CONTENT YET CONTENDING: JUDE
By Daniel R. Hyde
EP Books. 138 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978 1 783 971 756
A helpful, engaging book from an experienced US pastor, on the often-neglected letter of Jude.
Hyde appears to have chosen the title of the book to summarise the letter, that while Christians are to be content in the fact that they know God, they are simultaneously to contend for the truth God has revealed.
It is adapted from a series of sermons, rather than being a verse-by-verse commentary. Although this means some issues (such as Jude’s seeming use of apocryphal texts) aren’t dealt with in depth, many clear and helpful exegetical points are made. The warmth and earnestness of the preaching is captured, with generally helpful application.
Valuable outline
Hyde’s outline of the letter (p.17) is particularly helpful. This is especially valuable since Jude contains so many allusions that it can be easy to miss the wood for the trees.
Hyde wears his Reformed credentials on his sleeve. Many of the 138 footnotes in the book are from Reformed authors, confessions and catechisms. Some are particularly enlightening, although others seem to me to cut into the flow of the text (and would probably do so even more in spoken form). Additionally, these references (and some of Hyde’s applications) would perhaps be off-putting to those who don’t consider themselves Reformed. Helpfully, though, references were printed as footnotes not endnotes, meaning there is no flicking to the back to follow them up.
A bit of a surprise
Hyde isn’t embarrassed to name those he believes to be in error today. I found this surprising, especially because the chapters began as sermons. It does, however, reinforce the utter seriousness of doctrinal error, a vital aspect of Jude’s message. This volume is particularly useful in enabling the reader to grasp Jude as a whole.
