A Biblical Vision, Part II: Mastering the New Testament Witness to Christ

Ses s i on 6: The Ep i s t l es : The I nterpretat i on and App l i cat i on of Chr i s t 201

(1) 1 John 4.7-8 – Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. [8] Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. (2) 3 John 1.11 – Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.

7. The Epistle of Jude: Christ our Keeper

a. Jude (the English form of the name Judas ), the brother of James, and with him, was a half-brother of the Lord.

b. Date of writing: A.D. 66-69

c. Central vision of the glorified Christ: our Keeper, Jude 1.24-25 – Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, [25] to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. d. The focus of the epistle is keeping and protecting the apostolic tradition that has once-for-all been delivered to the saints, i.e., the good news of God’s salvation and Kingdom come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. (1) Jude 1.3 – Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

(2) Jude instructs believers to contend for the faith of Jesus Christ for the days of error and apostasy are