Who was the person to whom the Epistle of Jude was written?

A:

The General Epistle of Jude does not say directly to whom it was supposedly written, with verse 3 simply addressing the reader as 'Beloved': "Beloved, although I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation ..."

The epistle clearly identifies itself as having been written in the second century. Verse 17 tells us that the apostles had spoken of these things beforehand, verse 18-19 speak of things that were once told about the mockers of Jude's time, while verse 3 tells us that the Christian faith was once (long ago) passed on to the saints, all of which confirm that this epistle was written during the second century, long after those alive at the time of Jesus were already dead.

The epistle was written using the name Jude, whether of the apostle Jude or of the brother of Jesus, to ensure ready acceptance of the author's message. As with any pseudepigraphical work we can not assume that the epistle was written to a particular person as indicated, but rather it was an encyclical to the Church as a whole, with the addressee reference merely to give the epistle further authenticity.