Jude 1:25

to the only wise God our Saviour The form of the doxology in the Received Text presents a parallelism to that of 1 Timothy 1:17. The word "wise" is, however, omitted in many of the best MSS. In the use of the word "Saviour" as applied to God we have a parallelism with 1 Timothy 2:3. The Father, no less than the Son, was thought of by both writers as the Saviour and Preserver of all men. The MSS. that omit "wise" add, for the most part, "through Jesus Christ our Lord."

be glory and majesty, dominion and power The Greek has no verb, and the gap may be filled up either with the imperative of ascription or the indicative of assertion. The four words are brought together as expressing the aggregate of the Divine Omnipotence, the last word expressing the "power of authority," as distinct from that of energy. The better MSS. insert after "power" the words "before all time" (literally, before the whole æon), so that the doxology includes the past eternity as well as the future. In the words "for ever" we have literally unto all the ages, or æons.

The Epistle ends with the "Amen" which was the natural close of a doxology, and, like the Second Epistle of St Peter, contains no special messages or salutations. The letter was strictly a catholic, or encyclical, Epistle.