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Tuesday, June 08, 2010

1 Enoch 1:9

I. Canonics

Jude’s quotation of 1 Enoch 1:9 is often touted as a problem for the Protestant canon. If, however, that’s a problem for the Protestant canon, then that’s also a problem for the Roman Catholic canon, the Eastern Orthodox canon, and most Oriental orthodox canons–except the anomalous case of the Ethiopian Orthodox canon.

Of course, Roman Catholics default to the Magisterium. That, however, is a makeshift solution that fails to address Jude’s use of 1 Enoch 1:9. Either Jude treats this passage as inspired Scripture or not. If not, then we don’t need the Magisterium to broker the issue; but if he does, then the Magisterium can’t very well overrule Jude.

II. The Text

I’m going to reproduce both passages. I’ll quote Jude in the ESV, and I’ll use the translation supplied by Nickelsburg in his commentary for the Enochic passage.

1 Enoch 1:1-2,9

The words of the blessing with which Enoch blessed the righteous chosen who will be present on the day of tribulation, to remove all the enemies; and the righteous will be saved. And he took up his discourse and said, Enoch, a righteous man whose eyes were opened by God, who had the vision of the Holy One and of heaven, which he showed me…Behold, he comes with the myriads of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all, and to destroy all the wicked, and to convict all flesh for all the wicked deeds that they have done, and the proud and hard words that wicked sinners spoke against him.

Jude 14-15

It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

III. The Crux

Jude’s use of 1 Enoch 1:9 raises at least two related issues:

i) Unless he regards the speaker as the historic Enoch, why does he ascribe the utterance to Enoch?

ii) Unless he regards 1 Enoch 1:9 as true, why does he quote it?

IV. The Enochic Ascription

From what I can gauge, the obvious reason that Jude, in quoting this passage, attributes the utterance to Enoch, is because that ascription is, itself, a part of the original quote. Jude is quoting from a book quoting “Enoch.”

1 Enoch 1:1 is a general superscription for chapters 1-5 (in our extant editions), followed by an introduction (1:2-3) which reaffirms the Enochic superscription. (For details, see Nickelsburg’s commentary.)

Jude introduces 1:9 by paraphrasing 1:1 and then incorporating that ascription into his quote. In effect, he’s quoting 1:1,9. He carries the ascription of 1:1 down into the quotation of 1:9–skipping over the intervening material.

But this does not imply that he himself attributes the utterance to Enoch. Rather, he’s quoting the citation that comes with the pericope (1:1-9). A summary quotation of 1:1,9 (or 1:1-2,9).

He quotes the superscription because the superscription was already a part of the primary text, and, what is more, a part of the text that introduces the oracle of judgment.

So it’s not as if he’s adding his own attribution, or vouching for the ascription. Rather, he’s quoting a quote. For 1 Enoch 1:1-2 explicitly quotes “Enoch” making the statement recorded in v9. Therefore, an accurate quote by a secondary source (Jude) will reproduce the superscription in the primary source–though not necessarily verbatim.

To take a comparison, suppose a pastor preaches a sermon series on Hebrews, using the KJV. He inaugurates the series by reading his sermon text: “The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews. God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets…”

Is the pastor attributing Hebrews to St. Paul? No. The pastor is quoting the KJV, which attributes this letter to St. Paul.

Of course, this doesn’t rule out the possibility that our pastor may agree with the citation. But we can’t infer that from the mere practice of quoting the superscription to introduce the sermon text.

V. The Enochic Background

A common problem with the way the issue is framed is that scholars tend to focus on the background of Jude 14-15 rather than the background of 1 Enoch 1:9. Once they have identified the source of Jude 14-15, that’s where they stop.

Yet, to a great extent, 1 Enoch 1:9 (indeed, the whole pericope) is, itself, a secondary source which has its primary source in OT scripture. Therefore, Jude isn’t simply quoting 1 Enoch 1:9. For by quoting 1 Enoch 1:9, he is indirectly quoting whatever OT passages 1 Enoch is alluding to. To the extent, which is considerable, that 1 Enoch 1:9 goes back to the OT scriptures, so does Jude 14-15. It’s the truth of the OT scriptures, appropriated by 1 Enoch 1:9, which underwrites the truth 1 Enoch 1:9.

As a couple of scholars have noted:

“The holy ones are the faithful angels of God, as in Dan 4 and Job 5:1; 15:15. This reference to God’s celestial band recalls Deut 33:2…Zech 14:5c envisions an advent of God along with his holy ones. It is possible that Ps 68:18[17] also speaks of God’s heavenly retinue within the context of theophany…Dan 7:10, a part of Daniel’s throne vision, also pictures God as surrounded by myriads of heavenly attendants as at the time of judgment,” J. VanderKam, “The Theophany of Enoch 1:3b-7, 9,” Vetus Testamentum 23.2 (1973): 148-50.

“That God comes with myriads of holy ones derives form Deut 33:2…The universality of this judgment, indicated already in [1 Enoch] 1:7, is emphasized here by the fourfold repetition of ‘all.’…the language here should be read in light of three related OT texts. The first is Genesis 6-9, which repeatedly speaks of the corruption of all flesh and of the judgment that falls on all flesh except for a very small remnant [Gen 6:12,13,17,19; 7:15,21; 8:17; 9:11,15,17]…Two other OT passages (Jer 25:30-32; Isa 66:15-16) may have influenced the wording of 1 Enoch 1:3c-5,9,” G. Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1 (Fortress Press 2001), 149.

VI. Audience Adaptation

Apropos (V), the substance of the passage, quoted by Jude, is thoroughly Scriptural. The only apocryphal element is the Enochic setting, but that’s embedded in the citational formula of the primary source which Jude is quoting. An incidental consequence of his requoting the terms of the original quotation.

We might still ask why Jude references this material in the first place. An obvious explanation is that he did it because this type of literature was venerated by his opponents, and so he’s turning it against them. A polemical, tu quoque technique which we find elsewhere in Scripture.

13 comments:

  1. This isn't an issue for us. The Ethiopian Orthodox church is in communion with the other OO churches, and so it's not an issue for them, and if OO comes in communion with EO, their OT differences wouldn't matter.

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  2. JNORM888 SAID:

    "This isn't an issue for us. The Ethiopian Orthodox church is in communion with the other OO churches, and so it's not an issue for them, and if OO comes in communion with EO, their OT differences wouldn't matter."

    So it's not an issue for you if the Orthodox canon either excludes a divinely inspired book or mistakenly includes an uninspired book. Who cares about the word of God as long as you've got your traditions, is that it?

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  3. I presume the same argument would apply to Jude 9's use of the assumption of Moses. But have you any idea of what the OT background is of that quote?

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  4. Zech 3:1-2; Deut 34:6 (LXX).

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  5. Steve,



    You don't understand the Ancients, nor what they meant by the terms "Scripture", "Inspired", and "Canon".

    The Ancient Church had mutiple canons in various regions. And full communion was not necessarily based on if one region had the exact same number of books in it's Scrolls and Codices as the other. This should tell you that the later protestant principle of "Sola Scriptura" was foriegn to them. Scripture is an aspect of Tradition, it is not separate from it. The protestant idea that the Church didn't form the canon is false. Apostolic Churches in various regions formed their own Canons for use in their Liturgies, and over the centuries various canons became more and more uniform.

    In regards to the New Testament, the 27 book canon is only universal for us. The churches in the far East only had 22 books in their New Testament....as they probably still do today. And Ethiopia might have more books in her New Testament as well.....I have to double check to make sure.

    And so Sola Scriptura was never really the principle of the Ancient churches.......nor could it be for it takes a 100% uniform canon in both the Old and New Testaments in order to assume it.

    Sola Scriptura is a myth!









    ICXC NIKA

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  6. My statement wasn't predicated on sola Scriptura. Pity you can't follow the argument.

    Multiple canons? Again, that reflects the Orthodox indifference to the word of God.

    Case in point: either 1 Enoch is the word of God or 1 Enoch is not the word of God.

    It if is the word of God, that it should be deferred to as the word of God. If not, then not.

    So you've proven my point that Orthodox believers are not in submission to the word of God. They just don't care.

    Oh, and I understand by "Scripture" and "inspired" what the Bible understands by those terms. The word of God defines the word of God.

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  7. I would suggest another angle on this subject: Jude was referencing an inspired *oral* teaching, which 1 En 1:9 just happened to write down. Thus, Jude wasn't "quoting 1 Enoch" as a book but rather quoting oral tradition.

    This concept can be described by looking at a similar example (which I discuss in my apologetics article on 2 Tim 3:16f) where 1 Timothy 5:18 is sometimes appealed to as quoting the Gospel of Luke (which uses the same words), yet some argue (e.g. John Calvin) that it's rather quoting an oral saying of Jesus and not a quote of Luke's Gospel.

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  8. 1) How certain can you be that "Jude" wrote that letter?

    2) Why does "Jude" carefully describe this "Enoch" as "the seventh from Adam?" That seems pretty specific and certain.

    3) Please address the Enochian prophecy/prediction made in the letter of Jude:

    ...Certain persons have crept in unnoticed [i.e., in Jude's day], those who were long beforehand marked out for condemnation... about these [i.e., ungodly persons living in Jude's day]...Enoch... prophesied saying, "Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment..." [4,14-15]

    A prediction is being made that the Lord would arrive soon and punish those who were afflicting the churches. This arrival did not take place. Compare similar predictions found in other NT letters:

    ...The rulers of this age...are passing away ["will not last much longer" - Today's English Version] ... Do not go on passing judgment before the time [i.e., "before the time" of final judgment which Paul predicted was near at hand], but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts.... The time has been shortened so that from now on both those who have wives should be as though they had none; and those who weep, as though they did not weep; and those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice; and those who buy, as though they did not possess; and those who use the world, as though they did not make full use of it; for the form of this world is passing away ["This world, as it is now, will not last much longer" - Today's English Version].... These things were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come... Proclaim the Lord's death until he comes [i.e., Paul did not say, "Proclaim the Lord's death until the day you die," but rather, "until he comes," which means that he considered Christ's coming to be nearer than the time when the believers he was writing to would all be dead]. We [Paul and the first century believers being addressed] shall not all sleep... ...At the last trumpet...the dead will be raised...and we shall be changed. Maranatha [="Come Lord"] [1 Cor 2:6; 4:5; 7:29-31; 10:11; 11:26; 15:51-52; 16:22]

    ...How you turned to God from idols...to wait for His Son from heaven [Compare 1 Cor 1:7, "...awaiting eagerly the revelation (revealing) of our Lord Jesus Christ," and, Heb 9:28, "Christ...shall appear a second time...to those who eagerly await Him." These instructions to "eagerly wait" for Christ's return reveal how imminent the second coming of Jesus was believed to be.]... For who is our...crown... Is it not even you [the first century Christians being addressed], in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming? ...May establish your hearts... before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we [Paul and the first century Christians being addressed] who are alive and remain [notice how Paul included himself as one who will still be alive] until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep...the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air... ...May your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. [1 Thes 1:9,10; 2:19; 3:13; 4:15-17; 5:23]

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  12. CONTINUED FROM ABOVE
    Or see 1 Thess.
    ...How you turned to God from idols...to wait for His Son from heaven [Compare 1 Cor 1:7, "...awaiting eagerly the revelation (revealing) of our Lord Jesus Christ," and, Heb 9:28, "Christ...shall appear a second time...to those who eagerly await Him." These instructions to "eagerly wait" for Christ's return reveal how imminent the second coming of Jesus was believed to be.]... For who is our...crown... Is it not even you [the first century Christians being addressed], in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming? ... May establish your hearts... before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we [Paul and the first century Christians being addressed] who are alive and remain [notice how Paul included himself as one who will still be alive] until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep...the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air... ...May your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. [1 Thes 1:9,10; 2:19; 3:13; 4:15-17; 5:23]

    Keep in mind to whom Paul wrote the above letters, and also that Paul claimed that he was repeating a "word" that he had received directly from "the Lord." What marvelous truth was revealed to Paul in this astonishing revelation? Namely, that "we" [the first century Christians who "remained alive" at the time this letter was written, including Paul, its author] "shall be caught up...in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air!" For Paul there was no doubt that Jesus would arrive before he and the believers he addressed would all be dead. "We," including himself, "shall not all sleep" [1 Cor 15:51]. Yet all of those to whom Paul once wrote, including Paul, now "sleep" - the "word of the Lord" notwithstanding. In his second letter to the Thessalonians, Paul remained just as certain that Jesus would return shortly:

    ...It is just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution...these will pay the penalty...when He comes... [2 Thes 1:6-10]

    That is to say, Jesus would be revealed from heaven "with his mighty angles in flaming fire" soon enough to "relieve" the afflictions of the Thessalonians, and Paul, and other first century Christians.

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  13. CONTINUED FROM ABOVE
    So, compare Paul's expectation of supernatural judgment and soon "relief" with this prediction found in the letter of Jude:

    ...Certain persons have crept in unnoticed [i.e., in Jude's day], those who were long beforehand marked out for condemnation... about these [i.e., ungodly persons living in Jude's day]...Enoch... prophesied saying, "Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment..." [4,14-15]

    Jude's message, like Paul's, was that Jesus would soon arrive, punish those who were afflicting the churches throughout the "world," and provide "relief" for steadfast believers. Also note these passages from Paul's letter to the believers at Philippi:

    ...He who began a good work in you [the first century Christians being addressed] will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus [i.e., rather than saying, "until the day you die," which he assumed was not going to happen to all of them, since, as Paul pointed out in 1 Cor, "we shall not all sleep!"]... ...In order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ [Compare 1 Tim 6:14, "Keep the commandment...until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ."]... ...We eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ... ...Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. [Philip 1:6,10; 3:20; 4:5]

    What about Paul's famous letter to the Christians at Rome?

    ...The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is soon [mello] to be revealed to us... ...The whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now... ...We... groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. ...Knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed! The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand... ...The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. [Rom 8:18,22-23; 13:11-12; 16:20]

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