JUDE 14-16

Jude 14-16

The main issue we are faced with in these verses is the fact that Jude definitely quotes from a non-canonical Jewish writing as if it were an authoritative source. Because of that problem, commentators range all over the map concerning how to deal with that fact. Here are some sample statements given in no particular order:

    Tiller explains that this prophecy comes from 1 Enoch 1.9. “1 Enoch is a collection of apocalyptic writings dating from the third century BCE [i.e. BC] to the first century CE [i.e. AD] attributed to Enoch (Gen 5.21-24). Jude has a high regard for the authority of these writings, but it would be anachronistic to suppose that he then considered them canonical.”

    Carson points out that I Enoch in turn has quoted from the Old Testament. Thus, besides the reference to Enoch himself found in Genesis 5, “The image of God coming with his angelic hosts (Jude 14) is drawn from Deut. 33:2: 'The LORD came from Sinai and dawned over them from Seir...He came with myriads of holy ones from the south...This is a colorful metaphorical description of the theophany at Sinai....the language of 1 En. 1 anticipates determined, irrevocable judgment and refers to the saints as 'elect': that is how it reads Deut. 33:2, possibly because it reads the Sinai theophany as a type, an anticipation, of culminating revelation to come at the end of the age.”

    “Since Jude's statement is similar to a passage in the apocryphal Book of Enoch (1:9) – written prior to 110 B.C. and thus probably known by the early Christians – many assume that Jude is quoting from that book. Others suggest that the differences between Jude's words and the Book of Enoch indicate that Jude received the information about Enoch directly from God, or that under divine inspiration he recorded an oral tradition. None of these views affects the doctrine of inspiration adversely.” (Pentecost)

    “The above citation is taken from the pseudepigraphic work of I Enoch, the authenticity of this one verse being assured by the authority of Jude, though the way in which a genuine oracle of such ancient origin found its way into the normally spurious work of I Enoch is unknown.” (Payne)

    R.E. Brown states, “Seemingly Jews and early Christians used books as sacred and with authority (and thus virtually treated them as inspired) without asking whether they were on the same level as the Law and the Prophets...the writer accepts and feels free to cite a wide collection of Israelite and Christian traditions, and is not confined to a collection of written books ever deemed canonical by any group that we know. Thus canonicity may never have entered the writer's mind.”

    Bruce notes that the early church father Tertullian approved of I Enoch since “it was quoted, evidently as a genuine prophecy of the antediluvian patriarch Enoch, by Jude...But that in itself would not have been enough; others were disposed to exclude Jude from the New Testament because of its quoting a work of doubtful authenticity” We know of this latter fact from the writings of Jerome.

    “Whether or not he regarded I Enoch as inspired is perhaps beside the point, for he is quoting a book both he and his readers will know and respect. He speaks to them in language which they will readily understand, and that remains one of the most important elements in the communication of Christian truth.” (M. Green)

    Neyrey says, “Jude...celebrates Enoch's honorable pedigree and in so doing borrows respectability from the ancient and honorable seer. Thus he gains confirmation for his own teaching.”

    Reicke feels that “it is clear that Jude regarded this writing as inspired. In fact, due to its presumed antiquity, First Enoch is placed on an even higher level that the Old Testament prophets. For it is said to contain prophecies of the patriarch Enoch dating from the antediluvian age. As 'the seventh from Adam,' Enoch was not only of awesome age, but summed up in himself the entire super-holy line of patriarchs, since 'seven' was regarded as the number of perfection.”

    Finally, Green provides a good summary of these three verses: “It is interesting that Jude applies this prophecy from long ago to the situation of his own day...Whereas Enoch was thinking of the Lord as God coming in judgment, to Jude, of course, the kurios is the Lord Jesus and his coming is the parousia; the holy ones who accompany him to judgment are the angels (cf. Mt. 25:31) and judgment is exercised on the wicked in respect of both their deeds and words. It is on their words that Jude will concentrate in verse 16, having already dealt fully with their deeds in verses 5-11.”

                                       Jude 14-16 (1984)