The Text:
Jude 1:1 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: (KIJV)
The Challenge:
“1). Protestants generally use the principle of Scripture “alone”. This is fine, but by utilizing that principle, they say that Jude was a blood-brother of Jesus. But in the opening sentences of Jude, it states: “Jude, a SERVANT of Jesus and a BROTHER of James…”
My Answer:
Since Jude mentions that he is the brother of James, and we know that James is the brother of Jesus, we know that Jude is the brother of Jesus likewise and in the same sense. It may be out of humility that Jude states this relationship in the manner he did.
This may be an example of the transitive property I learned in Geometry: If A = B and B = C then A = C.
If we carefully compare Scripture with Scripture, the following Bible texts also factor into resolving the question: Did Mary have additional children by Joseph after Jesus was born?
The Evidence of His Own Family’s Unbelief:
John 7:5 For neither did his brethren believe in him. (KJV)
John 7:5 indicates that the brothers of Jesus did not originally believe in him.
The Evidence of Messianic Prophecy:
This fact is the subject of prophecy and the fulfilment of prophecy found in Psalm 69:8,
Psa 69:8 I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children.
In context, Psalm 69:8 was true of David’s personal situation. But David’s personal situation is also a prophecy of our Savior’s situation. It is well known that Psalm 69 is a Messianic Psalm. It is one of a limited number of Messianic Psalms that by its structure presents the truth Jesus directly mentions in His explanation that the Scriptures, including the Psalms, predicted that “first the sufferings, then the glory” was the divinely established order of events concerning the destiny of the Messiah (Luke 24:26; 1 Peter 1:11).
Luke 24:26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
1 Peter 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
In the very next verse of Psalm 69, verse 9, we read:
Psalm 69:9 For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.
This verse is cited in the New Testament as prophecy which Jesus fulfilled in the account given by John in his Gospel, John 2:14-17,
John 2:14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
Joh 2:15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
Joh 2:16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.
Joh 2:17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.
Evidence of the Post Resurrection Appearances of Jesus:
Back to the theme I started with, that the brothers of Jesus did not believe in Him: that was true until Jesus appeared to His brothers after His resurrection, as Paul records in 1 Corinthians 15:7, that Jesus was seen of James:
1Co 15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
1Co 15:5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
1Co 15:6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
1Co 15:7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
1Co 15:8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
The Evidence of the Close Connection of Jude and James:
We read of the close connection of Judas (Jude) and James after the resurrection of Christ for they are mentioned as being among those gathered for prayer in an upper room (Acts 1:13):
Act 1:13 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.
We are told that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was there with his brethren:
Act 1:14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. (KJV)
Act 1:14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. (ESV)
The brothers of Jesus are named in Mark 6:3,
Mar 6:3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
The Evidence of What Jesus Said About His Own Family:
Jesus speaks of the unbelief of His own family as recorded in Mark 6:4,
Mark 6:4 And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” (ESV)
Mar 6:4 But Jesus told them, “The only place a prophet isn’t honored is in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his own house.” (GW, God’s Word translation)
Mar 6:4 But Jesus said, “Prophets are honored by everyone, except the people of their hometown and their relatives and their own family.” (CEV, Contemporary English Version)
Therefore, James and Jude are blood brothers, the brothers of Jesus, included in His own household, in His own family.
Conclusion Drawn from and Established by the Testimony of Scripture:
Conclusion: Mary, the mother of Jesus, had additional children by Joseph after Jesus was born.
Daily Bible Nugget #860, Romans 5:8
The Nugget:
Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (KJV)
Rom 5:8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (ESV)
Rom 5:8 But God proves His love for us by the fact that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. (Williams NT)
Rom 5:8 Christ died for us while we were still sinners. This demonstrates God’s love for us. (GW, God’s Word translation)
Rom 5:8 But God has made clear his love to us, in that, when we were still sinners, Christ gave his life for us. (BBE, Bible in Basic English)
The Challenge:
“Not all the vials of judgment that have or shall be poured out upon the wicked world give such a demonstration of God’s hatred of sin as the wrath of God let loose upon his Son.” A. W. Pink
My Response:
This is a popular but very mistaken view of what transpired when Jesus was on the Cross.
Nowhere in the Bible is it stated that the wrath of God was let loose upon his Son.
Nowhere in the Bible does the Bible state that Jesus was punished for our sin.
Nowhere in the Bible does the Bible declare that Jesus paid the penalty for our sin.
If Jesus paid the penalty, to whom was the penalty paid? Chapter and Verse Please!
The words “penalty” and “paid” are nowhere in Scripture associated with the work Christ did on our behalf on the Cross, so far as I have been able to find using Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible.
If it were true that Jesus suffered the wrath of God for us, that God the Father poured out His wrath upon His Son, that would divide the Trinity.
The thought is blasphemy, and not the Gospel presented in the New Testament.
As for the penalty for sin, God established just what that penalty was from the very beginning. The penalty is spiritual death.
Those who leave this life in the state of spiritual death will suffer for all eternity the punishment originally prepared for the Devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41).
Mat 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
That dreadful punishment takes place in the Lake of Fire (Revelation 21:8).
Rev 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
The more accurate view of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ is to affirm that he voluntarily (John 10:18) bore our sins (1 Peter 2:24) upon the Cross as both our Priest and the Sacrifice, thus Priestly-Sacrificial Atonement.
Joh 10:17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
Joh 10:18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
1Pe 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
He Himself is declared to be both the Sacrifice and the Atonement for our sin in 1 John 2:2, “And He, Himself, is Atonement concerning our sins; but not concerning ours only, but also concerning the world as a whole” (Lavender New Testament, translated by Dr. Malcolm Lavender).
What about 2 Corinthians 5:21?
2Co 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.