Now of course one would ask this question because of these two verses of the scripture:
“And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.”
Luke 6:16
“Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called…”
Jude, verse 1
I totally understand why one might think that these two are the same man, but it actually is not so.
Judas (Hebrew – Judah) was a quite common name among Hebrew men in those days, and it still is; so there are many Jewish men named Judah.
There were, among the apostles, two men named Judas: Judas Iscariot, the traitor, and Judas the brother of James. This James seems to be “James the son of Alphaeus”, mentioned in the previous verse (Luke 6:15). There was also among the apostles another James, the brother of John, the sons of Zebedee.
Now, there were also among the half brothers of our Lord Jesus (which Mary bare to Joseph her husband), two men named James and Judas:
“Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?”
Matthew 13:55
And it was this Judas, the brother of James, the half brother of our Lord Jesus, who wrote the epistle called Jude in the new testament.
There are many scholars who would assert otherwise; but we can know that they are incorrect from at least these two passages of the scripture:
1. “But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.”
Jude:17,18
And,
2. “For neither did his brethren believe in him.”
John 7:5
So, it stands to reason that:
1. Jude would not have referred to the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ as he did in his epistle, if he were one of the apostles himself.
If he were an apostle, he would not have written, “remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ”…but would have rather written something like this: “remember ye the words which were spoken before of myself and the other apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.”.
For Peter, the apostle of Christ, when referring to himself and the other apostles, wrote:
“That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour…”
2 Peter 3:2
And, of course,
2. John wrote very clearly that Jesus’ brethren did not believe in him as the Messiah (at that time, before his suffering and death); so he obviously would not have chosen two of them, Judas and James, to be his apostles, when they did not believe in him.
But we can read later on, in the book of Acts, that the brethren of the Lord Jesus believed in him after his resurrection, and were present in the temple waiting for the promise of the Father, and received it, and were baptized in his name on the day of Pentecost.
“And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.
These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren...And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance...Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
(Acts 1:13,14, 2:4,38)
So, for these reasons, we know that Judas, the brother of James, who wrote the epistle called Jude in the new testament, is not the same man as the apostle Judas the brother of James, who was an apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ. These were two different men.
Amen.
3 Responses
Is the author of Jude the same as Judas, half-brother of Jesus, mentioned in Matthew 13:55?
Yes, it is the same Judas, the brother of James the less. Judas (Jude) was the half brother of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thank you’
Jerrold