This small but interesting letter was written by Jesus’ brother Jude some time in the 60’s A.D. to warn of false teachers who were spreading the same errors as 2 Peter indicated—they had said Jesus wasn’t God and that it was all right to live what Christians had considered to be sinful lives. Jude is the last of the general letters that started with James; here he defends orthodoxy in the church.

Think about these items as you read the book. Some see this letter as very poetic. Could you defend this? In verses 3 and 4 explain what the position of the false teachers was. Verses 5-19 allude to famous examples in the Old Testament regarding doom of the ungodly. What are these examples? What is the point of 20-23? See 8-10, 12-13, 16, 19. These sections represent a good organizational strategy. What’s repeated here? How does this repetition act as a transition for what came before it (5-7, 11, 14-15, 17-18)? What do each of these sections contain?

Jude refers to books not in the Bible (9, 15). This makes some people uncomfortable to have such references. But see what Paul did in 1 Corinthians 10:7, 2 Timothy 3:8, and Titus 1:12. The way Jude proceeded in his argument might be called invective. Look up the term. Can it ever be an effective tool for argumentation? Critics consider the doxology at the end as very lyrical. Explain.