SUBJECT:  The Book of Enoch

QUESTION:

What is the Book of Enoch?  I have hit a small difficulty in understanding a part of the Bible. Enoch (the person) is mentioned in Genesis 5:21-24, Hebrews 11:5, and Jude verse 14.  Why wasn’t this book a part of the Bible if it is quoted in the Bible?

ANSWER:

The Book of Enoch is a book written between the Old and New Testaments.  Probable date of writing was between 150-80 B.C. Copies of the Book of Enoch have been found among the Dead Sea scrolls.  If this date is accurate, obviously the Book of Enoch was not written by the real Enoch.

Your question raises the whole issue of what books are inspired by God and what books are not. There are many other Jewish writings from this time period which are like the book of Enoch, such as the books of Maccabees, The Wisdom of Solomon, Judith, Tobit, etc. These books give supposed prophesies, visions, and history of the Jewish people between the Testaments. Protestants usually call these books the Apocrypha (Greek, apokruphos = "hidden") and do not consider them inspired writings.

The reason that Protestants don't consider the book of Enoch and other Jewish writings from this time period inspired is that:

With the exception of Jude these books are never quoted by Jesus or the apostles.  The Book of Enoch and other Apocryphal books were not considered inspired by the Jews.  Josephus the Jewish historian mentions only the books found in the Protestant Old Testament.  None of the Apocryphal books was included in the list of Hebrew inspired Scriptures by the Jewish rabbis who met at Jamnia between 70-100 AD.  Most of the early church fathers did not believe these books were inspired either.  Melito, bishop of Sardis, drew up the oldest list of the Old Testament canon (around 170 A.D.). It includes only the Protestant/Jewish Old Testament.  Many of the early church fathers spoke out against the Apocryphal books, for example, Origen, Cyril of Jerusalem, Athanasius. Jerome (340-420), who translated the Scriptures into Latin, says the following about the Apocrypha: They "were read for edification, but not for confirming the authority of church doctrine."   No church council of the Christian church for the first four centuries recognized these Apocryphal works as inspired.  The Apocryphal books contain historical and geographical inaccuracies.

Through the years some translations of the Bible have included the Book of Enoch and other Jewish works; other translations have not. For example, Martin Luther incorporated some of these books into his German translation, but he was careful to state that the books were not equal to Scripture but nevertheless were "profitable and good to read."

After the time of the Reformation most Protestants decided to follow the original Hebrew canon and they did not include the Book of Enoch and other books in their Bibles. The Roman Catholic Church, however, at the Council of Trent (1546), decided to affirm what the Protestants affirmed PLUS fourteen Apocryphal books. These fourteen Apocryphal books contain verses, which can be used BY THE CATHOLICS to prove there is a "purgatory" and that they can pray to saints -- issues that the Protestants used as attack points against the Catholic church.

The Douay version of the Bible was one of those translations that included parts of the Apocrypha. The Douay version is a Roman Catholic translation. Roman Catholic Bibles still include the Apocryphal books. The King James version is a Protestant translation and hence, did not include the Apocrypha.

Now back to Jude's quotation from the Book of Enoch. Jude's quotation of the book of Enoch does not mean that he considered it inspired. The book of Enoch was a well respected writing among some of the Jews in New Testament times.  Even though is was not inspired, it contains some truth (and some falsehood - like angels marrying humans). Jude simply uses a passage from the book of Enoch to prove his point about the coming judgment of wicked men.

Other New Testament quotations from, or allusions to, non-Biblical works include Paul's quotations of Aratus (Acts17:28), Menander (1 Corinthians 15:33) and Epimenides (Titus 1:12). Such usage in no way suggest that the quotations, or the books from which they were taken, are divinely inspired. It only means that the Biblical author found the quotations to be helpful confirmation, clarification, or illustration.