The opening verse of Jude is full of humility and makes me love Jude instantly. He could have said, "Jude, brotherof Jesus our Lord and of James, leader of the church in Jerusalem...." If Jude was James' brother, as most scholars believe, then he was Jesus' brother as well. Wouldn't dropping Jesus' name give him more clout? Draw more attention to him? It certainly would. That's why I love his opening. He does mention James, in case anyone is wondering, "Who is this guy? Why should we listen to him? But the way he calls himself a servant of Jesus Christ is humble and real. Jude really has been converted if he can call Jesus "the Christ" and place himself in the role of servant.
Anyone with siblings knows how much pride you have to swallow to either put a sibling above you or to submit yourself by placing yourself under them in any way. It's all about things being fair and equal growing up, but now Jude is not too proud to place Jesus on top where he deserves to be nor too proud to use his brother James' position to give authority to his own name so that the church will give weight to his words.
This reminds me of the verse that tells us not to think too highly of ourselves (Rom. 12:3) and of that other one that tells us to consider our sisters and brothers in Christ as better than ourselves (haven't looked that one up yet).
Jude, according to the list in Matthew 13:55-56, is the youngest son. James would have been his oldest full brother, with Jesus, of course, being the firstborn and probably much older than Jude. I wonder if Jude shortened his name from Judas because of Judas Iscariot. What do you think, Katie?
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"Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves." -Philippians 2:3
I'm guessing you already looked that up, but there it is just in case. :)
As for Jude shortening his name to Jude because of Judas Iscariot, that wouldn't be surprising considering how signifying names were in those times. It would also fit his humble, "servant of Jesus Christ" character.
My Bible has a note next to "servant" that says "or slave". This is weird, because I don't think of a slave being the same as a servant. We discussed this in my Bible study last week when we talked about being a servant of Christ versus a slave to sin. Slave, to me, implies you've been put in a submissive position against your will and you do not reap any benefits from it. But that's obviously not what Jude was trying to suggest, so I guess the little footnote is not that important.
This reminds me of Romans 15:17, "In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God." Jude isn't proud of his work or what he's about to write because of his relation to Jesus as brother, for that is a temporary construct outside of his eternal position to Christ as a servant.
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