Jude (alternatively Judas or Judah; grc-gre, Ἰούδας) is one of the
relatives of Jesus Relatives can refer to:
* Kinship
* ''Relatives'' (1985 film), a 1985 Australian movie
* ''Relatives'' (2006 film), a 2006 Hungarian movie
* "Relatives", a song by Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; ...
() according to the
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...
. He is traditionally identified as the author of the
Epistle of Jude, a short epistle which is reckoned among the seven
general epistles of the New Testament—placed after
Paul's epistles
The Pauline epistles, also known as Epistles of Paul or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen books of the New Testament attributed to Paul the Apostle, although the authorship of some is in dispute. Among these epistles are some of the earliest ext ...
and before the
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of ...
—and considered
canon
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western ca ...
ical by Christians.
Catholics and
Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism.
Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...
Christians believe this Jude is the same person as
Jude the Apostle and that Jude was perhaps a cousin, but not literally a brother of Jesus, or perhaps
St. Joseph
Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers ...
’s son from a previous marriage.
New Testament
Mark 6
Mark 6 is the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. In this chapter, Jesus goes to Nazareth and faces rejection by his own family. He then sends his Apostles in pairs to various cities in the region whe ...
:3 and
Matthew 13
Matthew 13 is the thirteenth chapter in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament section of the Christian Bible. Verses 3 to 52 of this chapter form the third of the five Discourses of Matthew, called the ''Parabolic Discourse'', based on th ...
:55 record the people of Nazareth saying of Jesus: "Is not this the carpenter, the son of
Mary
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religious contexts
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
, the brother of
James
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguati ...
, and
Joses
Joses ( grc-gre, Ἰωσῆς) is a name, usually regarded as a form of Joseph, occurring many times in the New Testament:
* Joses, one of the four brothers of Jesus ()
* Joses or Joseph, son of a Mary and brother of a James ( James the Less acc ...
, and of Judas, and
Simon
Simon may refer to:
People
* Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon
* Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon
* Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...
? and are not his sisters here with us?". Some
Protestants, including R. V. Tasker and D. Hill, generally relate these brothers and sisters to the
Matthew 1
Matthew 1 is the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. It contains two distinct sections. The first lists the genealogy of Jesus from Abraham to his legal father Joseph, husband of Mary, his mother. The second part, beginni ...
:25 indication that Joseph "did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son" and the implication that Joseph and Mary had customary marital relations thereafter. But K. Beyer points out that
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
('until') after a negative "often has no implication at all about what happened after the limit of the 'until' was reached".
[Raymond E. Brown, ''The Birth of the Messiah'']
(Doubleday 1999 ), p. 132
Many Christians (
Roman Catholics,
Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism.
Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...
, and some Protestants) believe that "
brothers of Jesus
The brothers of Jesus or the adelphoi ( grc-gre, ἀδελφοί, adelphoí, of the same womb)Greek singular noun ''adelphos'', from a- ("same", equivalent to homo-) and delphys ("womb," equivalent to splanchna). are named in the New Testament a ...
" are not biological children of
Mary
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religious contexts
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
, but step brothers or cousins, which is part of the
doctrine
Doctrine (from la, doctrina, meaning "teaching, instruction") is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a belief syste ...
of
perpetual virginity of Mary
The perpetual virginity of Mary is a Christian doctrine that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a virgin before, during and after the birth of Christ. In Western Christianity, the Catholic Church adheres to the doctrine, as do some Lutherans, Anglic ...
.
Attribution of Jude
The
Epistle of Jude has been attributed to him, on the basis of the heading "Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James" () where "brother of James" is taken as brother of
James the brother of Jesus.
Clement of Alexandria
Titus Flavius Clemens, also known as Clement of Alexandria ( grc , Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς; – ), was a Christian theologian and philosopher who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Among his pupils were Origen an ...
who lived c. 150–215 AD wrote in his work ''"Comments on the Epistle of Jude"'' that Jude, the Epistle of Jude's author was a son of Joseph and a brother of the Lord (without specifying whether he is a son of Joseph by a previous marriage or of Joseph and Mary)
According to the surviving fragments of the work ''Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord'' of the
Apostolic Father Papias of Hierapolis
Papias ( el, Παπίας) was a Greek Apostolic Father, Bishop of Hierapolis (modern Pamukkale, Turkey), and author who lived c. 60 – c. 130 AD. He wrote the ''Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord'' ( el, Λογίων Κυριακῶν Ἐξ ...
, who lived c. 70–163 AD, Mary the wife of Cleophas or Alphaeus would be the mother of Jude, the brother of Jesus that Papias identifies with
Thaddeus
Thaddeus (Latin ''Thaddaeus'', Ancient Greek Θαδδαῖος ''Thaddaĩos'', from Aramaic תדי ''Ṯaday'') is a male given name.
As of the 1990 Census, ''Thaddeus'' was the 611th most popular male name in the United States, while ''Thad'', ...
:
The bishop of Salamis,
Epiphanius, wrote in his work ''
The Panarion'' (AD 374–375) that
Joseph
Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
became the father of James and his three brothers (Joses, Simeon, Judah) and two sisters (a Salome and a Mary) or (a Salome and an Anna) with James being the elder sibling. James and his siblings were not children of Mary but were Joseph's children from a previous marriage. After Joseph's first wife died, many years later when he was eighty, "he took Mary (mother of Jesus)".
Alternative attribution
Both "Judas" and "Jude" are English translations of the Greek name , which was a very common name in the 1st century. Over the years the identity of Jude has been questioned, and confusion remains among biblical scholars. It is not clear if Jude, the brother of Jesus, is also Jude, the brother of James, or
Jude the Apostle, son of
Mary mother of James the less and Jude.
There is an
Apostle
An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to send off". The purpose of such sending ...
Jude in some lists of the Twelve, but not in others. He is called Jude of James. The name "Jude of James", as given in
Luke 6
Luke 6 is the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible, traditionally attributed to Luke the Evangelist, a companion of Paul the Apostle on his missionary journeys. Jesus' teaching about the Sabbath enrag ...
:16, is sometimes interpreted as "Jude, brother of James", though such a construction commonly denotes a relationship of father and son. Other lists of the twelve include
Thaddaeus
Jude ( grc-gre, Ἰούδας Ἰακώβου translit. Ioúdas Iakóbou) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is generally identified as Thaddeus ( grc-gre, Θαδδαῖος; cop, ⲑⲁⲇⲇⲉⲟⲥ; ...
, which may be nickname for the same apostle. His nickname may have occurred due to a resemblance to Jesus or to avoid confusion between Jude and Judas Iscariot.
Raymond E. Brown
Raymond Edward Brown (May 22, 1928 – August 8, 1998) was an American Sulpician priest and prominent biblical scholar. He was regarded as a specialist concerning the hypothetical "Johannine community", which he speculated contributed to the a ...
, ''The Gospel According to Saint John'' volume 2, Anchor Bible p. 641 A local tradition of eastern Syria identifies the Apostle Jude with the
Apostle Thomas
Thomas the Apostle ( arc, 𐡀𐡌𐡅𐡕𐡌, hbo, תוֹמא הקדוש or תוֹמָא שליחא (''Toma HaKadosh'' "Thomas the Holy" or ''Toma Shlikha'' "Thomas the Messenger/Apostle" in Hebrew-Aramaic), syc, ܬܐܘܡܐ, , meaning "twi ...
, also known as Jude Thomas or Judas Didymus Thomas, as he is known in the
Acts of Thomas
''Acts of Thomas'' is an early 3rd-century text, one of the New Testament apocrypha within the Acts of the Apostles subgenre. References to the work by Epiphanius of Salamis show that it was in circulation in the 4th century. The complete ve ...
and
Gospel of Thomas
The Gospel of Thomas (also known as the Coptic Gospel of Thomas) is an extra-canonical sayings gospel. It was discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945 among a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library. Scholars speculate ...
(Thomas means 'twin' in
Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
, as does Didymus in Greek.)
Descendants
Hegesippus, a 2nd-century Christian writer, mentions descendants of Jude living in the reign of
Domitian
Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Fl ...
(81-96).
Eusebius
Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Chris ...
relates in his ''
Historia Ecclesiae
The ''Church History'' ( grc-gre, Ἐκκλησιαστικὴ ἱστορία; la, Historia Ecclesiastica or ''Historia Ecclesiae'') of Eusebius, the bishop of Caesarea was a 4th-century pioneer work giving a chronological account of the devel ...
'' (Book III, ch. 19–20):
Eusebius also relates (in Book III, ch. 32,5f.), that they suffered martyrdom under the Emperor
Trajan
Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...
.
Epiphanius of Salamis
Epiphanius of Salamis ( grc-gre, Ἐπιφάνιος; c. 310–320 – 403) was the bishop of Salamis, Cyprus, at the end of the 4th century. He is considered a saint and a Church Father by both the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches. He g ...
, in his ''
Panarion
In early Christian heresiology, the ''Panarion'' ( grc-koi, Πανάριον, derived from Latin ''panarium'', meaning "bread basket"), to which 16th-century Latin translations gave the name ''Adversus Haereses'' (Latin: "Against Heresies"), is t ...
'', mentions a
Judah Kyriakos, great grandson of Jude, as last
Jewish Bishop of Jerusalem, who was still living after the
Bar Kokhba's revolt
The Bar Kokhba revolt ( he, , links=yes, ''Mereḏ Bar Kōḵḇāʾ''), or the 'Jewish Expedition' as the Romans named it ( la, Expeditio Judaica), was a rebellion by the Jews of the Roman province of Judea, led by Simon bar Kokhba, aga ...
.
References
External links
''Catholic Encyclopedia'': The Brethren of the Lord*
{{New Testament people
1st-century writers
Brothers of Jesus
Followers of Jesus
People from Nazareth
People in the catholic epistles
Epistle of Jude
Gospel of Matthew
Gospel of Mark