The Epistle of Jude claims to be written by "Jude the Brother of James". Many take this is a reference to the apostle Jude, brother of James, and thus of Jesus. Others assume that the letter is pseudepigraphic, others point out that there may have been more than one pair of brothers with those names. The author does not explicitly claim to be an apostle; indeed the apostles seem to be referred to as figures of the past.

We looked at an interesting fragment in which Eusebius quotes from Hegesippus about the persecution of Christians by the Empereor Domitian. Two grandsons of Jude are caught up in the dragnet, but under interrogation prove to be ignorant peasants who pose little threat to Rome. So umimpressed is the emperor that the progrom is called off, and prisoners released. This seems to suppport the theory of the apostles as "unlettered laymen", as described by the High Priest in Acts.

Jude seems to contain much "boilerplate" material common to the Second Letter of Peter, attacking rival church members but giving tantalisingly little concrete information about them. The writer quotes from the Assumption of Moses, a contemporary document, and it is frustrating that no copies of this document have survived. He also quoted from the Book of Enoch, treating both these works as authoritative, though today the Book of Enoch is only recognised by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

The letter concludes with a stunning doxology, which almost amounts to a definitive definition of Christianity.