The Bible’s reliabilityDraft · awaiting advisor review
Why isn’t the Book of Enoch in the Bible?
In short
1 Enoch was written in sections between about the third and first centuries BC, long after the Enoch of Genesis, and the Jewish Bible never included it. Opened believes the Bible has 66 books, as Protestants hold; Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Bibles also leave Enoch out, while the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox churches include it. It was never banned, and it is worth reading as history.
The Objection
Enoch explains the Nephilim and fallen angels that Genesis only hints at, and Jude quotes it as prophecy. Its absence looks like the church hiding something.
Put as its strongest advocates would put it.
The Christian Case
- Historical evidence
1 Enoch is a collection written in sections between about the third and first centuries BC by several unknown authors, long after the Enoch of Genesis. Fragments of it were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, so some Jews read it widely, and some may have treated it as Scripture.
- Historical evidence
It was never “removed”: the Jewish Bible never included it. Some early Christians valued it, such as Tertullian, but others were wary, and Augustine treated it as not Scripture.
- Scripture
Jude quotes a prophecy from Enoch. Quoting a book doesn’t make it Scripture: Paul quotes Greek poets in Acts and Titus without treating them as inspired. Jesus speaks of the Scriptures as the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms.
- Christians differ
Opened believes the Bible has 66 books, 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New. Christians differ here: the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo churches, among the oldest churches in Africa, include 1 Enoch in their Bible. Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant churches do not.
Where the Evidence Is Weaker
The canon was not settled by a single test, and the Ethiopian church’s judgement is ancient and serious. Jude’s use of Enoch is genuinely hard to explain, and Christians read it differently.
Arguments to Avoid
- Calling it a “banned book” that the church suppressed.
- Dismissing the Ethiopian Orthodox canon as ignorant.
- Treating Enoch’s detailed teaching about angels as settled Christian teaching.
Read for Yourself
Genesis 5:21–24
21And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: 22And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 23And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: 24And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
Jude 1:14–15
14And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 15To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
Hebrews 11:5
By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
Further Reading
- 1 Enoch: The Hermeneia Translation · George W. E. Nickelsburg and James C. VanderKam (2012)A scholarly translation with an introduction.
- The Canon of Scripture · F. F. Bruce (1988)
Drafted with Opened AI and awaiting review by Opened’s apologetics advisors. Labels show the kind of support each point has: Scripture is what the Bible says; historical evidence and philosophical arguments can be checked by anyone; “Christians differ” marks questions on which faithful Christians disagree.
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