Jude (alternatively Judas or Judah; ) was one of the "brothers" of Jesus according to the New Testament. There is a consensus among scholars that Jude "The brother of Jesus" is the same person as Jude the Apostle. Catholics hold that Jude was a cousin, but not literally the brother of Jesus, while the Eastern Orthodox hold that Jude is St. Joseph's son from a previous marriage (Jesus's step brother). Jude is traditionally identified as the author of the Epistle of Jude, a short epistle which is reckoned among the seven general epistles of the New Testament placed after Paul's epistles and before the Book of Revelation and considered canonical by ChristiansThomas Patrick Halton, On Illustrious Men, Volume 100 of Fathers of the Church: a new translation, CUA Press, 1999 p. 11See Richard Bauckham , Jerome and the Early Church Fathers , although modern scholars tend to reject his authorship of the epistle.
"Brother of Jesus"
Mark 6:3 and Matthew 13:55 record the people of Nazareth saying of Jesus: "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Judas, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us?". Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and some Protestant groups believe that the "brothers of Jesus" are not biological children of Mary, but step-brothers or cousins, and that Mary remained a virgin her entire life. Some Protestants, including R. V. TaskerTasker, R. V., The Gospel according to Saint Matthew (InterVarsity Press 1961), p. 36 and D. Hill,Hill D., The Gospel of Matthew, p80 (1972) Marshall, Morgan and Scott:London generally relate these brothers and sisters to the Matthew 1:25 indication that Joseph "did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son" and the implication that Joseph and Mary had customary marital relations thereafter (simply put, Mary and Joseph had children but Mary conceived and birthed Jesus as a virgin). But K. Beyer points out that Greek ('until') after a negative "often has no implication at all about what happened after the limit of the 'until' was reached".Raymond E. Brown, The Birth of the Messiah (Doubleday 1999 ), p. 132
Attribution of Jude The Epistle of Jude has been attributed to him, on the basis of the heading "Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James" () where "brother of James" is taken as brother of James the brother of Jesus.
Clement of Alexandria who lived c. 150–215 AD wrote in his work "Comments on the Epistle of Jude" that Jude, the Epistle of Jude'''s author was a son of Joseph and a brother of the Lord (without specifying whether he is a son of Joseph by a previous marriage or of Joseph and Mary)
According to the surviving fragments of the work Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord of the Apostolic Father Papias of Hierapolis, who lived c. 70–163 AD, Mary the wife of Cleophas or Alphaeus would be the mother of Jude, the brother of Jesus that Papias identifies with Thaddeus:
However, the above fragment is properly attributed by J.B. Lightfoot to a different Papias, an 11th century Latin lexicographer. The quotation is found in this Papias' Elementarium Doctrinae Rudimentum.https://digital-beta.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/werkansicht?PPN=PPN815335946&PHYSID=PHYS_0258&DMDID= Digitalisierte Sammlungen der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Werkansicht: Vocabularius(PPN815335946 - PHYS_0258 - Übersicht mit Inhaltsverzeichnis)]
The bishop of Salamis, Epiphanius, wrote in his work The Panarion (AD 374–375) that Joseph became the father of James and his three brothers (Joses, Simeon, Judah) and two sisters (a Salome and a Mary) or (a Salome and an Anna) with James being the elder sibling. James and his siblings were not children of Mary but were Joseph's children from a previous marriage. After Joseph's first wife died, many years later when he was eighty, "he took Mary (mother of Jesus)".
Alternative attribution Both "Judas" and "Jude" are English translations of the Greek name , which was a widespread name in the 1st century. Over the years, Jude's identity has been questioned, and confusion persists among biblical scholars. It is not clear if Jude (the brother of Jesus), is the same person as Jude (the brother of James), or the Apostle Jude,
There is an Apostle Jude in some lists of the Twelve, listed as "Jude of James". The name "Jude of James", is sometimes interpreted as "Jude, brother of James", though such a construction commonly denotes a relationship of father and son. In the Gospels of Mark and Matthew his name is replaced with "Thaddeus", there is a consensus among scholars that Jude the apostle (who as mentioned is likely the same person as Jude, the brother of Jesus) is the same person as Thaddeus. His nickname may have occurred due to a resemblance to Jesus or to avoid confusion between Jude and Judas Iscariot.John 14:22Commentary on John 14:22, Expositor's Bible Commentary CDROM, Zondervan, 1978Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to Saint John volume 2, Anchor Bible p. 641 Although a local tradition of eastern Syria identifies the Apostle Jude with Thomas.
Descendants Hegesippus, a 2nd-century Christian writer, mentions descendants of Jude living in the reign of Domitian (81-96). Eusebius relates in his Historia Ecclesiae (Book III, ch. 19–20):
Eusebius also relates (in Book III, ch. 32,5f.), that they suffered martyrdom under the Emperor Trajan.
Epiphanius of Salamis, in his Panarion'', mentions a Judah Kyriakos, great grandson of Jude, as last Jewish Bishop of Jerusalem, who was still living after the Bar Kokhba's revolt.
See also Judas the Zealot, sometimes identified as the Apostle Jude
References
External links Catholic Encyclopedia: The Brethren of the Lord