose because of its use of apocryphal books 2 : 1. Pseudo-Barnabas 3 (c. AD 70-130) 2. Clement of Rome 4 (c. AD 95-97) 3. The Shepherd of Hermas 5 (c. AD 115-140) 4. Polycarp 6 (c. AD 110-150) 5. The Didache 7 (c. AD 120-150) 6. Athenagoras 8 (c. AD 177) 7. Theophilus of Antioch 9 (died, AD 183-185) 8. The Muratorian Canon 10 (c. AD 170) 1 Charles Bigg offers the actual excepts in the ICC commentary, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistles of St. Peter and St. Jude, pp. 305-308. 2 See Guthrie, NTI, p. 906; Bigg, Jude, p. 308; Green, Jude, p. 42. 3 Cf. Barnabas ii.10 with Jude 3,4. This is a possible allusion to Jude. 4 Clement xx.12; lxv.2 and Jude 25. 5 Cf. Sim. v.7.2 with Jude 8. 6 Cf. Martyrium Polycarpi xxi, with Jude 25; Phil. address with Jude 2; iii.2 with Jude 3,20; xi.4 with Jude 20,23. 7 Cf. Didache, ii.7 and Jude 22f; Didache, iii.6 and Jude 8-10. 8 Cf. Suppl. XXIV with Jude 6. Bigg writes, "Here there is a clear reference to Jude" (Jude, p. 307). 9 Cf. ii.15. 10 Bigg writes, "Accepts Jude, but mentions it in a manner which implies that is was doubted by some" (Jude, pp. 14, 307).