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Questions/Faith Questions

Should Christians Read the Book of Enoch? What It Is and Why Jude Quotes It

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Illustration of an ancient scroll glowing against a dark starry sky with the words Should Christians Read the Book of Enoch?

Christians are free to read the Book of Enoch as an ancient Jewish writing, but it is not part of the Bible in the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox or Protestant churches, and it should not be treated as Scripture. It is worth knowing because Jude, a short New Testament letter, quotes from it. That one quotation is the reason this old book keeps coming up online, usually wrapped in claims that it was "removed from the Bible." The real story is more interesting and much less sensational.

What is the Book of Enoch?

"The Book of Enoch" usually means 1 Enoch, a collection of Jewish writings attributed to Enoch, the man in Genesis who "walked with God, and he was not found, for God took him" (Genesis 5:24, WEB). Genesis tells us almost nothing else about him, which left room for later writers to imagine what he saw.

Scholars divide 1 Enoch into five parts:

  • The Book of the Watchers (chapters 1 to 36), about angels who rebel and the judgment that follows.
  • The Parables, or Similitudes (chapters 37 to 71), visions of judgment and a heavenly figure called the Son of Man.
  • The Astronomical Book (chapters 72 to 82), about the sun, moon, stars and the calendar.
  • The Dream Visions (chapters 83 to 90), including a long symbolic history of Israel.
  • The Epistle of Enoch (chapters 91 to 108), warnings and encouragement for the righteous.

The older sections are usually dated to roughly 300 to 200 BC, and the Parables are the latest part, probably from around 100 BC, though their date is still debated (Wikipedia, Book of Enoch). In other words, Enoch did not write it. It is a pseudonymous work from the centuries between the Old and New Testaments, written long after the Enoch of Genesis would have lived.

Why does Jude quote Enoch?

Jude writes: "About these also Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, 'Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness'" (Jude 14-15, WEB). That sentence closely matches 1 Enoch 1:9, which is why scholars agree Jude is drawing on this book.

Jude also mentions "angels who didn't keep their first domain" being held "in everlasting bonds under darkness" (Jude 6). Many readers hear an echo of the Watchers story in Enoch, which expands the strange episode in Genesis 6:1-4 about "God's sons" and the Nephilim. Genesis itself says very little, so it is natural that people go looking for more.

Does quoting a book make it Scripture?

No, and Scripture itself shows why. Paul quotes pagan poets when he speaks in Athens: "As some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also his offspring'" (Acts 17:28). In Titus 1:12 he repeats a saying from "a prophet of their own" among the Cretans. Nobody concludes that those poets belong in the Bible. A biblical writer can borrow a line that is true, or useful for his point, without endorsing everything in the source.

Augustine put the same idea carefully in the fifth century. He wrote: "We cannot deny that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, left some divine writings, for this is asserted by the Apostle Jude in his canonical epistle." He then explained why the book still has no place in the canon: its age made it suspect, and the guardians of the Hebrew Scriptures had not handed it down as genuine (*City of God*, book 15, chapter 23, New Advent). Some early Christian writers were warmer toward it, and the Epistle of Barnabas quotes it, but the church as a whole did not receive it as Scripture.

Which churches accept it?

Only a few. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church include 1 Enoch in their biblical canon, and so does the Jewish community Beta Israel (Wikipedia, above). The full text survives only in Ge'ez, the classical language of Ethiopia. Aramaic copies of the earlier sections were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran, which helps scholars date the book and shows it was read by Jews before Jesus was born.

Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant Bibles do not contain it. It was not "cut out" by a council to hide something. It was never in their Bibles to begin with. If you are curious how churches decide which writings count, the question of the deuterocanonical books comes up in a similar way in Should Christians Pray for the Dead?

Should you read it?

If you are a mature reader who already knows the Bible well, reading 1 Enoch can be useful for history. It shows how some Jewish readers in the Second Temple period thought about angels, judgment and the end of the age, which helps you hear the New Testament in its own setting. It is not a safe place to start for a new believer, and it is not a source of doctrine. A few practical rules help:

1. Read the Bible first. Genesis 5 and 6, Hebrews 11:5 and Jude give you the biblical frame. Anything in Enoch has to be tested against them. 2. Use an edition with notes. A translation with introductions and footnotes will keep you from reading a Second Temple text as though it were Moses. A newer scholarly translation is better than a random website. 3. Treat unusual claims with caution. The Watchers narrative, the giants and the star-and-calendar material are the author's imagination and the science of his day, not revelation. "Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21) applies. 4. Be wary of speculation. Whole teachings about hidden knowledge, bloodlines or secret history are built on this book online. The Bible does not teach them, and that is a good reason to hold back.

If your real interest is the unseen world, there are healthier places to begin, such as why Christians are told to avoid Ouija boards and how to decide about horror movies. For a calmer habit of reading Scripture itself, try Reading the Bible with fresh eyes.

The short answer

You can read the Book of Enoch the way you would read any ancient book that Scripture happens to mention: with interest, with notes, and without making it your authority. Jude's quotation proves that Enoch was known and used in his day. It does not turn the book into the Word of God. What Christians need for faith and life is already in the Bible the church has received.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Book of Enoch in the Bible?

Not in the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox or Protestant Bibles. The Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Churches include it in their canon.

Is the Book of Enoch dangerous to read?

It is not dangerous in itself, but it can mislead readers who treat it as Scripture or build teachings from its stories about angels and giants. Read it slowly, with notes, after you know the Bible.

Did Enoch write the Book of Enoch?

Almost certainly not. Scholars date the writings to the last few centuries before Christ and treat them as a pseudonymous collection ascribed to the Enoch of Genesis.

Does Jude prove Enoch is Scripture?

No. Jude quotes it, as Paul quotes pagan poets, but quoting a line is not the same as declaring the whole book inspired. Augustine made this point himself.

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