Cornelius a Lapide
Preface
Three things must here be premised according to custom: first, concerning the author of this Epistle; second, concerning its authority; third, concerning its subject matter.
As to the first, the author is Jude, not Iscariot, but the brother of James — namely, of James the Less, who was surnamed the brother of the Lord, and who wrote the Canonical Epistle. He had as his mother Mary of Alphaeus, or of Cleophas, that is, his wife; who is also called the mother of James in Mark xv, 40. The same woman is called the sister of the Blessed Virgin, since she stood with her at the cross of Christ, John xix, 25 — not because she was properly her sister and a daughter of Saints Joachim and Anne, as Saint Jerome thought in Against Helvidius; Theodoret, on Luke vi; Bede and Anselm, on Galatians 1; but "sister" in the Hebrew idiom, that is, a kinswoman or cousin. This Mary of Alphaeus, then, had four sons, of whom three were chosen by Christ for the Apostolate, namely James, Jude, and Simon; the fourth, Joseph, was a competitor of Matthias when the lot of the apostolate fell upon Matthias (Acts I). Hence these four are called the brethren of Christ (Matt. XIII, 55), not because they were sons of Joseph, the spouse of the Blessed Virgin, by another wife, and consequently stepsons of the Blessed Virgin and properly brothers of Christ, as Nyssen thought (Oration 2 On the Resurrection); Origen, Theophylact, and Euthymius on Matthew XIII; Clement of Alexandria here; Epiphanius, Heresy 31; Chrysostom, Oration On the Annunciation; Hilary, Canon 1 on Matthew; Ambrosiaster on Galatians II; Oecumenius and Cajetan on Galatians I. Hence too the Arabic version has at the beginning of the Epistle: "Jude, the son of Joseph the carpenter." For that Joseph was celibate and a virgin is taught by Saint Jerome in Against Helvidius, Bede on John ch. II, Rupert on Matthew ch. 1, the Master in IV, dist. 30, ch. On the Blessed Mary; Saint Thomas, III part., Question XXVIII, art. 3, ad 5, and others. See Canisius, Book II On the Mother of God, ch. xiii; Suarez, III part., vol. II, disp. 5, sect. 4; Toletus on John, ch. II, note 18, and Salmeron, vol. III, treatise 23. They are therefore called brethren of Christ, that is, kinsmen or relations, just as their mother is called "sister," that is, a kinswoman of the Blessed Virgin.
As for the etymology, Judas in Hebrew means the same as "confession and praise," or "confessor and praiser," namely, of God and of Christ. He seems to have received this name from Judah, the strongest and most celebrated of the sons of Jacob (Genesis ch. xlix, v. 8). The same Jude, like his brother Simon, was surnamed the Cananaean — as if a native of Cana of Galilee — that is, the Zealot, as Saint Jerome attests on chapter iv to the Galatians, because he was zealous for the Lord, says Saint Fulgentius, sermon 9. Hence that exclamation of his, full of love and zeal toward Christ, is recorded by Saint John, xiv, 22: "Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself to us?" For this saying of his was elicited by those words of Christ as He went to His death, words filled with the deepest love: "He that loveth Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him." Hence the same Jude was surnamed Thaddaeus and Lebbaeus, that is, leonine, from לביא labi, that is "lion," or "stout-hearted." For "lion" in Hebrew is called labi, from לב leb, that is, "heart," as it were stout-hearted or courageous, because by generosity and presence of mind he was undaunted. For the heart is the seat and symbol of fortitude; whence Aristomenes, who had astonished all of Greece by the miracle of his daring, was, after his death, dissected and found to have his whole heart shaggy with hairs, as Pliny attests in Book XI, ch. xxxvii. Again, Lebbaeus means "little heart" (corculum); for it is likely that Lebbaeus is almost the same as Thaddaeus: for the Greek of Matt. x, 3, and the Syriac so have it: "Lebbaeus, who was surnamed Thaddaeus." Lebbaeus therefore is the same as corculum, from לב leb, that is heart, says Saint Jerome on Matthew ch. x, as if to say wonderfully cordial, kindly, lovable; or wonderfully wise and prudent; for those who were very cautious and prudent were called corculi ("little hearts"), says Pliny, Book VII, ch. xxxi; and Festus: "Corculum," he says, "the ancients used to call (from the heart) the shrewd and sharp man." Whence Scipio Nasica, twice consul on account of his prudence, was called Corculum, says Cicero, Tusculan I.
Thaddaeus is not so much derived from the Hebrew toda, that is "praise" — for in that case it would have to be said Thoddaeus — as from the Syriac תד thad (the Hebrews say צד sad; whence God is called Shaddai, that is, "breast of all goods"); but the Syrians and Chaldeans often turn the Hebrew s into t, and for sad they say thad, for Saddaeus, Thaddaeus, that is, breast, udder — as it were Mammeus, generous, sweet, merciful, kindly, beneficent. Thus Angelus Caninius in his Names of the New Testament in Hebrew, ch. XIII. Moreover Saint Jerome (or whoever the author is, for it is not Saint Jerome) on Mark ch. vi, and from him Pagninus in his interpretation of Hebrew Names, would have Lebbaeus said to be from "heart," as it were the cultivator of the heart, who indeed devoted himself uniquely to purity, holiness, and perfection of heart.
For this reason Jude was, above the other Apostles, held in veneration and delight by Saint Bernard; for the author of the Life of Saint Bernard, Book V, ch. II, recounts that he received with wondrous devotion the relics of Saint Jude sent to him from Jerusalem, and indeed, when about to die, ordered them to be buried with him and laid upon his breast, "with this very intent of faith and devotion," says the author of the Life, "that he might cleave to that same Apostle on the day of the common resurrection." Note: "Judas" in Hebrew includes all the letters of the Tetragrammaton, the name Jehovah, and so out of reverence for the name Jehovah — as being most sacred and ineffable among the Jews — some judge that he was called by the kindred name Thaddaeus instead of Judas. But this is a little fable; for it is well established that the name Judas was most common among the Jews, and so much praised by God (Genesis ch. XLIX, v. 8). Moreover Eusebius, Book I of his History, ch. XIII; Nicephorus, Book II of his History, ch. XL, and the Greeks in their Menology, posit two Thaddaei: namely, one Apostle — to wit, this our Jude; the other one who was of the LXX disciples of Christ, sent to Abgar. But others recognize only one Thaddaeus, namely Jude the Apostle. So Saint Jerome on Matt. x, Bede on Acts ch. 1, Fulgentius, sermon 9. And the Latin Church commemorates only one Thaddaeus in the Martyrology and Divine Office.
According to whom it must be said that this Jude is that Thaddaeus who converted Abgar king of Edessa and the people of Edessa to the faith, as Eusebius narrates at length in the place already cited; he also adds that this happened in the 43rd year of Christ, and that when Abgar offered him gold, both wrought and unwrought, Jude rejected it and said: "If we have utterly forsaken our own things, how shall we receive what belongs to others?" — words which surely signify his pure, magnanimous, and heavenly heart. See more in Eusebius. In Apocalypse ch. xxi, 20, Jude is represented by the chrysoprase; I have set forth the reasons in that place.
Nicephorus, Book II, ch. IV, the Roman Breviary on October 28, and others record that Saint Jude preached in Mesopotamia, Persia, Arabia, and Idumaea. At length Saint Jude crowned his noble apostolate with a glorious martyrdom, and his sacred body, like that of his brother Simon, was brought to Rome and laid up in the Basilica of Saint Peter, that, since in life he had uniquely venerated him and had so expressed the meaning of his epistle in his own, even in death he might be entombed beside him.
As to the second point, some long ago doubted concerning the authority of this Epistle; indeed recently Cajetan judged this Epistle to be of lesser authority than those that are of certain Sacred Scripture. Heretics, such as Luther, the Centuriators, Brentius, Kemnitius, hold it to be apocryphal. Their reasons are that its author cites the apocryphal book of Enoch, and the dispute of Michael with the devil over the body of Moses, which appears nowhere in Scripture; but I shall respond to these in their proper places. I say therefore: it is of faith that this Epistle is canonical Scripture. So defines the Council of Trent, sess. IV, and the Council of Florence in Pope Eugene's epistle to the Armenians; the Roman Council under Damasus, the Council of Laodicea, ch. LVIII, and the Council of Carthage, ch. XLVII. Hear Saint Jerome, in his book On Ecclesiastical Writers, on Jude: "Jude," he says, "the brother of James, left a brief Epistle, which is one of the seven Catholic ones. And because in it he takes a testimony from the book of Enoch, which is apocryphal, it is rejected by many; nevertheless by its age and use it has now earned authority, both to be reckoned among the Sacred Scriptures and to have most holy authority."
Hence the same Epistle is cited as canonical by Saint Dionysius, On the Divine Names, ch. IV; Epiphanius in his Heresy of the Gnostics; Nazianzen in his Poem on Scripture; Didymus and Oecumenius here; Saint Athanasius in his Synopsis; Ephrem, Origen; and from the Latins Saint Cornelius, Saint Cyprian, Innocent I, Tertullian, Saint Jerome, Saint Ambrose, Saint Augustine, Rufinus, Philastrius, Cassian, Prosper, Gelasius, Fulgentius, Alcimus, Primasius, Saint Gregory, Bede, Rabanus, Remigius, Ado, Ansbert, Angelomus, and others, whom Jodocus Coccius cites at length in the Catholic Thesaurus, vol. I, book VI, p. 370, and Bellarmine, Book I On the Word of God, ch. XVIII.
The Epistle is written in Greek; for although Saint Jude preached in Persia, he wrote this Epistle as a kind of encyclical and universal letter to all the faithful, both Jews and Gentiles dispersed throughout the world; and therefore not in Persian but in Greek, because the Greek tongue was then most especially common and most widely spread. Furthermore Origen on Matthew ch. XIII asserts that this Epistle is indeed of few words, but full of words of efficacious heavenly grace. By its very brevity, then, it is fruitful, and like a pearl, which under a small bulk encloses the sum of many sesterces — as Saint Hilary said of Sacred Scripture, canon 6 on Matthew. For this brief Epistle establishes many things dogmatically, namely, the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, of the Incarnation and Redemption of Christ, the distinction of good angels from evil, and zeal for the salvation of men, and finally faith and the fear of the coming judgment. Morally, it teaches flight from luxury, blasphemy, disobedience, pride, avarice, hatred, deceit, flattery, partiality of persons; and constancy in vocation, faith, prayer, charity, the conversion of the erring, the pursuing of heretics, in doxology and the praise of God. What therefore Saint Bartholomew, as Saint Dionysius testifies in ch. 1 On Mystical Theology, said: "Theology is great, and very small; the Gospel is ample and great, and again compendious" — the same may truly be said of this Epistle, namely that it is brief and long: brief in words, long in sentences, so that it is rare for anyone not to grow blind in reading it, as Saint Jerome says to Paulinus.
This Epistle exists in Syriac — not in the Royal Bibles, but separately — which our Etzelius translated into Latin; it exists also in Arabic, which one heterodox in faith translated into Latin.
As to the third point, the subject of the Epistle is to refute heresies already then born — those of Simon Magus, the Nicolaitans, and Cerinthus, and those soon to be born from these same — of the Gnostics, Ebion, Menander, Basilides, Saturninus, Valentinus, Marcion, and the like. So Saint Epiphanius in his treatment of the heresy of the Gnostics, after recounting their lusts, says that the Holy Spirit foretold concerning them through Jude: "Whatever they know naturally, like dumb beasts, in these things they are corrupted." He therefore graphically depicts the wicked morals of the heretics, and teaches that they are to be guarded against as seducers and plagues, and that one must constantly persist in the faith received, lest there befall them what befell the Hebrews, the Sodomites, and the angels apostatizing from God — who all miserably perished. So Saint Athanasius in his Synopsis, Oecumenius, and others. For Jude taught in Asia Minor, where the school of Simon Magus flourished, against which Saint Paul likewise wrote his Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians — to which Jude here refers. He attacks most of all the dogma of Simon, who taught that his faith alone (which was heresy and perfidy) sufficed for salvation without good works, and that of the Gnostics, who taught that there is no sin except unbelief, but that all things are indifferent (adiaphora) — good for those who use them well, evil for those who use them ill — and accordingly that one is permitted with impunity to indulge in revelries and lusts. Hence he sharply censures the monstrous and infamous lusts of the Simonians and Gnostics, and threatens them with the severe judgment of God foretold by Enoch. Wherefore Saint Ephrem, vol. 1, sermon On Those Who Entice Souls to Impurity (as if there were no evil in it), recites this whole Epistle of Saint Jude and turns it against them. This Epistle, then, is a kind of perpetual invective against heretics, blasphemers, and the lustful. For first, having premised a greeting, he exhorts the faithful to contend manfully against them on behalf of their vocation and their faith, since they themselves are apostates, like the Sodomites and the angels rebellious to God, with whom they are to be destroyed and shall perish.
Then, in v. 8, he charges them with their lusts, rebellions, blasphemies, and railings — whereas Michael, though having just cause, did not dare to revile Satan. Thirdly, in v. 11, he compares them to Cain, Balaam, and the seditious Core, and calls them clouds without water, autumn trees, raging waves of the sea, wandering stars — concerning whom Enoch prophesied, threatening them with God's severe judgments — since they are murmurers, full of concupiscences, proud, covetous. Fourthly, in v. 17, he exhorts the faithful, persisting steadfastly in the faith and doctrine of the Apostles, to resist heretics. Finally, in v. 20, he exhorts the faithful to prayer, charity, mercy, and zeal for souls, that they may bring back to the faith those seduced by heretics; to chastity, that they may present themselves immaculate before the tribunal of Christ the Judge. And at last he closes the Epistle with a doxology, saying: "To God alone our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory and magnificence, dominion and power before all ages, and now, and unto all ages of ages. Amen."
Of the ancients, Didymus and Clement of Alexandria wrote on this Epistle; but they are briefly extant in the Library of the Holy Fathers; many of more recent times, and most recently our own Justinian and Lorinus. I likewise will be brief after my custom, especially because I have said most of what should be said here on II Peter, II.
Note here that this Epistle is very similar to the second Epistle of Saint Peter, ch. II, so that it has many sentences identical, or nearly identical, with it. Wherefore either Saint Peter took those from Saint Jude in order to confirm his sayings, as Salmeron holds; or rather Jude received them from Saint Peter, as Baronius (anno Christi 68), Adam Sasbout, Lorinus, Hugo, Thomas Anglicus, and Primaticeius here will have it. The last three judge that for this reason this Epistle is last in the biblical order, because it was the last published (apart from the Epistle of Saint John), and accordingly after the death of Saint Peter, who shortly before his death wrote his second Epistle in the year of Christ 68. If these things are true, it must be said that Saint Jude met death together with his brother Simon the Cananaean not in the year of Christ 64, as Tuphrius would have it in his Chronicle, but after Saint Peter and after the year of Christ 68. Now, that you may see the harmony and concord of Saint Peter and Saint Jude, take their identical sentences arranged in parallel.
Parallels of the Same Sentences from the Second Epistle of Saint Peter and from Saint Jude
I. (II Peter) Ch. II, v. 1. "There shall be among you lying teachers, who shall bring in sects of perdition." And v. 3. "Whose judgment now of a long time ceaseth not." (Jude) v. 4. "Certain men have entered in unawares, (who long ago were written down for this judgment,) ungodly men."
II. (II Peter) "And deny the Lord who bought them." (Jude) "Denying the only Sovereign and our Lord Jesus Christ."
III. (II Peter) v. 2. "And many shall follow their riotous ways, through whom the way of truth shall be blasphemed." (Jude) "Turning the grace of our God into riotousness."
IV. (II Peter) v. 4. "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but delivered them, drawn down by infernal ropes to the lower hell, unto torments, to be reserved unto judgment." (Jude) v. 6. "And the angels who kept not their principality, but forsook their own habitation, He hath reserved under darkness in everlasting chains, unto the judgment of the great day."
V. (II Peter) v. 6. "And reducing the cities of the Sodomites and Gomorrhites into ashes, condemned them to be overthrown, making them an example to those that should after act wickedly." (Jude) v. 7. "As Sodom and Gomorrha, and the neighbouring cities, in like manner, having given themselves to fornication and going after other flesh, were made an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire."
VI. (II Peter) v. 10. "And especially them who walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government." (Jude) v. 8. "In like manner these also defile the flesh, and despise dominion."
VII. (II Peter) "They fear not to bring in sects (doxas), blaspheming." (Jude) "They blaspheme majesty (doxan)."
VIII. (II Peter) v. 11. "Whereas the angels, though greater in strength and power, bring not against themselves an execrable judgment." (Jude) v. 9. "When Michael the Archangel, disputing with the devil, contended about the body of Moses, he durst not bring against him the judgment of railing speech, but said: The Lord command thee."
IX. (II Peter) v. 12. "But these, etc., blaspheming the things which they know not, shall perish in their corruption." (Jude) v. 10. "But these, whatever things they know not, they blaspheme; and what things soever they naturally know, like dumb beasts, in these they are corrupted."
X. (II Peter) v. 13. "Stains and spots, sporting themselves to excess, rioting in their feasts." (Jude) v. 12. "These are spots in their banquets, feasting together without fear, feeding themselves."
XI. (II Peter) v. 14. "Having a heart exercised with covetousness;" and v. 3. "Through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you." (Jude) v. 16. "Admiring persons for gain's sake."
XII. (II Peter) v. 15. "Having followed the way of Balaam of Bosor, who loved the wages of iniquity." (Jude) v. 11. "They have for reward poured out themselves into the error of Balaam."
XIII. (II Peter) v. 17. "These are fountains without water, and clouds tossed with whirlwinds, to whom the mist of darkness is reserved." (Jude) vv. 12 and 13. "Clouds without water, which are carried about by winds, etc., to whom the storm of darkness is reserved forever."
XIV. (II Peter) v. 18. "For, speaking proud words of vanity, they allure by the desires of fleshly riotousness." (Jude) v. 16. "Walking according to their own desires, and their mouth speaketh proud things."
XV. (II Peter) Ch. III, vv. 1 and 2. "Dearly beloved, etc., that you may be mindful of the words which I have foretold, etc., and of the Apostles, of the precepts of the Lord and Saviour." (Jude) v. 17. "But you, dearly beloved, be mindful of the words which have been spoken before by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ."
XVI. (II Peter) v. 3. "Knowing this first, that in the last days there shall come deceitful scoffers, walking after their own lusts." (Jude) v. 18. "Who told you, that in the last time there should come mockers, walking according to their own desires in ungodlinesses."
XVII. (II Peter) v. 11. "What manner of persons ought you to be in holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of the Lord." (Jude) v. 21. "Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto life everlasting."
XVIII. (II Peter) v. 18. "To Him be glory both now, and unto the day of eternity. Amen." (Jude) v. 25. "To God alone our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory and magnificence, dominion and power, before all ages, and now, and unto all ages of ages. Amen."