The Faith That Was Once for All
Entrusted (Jude 3b)
Jude 3b is sometimes considered to
indicate a middle or higher date for the letter.
I find it necessary to write and
appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.
(Jude 3)
This passage could suggest a
middle [100-130] or higher [130] date if we suppose that “the faith that was once
for all entrusted to the saints” is a fixed deposit of inalterable doctrine and
that such a fixed deposit was impossible before 70 but later became possible.
Richard Bauckham sums up the difficulties with this line of argumentation succinctly,
rightly observing that “the contrast set up between Jude and the Christianity
of the first generation generally results from 91) underestimating the role of tradition
in Christianity from the first, and (2) exaggerating the extent to which Jude’s
language implies a fixed body of formal doctrine” (Bauckham, Jude and 2 Peter,
32). Already we have Paul in the 50s speaking about doctrines that were
passed on to him (1 Cor. 15:2-3). Jude seems to suppose nothing more fixed
or formal than does Paul. (Jonathan Bernier, Rethinking the Dates of
the New Testament: The Evidence for Early Composition [Grand Rapids, Mich.:
Baker Academic, 2022], 231-32, comments in square brackets added for clarification;
Bernier places Jude “prior to 96” [p. 278])
