Few questions generate more curiosity among Bible students than this one: “If the Book of Enoch is quoted in the New Testament and was revered in early Judaism and Christianity — why is it not in our Bible?” The answer is more complex — and more revealing — than most people realize. Understanding why the Book of Enoch was excluded from the Western biblical canon opens a window into the history of the Church, the politics of canonization, and the persistent human tendency to manage what God’s people can and cannot know.
The Book of Enoch Was Widely Accepted in Early Christianity
Before addressing why the Book of Enoch was removed, we need to acknowledge that it was once widely received. The early church fathers who cited, quoted, or used the Book of Enoch include Tertullian, Origen, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, and Justin Martyr. Tertullian (c. 160–220 AD) went so far as to argue explicitly for its canonicity, noting that the New Testament’s citation of Enoch in Jude was sufficient evidence of its authenticity.
Jude Quotes Enoch by Name
Perhaps the most undeniable evidence of the Book of Enoch’s authority in the early church is its direct quotation in the New Testament. Jude 1:14–15 explicitly states: “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.'” This is a near-verbatim quotation of 1 Enoch 1:9. Jude’s use of this text implies he considered it authoritative — otherwise he would not have cited it as prophecy.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church Never Removed It
One of the most striking facts about the Book of Enoch is that not every branch of Christianity agreed to exclude it. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church — one of the oldest Christian churches in the world, tracing its roots to the 4th century AD — has always included the Book of Enoch in its official biblical canon. For Ethiopian Christians, the exclusion of Enoch is a Western problem, not a universal Christian one. The book is considered fully canonical and is used in liturgy to this day.
Why Did the Western Church Remove It?
The exclusion of the Book of Enoch from the Western biblical canon was not a single decision made at a single moment. It was a gradual process influenced by several factors:
- Authorship doubts: By the 4th century, skeptics argued that Enoch could not have written the book himself because writing did not exist in his era. This objection assumes that God could not have preserved or transmitted such a revelation.
- Theological discomfort: The book’s detailed angelology, its account of the Watchers and Nephilim, and its cosmic vision of judgment created theological complexity that some church leaders preferred to avoid.
- Anti-Gnostic reaction: As Gnostic sects used various apocryphal texts to support their teachings, the mainstream church began restricting the canon to distance itself from perceived Gnostic influence.
- The Council of Laodicea (363 AD): This council produced one of the earliest lists of canonical books and excluded Enoch. Later councils, including the Synod of Hippo (393 AD) and the Council of Carthage (397 AD), further solidified the Western canon without Enoch.
- Textual availability: After being excluded, Enoch became increasingly rare in Western Christianity. By the medieval period, it had virtually disappeared from Western scholarship entirely — until a complete copy was brought from Ethiopia in 1773 by Scottish explorer James Bruce.
The Dead Sea Scrolls Changed Everything
The 1947 discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran was a watershed moment for Enoch scholarship. Among the over 800 documents recovered, fragments of the Book of Enoch in Aramaic were found — more copies than any other non-biblical text at Qumran. This confirmed beyond doubt that the Book of Enoch was not a late forgery but a genuine Jewish text dating to at least the 3rd–2nd century BC. The Qumran community (likely Essenes) clearly treated it as scripture. Its exclusion from Western Christianity was a historical decision — not a divine one.
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Watch the complete biblical and historical investigation into why the Book of Enoch was removed from the Bible and what that means for us today:
Should We Read the Book of Enoch Today?
Whether or not one considers the Book of Enoch canonical, its value as a historical and prophetic document is undeniable. It provides the interpretive framework for Genesis 6, explains passages in Daniel, Jude, 2 Peter, and Revelation that are otherwise obscure, and gives us the most detailed pre-Christian account of angelic hierarchy and spiritual warfare available. Reading it with discernment — alongside the Bible rather than as a replacement for it — can enormously enrich one’s understanding of Scripture.
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Go deeper with Jared Lewis’s biblical study on the Book of Enoch, the canon controversy, and ancient texts that illuminate prophecy: