Book of Enoch

Impact

The book of Enoch was read for about five hundred years and found approval among such early church theologians as Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, and Saint Augustine. It was regarded as particularly valuable because it provided an explanation for some puzzling verses found in the book of Genesis. In Genesis 6, just before the exposition involving Noah and the Flood, readers are informed that “when men began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair; and they took to wife such of them as they chose.” The passage goes on:

Then the Lord said, “My spirit shall not abide in man for ever, for he is flesh, but his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.

The passage continues by referring to the “wickedness of man” and men’s “evil.” The passage states that God was sorry that he had created human beings and concludes that he will “blot out man.” Only Noah, who had “found favor in the eyes of the Lord,” would be spared.

The book of Enoch, though, was considered heretical by the early Church. At the Council of Laodicea in about 364, it was not included in the official biblical canon, although the passage from the council’s proceedings that lists the officially recognized books of the Bible is of somewhat doubtful authenticity. Thus, the attitude of the Church to the book of Enoch is shrouded in some mystery. What is known is that the book essentially disappeared in the West for over a thousand years.

Modern biblical scholars have taken renewed interest in the book of Enoch, for in many respects it bears similarities to the New Testament. For example, it espouses the reality of the Kingdom of God and the need for repentance. It also discusses such matters as the Messiah, the end of the world, and final judgment. But although early theologians held the book in high esteem, it was never referred to by Jesus Christ or the apostles and is not thought of as scriptural. Rather, it provides insights into the thinking of Jewish writers in the centuries immediately before the advent of the Christian age, when Judaism was changing and conflict over historical teachings divided the Jewish community.