Why Knock Enoch?

Here’s an example of why it’s important for Christians to know the word of God. Last Sunday, I witnessed to a man who claimed the Book of Enoch says Jesus wasn’t perfect and committed a sin when He was six years old. I called that idea out for what it was: blasphemy! 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” When I wrote about this incident on my Facebook page, a pastor friend pointed out the Book of Enoch was written before Jesus’ earthly ministry. 

According to Wikipedia, “Enoch is an ancient Jewish religious work, ascribed by tradition to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. The older sections (mainly in the Book of the Watchers) of the text are estimated to date from about 300 BC, and the latest part (Book of Parables) probably to the first century BC.” Many Christian denominations accept the Book of Enoch as having some historical or theological interest but not divinely inspired. It is regarded as canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. 

A quote from Enoch is repeated in Jude 14-15, “Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.'” This doesn’t mean the entire Book of Enoch was divinely inspired. Other writings not part of the canon of Scripture are mentioned in the Bible such as the Book of Jasher in Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18.

Still, I’ve met others who put stock in the Book of Enoch. Once I stayed with a minister whose wife played an audio version of it while working on her sewing machine. It’s one thing to examine portions of the Koran or the Book of Mormon to prepare yourself in witnessing to people caught up in those false religions. However, we must be careful not to fill our minds up with erroneous ideas. Jesus warned in Mark 4:24, “Take heed what you hear.”

Personally, I never felt led to read the entire Book of Enoch. Here are some reasons why…

• In chapter 10 verses 1-3, Enoch allegedly wrote about Noah. Genesis 5 teaches that Enoch was taken up to heaven years before Noah was born. 
• Chapters 13 and 14 have verses implying fallen angels cannot talk to God. This contradicts Job chapters 1 and 2.
• Chapter 40 verse 7 says, “And the fourth voice I heard driving away the Satans…” The Bible says there is only one Satan.

Still interested in studying the Book of Enoch? I advise you to do so cautiously. Pseudepigraphal books are fallible documents because they don’t totally line up with Scripture.

“The Lord said to me, ‘You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.’” -  Jeremiah 1:12 (NIV)