He calls himself Judas, but this was a very common name. In the N.T. itself we have Judas Iscariot and Judas not Iscariot (Joh 14:22; also called Judas of James, son or brother, Luk 6:6), Judas a brother of our Lord (Mat 13:55), Judas of Galilee (Act 5:37), Judas of Damascus (Act 9:11), Judas Barsabbas (Act 15:22). The author explains that he is a “slave” of Jesus Christ as James did (Jud 1:1), and adds that he is also a brother of James. Clement of Alexandria thinks that, like James, he deprecated being called the brother of the Lord Jesus (as by Hegesippus later) as claiming too much authority. Keil identifies him with Jude the Apostle (not Iscariot), but that is most unlikely. The Epistle is one of the disputed books of Eusebius. It was recognized in the canon in the Third Council of Carthage (a.d. 397). It appears in the Muratorian Canon (a.d. 170).

Jude (verse Jud 1:14) quotes from “Enoch” by name and says that he “prophesied.” What he quotes is a combination of various passages in the Book of Enoch as we have it now. It used to be held that part of Enoch was later than Jude, but Charles seems to have disproved that, though the book as we have it has many interpolations. Tertullian wanted to canonise Enoch because of what Jude says, whereas Chrysostom says that the authenticity of Jude was doubted because of the use of Enoch. In verse Jud 1:9 there seems to be an allusion to the Assumption of Moses, another apocryphal book, but it is the use of “prophesied” in verse Jud 1:14 about Enoch that gave most offence. It is possible, of course, that Jude did not attach the full sense to that term.

This really turns on the genuineness of the Epistle. There is no clear indication of the date, for the Gnostics described can belong to the first or to the second century. If it was used by 2 Peter, that would place it slightly before that Epistle. The date suggested, 65 to 67 a.d., is purely conjectural.