Tuesday, November 16, 2021

Jude's Use of Pseudepigrapha

Some Evangelicals find Jude’s use of pseudepigrapha problematic.  Here’s the passage: 
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: ‘See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.’ 
Jude is quoting from the pseudographical First Book of Enoch.  This book is definitely not an authentic book of Enoch and was written around 200ish B.C., while Enoch is a antediluvian patriarch.  

Jude seems to say that this pseudo-Enoch made a genuine prophecy: “Enoch . . . prophesied.”  Is he claiming that the pseudographical First Book of Enoch is inspired?  Given that Enoch is not in the canon of Scripture, Evangelicals won’t want to take this option.

There’s a couple of more options:  First, it’s not clear that Jude is trying to teach that this book is written by Enoch.  He may just be working within the assumptions of the text itself. Inerrancy only holds what Scripture teaches is inerrant, and not what it assumes.  

Second, it’s possible for individuals to be inspired sporadically and in a non-systematic way to teach the Word God, despite those individuals not occupying the office of a Biblical prophet.  Balaam in the OT is an example of this sort of individual.  Perhaps whoever wrote Enoch is as well.  

Third, “prophecy” can sometimes have a broader meaning than “inspired by God.”  Sometimes it can imply mere teaching.  So the verse should be read “Enoch . . . *taught* about them  . . .” . If this is right, then Jude’s citation of Enoch is more on par with Paul’s citations of the Greek philosophers Epimenides and Aratus than it is with Paul’s citations of Deuteronomy.

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