The Expositor's Bible: The General Epistles of St. James and St. JudePlummer, Alfred
Religion
The Expositor's Bible: The General Epistles of St. James and St. Jude
Plummer, Alfred
Bible. James -- Commentaries; Bible. Jude -- Commentaries
We have seen already that both Tertullian and Augustine speak of the
writer of this Epistle as an Apostle. So also does Origen, but only in
two passages, of which the Greek original is wanting (_De Principiis_,
III. ii. 1; _Comm. on Romans_ v. 13, vol. iv., 549). In no passage of
the Greek works, and in no other passage of the Latin translations,
does he call Jude an Apostle; so that the addition of Apostle in these
two places may be an insertion of his not very accurate translator
Rufinus. But even if the authority of Origen is to be added to that of
Tertullian and Augustine, the opinion that the author of this letter
was an Apostle is not probable. Had he been such, it would have been
natural to mention the fact as a claim on the attention of his
readers, instead of merely contenting himself with naming his
relationship to his much more distinguished brother James. It is not
to the point to urge that St. Paul does not always call himself an
Apostle in his Epistles. He was a well-known person, especially after
his four great Epistles had been published, in all of which he styles
himself an Apostle. In the two to the Thessalonians he does not,
probably because he there associates Silvanus and Timothy with himself
(but see 1 Thess. ii. 6). St. Jude was comparatively unknown, having
written nothing else, and having probably travelled little. The
charge, "Remember ye the words which have been spoken before by the
Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ" (ver. 17), although it does not
necessarily imply that the writer himself is not one of these
Apostles, yet would be more suitable to one who did not possess
Apostolic rank. And when we ask what _James_ is meant, when he styles
himself "brother of James," the answer cannot be doubtful; it is James
the brother of the Lord, one of the three "Pillars" of the Jewish
Christian Church, first overseer of the Church of Jerusalem, and
author of the Epistle which bears his name. The Epistle of Jude is
evidently by a Jewish Christian, who, while writing to all that have
been called to the faith, evidently has Jewish Christians chiefly in
his mind. To such a writer it was well worth while to mention that he
was brother of that James who was so revered by all his fellow
countrymen. Reasons have been given already for believing that this
James was not an Apostle (pp. 27-29), and these will confirm us in the
opinion that his brother Jude was not such. The question of their
relationship to Jesus Christ has also been discussed (pp. 31, 32), and
need not be reopened here. If it be argued that, had St. Jude been the
brother of the Lord, he would have mentioned the fact, we may securely
answer that he would not have done so. "As the author of the
_Adumbrationes_ centuries ago remarked, religious feeling would deter
him, as it did his brother James, in his Epistle, from mentioning
this. The Ascension had altered all Christ's human relationships, and
His brethren would shrink from claiming kinship after the flesh with
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