25 to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
To the only wise God - See the Romans 16:27 note; 1-Timothy 1:17 note.
Our Saviour - The word "Saviour" may be appropriately applied to God as such, because he is the great Author of salvation, though it is commonly applied to the Lord Jesus Christ. That it may have been designed that it should be applied here to the Lord Jesus no one can certainly deny, nor can it be demonstrated that it was; and in these circumstances, as all that is fairly implied in the language may be applied to God as such, it is most natural to give the phrase that interpretation.
Be glory and majesty - 1-Timothy 1:17 note; Romans 16:17 note.
Dominion and power - See Matthew 6:13. It is common in the Scriptures to ascribe power, dominion, and glory to God, expressing the feeling that all that is great and good belongs to him, and the desire of the heart that he may reign in heaven and on earth. Compare Revelation 4:11; Revelation 19:1. With the expression of such a desire it was not inappropriate that this Epistle should be closed - and it is not inappropriate that this volume should be closed with the utterance of the same wish. In all our affections and aspirations, may God be supreme; in all the sin and woe which prevail here below, may we look forward with strong desire to the time when his dominion shall be set up over all the earth; in all our own sins and sorrows, be it ours to look onward to the time when in a purer and happier world his reign may be set up over our own souls, and when we may cast every crown at his feet and say, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. - Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God," Revelation 4:11; Revelation 19:1.
To the only wise God - Who alone can teach, who alone has declared the truth; that truth in which ye now stand. See on Romans 16:27 (note).
Our Savior - Who has by his blood washed us from our sins, and made us kings and priests unto God the Father.
Be glory - Be ascribed all light, excellence, and splendor.
Majesty - All power, authority, and pre-eminence.
Dominion - All rule and government in the world and in the Church, in earth and in heaven.
And power - All energy and operation to every thing that is wise, great, good, holy, and excellent.
Both now - In the present state of life and things.
And ever - Εις παντας τους αιωνας· To the end of all states, places, dispensations, and worlds; and to a state which knows no termination, being that Eternity in which this glory, majesty, dominion, and power ineffably and incomprehensibly dwell.
Amen - So let it be, so ought it to be, and so it shall be.
After to the only wise God our Savior, many excellent MSS. versions, etc., add δια Ιησου Χριστου του Κυριου ἡμων, by Jesus Christ our Lord; and after dominion and power they add προ παντος του αιωνος, before all time; and both these readings Griesbach has received into the text. The text, therefore, may be read thus: To the only wise God our Savior, by Christ Jesus our Lord, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, before all time; and now, and through all futurity. Amen. Let the whole creation join in one chorus, issuing in one eternal Amen!
Subscriptions to this epistle in the Versions: -
The Epistle of Jude the apostle, whose intercession be ever with us, Amen. The end. - Syriac.
The Epistle of Jude, the brother of James is finished: and glory be to God for ever and ever, Amen. - Aethiopic.
Nothing in the Vulgate.
Nothing in the Arabic.
"This epistle was written a.d. 64, by the Apostle Jude, the brother of James; who is also called Lebbeus and Thaddeus; and who preached (the Gospel) to the Armenians and to the Persians." - This is found at the end of the Armenian Bible, printed in 1698.
The Epistle of Jude the son of Joseph, and brother of James, is ended - A MS. copy of the Syriac.
The end of the catholic Epistle of St. Jude. - Complutensian.
The Epistle of Jude the apostle is ended. - Ibid. Latin text.
In the Manuscripts: -
Jude. - Codex Vaticanus, B.
The Epistle of Jude. - Codex Alexandrinus.
The catholic Epistle of Jude. - Codex Ephrem.
The Epistle of the holy Apostle Jude. - Codex G, in Griesbach.
Of how little authority such subscriptions are, we have already had occasion to observe in various cases. Very few of them are ancient; and none of them coeval with the works to which they are appended. They are, in general, the opinions of the scribes who wrote the copies; or of the Churches for whose use they were written. No stress therefore should be laid on them, as if proceeding from Divine authority.
With the Epistle of Jude end all the apostolical epistles, and with it the canon of the New Testament, as to gospels and epistles; for the Apocalypse is a work sui generis, and can rank with neither. It is in general a collection of symbolic prophecies, which do not appear to be yet fully understood by the Christian world, and which can only be known when they are fulfilled.
Finished for a new impression, January 4th, 1832. - A. C.
To the only wise God our Saviour,.... By whom is meant, not the Trinity of Persons in general, nor the Father in particular; but the Lord Jesus Christ, who is truly God, though not to the exclusion of the Father and Spirit; and is the wisdom of God, and the author of all wisdom, natural and spiritual; and is the only Saviour of his people; and to him may be, as is ascribed, the
glory of his deity, and divine sonship, of his mediatorial works, and of salvation:
and majesty: which belongs to him as God, and which he has in his human nature, being crowned with glory, and honour, and enthroned and set down at the right hand of God:
dominion; both natural, the kingdom of nature and providence belonging to him, and mediatorial, which is above all, reaches far and wide, and will last for ever:
and power; in making and upholding all things; in redeeming his people; in protecting and defending them, and in destroying his and their enemies; in raising the dead, and judging the world. Though the Alexandrian copy, and some others, and the Vulgate Latin version, read, "to the only God our Saviour, by Jesus Christ our Lord", and leave out the word "wise"; and so they are to be understood of God the Father; but the Ethiopic version reads, "this is the only God our Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom", &c. And all this is to be attributed to him,
both now, and ever; in the present life, and to all eternity,
Amen: which is an assent unto it, that so it should be; and a wish that so it may be; and an expression of faith, and strong asseveration, that so it shall be.
To the only . . . God our Saviour--The oldest manuscripts add, "through Jesus Christ our Lord." The transcribers, fancying that "Saviour" applied to Christ alone, omitted the words. The sense is, To the only God (the Father) who is our Saviour through (that is, by the mediation of) Jesus Christ our Lord.
dominion--Greek, "might."
power--authority: legitimate power. The oldest manuscripts and Vulgate, after "power," have "before all the age," that is, before all time as to the past: "and now," as to the present; "and to all the ages," that is, for ever, as to the time to come.
*More commentary available at chapter level.