NOTES ON THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF ST JUDE

This epistle has three parts:

I. The inscription,                  V. 1,2 II. The treatise, in which,   1. He exhorts them to contend for the faith,      3  2. Describes the punishment and the manners of its     adversaries,                  4-16  3. Warns the believers,               17-19  4. Confirms them,                  20,21  5. Instructs them in their duty to others,     22,23III. The conclusion,                  24,25 

This epistle greatly resembles the second of St. Peter, which St. Jude seems to have had in view while he wrote. That was written but a very little before his death; and hence we may gather that St. Jude lived some time after it, and saw that grievous declension in the church which St. Peter had foretold.But he passes over some things mentioned by St. Peter, repeats some in different expressions and with a different view, and adds others; clearly evidencing thereby the wisdom of God which rested upon him. Thus St. Peter cites and confirms St. Paul's writings, and is himself cited and confirmed by St. Jude.