Jude does an interesting thing in his letter, he uses a non-Biblical source as though it were from Scripture, and he does so not once, but twice in a 25 verse letter. Why does he do that? Should that place the letter in doubt as to its inerrancy? Let’s take a look…
We’ve already seen the first of these in verse 9 when he mentions the story of Michael the Archangel struggling with Satan over the body of Moses. No doubt you will recall that this is found in a paragraph connected with a series of Biblical examples and connected by “in the same way” an unusual context to say the least. As I mentioned at the time, this story is found in a work called The Assumption of Moses written early in the first century. The second use of a non-Biblical account is to be found in verses 14-15 where Jude actually quotes from the Book of Enoch, sometimes called 1 Enoch. This work was written by multiple authors in the second century B.C.
These two books are part of what scholars call the pseudepigrapha, which is comprised of writings that are attributed to Old Testament characters but actually written at a later date by other authors. These works were well-known in the first century, and other New Testament writers may have been familiar with them, and may even have been influenced by them, but Jude alone quotes directly from one of them and identifies it as a prophecy. Many people have been disturbed by this over the years, and it has produced some interesting discussion. For instance, Tertullian ((A.D. 160-220) argued that 1 Enoch should be considered inspired since Jude quoted it. On the other hand, Jerome (A.D. 342-420) reported that there were those who rejected Jude’s letter because he quoted it. Personally, I think they might have both been operating under a false premise, that Jude quoted it as inspired at all; this isn’t necessarily the case.
Other New Testament writers quoted non-inspired authors because they considered them be to right and useful, if not inspired. Paul for instance, quoted three Greek poets. In Titus 1:12 he calls the Greek poet Epimenides a prophet since Cretans accepted him as such. The particular quote “Cretans are always liars…” was also an accurate statement. He also quoted Menander in 1 Corinthians 15:33 and Aratus in Acts 17:28.
It’s quite likely that Jude respected The Book of Enoch and considered the “prophecy” to be an accurate one without accepting it as divinely inspired, just as we might quote C.S. Lewis or R.C. Sproul today in making a point. Indeed, I myself have quoted Harry Truman in this blog more than once, because I felt that the remark I quoted was one of great truth and insight: “The only thing worth knowing is what you learn after you already know it all.” President Truman was no prophet and I have never suspected his comments were divinely inspired, and if I had been around back in 1948, I probably would have voted for Dewey, but he sure got that one right!
At any rate, I do not think Jude’s quotes should lessen our respect for the authority of his letter; his message is a vitally important one for us, as it was in the first century: Beware of false teachers!
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3 friends and myself did a deeper study on this book about a year ago. Took it slow and verse by verse. My take on it is this. …
It DID make it into our Holy Bible and I personally believe that if God hadn’t approved of it then men would have been stopped somehow – someway.
I concur with your findings 🙂
“The second use of a non-Biblical account is to be found in verses 14-15 where Jude actually quotes from the Book of Enoch, sometimes called 1 Enoch. This work was written by multiple authors in the second century B.C.”
You make this sound like fact Don. Sorry mate but pure speculation. You take notice of so called ‘experts’ when all they want to do is tear down instead of build up. What I know about Enoch is that it was fairly common in the early church but because of its ‘spiritual nature’ was banned by several religious organizations at the time (particularly Arius) and then they went book burning. The only surviving copies left were those that were kept in the Ethiopian library. However those particular copies were translated from Hebrew to Ethiopic which is unfortunate since a few bits are lost in translation.
Sorry Steve, but I’m not sure what your point is…
Am I speculating about the parallel nature of the text (which I can read for myself) or the timing of the writing, which is a generally accepted historical fact? …Or maybe something else?
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“Other New Testament writers quoted non-inspired authors because they considered them be to right and useful, if not inspired. ” Yep. And some may be inspired but may not be recognized as so for centuries – or until we meet them face to face. 😉
True
My point Don is that it could have very well been written by Enoch and handed down through Noah then Abraham etc.
Did you know that in Luke 9:35 there is a mistranslation. In the Greek New Testament is the words
ο Aεκλελεγμενος which means The Elect One. These 2 words were left out of the King James. The important part is that in Enoch, The Elect One is written 14 times. The Apostles and other church leaders would have known the connection.
That’s an interesting thought for sure, but then there are many questions to be answered to establish it as fact. We do know for certain when it begins to be discussed and quoted. For the sake of an interesting discussion Steve, let’s say it was written by Enoch way back there in his time: What difference would it make in Jude’s quotation? I’m not sure that I see that it would.
As to your other (are you sitting down?)
I agree.
Hey Steve… have a great one!
“For the sake of an interesting discussion Steve, let’s say it was written by Enoch way back there in his time: What difference would it make in Jude’s quotation? I’m not sure that I see that it would.”
In some ways it could. Many people would tend to pay little attention to an offhanded quote from somebody that they just respected. Lets face it many people, even many people, can’t even get the quote, “For the love of money is the root of all evil”. They leave off the “For the love of”. Then if a quote came from a guy who didn’t die but was translated then maybe more attention will be paid to this quote.
Anyway just a musing from me. Thanks for agreeing to something 🙂
You could be right, a person might pay it more attention if they could tie it to Enoch for certain…
Well, let’s not get too used to this agreeing thing, OK? 🙂