Jude 1:3

ἀγαπητοί occurs in Jude 1:17; Jude 1:20, also in 2Pe 3:1; 2 Peter 3:8; 2 Peter 3:14; 2Pe 3:17, 1 Peter 2:11; 1 Peter 4:12 and James. It is common in the Epistles of John and of Paul, sometimes with μου attached, as in 1 Corinthians 10:14; Philippians 2:12, and is often joined to ἀδελφοί, especially in James. The ἀγάπη of Jude 1:2 leads on to the ἀγαπητοί here. They are themselves ἀγαπητοί because the love of God is shed abroad in their hearts.

πᾶσαν σπουδὴν ποιούμενος. For πᾶσαν, see my n. on James 1:2, and cf. 2 Peter 1:5, σπουδὴν πᾶσαν παρεισενέγκαντες, Jude 1:15, σπουδάσω ἔχειν ὑμᾶς μνήμην ποιεῖσθαι, also Isocr. Orat. v. p. 91 b, πᾶσαν τὴν σπουδὴν περὶ τούτου ποιεῖσθαι, Plato, Euthyd. 304 e, περὶ οὐδενὸς ἀξίων ἀναξίαν σπουδὴν ποιοῦνται. Jude was busy on another subject, when he received the news of a fresh danger to the Church, which he felt it his duty to meet at once. Whether he lived to carry out his earlier design, and whether it was of the nature of a treatise or of an epistle, we know not. It is noteworthy that there is a similar allusion in 2 Peter 3:1 to an earlier letter now lost. Compare Barn. iv. 9, πολλὰ δὲ θέλων γράφειν … γράφειν ἐσπούδασα.

κοινῆς σωτηρίας. Cf. Titus 1:4, κατὰ κοινὴν πίστιν, Ign. Ephesians 1., ὑπὲρ τοῦ κοινοῦ ὀνόματος καὶ ἐλπίδος with Lightfoot's n., Jos. Ant. 10. 1. 3 (Hezekiah besought Isaiah to offer sacrifice) ὑπὲρ τῆς κοινῆς σωτηρίας. Bede explains as follows: “omnium electorum communis est salus, fides, et dilectio Christi”. Jude puts on one side the address he was preparing on the main principles of Christianity (probably we may take Jude 1:20-21 as a sample of what this would have been) and turns to the special evil which was then threatening the Church.

ἀνάγκην ἔσχον γράψαι. Cf. Luke 14:18, ἔχω ἀνάγκην ἰδεῖν αὐτόν, Hebrews 7:27, al., also Plut. Cato Mi. 24, ἀνάγκην ἔσχεν ἐκβαλεῖν ἀσχημονοῦσαν τὴν γυναῖκα. There is a similar combination of γράφειν and γράψαι in 3 John 1:13. The aor. γράψαι, contrasted with the preceding pres. γράφειν, implies that the new epistle had to be written at once and could not be prepared for at leisure, like the one he had previously contemplated. It was no welcome task: “necessity was laid upon him”.

ἐπαγωνίζεσθαι τῇ ἅπαξ παραδοθείσῃ τοῖς ἁγίοις πίστει. “To contend for the faith,” almost equivalent to the ἀγώνισαι περὶ τἠς ἀληθείας in Sir 4:28, see 1 Timothy 6:12, ἀγωνίζου τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα τῆς πίστεως, and εἰς ὃ κοπιῶ ἀγωνιζόμενος, Colossians 1:29. We may compare ἐπαμύνειν, ἐπαναπαύειν νόμῳ, Romans 2:17 and Clem. Strom, iii., p. 553, ἐπαγωνιζόμενος τῇ ἀθέῳ δόξῃ. It is possible (as is shown by the following examples) for spiritual blessings, once given, to be lost, unless we use every effort to maintain them. The redemption from Egypt was a fact, as baptism into the name of Christ is a fact, but, unless it is borne in mind and acted upon, the fact loses its efficacy.

τῇ ἅπαξ παραδοθείσῃ τοῖς ἁγίοις πίστει. The word πίστις here is not used in its primary sense of a subjective feeling of trust or belief, but in the secondary sense of the thing believed, the Truth or the Gospel, as in Jude 1:20 below, Galatians 1:23, ὁ διώκων ἡμᾶς ποτε νῦν εὐαγγελίζεται τὴν πίστιν ἥν ποτε ἐπόρθει, also Galatians 3:23; Philippians 1:27, συναθλοῦντες τῇ πίστει τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, where see Lightfoot, Acts 6:7. In the same way ἐλπίς is used in a concrete sense for the object or ground of hope (as in Colossians 1:5, τὴν ἐλπίδα τὴν ἀποκειμένην ὑμῖν, 1 Timothy 1:1, Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τῆς ἐλπίδος ἡμῶν, Titus 2:13, προσδεχόμενοι τὴν μακαρίαν ἐλπίδα), and φόβος for the object of fear, Romans 13:3; 1 Peter 3:14.

ἅπαξ. Used here in its classical sense “once for all,” as below Jude 1:5, and in Hebrews 6:4, τοὺς ἅπαξ φωτισθέντας, Hebrews 9:26-27; Hebrews 10:2; 1 Peter 3:18. This excludes the novelties of the Libertines, cf. Galatians 1:9. The later sense “on one occasion” is found in 2 Corinthians 11:25, ἅπαξ ἐλιθάσθην, 1 Thessalonians 2:18, καὶ ἅπαξ καὶ δὶς ἠθελήσαμεν ἐλθεῖν.

παραδοθείσῃ. Cf. Philo M. i. 387, πιστεύει τοῖς ἅπαξ παραδοθεῖσι. The Christian tradition is constantly referred to by the Fathers, as by Clem. Al. Str. vii. where we read of ἡ ἀληθὴς παράδοσις (p. 845), ἡ ἐκκλησιαστικὴ π. (p. 890), ἡ θεία π. (p. 896), ἡ πάντων τῶν ἀποστόλων π. (p. 900), αἱ τοῦ Χριστοῦ π (p. 901), and even in the N.T. as in 1 Corinthians 11:2, κάθως παρέδωκα ὑμῖν τὰς παραδόσεις κατέχετε, 2 Thessalonians 2:15; 1 Timothy 6:20. τὴν παραθήκην φύλαξον. For an account of the gradual formation of the Creed, see A. E. Burn's Introduction to the Creeds, ch. 2., 1899, and compare the comment in my larger edition, p. 61 f.

τοῖς ἁγίοις. Used generally of Christians who were consecrated and called to be holy, as in 1 Corinthians 1:2; Philippians 1:1, where see Lightfoot. The word contains an appeal to the brethren to stand fast against the teaching and practice of the Libertines.