Ed Walsh
Puritan Board Senior
Greetings Pilgrims,
How are we to take Jude's use of two extra-biblical Jewish writings to present his case against ungodliness in general and sexual immorality in particular? I'm referring to the books of First Enoch and the Assumption of Moses.
"1st Enoch" (Jude 14-15)
Compare Jude with 1st Enoch:
(Jude 14-15a) It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, 15 to execute judgment upon all.
(1st Enoch 1:9) Behold, [God] shall arrive with ten million of the holy ones in order to execute judgment upon all. He will destroy the wicked ones and censure all flesh on account of everything that they have done, that which the sinners and the wicked ones committed against him.
"Assumption of Moses" (Jude 9)
(Jude 9) But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, 'The Lord rebuke you!'"
It also seems that in verse 6, there may be an allusion to the story in Genesis 6, giving credibility to the interpretation that it was angels that cohabited with human women. I.e., angels having sex with women. And then, in verse 7, we have the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, where men desire to have sex with angels.
Jude 6 & 7
And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. (see 2 Peter 2:4-10 for pretty much the same message)
All of which seem strange to our modern Reformed ears. Is Jude using fiction to make his spiritual points? Is Jude relating truths found in extra-biblical writing that give an inspired interpretation of the related stories in the canonical writings?
Here's a link to an article that was helpful to me and asking my question. The article gives many other Old and New Testament examples where excerpts from these extra-biblical writings teach truths that we are to receive as canonical.
How are we to take Jude's use of two extra-biblical Jewish writings to present his case against ungodliness in general and sexual immorality in particular? I'm referring to the books of First Enoch and the Assumption of Moses.
"1st Enoch" (Jude 14-15)
Compare Jude with 1st Enoch:
(Jude 14-15a) It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, 15 to execute judgment upon all.
(1st Enoch 1:9) Behold, [God] shall arrive with ten million of the holy ones in order to execute judgment upon all. He will destroy the wicked ones and censure all flesh on account of everything that they have done, that which the sinners and the wicked ones committed against him.
"Assumption of Moses" (Jude 9)
(Jude 9) But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, 'The Lord rebuke you!'"
It also seems that in verse 6, there may be an allusion to the story in Genesis 6, giving credibility to the interpretation that it was angels that cohabited with human women. I.e., angels having sex with women. And then, in verse 7, we have the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, where men desire to have sex with angels.
Jude 6 & 7
And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. (see 2 Peter 2:4-10 for pretty much the same message)
All of which seem strange to our modern Reformed ears. Is Jude using fiction to make his spiritual points? Is Jude relating truths found in extra-biblical writing that give an inspired interpretation of the related stories in the canonical writings?
Here's a link to an article that was helpful to me and asking my question. The article gives many other Old and New Testament examples where excerpts from these extra-biblical writings teach truths that we are to receive as canonical.