65: Peter and Jude Quoted a Myth—On Purpose

Welcome to the Ready for Eternity podcast, a podcast and blog dedicated to inquisitive

Bible students exploring biblical truths that might not be fully explored in typical sermons or Bible studies.

My name is Eddie Lawrence. Jude quoted the fictional book of 1st

Enoch. Why did he do this? In episode 61 we studied the question of who the sons of God are as it pertains to Genesis 6 1 through 4.

Next, in episode 63, we questioned if the book of 1st

Enoch is a reliable interpretation of the events in Genesis 6. In this episode, we'll examine

Peter and Jude's references to 1st Enoch. Jude and Peter either directly quote or allude to passages from the apocryphal book of 1st

Enoch. Even so, their references don't endorse 1st Enoch as an inspired work.

Paul also quoted Greek philosophers, but this didn't mean he considered them inspired.

Paul quoted the Gentile philosophers Eratos and Epimenides in Acts 17 28 and Titus 1 12.

Their well -known writings helped Paul make his point to the audience he was addressing.

He wasn't affirming their quoted works as true, he was simply adapting his message to resonate with his audience.

This is similar to a pastor using illustrations from the Lord of the Rings or the

Chronicles of Narnia. They help listeners understand the point being made. No one would assume the teacher believed the

Chronicles of Narnia was true from a sermon illustration. We all know these are fictional accounts and understand that the teacher is using them to make a point.

Likewise, Peter and Jude knew that 1st Enoch was fiction, but they quoted it because their first century readers were familiar with it.

What point was Peter and Jude trying to make? Peter and Jude warned that false teachers had infiltrated the church.

They make it clear that judgment for them is certain. Both Apostles remind believers that such people will not escape

God's justice. Because 2nd Peter 2 and Jude are so similar,

I'm going to focus mainly on Jude for clarity and brevity. Here's what

Jude said. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our

God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe, and the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode,

He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day.

As Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Jude 1 4 through 7. Those who treat 1st

Enoch as a commentary argue that Jude verse 6 refers to angels who left the spiritual realm to mate with human women.

They conflate this with Genesis 6 1 through 4, claiming that both passages describe the same event.

As further support, proponents cite verse 7, which mentions Sodom's sexual sins.

From this, they conclude that Jude implies the angels engaged in similar sexually immoral behavior.

However, a careful reading shows that the passage compares the penalty for the sins.

It does not compare the sins themselves. They were citing historic examples of what happens to those who rebel against God.

If you read Jude carefully, you'll notice that he cited in verse 5 the

Exodus Israelites, whose sin was unbelief, the angels in verse 6, whose sin was leaving their assigned position, and Sodom in verse 7, whose sin was sexual immorality.

So we see him citing examples of three different kinds of sins, but his point is that all of them were either destroyed or reserved for judgment.

Each group commits different sins, yet all receive punishment.

Jude uses this to show that the punishment of the false brethren he warns about is just as certain.

Nothing said by Jude or Peter suggests that the angels' sins were sexual in nature.

Read this passage and 2 Peter chapter 2, verses 1 through 9 very carefully, and notice that neither say the angels' sins were sexual in nature.

Peter gives us no hint of what their sin was, and Jude only says that they left their assigned domain.

Again, the emphasis in this passage is not on the sins committed per se, but on the judgment that God meets out to people or angels who defy him.

Now this is a passage where your Bible translation choice may affect your interpretation.

Aside from 1 Enoch, the assumed sexual nature of the angels' sins is partly due to the wording of verse 7 in modern

Bible translations. More recent translations make it appear that the sins of Sodom are similar to those of the angels.

Take the ESV for example. Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

The key phrase here is the word likewise, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality.

It seems to me that the way modern translations have rendered this leaves one with the impression that the sins of the angels and the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were both sexual in nature.

I think the King James and the New King James may be more consistent with Jude's intent.

That is, they are more consistent with the context. The King James and New King James versions suggest that the words similar manner or likewise are referring to the example of their punishment and not the nature of their sins.

Whereas in the more modern translations, likewise suggests that the comparison is between the sin not the punishment.

Let's look at how the New King James words this. As Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

I encourage you to pick up a King James or New King James and read this for yourself because this is something better seen than heard.

But the phrase in the New King James that says having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh is set off by commas.

In other words, it's a parenthetical thought. What I'm going to put up on the screen for those of you who are watching as opposed to listening is this verse where I have replaced the commas with parentheses to emphasize that parenthetical nature.

What this shows when you see it visually is what Jude is linking together by the word likewise or similar manner is the punishment, not the sins.

The words inside the parentheses describe what Sodom and Gomorrah were guilty of.

Sodom and Gomorrah serve as examples, just like the previous two examples of unbelieving

Israel and the angels who abandoned their realm. I think this is a case where the King James Version and the

New King James Version get it right because their translation fits the context.

It's not the sins that were the same, but the penalty of their sins were the same.

Proponents of the idea that angels mated with human women say that Jude's comments directly connect to the religious fiction documented in the second temple period book of 1st

Enoch. In doing so, they import non -canonical ideas into scripture, claiming

Peter and Jude endorse the fictional worldview of 1st Enoch. Now, one can't read the

Bible and the Bible alone and come to the conclusion that Jude and Peter are portraying the angel sins as sexual in nature.

To reach this conclusion, one has to import this view into the

Bible from an outside source. And let's be clear, no one in the early church or in the

Jewish community considered the book of 1st Enoch to be inspired. The same is true today, and not even the people who advocate this idea of angelic human mating claims that the book of 1st

Enoch is inspired or belongs in the canon. 1st Enoch records a fictional account of 200 angels who left heaven for the express purpose of mating with the human women they lusted for.

This is a fictional interpretation of Genesis 6 verses 1 through 4 based on Mesopotamian pagan mythology.

Although Jude and Peter borrow phrases from 1st Enoch, they do so because it was a familiar piece of literature in their day and it helped them to make their point.

To impose these mythological stories from 1st Enoch upon the text of the Bible would be like building a system of theology based on the popular but fictional notion of St.

Peter guarding the pearly gates. The first four verses of Genesis 6 concerns the multiplication of mankind, which is exactly what the genealogies of the two prior chapters communicate.

There is no suggestion in these four verses that anything sinful was happening. Nothing in this text nor in any other

Bible passage indicates that a bunch of amorous angels invaded the earth because they were hot to trot for human women.

There is no historical evidence indicating that the Jews of Jesus's day believed the events of 1st

Enoch were true. In fact, the book of Jude was disputed by some early

Christians. Its canonicity was doubted because it quoted from apocryphal books.

At most, we could say that some Jews may have believed something like this.

A good Bible student will not allow uninspired, non -canonical fiction to dominate his or her conclusions about biblical texts.

I'll leave you with the words of John Sailhammer from his commentary on Genesis 6.

There is little to arouse our suspicion that the events recounted are anything out of the ordinary.

As a summary of the preceding chapter, this little patch of narrative is a reminder that the sons and daughters of Adam had greatly increased in number, had married, and had continued to have children.

The impression it gives is that of an interlude, a calm before the storm. For a brief moment, we see a picture of human beings in the midst of their everyday affairs, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day

Noah entered the Ark. And they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.

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