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Jude appears last among the Catholic or General Epistles. Thematically, the book closely parallels 2 Peter (esp. ch. 2) in warning against heretics infiltrating the 1st-century church. 2 Peter may expand Jude, or Jude may condense 2 Peter, or both books may draw from a common source. Of all the canonical writers, only Jude employs Jewish apocryphal stories in support of his teaching (vv. 9 and 14).
Unlike 2 Peter, Jude does not specify the nature of the heresy infecting the church, but the book's condemnation of false teachers appears no less forceful, largely by piling up examples that illustrate God's past punishment of his opponents. Thus emerges the message, "Do not bond with the heretics - they are doomed!" On the positive side, Jude urges steadfastness to standard Christian belief and practice.
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Cf. 2 Peter 2-3.
In writing to his contemporaries "called" to the Christian faith, the relatively obscure Jude (Aramaic for the Greek for "Judas") identifies himself first and foremost as Christ's "bondservant" (voluntary servant for life) and second as the brother of James - possibly the leader of the Jerusalem church and a half-brother of Jesus.
Having intended to write an upbeat letter in celebration of salvation, Jude has found it necessary to change his focus. Ungodly individuals who deny the lordship of Christ have infiltrated the church unnoticed, and they threaten the steadfastness of Jude's audience. In warning against the corrosive influence of such persons, Jude recalls instances of God's punishment of his opponents: the "destruction" (physical death) of a generation of Hebrews who distrusted God despite their divine deliverance from slavery in Egypt (v 5; Numbers 14); the eternal imprisonment of fallen angels (v. 6; cf. 2 Pet. 2:4); and the fiery destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah N. 7; cf. 2 Pet. 2:6-8; Genesis 18-19). Through licentious living, rejection of authority, and ignorant arrogance, these "intruders" perpetuate the pattern of disobedience to God exemplified by Cain, who out of jealous revenge murdered his brother Abel; continued under the misleading prophet Balaam; and pursued by the mutinous family of Korah, who sought to usurp the Hebrew priesthood (Genesis 4; Numbers 22-24; 31:8, 16; Numbers 16).
Alternately with the Old Testament allusions, Jude weaves two stories from ancient Jewish pseudepigraphal literature. The first comes from the Assumption of Moses, which reports a dispute between the Devil and the archangel Michael, come to claim the body of Moses for burial. Instead of presuming his own authority to rebuke the Devil, Michael invokes the right of God to do so (v. 9). The story provides a stark contrast to the arrogance of ignorant but dangerous infiltrators of the church - spiritually empty shells (vv 12-13) who flout the seriousness of Christian "love feasts" (the common meal accompanying the Lord's Supper; cf. 1 Cor. 11:17-29). Jude then quotes 1 Enoch to foretell the condemnation of the self-interested infiltrators (vv. 14-15).
Jude reminds his audience that the earlier warnings of the apostles should alert them against mockers of the faith. The church should persist in orthodox belief and practice, foster communal unity and edification through prayer and the extension of mercy, and wait eagerly for the second coming of Christ.