14 Having described his analysis of the behavior of the teachers he
opposes, Jude seeks an ancient authority to back up his argument. We would have
expected him to cite the Hebrew Scriptures, but instead he cites the work of 1 Enoch, making the only explicit
quotation in his book. Jude obviously believes that 1 Enoch is authoritative in that he cites it as a prophecy
(“prophesied”). Given the frequency of prophecy in the OT and, for that matter,
in the NT Jesus movement, such language indicates that Jude believes that this
is divinely inspired speech. Furthermore, he introduces it with a quotation
formula (legōn in Greek, sometimes
translated as “saying,” but properly indicated in the NIV by means of the colon
and quotation marks, which in English indicate that a direct quotation is
beginning). That is how written sources, especially scripture, are cited in the
NT. Did Jude, then, consider this scripture to be like Genesis or Isaiah?
Certainly he did consider it authoritative, a true word from God. We cannot
tell whether he ranked it alongside other prophetic books such as Isaiah and
Jeremiah. (Peter H. Davids, The Letters of 2 Peter and Jude [The
Pillar New Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2006], 75-76)
