What is the book of Enoch and should it be included in the bible?

So… what’s the deal with the Book of Enoch? And should it actually be part of the Bible?

This is like the second time someone’s brought up the Book of Enoch to me lately.
It’s named after the guy in Genesis who “walked with God” and then just… disappeared because God took him.

Apparently it’s this recently discovered book (archaeology-wise), and both times it came up, the conversations got kind of weirdly similar.

First time the Book of Enoch was mentioned to me was when I said to someone I don’t believe in astrology, and they hit me with, “Well, the Book of Enoch says stars and planets are for telling the future.”
And I was like… okay, but Enoch isn’t in the Bible. Also, what even is it?

So now I’m wondering…
Why do people keep bringing this book up?
Is there something going around about it right now? I looked and didn’t see anything.

Anyway… what is the Book of Enoch, and why do some people think it should be part of the Bible?

There are a couple of issue’s here.

Astrology, is not approved of anywhere in the bible, so saying Enoch approves of it indicates that such a person is more concerned with non biblical issues than with biblical issues.

We’re warned about adding to the bible. Those nearer the time of Jesus formed the ew resra e t using simp,e rules. Was it written by an apostle or bysomeo e closely associated with an apostle and did each book/letter conform to the a cepted scripture.

The Jews had si ilar rules for the formation of the old Testament.

Both groups did not think Enoch was scripture, they rated it as helpful and useful.

That is how we should view it.

I have often wondered how Enoch and other earlier patriarchs knew how walk so close with God without a shred of scripture to refer to. Maybe because they did not yet have the law to make them evil? maybe God was still lovng his creation?

The Book of Enoch isn’t the only book that’s left out, books like Tobit, Judith, Maccabees 1 and 2, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, and other things like parts of Daniel and Ezra.
Now my personal opinion, is that if God talked to ANYONE, I want to know about it, if they wrote ANYTHING while God talked to them, I want to see it. Even the chance that it is God’s word gives me chills.
Now something really funny to me about Orthodoxy, is they go making things canon or not, but every 5 minutes go quoting a Saint I’ve never heard of. Now don’t get me wrong I do love them and their teachings. Surely it would be hypocritical to denounce books from tried and true prophetical men of God, but hold high the words of random teachers in the church way back when.
Seriously, dont get me wrong, the word of God abounds in most all I’ve seen from Orthodoxy i do love it.
At the end of the day, the Bible is more than enough to teach you how to truly have the Spirit with you in discerning these things. Some people view the bible as the End all Be all, but to Me, the Bible is like training wheels, meant to guide you and teach you until you can commune with Jesus and God more directly. That isn’t to say that the Bible becomes obsolete after that, quite the contrary, the Bible becomes even more beautiful and opens up in ways that you couldn’t even imagine. The Word of God truly is alive.
So all in all, if you read extra things, have the Spirit with you
May your peace and blessings be multiplied,
Sincerely,
G

We actually can’t even know if they didn’t have ANY books, Very likely if they were told to write, there were those before them that were told to write. Some Christians think that Abraham didn’t have any scripture to go off of but there’s actually evidence that he did have some kind of scripture in the Qu’ran.
Also the Law is to keep people from transgressing too much. The Law came about because people were becoming too evil without it, thus why Noah’s flood happened.
Galatians 3:24-25 “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.”
So that is to say that these Men way back when were so right with God that they could walk in faith just from God’s instruction alone, and that being true, I would definitely want to read literally ANYTHING they have written or will write. (Enoch is technically still alive)
May your peace and blessings be multiplied,
Sincerely,
G

The Book of Enoch (aka 1 Enoch) is a collection of different texts written at different times (between ~300 BC and ~100 AD) which claim to be written by the biblical figure of Enoch.

It’s actually 5 different books which were compiled sometime in the 2nd century into a single work. It is sometimes known as 1 Enoch, because there are even more Enochian texts (texts in the Enoch tradition), but it is usually just called the Book of Enoch.

It’s not a recently discovered text, it’s been known and talked about over the centuries, though archeological work has discovered old Greek manuscripts, and it has chiefly been preserved in an Ethiopic translation among the Ethiopian Orthodox Christians.

As it is made up of five different works, its contents include very different subjects. It includes a story of fallen angels, it contains an apocalyptic where Enoch is shown visions of the heavens, it contains parables and moral instruction, and many other things.

This Enoch literature was well known in the first century, among Jews and early Christians. And was popular enough that it is directly quoted at least once in the New Testament (Jude 1:14-15) but it was never widely accepted as Canonical, and therefore never appears in Canonical lists in the early Church. Only the Ethiopian Orthodox Church ever accepted it as part of its broader biblical tradition.

It’s not Scripture. It’s historically fascinating because it provides insight into Jewish ideas of the 2nd Temple period, and ideas in it did have some influence in Jewish and Christian thought–but the books/book itself has never been recognized or confessed as divinely inspired Scripture; and so we shouldn’t treat it that way. It very much was not written by the biblical Enoch, as it was written between ~300 BC and 100 AD. 2nd Temple Jewish literature is important for historical reasons, providing historical context to what we read in the New Testament–the ideas which shaped Judaism, and Jesus’ world, so we can better understand what Jesus and the Apostles are saying by understanding the history of the time.

But outside of its historical value, it does not have spiritual value for Christians. It’s not Scripture, it’s not part of the Bible. While there have always been questions and debates about the Biblical Canon in Christian history; these debates have always been narrowly focused on very specific texts (e.g. the Deuterocanonical books, aka the books which Catholics and Orthodox include in the Old Testament but which are not in most Protestant Bibles). It is not a free-for-all where we can look at the literal smorgasbord of ancient texts and pick and choose which we think should be in the Bible or not. The Bible is the Bible.

I believe all Christians can benefit by studying the history of how the Biblical Canon came to be, why our Bible looks the way it does. Because it is not only very interesting and challenges us to give up certain wrong preconceptions and misconceptions about God’s word; but even more it actually teaches us to have more confidence in Scripture. The Bible didn’t fall out of the sky, but also, it’s not arbitrary. The history of the Canon, I believe, actually shows both the careful thinking of faithful Christians and the guidance of the Holy Spirit throughout the history of God’s People.

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Going backwards through your post.

God has never stopped loving his creation.

Laws don’t make people evil. Laws tell people what is or is not permitted.

ver broken the speed limit or parked longer than your pay and display permit? Are you a candidate for the death chamber as a reckless evil person or merely a sinner?

How the patriarch walked with God? A good question.

I suspect it was partly based on their upbringing, taught to follow certain ways, not to do other things and partly because they had met with God and were enpowered to live his way as they had been taught.