Jude 17 as Appealing to Authoritative Oral Tradition

  

But, beloved, remember (μνήσθητε) ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus. (Jude 17)

 

The aorist passive imperative μνήσθητε in v. 17 serves two rhetorical purposes—it assumes that Jude’s addresses already know this, and it appeals to tradition, which unlike Enoch’s is spoken, not written. (Chris Armitage, From Qumran to Jude: A History of Social Crisis at Qumran and in Early Jewish Christianity [Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2023], 106)