“Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called,” Jude 1:1
Last week we began our new study for 2025, that of the little book of Jude.
Though small, it is a most vital part of the Canon of Holy Scripture. It is especially useful to Christians today for it wonderfully exposes the unchanging tactics of the devil and his agents which will be employed as never before in the days approaching the return of Christ.
Last week we noted how HE FIRST MENTIONS HIS RELATIONSHIP TO CHRIST.
That is THE MOST VITAL ASPECT OF OUR EXISTENCE, boys and girls? John Newton put it well:
What think ye of Christ? is the test
To try both your state and your scheme;
You cannot be right in the rest,
Unless you think rightly of Him;
As Jesus appears in your view,
As He is beloved or not,
So God is disposed to you,
And mercy, or wrath are your lot.
We also noted that he HUMBLY INTRODUCED HIMSELF AS THE BROTHER OF JAMES! He was happy to take second place to his brother.
But without boasting and without drawing attention to the fact, he indicates he is linked TO THE SAME FAMILY AS THE SAVIOUR.
I would like to dwell a little more on that truth.
I. EVERYONE WHO IS SAVED BECOMES A MEMBER OF CHRIST’S HEAVENLY FAMILY!
“Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother,” Matthew 12:47-50. As one Commentator has said: “The thing to be further learned from this paragraph, is, how dear believers and holy persons are to Christ; he counts them as dear as mother, brethren, or sisters, and thereby teacheth us the esteem we ought to have for such.”
As I look down at you, I see some who are thus wonderfully related and most precious to the Lord! What of you today? On the day of judgment the unsaved will be told: “I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity,” Luke 13:27.
II. HOWEVER, JUDE WAS A MEMBER OF CHRIST’S EARTHLY FAMILY.
I was to show you some verses that I believe show this to be so.
1. He tells us that he was the brother of James.Now this ‘James’ was not the brother of John and the son of Zebedee. That James was martyred by Herod some 23-24 years earlier, Acts 12:1.
No, I believe, this was the writer of the ‘Epistle of James’. This James was a very important person in the early church. Paul said of him that he was a ‘pillar’ of the early church, Galatians 2:9. Jude did not seek to have people think ‘highly’ of him but simply as a minister and one related to James.
2. But what he does not highlight is that he likely was related to the Saviour’s family. We are told by Paul that James was “the Lord’s brother,” Galatians 1:19. That term may mean ‘half brother’ or cousin. Consider these words, spoken by the people of Nazareth where the Saviour grew up. “Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?” Matthew 13:55-56. There is a further reference in Luke 6:16, “Judas the brother of James.” The name “Judas” is the same as “Jude”.
So we have strong reasons to believe that Jude was closely related to the Saviour in earthly terms, maybe even having Mary the mother of the Saviour as his mother. We cannot be absolutely certain of the exact relationship but it is to be noted that Jude does not boast of any ‘earthly’ ties to Christ but puts first his ‘spiritual’ link to the Saviour.
So ought we boys and girls. We must be ‘born again’ and so become a child of God!