The Book of Enoch: An Inspired Book or Not?

As with any topic we will address we must first establish our premise, our goal and our approach. We must also define what we will and will not be addressing. Our premise is that a book claiming to be the word of God is something to be examined and not assumed to be. There are many books throughout history that claim to be holy and have no basis to back up that claim. Our goal is to examine the Book of Enoch by asking three questions. What is the Book of Enoch? Is the Book of Enoch inspired? Does the Book of Enoch contradict what we already accept as the Bible? Our approach will be to first define what we are testing for, allow the book to make its best case and then come to a conclusion based on what we know to be true. We will not be trying to prove that the Book of Enoch is not old or interesting to historians. It is old and interesting to historians. What we will be asking is if the Book of Enoch is the word of God.

There are a few things we need to know before we start evaluating the Book of Enoch. First we should know that the book we are looking at is called 1 Enoch. This is to help separate it from the other two books of Enoch. 2 Enoch and 3 Enoch. The Book of Enoch is not one book but many. Scholars believe that it was written sometime around the 3rd century B.C. to the 1st century A.D. The Book of Enoch falls under the category of Pseudepigrapha. Which are books that were attributed to someone that didn't actually write them. There are 5 books that make up 1 Enoch. The Book of the Watchers, the Book of Parables or Similitudes, the Astronomical Book, the Book of Dream Visions and the Epistle of Enoch.¹ These books are named after the Enoch in Genesis. He was the 7th generation from Adam and Noah's great-grandfather. “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.”² One thing we should mention is that some early Christians and Jews did consider this book to be scripture. It is still considered scripture today by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.³ This leads us to ask why the rest of the world did not accept this book as scripture?

Before we dive into why the Book of Enoch is not inspired we need to define what inspired means. When we say a book is inspired we are saying that God is the author of that book. The church has never accepted a book just because it said it was inspired by God. They looked for 3 things. Was there a prophet or apostle that wrote the book or approved of it? Was the book widely accepted by the early church? Did it align with the rest of the scriptures that we already accepted? We will look at the reasons why the Book of Enoch is not inspired and then we will look at the reasons why it is.

There are 3 reasons why we believe the Book of Enoch is not inspired. The first reason is that we don't know who wrote it. Not only do we not know who wrote it but the author that is credited with writing it couldn't have written it. The Book of Enoch is attributed to the Enoch that lived before the flood. We know that the Book of Enoch was written many years after Enoch died. So we know that there was no prophet or apostle that wrote this book. The next reason is that it wasn't widely accepted by the early church. Yes the Epistle of Jude references the Book of Enoch.⁴ However one reference does not mean that it was accepted as scripture. When the books of the New Testament were being decided upon the Book of Enoch was not included. Both Augustine and Jerome considered the Book of Enoch to be apocryphal.⁵ The last reason is that the Book of Enoch seems to be influenced by its time period. There are multiple levels of heaven described in the Book of Enoch. It goes into great detail about angels and what they do. All of these characteristics seem to be influenced by its time period.

Now that we have listed our reasons for why the Book of Enoch is not inspired we will list some reasons why it could be. Some argue that the Book of Enoch is old and can be used as historical information. Others argue that because the book of Jude mentions it that it must be inspired. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church believes that the Book of Enoch is inspired for a few reasons. They believe that God allowed this book to remain in their canon. That the book of Jude mentions it. And that it gives us more information about what happened in Genesis. Let's break these arguments down. Just because God allowed the Book of Enoch to stay in one canon doesn't mean that it is inspired. As we mentioned earlier only the Ethiopian Orthodox Church considers it to be scripture. The book of Jude mentioning the Book of Enoch does not make it inspired. Paul quoted from non-biblical books in his speech on Mars Hill.⁶ That doesn't mean those books are scripture. So we see that these arguments do not stand.

After examining the Book of Enoch we can conclude that it is not inspired. There is no prophet or apostle that can be credited with writing it. It was not widely accepted by the early church. And it seems to be influenced by its time period. We can say that the Book of Enoch is not worthless. It can give us insight into what the Jews were thinking and writing about during that time. But we cannot say that it is the word of God.

Now that we have established that the Book of Enoch is not inspired we will look at how it contradicts the Bible. If a book is inspired by God it should align with the rest of the Bible. Below are some ways that the Book of Enoch contradicts the Bible.

Angels and the Nephilim

Genesis 6:1-4 talks about the sons of God taking the daughters of men. The Book of Enoch expands on this and says that the sons of God were angels that took women and created the Nephilim.⁷

ContradictionWe can debate what the sons of God were. Some believe they were angels others believe they were humans. Either way the Bible never mentions angels having relationships with humans or creating offspring. “Neither marry, nor are given in marriage” Matthew 22:30.⁸ So the Book of Enoch is adding something that isn't in the Bible.

Cosmology

The Book of Enoch goes into great detail about the different levels of heaven and what angels do.

ContradictionThe Bible never mentions different levels of heaven or what angels do. It simply calls them messengers of God.⁹ It also doesn't follow the same calendar that the Book of Enoch does. The Book of Enoch uses a solar calendar of 364 days. The Bible uses a moon calendar as seen in Leviticus 23. So again the Book of Enoch seems to be influenced by its time period.

Salvation

The Book of Enoch talks about the wicked being punished and the righteous being rewarded. Which is similar to what the Bible says.

ContradictionThe Book of Enoch also talks about angels punishing demons and a Son of Man that exists in heaven. The Son of Man in the Book of Enoch is found in the Book of Parables. Which is the newest part of the Book of Enoch and not found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Some scholars believe that the Book of Parables was written in the first century which could have influenced the writers of the New Testament.¹⁰ Either way Jesus is the Son of Man in the New Testament. Having another Son of Man in heaven seems to contradict that. Also the Bible says that God will judge the wicked not angels.

Focus

The Book of Enoch focuses on finding hidden knowledge and learning about the universe.

ContradictionThe Bible tells us not to get distracted by fables and endless genealogies. “Secret things belong unto the LORD” Deuteronomy 29:29.¹¹ The Book of Enoch can distract you from what God wants you to focus on. Saving people.

As we can see the Book of Enoch and the Bible have some similarities. But when it comes to expanding on what the Bible says or contradicting it the Book of Enoch fails. So we can conclude that the Book of Enoch is not the word of God.

There are a few problems with the Book of Enoch. First it's questionable if it is authentic. Second it contradicts what the Bible says. Third it can lead you to want to learn more about hidden things instead of focusing on salvation. And lastly it's not backed up by the majority of Christians or Jews.