Although the quotation of 1 Enoch in Jude 14–15 is often noted, the complex dependencies between 1 Enoch, Jude, and the Petrine epistles, as well as the general importance of the theology of 1 Enoch in the New Testament, often go under-appreciated. Taking a closer look at these books provides some insight into how early Christian authors adapted each others’ work and drew upon texts that were ultimately omitted from the Bible. The relationship between these books might also pose a problem for some conservative theologians and clergy who believe the Catholic epistles to be inerrant, but not earlier works like 1 Enoch.
A Very Brief Primer on 1 Enoch:
The First Book of Enoch is a lengthy, five-part Jewish work composed in stages, beginning perhaps around 200 BCE, and which circulated widely in Jewish and Christian circles for several centuries. Purportedly written by the antediluvian patriarch Enoch, it provides an alternate version of the events leading up to Noah’s flood, along with various other cosmological and eschatological teachings. The first portion of 1 Enoch, the Book of Watchers, tells how certain angels called Watchers came to earth, engaged in depraved sexual acts with human women, and introduced sin into the world — teaching men the art of war and women the use of cosmetics, for example. For these acts, God had the angels chained in a subterranean prison and used Enoch as a go-between for communicating with them. Although the ideas of 1 Enoch have pervaded Christian thought and tradition for two millennia, the book itself was considered to be “lost” until the 18th century, when European travellers to Africa discovered that the Ethiopian Orthodox Church had preserved a Ge’ez version in its biblical canon. Since then, fragments of the work in its original Aramaic have been discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Portions of the text in Greek and Latin have also survived.
Jude, 1 Peter, and 2 Peter:
Jude and 2 Peter are pseudepigraphic works written to address similar situations regarding teachers of false doctrine that their respective authors were concerned about. Much of the content in Jude is closely based upon 1 Enoch, including a direct quotation at one point. 1 Peter, another pseudepigraphic letter addressed to various Greek churches, also draws upon numerous Enochic themes. 2 Peter, in turn, copies or paraphrases nearly everything in Jude and a small portion of 1 Peter, as well as incorporating Enochic material directly.
Comparing the Texts:
Let’s look at some of the more significant parallels between these texts. Jude starts off with a greeting (paralleled by 2 Peter 3:1–2) followed by an introduction about false teachers that is also adapted by 2 Peter.
In addition to paraphrasing Jude’s general warning about the intrusion of false teachers, 2 Peter reuses some of Jude’s distinctive keywords — “denying the Master” and engaging in “licentiousness”. Then Jude proceeds with some historical examples of destructive teachings and their consequences. First, there is an allusion to Korah’s rebellion:
2 Peter’s allusion is worded more vaguely, but is unmistakeable when compared with Jude. Then we come to Enoch’s fallen angels and their imprisonment as they await the day of judgment:
Jude 6 is a summary of the extra-biblical tradition found in 1 Enoch:
And they were two hundred who descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon. (1 Enoch 6:6)
Fetter him hand and foot and cast him into darkness… And on the day of the great judgment he will be led off to the blazing fire. (1 Enoch 10:4b, 6)
Bind them for seventy generations in valleys of the earth, until the great day of their judgment… (1 Enoch 11:12)
And I asked the angel of peace who went with me, “For whom are these chains being prepared?” And he said to me, “These are being prepared for the host of Azazel, that they might take them and throw them into the abyss of complete judgment, and with jagged rocks they will cover their jaws, as the Lord of Spirits commanded. (1 Enoch 54:4–5)
…an everlasting judgment and the time of the great judgment will be exacted from all the Watchers of heaven. (1 Enoch 91:15)
Tartaros, where the Titans were imprisoned in Greek mythology, is also mentioned in 1 Enoch 20:2.
Unlike Genesis, 1 Enoch directly links the activities of the fallen angels (Watchers) to the flood of Noah, which was needed in order to eliminate the offspring of the Watchers. 2 Peter includes this association between the imprisoned angels and the Flood, which Jude omits. In this case, however, the passage is a parallel of one we find in 1 Peter.
We’ll examine 1 Peter more closely further on. Back to Jude, who proceeds to compare the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah with the actions of the fallen angels (and 2 Peter follows suit).
This too is an indirect allusion to 1 Enoch, since the canonical story in Genesis never associates Sodom and Gomorrah with the sexual immorality of fallen angels. Whereas the Old Testament tends to describe the sin of Sodom in terms of injustice and inhospitality, later apocryphal writings (notably Jubilees) emphasis sexual immorality. Jude adopts this latter approach, explicitly associating their wickedness with that of the fallen angels in 1 Enoch. Incidentally, that whole notion of eternal fire as a means of punishment for some of the wicked is also a frequent theme in 1 Enoch.
Then Jude lays against the false teachers the curious charge of “slandering the Glorious Ones” — distinctive language copied by 2 Peter, but found nowhere else in the New Testament, although similar phrases appear in 1 Enoch and other apocrypha. (The expression “glorious ones” also appears in 2 Enoch.)
Jude’s reference to Michael and the devil is apparently based on another apocryphal work known as the Assumption of Moses. 2 Peter, for a number of possible reasons, drops the reference to Michael and speaks more generally of angels who are “greater in might and power” than the Glorious Ones, yet do not slander them. For the sake of space, I’ll skip Jude 10–12a. They are closely paralleled by 2 Peter 2:12–16, including references to Balaam that are derived from extra-biblical traditions. This is also of some interest, since numerous scholars have identified connections between the Balaam tradition and 1 Enoch.¹ Jude 12b–13 is another passage whose connections with 1 Enoch are usually overlooked.
1 Enoch 2 describes the orderly signs found in creation: the paths of the heavenly luminaries, clouds of dew and rain in winter, trees that bear fruit in spring, and the sea and rivers. Jude describes his opponents as perversions of these signs: waterless clouds, fruitless trees, and wandering stars. Jude’s reference to wandering stars also recalls 1 Enoch 18:15–16, which describes stars that have been imprisoned for disobedience. The “deepest darkness” that has been “reserved forever” again alludes to the eternal darkness where the leader of the angels is imprisoned in 1 Enoch 10:4. The next two verses contain Jude’s famous quotation of 1 Enoch 1:9:
Curiously, 2 Peter has no corresponding verses — perhaps due to the author’s tendency to generalize Jude’s references to apocryphal scriptures. Jude 16–18 and 24–25 are paralleled by 2 Peter 2:18–3:3, 14, 18. I’ll omit them here for brevity’s sake. 2 Peter 3 contains additional material with themes shared by 1 Enoch. References to a future judgment of fire and the earth melting (2 Peter 3:5–12) are reminiscent of a similar passage in 1 Enoch 1:6–7 — “and the high hills shall be laid low and shall melt like wax in the flame”, which may find its source in Micah 1:4. The idea of a new heaven and earth (2 Peter 3:13), which is probably based on Isaiah 65:17 and 66:22, is a theme present in 1 Enoch as well:
I will transform the heaven and make it an eternal blessing and light; and I will transform the earth and make it a blessing; and I will cause my elect ones to dwell upon it; but sinners and evildoers shall not set foot thereon. (1 Enoch 45:4b–5)
The first heaven shall pass away, and a new heaven shall appear. (1 Enoch 91:16a)
Even when we cannot be sure of which source (or sources) 2 Peter is drawing upon for his apocalyptic imagery, the thematic parallels are noteworthy.
1 Peter and 1 Enoch:
The epistle of 1 Peter, although very different from 2 Peter in style and content, contains numerous allusions to 1 Enoch. One is the motif of a prophet to whom heavenly secrets are revealed — secrets that the angels themselves wish to know. In 1 Enoch 16:3, pursuing such secrets is one of the sins the Watchers are accused of.
Much of 1 Peter’s material also comes from the section of 1 Enoch known as the Book of Parables (aka the Similitudes of Enoch). This messianic text refers frequently to the coming of the righteous Son of Man who will judge the world — a concept adopted throughout the New Testament. 1 Peter 1:20 and 4:5 provide some good examples:
Perhaps the most interesting reference is one already mentioned, 1 Peter 3:18–20. As the text now stands, it describes Christ as having “made a proclamation” to the disobedient spirits who were in prison during the days of Noah. Most scholarly commentaries on 1 Peter acknowledge that Christ is being described as a type of Enoch, since Enoch is given the task of delivering God’s proclamation to the imprisoned Watchers during the time of Noah in 1 Enoch 11–13.
- Although there have been other interpretations of this passage in 1 Peter, it should not be overlooked that the corresponding reference to the saving of Noah in 2 Peter occurs directly after the reference to the angels imprisoned in Tartaros. This certainly has implications for how the author of 2 Peter understood this passage. There are further possibilities to explore. The awkward wording of verse 19, “in which also he went…”, is just one letter away from containing the name “Enoch” in Greek. (Adding a chi to ΕΝΩΚΑΙ, “in which also”, produces ΕΝΩΧΚΑΙ, “and Enoch”.) It has been suggested that the original text had Enoch visiting the spirits in prison, creating a string of segues linking Christ’s spiritual resurrection to Enoch’s spiritual underworld voyage, Noah’s flood, and finally baptism. Later, either accidentally or on purpose, the reference to Enoch was eliminated by a minor scribal edit. Although this possibility is rarely acknowledged by scholars today and considered unlikely, it has been adopted by at least two New Testament translations in the past — the AAT and the MNT. This reading is also mentioned in the marginal notes of the Jerusalem Bible.
- References
- Literary associations between the story of Balaam and 1 Enoch have been noted most recently by Eibert Tigchelaar, “Balaam and Enoch”, The Prestige of the Pagan Prophet Balaam in Judaism, Early Christianity and Islam (TBN Vol. 11), Brill, 2008, who includes a helpful bibliography of other works on the subject.
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