What does Jude chapter 1 mean?
The Book of Jude stresses the urgency of opposing false teaching. The writer, Jude, was an apostle and a half-brother of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was also a brother of the apostle James (Jude 1:1). He had planned to write about the salvation he and his readers had in common, but the threat of apostates—those who had rejected the truth and had turned away from God—persuaded him otherwise. Instead, he chooses to warn his readers about these apostates, and to help them understand that apostates will ultimately face divine judgment for their immoral lifestyle and evil teachings. He carefully distinguishes true believers from apostates by identifying true believers as "called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ" (Jude 1:1). He also identifies them as his "beloved," or "dear friends" in some translations (Jude 1:3, 17), and encourages them to keep the faith and to minister to others (Jude 1:21–23). He assures them that God is able to preserve them and present them before himself faultless and with great joy (Jude 1:24).Jude's brother James was head of the church at Jerusalem (Acts 15:1–2, 12–21). He wrote the book of James to expose hypocritical faith and to show what real faith is and how it works. Like Jude, James refers to himself simply as a servant: He was "a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" (James 1:1).