ABSTRACT
One of the most characteristic features of the letter of Jude is the author’s familiarity with OT and Jewish sources. Although he almost never quotes a passage explicitly, echoes of, and allusions to OT and Jewish texts and motifs are numerous. The author uses this source material to apply lessons from the past to the present situation, and thereby to convince his readers to stick to the true doctrine and to be wary of false teachers who try to deceive the members of the Christian community.1 Consequently, we find a sharp distinction between ‘you’, i.e. the true believers, the readers of the letter, and ‘they’, i.e. the ‘ungodly’, the adherents of false beliefs.2 As a matter of fact, the bulk of the letter consists of a warning to the readers to watch out for those false teachers who are depicted as a grave menace to the Christian community (w. 3-19). They are ‘causing divisions’ (v. 19), but they will be punished by God at the end of time: for them, ‘the deepest darkness has been reserved forever’ (v. 13).3 Their sins and final punishment are compared to the sins and the fate of the people of Israel who did not believe, to the ‘watchers’ or the ‘fallen angels’, and finally to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. In addition, the warning passage is replete with references to other OT and Jewish figures of old, such as Moses, Cain, Balaam, Korah and Enoch; the archangel Michael is also mentioned.4 From all this it is clear that the author of the letter of Jude was well acquainted with OT and Jewish tradition; he uses this source material without thinking it necessary to quote any passage explicitly.5
