Commentaries on the books of the Bible may be written from various points of view. The special aim of this commentary on the epistles of James, Peter and Jude is to place them in a setting that is historically realistic. Since the political and social problems of their time were of extraordinary importance to both the writers and the readers of these epistles, we pay special attention to them here. As this commentary is not meant to be overly technical, we have not quoted at length the Greek and Latin texts which demonstrate the importance of political and social problems in the environment of the early church.