Jude is a real letter. Scholarship throughout the last 100 years seek find alternatives to Jude’s authorship as a way of consenting to modern impulse to deny the legitimacy of Jude. Yet, as Bauckham articulates clearly that Jude’s credentials are more than sufficient to fit this “epistolary sermon.” In fact, Jude seems to be deeply grounded in Jewishness. Though it may be shaped like a homily (not uncommon in the ancient world), it has the shape of a letter though it may have been read as a homily to a congregation.
The message seems to be very fitting for a specific situation. It’s not a catholic letter in the sense that it applies to all churches in all cases, though the implication is that, but rather it is addressing a particular issue; one which Jude’s hearers were dealing with in their day. There is a localized audience in mind when he pens these words.
Whoever Jude is addressing merits his distinct attention. We should not assume that the shortness of the letter implies Jude is taking the matter at hand less seriously, rather he can throw an effective punch with a few sober words.
It is also crucial to understand that the harsh argument in the middle of the book is not the center of Jude’s argument, rather it prepares for the real argument which is the central appeal in verses 20-23. This is not a hate-filled missive but a genuine attempt to call the hearers to understand their time in redemptive history and see that they are living in apocalyptic times filled with danger for the days of judgment are near.
