Jude... the spurious 66th book?
What are the requirements for a book to make the cannon of Scripture?
Either Jesus has to treat it as scripture: the Torah - which is our OT give or take...
Or someone Jesus gave authority, as an apostle, to record his teachings has to have written it: so the writings of Matthew, Peter, John are Paul are in. Mark wrote his gospel based on Peter's eye-witness account, Luke - based on the teachings of Paul. James was treated as an apostle by the church, and Acts is the continuation of Luke's story. This leaves Hebrews and Jude... the author of Hebrews is unknown, but no-one doubts its status if they've bothered to read it!!
What about Jude? He was one of Jesus brothers, no more an apostle than Joe Bloggs (v17). He quotes from dodgy sources (v9 + v14-15). The book is really short, and doesn't say anything much. No-one really knows how it got in!
I was studying Jude the other day, and God spoke to me through the book so strongly that I'll never doubt it again! It shows us how to spot Godless men... that they follow the desires of their own hearts. It talks of people who are Christians for show, so they can get respect and a nice life from the Church. It shows people who become Christians, and then take God's grace for granted and live lives of licentiousness and immorality. I think it's talking about me.
It speaks of an opposite to Godlessness that is built in faith, not understanding and works. It shows us the life we can live that can make a difference in a depraved world (v22-23), it shows us our place in maintaining our salvation (v20-21, + 24), and it speaks of the glorious nature of God (v24-25)... not bad for 25 little verses.
By being arrogant enough to think that Jude might have been a mistake, I was committing the exact sin outlined in v10!! I'm sure I've not even scratched the surface of this book... but I'm excited about what God's saying to me through it!
Either Jesus has to treat it as scripture: the Torah - which is our OT give or take...
Or someone Jesus gave authority, as an apostle, to record his teachings has to have written it: so the writings of Matthew, Peter, John are Paul are in. Mark wrote his gospel based on Peter's eye-witness account, Luke - based on the teachings of Paul. James was treated as an apostle by the church, and Acts is the continuation of Luke's story. This leaves Hebrews and Jude... the author of Hebrews is unknown, but no-one doubts its status if they've bothered to read it!!
What about Jude? He was one of Jesus brothers, no more an apostle than Joe Bloggs (v17). He quotes from dodgy sources (v9 + v14-15). The book is really short, and doesn't say anything much. No-one really knows how it got in!
I was studying Jude the other day, and God spoke to me through the book so strongly that I'll never doubt it again! It shows us how to spot Godless men... that they follow the desires of their own hearts. It talks of people who are Christians for show, so they can get respect and a nice life from the Church. It shows people who become Christians, and then take God's grace for granted and live lives of licentiousness and immorality. I think it's talking about me.
It speaks of an opposite to Godlessness that is built in faith, not understanding and works. It shows us the life we can live that can make a difference in a depraved world (v22-23), it shows us our place in maintaining our salvation (v20-21, + 24), and it speaks of the glorious nature of God (v24-25)... not bad for 25 little verses.
By being arrogant enough to think that Jude might have been a mistake, I was committing the exact sin outlined in v10!! I'm sure I've not even scratched the surface of this book... but I'm excited about what God's saying to me through it!
posted by Dan | 4:19 AM
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