It is impossible to speak with any certainty as to either
the date or the authorship of this Letter. From the beginning
there have been doubts as to its genuineness and canonicity, and
these are represented to-day in the differing judgements of
critics equally able and sincere.
It has, however, unquestionably had a place in the canon
of the New Testament since the Council of Laodicea in 372 A.D.,
and there is certainly no such decisive evidence against it as to
warrant our omitting it from the New Testament.
It would appear that the writer, whoever he was, had seen
the Letter from Jude, and bore it in mind in this his plea for
such character and conduct on the part of believers as were
worthy of their faith and would prepare them for the Coming of
the Lord. The whole Letter constitutes an earnest appeal for
practical holiness.