Early Christian Views on Enoch
Early Christian writers commonly said Enoch pleased God and was taken up by God. Clement of Rome, Irenaeus, Cyprian, and Justin Martyr all repeat that Enoch was translated and held up as a righteous example. A smaller group of writers also quoted or referred to the Book of Enoch, but others treated Enoch books as apocryphal or warned about false writings.
121 early-church witnesses · 175 source quotations · compared with Scripture
What did early Christians believe about enoch and the Book of Enoch?
Early Christian writers did teach that Enoch pleased God, was translated or taken up, and was remembered as a righteous example; Clement of Rome, Irenaeus, Cyprian, Justin Martyr, and others repeat that theme. A few early writers also treat the Book of Enoch as a real book or quote it directly, especially Clement, Origen, Tertullian, and the Apostolic Constitutions. But the evidence is mixed on its status:
some fathers use it, while others warn that apocryphal Enoch writings were being used badly or grouped with false books. The strongest broad agreement is on Enoch himself being translated by God, while support for the Book of Enoch is real but less uniform and more limited. Many more early Christian quotations, Bible passages, and source links are gathered below so you can study the evidence for yourself.
Key Takeaways
- The early Christians widely agreed that Enoch was taken up by God.
- Clement of Rome, Irenaeus, Cyprian, and Justin Martyr all speak of Enoch as righteous and translated.
- The Book of Enoch was known and sometimes used, but its status was not uniform among early writers.
Questions Answered by the Sources
Did early Christians teach that Enoch was translated by God?
Early Christian writers repeatedly say Enoch pleased God and was translated or taken up by God. They use Enoch as a model of righteousness and as an example of someone who did not experience death.
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Clement of Rome, First Epistle to the Corinthians Direct teaching
...steadfastly consider those who have perfectly served His excellent glory. Let us take, for example, Enoch, who was found righteous in obedience and was taken up, never experiencing death. Noah, being found faithful, preached renewal to the world through his ministry; and the Lord saved the animals by him, who entered the ark together.
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book V Direct teaching
...rs old, and that their bodies lasted as long as God wanted them to live. But why mention these men? Enoch, when he pleased God, was taken up in the same body in which he pleased Him, foreshadowing the ascension of the just. Elijah, too, was taken up while still in his natural form, showing in prophecy the assumption of the spiritual and that nothing prevented their bodies from being taken up. It was by the same hands that formed them at the beginning that they received this translation and assumption. In Adam, the hands of God became accustomed to organizing, guiding, and sustaining His own creation, placing it where He pleased. Where was the first man placed? Certainly in paradise, as the Scripture states, "And God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He placed the man whom He had formed." Later, when man proved disobedient, he was cast out into this world. Therefore, the elders who were disciples of the apostles tell us that those who were translated were taken to that place (for paradise has been prepared for righteous people, those with the Spirit; where Paul the apostle, when caught up, heard words unspeakable in our current condition), and there they who have been
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book IV Direct teaching
...spite being uncircumcised, received the dimensions of the ark, the world of the second race of men. Enoch, too, pleased God without circumcision and served as God's messenger to the angels even though he was human, and he was taken up and is preserved until now as a witness of the just judgment of God, because the angels who sinned fell to the earth for judgment, but the man who pleased God was taken up for salvation. Moreover, all the other righteous people who lived before Abraham and the patriarchs who came before Moses were justified independently of the aforementioned things and without the law of Moses. As Moses himself says to the people in Deuteronomy: "The Lord your God made a covenant with you at Horeb. He did not make this covenant with your ancestors, but with you."
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Cyprian, Treatises Direct teaching
23. Also, we find that Enoch was taken away, because he pleased God, as the Holy Scripture testifies in Genesis and says, "And Enoch pleased God; and afterward he was not found, because God took him away." Genesis 5:24 So then, to have been pleasing in God's sight was to have deserved to be taken away from this infection of the world. Moreover, the Holy Spirit also teaches through Solomon that those who please God are taken from here sooner, and are set free more quickly, lest, by staying longer in this world, they should be polluted by the world's corruptions. "He was taken away," he says, "lest wickedness should change his understanding. For his soul was pleasing to God; therefore He hurried to take him away from the midst of wickedness." Wisdom 4:11 So also in the Psalms, the soul that is devoted to its God in spiritual faith hurries to the Lord, saying, "How lovely are Your dwellings, O God of hosts! My soul longs, and hurries to the courts of God."
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Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho Direct teaching
would not have had respect to the gifts of Abel when, being uncircumcised, he offered sacrifice, and would not have been pleased with the uncircumcision of Enoch, who was not found, because God had translated him.
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Clement of Rome, First Epistle to the Corinthians Direct teaching
Let us take (for instance) Enoch, who, being found righteous in obedience, was translated, and death was never known to happen to him.
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Hebrews 11:5 Supporting witness
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.
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Wisdom of Sirach 44:16 Supporting witness
Enoch pleased the Lord, and was translated, Being an example of repentance to all generations.
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Genesis 5:24 Supporting witness
And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
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Genesis 5:22 Supporting witness
Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters.
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Amos 4:10 Supporting witness
He pleased God, and was beloved of him: So that living among sinners he was translated.
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Wisdom of Solomon 4:10 Supporting witness
He pleased God, and was beloved of him: So that living among sinners he was translated.
More related quotations from this section 15 shown
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book IV Direct teaching
Enoch, too, pleasing God, without circumcision, discharged the office of God’s legate to the angels although he was a man, and was translated, and is preserved until now as a witness of the just judgment of God, because the angels when they had transgressed fell to the earth for judgment, but the man who pleased [God] was translated for salvation.
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book V Supporting witness
For Enoch, when he pleased God, was translated in the same body in which he did please Him, thus pointing out by anticipation the translation of the just.
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness
...hat of an abhorrent wretch. Besides these, You accepted Seth and Enos, Sirach 49:16, and translated Enoch. For You are the Creator of men, the giver of life, the supplier of what is lacking, the giver of laws, the rewarder of those who keep them, and the avenger of those who transgress them. You brought the great flood upon the world because of the multitude of the ungodly, and delivered righteous Noah from that flood by an ark, 1 Peter 3:20, with eight souls, the end of the former generations and the beginning of those who were to come. You kindled a fearful fire against the five cities of Sodom, and turned a fruitful land into a salt lake because of the wickedness of those who lived in it, but snatched holy Lot out of the fire. You are He who delivered Abraham from the impiety of his forefathers, appointed him to be the heir of the world, and revealed Your Christ to him; who beforehand ordained Melchizedek as a high priest for Your worship; who made Your patient servant Job the conqueror of that serpent who is the patron of wickedness; who made Isaac the son of the promise, and Jacob the father of twelve sons, and increased his posterity into a multitude, and brought him into
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness
...icked with water and fire, and glorified the saints in every generation. I mean Seth, and Enos, and Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham and his posterity, and Melchizedek, and Job, and Moses, and Joshua, and Caleb, and Phinehas the priest, and those who were holy in every generation. And let him learn how God still took care of mankind and did not reject them, but called them at various times from their error and vanity to the acknowledgment of the truth, reducing them from bondage and impiety to liberty and piety, from injustice to righteousness, and from eternal death to everlasting life. Let him who offers himself for baptism learn these things and the like during the time that he is a catechumen. And let him who lays his hands upon him adore God, the Lord of the whole world, and thank Him for His creation, and for His sending Christ His only begotten Son, so that He might save man by blotting out his transgressions, and that He might remit ungodliness and sins, and might purify him from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, 2 Corinthians 7:1, and sanctify man according to the good pleasure of His kindness, that He might inspire him with the knowledge of His will, and enlighten the ey
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness
And besides these, You accepted of Seth and Enos, Sirach 49:16 and translated Enoch: for You are the Creator of men, and the giver of life, and the supplier of want, and the giver of laws, and the rewarder of those that observe them, and the avenger of those that transgress them;
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Cyprian, Treatises Supporting witness
23. Thus, moreover, we find that Enoch also was translated, who pleased God, as in Genesis the Holy Scripture bears witness, and says, And Enoch pleased God;
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness
Let us take Enoch, who, being by his obedience found righteous, was translated;
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness
He instructed those before the flood by Abel and Sem, and Seth, also by Enos, and by Enoch that was translated;
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Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness
He translated Enoch: He elected Abraham into the society of his friendship;
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Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness
... Noah from the dangers of the flood, because of the merit of his innocence and faith. He translated Enoch. He chose Abraham into the fellowship of His friendship. He protected Isaac. He increased Jacob. He gave Moses as a leader to the people. He delivered the groaning children of Israel from the yoke of slavery. He wrote the law. He brought the offspring of our fathers into the land of promise. He instructed the prophets by His Spirit, and through all of them He promised His Son Christ. And at the time when He had covenanted that He would give Him, He sent Him. Through Him He desired to come into our knowledge, and to pour out on us the generous riches of His mercy, by giving His abundant Spirit to the poor and lowly. And because He is generous and kind of His own free will, lest this whole world, having turned away from the streams of His grace, should dry up, He willed that the apostles, as founders of our family, should be sent by His Son into the whole world. This was so that the condition of the human race might become aware of its Founder, and, if it should choose to follow Him, might have One whom now even in its prayers it might call Father instead of God. And His provi
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Jude 1:14 Supporting witness
Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints,
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Lactantius, Of the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died Supporting witness
... to be the forerunner of Antichrist. But we should not believe those who say that the two prophets, Enoch and Elias, were taken to some distant place so that they might attend our Lord when He comes for judgment, and who also imagine that Nero will appear later as the forerunner of the devil, when he comes to lay waste the earth and overthrow mankind.
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Julius Africanus, Extant Writings Supporting witness
And Enoch, when 165 years old, begets Methuselah; and having pleased God, after a life of other 200 years, he was not found.
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Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Supporting witness
for prior to Him Adam will be seen to have been predestinated, and Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham, and many others.
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Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness
for prior to Him Adam will be seen to have been predestinated, and Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham, and many others.
Did early Christians connect Enoch with prophecy?
Several early writers connect Enoch with prophecy and cite Jude’s statement that Enoch prophesied. These sources show that Enoch was read not only as a righteous man but also as a prophetic witness.
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Clement of Alexandria, Fragments Direct teaching
... from the places of the angels. For their apostasy, the blackness of darkness is reserved forever. “Enoch also, the seventh from Adam,” he says, “prophesied of these.” In these words he confirms the prophecy.
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Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) Direct teaching
Enoch also, in his book, speaks as follows: I have walked on even to imperfection;
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Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) Direct teaching
For it is written in the same Book of Enoch, I beheld the whole of matter;
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Origen, Against Celsus Supporting witness
and much more will he decline to admit what Celsus has adduced, from not understanding the contents of the Book of Enoch.
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Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) Supporting witness
And in the Book of Enoch also we have similar descriptions.
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Tertullian, On the Apparel of Women Supporting witness
To these considerations is added the fact that Enoch possesses a testimony in the Apostle Jude.
Did early Christians know about the Book of Enoch?
Some early Christian writers explicitly refer to the Book of Enoch and quote from it or discuss it as a known writing. Other sources warn that apocryphal Enoch books existed and could be treated as false or repugnant to the truth.
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Background
And among the ancients also some have written apocryphal books of Moses, and Enoch, and Adam, and Isaiah, and David, and Elijah, and of the three patriarchs, pernicious and repugnant to the truth.
Common Questions
Did early Christians believe Enoch was taken up by God?
Yes. Writers like Clement of Rome, Irenaeus, Cyprian, and Justin Martyr say Enoch was translated or taken up because he pleased God.
Did early Christians use the Book of Enoch?
Some did. Clement and Origen refer to it, and the Apostolic Constitutions mention Enoch writings, but other texts treat apocryphal Enoch books with caution.
Did early Christians think Enoch was a righteous example?
Yes. They often point to Enoch as an example of someone who pleased God and was rewarded by being taken up.
Source Index for Enoch and the Book of Enoch
The guided sections above show the strongest quotations. This compact index highlights 134 ranked source links from 175 compiled sources for deeper study.
Source index 134 ranked links shown
Early Christian Writings 80 shown of 121
Primary-source quotations from early Christian writers and church documents.
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Clement of Rome, Connection to Hebrews 11:5
Bible Passages 54 included
Related Bible passages saved for comparison with the early Christian quotations.
Related Resources
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The Book of Enoch
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