Monday, July 18, 2022

Justin Martyr and Tertullian using 1 Enoch in Support of Doctrine

  

In Chapter V of his Second Apology addressed to the Roman Senate (AD 150-157), Justin Martyr references the story of the fallen angels.

 

God . . . committed the care of men and of all things under heaven to angels whom He appointed over them. But the angels transgressed this appointment, and were captivated by love of women, and begat children who are those that are called demons; and besides, they afterwards subdued the human race to themselves, partly by magical writings.

 

. . . [Justin utilizes] the Enochic story in polemics with pagans to explain both the existence of powerful pagan Gods and the existence of sin in the world. (Bruk Ayele Asale, 1 Enoch as Christian Scripture: A Study in the Reception and Appropriation of 1 Enoch in Jude and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahədo Canon [Eugene, Oreg.: Pickwick Publications, 2020], 71, 72)

 

TERTULLIAN OF CARTHAGE

 

In the works of Tertullian of Carthage (ca. 155-ca. 240), which seek to defend its scriptural authority, we discover the first evidence that the authority of 1 Enoch is being questioned. On the Apparel of Women directly addresses doubts arising from 1 Enoch not being included in the canon of the Hebrew Scriptures: “I am aware that the Scripture of Enoch, which has assigned this order (of action) to angels, is not received by some, because it is not admitted into the Jewish canon either” (ANF 5:15). Tertullian assumes 1 Enoch was omitted, possibly because it could not have survived the deluge if it was written by the Patriarch and argues Noah could have easily preserved the writings of his great grandfather. Elsewhere, Tertullian also stresses the inspiration of Enoch by the Holy Spirit; “the Holy Spirit foreseeing from the beginning, fore-chanted, through the most ancient prophet Enoch . . .” (ANF 3:70) (Ibid., 73)

 

More than any other early church theologian, Tertullian of Carthage indicates knowledge of 1 Enoch and defends its authenticity and inspiration. (George W. E. Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1 [Hermeneia—A Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible; Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001], 89)