Lookahead: …The logistics of the procreation process not withstanding, the Nephilim were the veritable definition of “pure evil”—which led to the near extinction of the human race in the Great Flood.  So I believe that Jude was right when he said that a special punishment awaited the beings responsible for introducing the Nephilim into society, i.e., polluting/ perverting the earth in such an malevolent way.  And we will see that this was also a type of pollution and perversion that the heathenish unbelievers were trying to embed in the Christian community that Jude was writing to…. 

And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.  Jude 1:6

This sort-of strange verse may be one of Jude’s references to a non-canonical book called The Book of Enoch.  (Verses :9 and :14 also indicate that Jude may have read/been familiar with the Enoch manuscript).

“The Book of Enoch (also 1 Enoch; Ge’ez: መጽሐፈ ሄኖክ maṣḥafa hēnok) is an ancient Hebrew apocalyptic religious text, ascribed by tradition to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. Enoch contains unique material on the origins of demons and giants (aka Nephilim, as in Genesis 6:4), why some angels fell from heaven, an explanation of why the Great Flood was morally necessary, and prophetic exposition of the thousand-year reign of the Messiah.  The older sections (mainly in the Book of the Watchers) of the text are estimated to date from about 300–200 BC, and the latest part (Book of Parables) probably to 100 BC.”¹

Side Note1: The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. Gen 6:4 

Side Note2: A perfect example of one of these Nephilim was…Goliath as in…David and Goliath.  1 Samuel 17

As to why Jude would reference the Book of Enoch?…maybe it didn’t have such questionable cred back in the day.  Or Jude may have been presenting it in non-authoritative terms—and putting his own spin on it.  Three reasons why Jude would have felt comfortable including the Enoch reference in his epistle: 

• “One, plenty of texts are quoted in the bible that are not canonical in their totality, such as the references to the Book of Jasher recorded in Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18; their inclusion means that the part references and quote is Scripture, but the rest of the work is not (Scripture). So the mere quotation of a work does not, in and of itself, make a whole work Scripture. (Italics mine)
• “As for the second reason, the word used in Jude, that ‘prophesied’ there, is prophéteuó. Its cognate, prophetes, was used in Titus 1:12 to refer to a heathen poet…Indeed, in that same section of Titus, Paul asserts that the pagan he is quoting is correct, even; yet this does not mean the poet’s words in total bear inclusion in the bible.
• “Third, it is entirely possible that Jude is referring to a real prophecy by Enoch…(and) notice the curious differences between the two. The book of Enoch says that the righteous were destroyed whereas Jude says they were judged. I don’t know of any New Testament citation of scripture that misquotes its source material.”² (Walters)

“The first part of the Book of Enoch describes the fall of the Watchers, the angels who fathered the Nephilim. The remainder of the book describes Enoch’s visits to heaven in the form of travels, visions and dreams, and his revelations.”³

Perhaps one primary reason that Enoch’s book is extra-biblical and not included in either the Hebrew or New Testament Bibles (with exception of Ethiopian and Eritrian versions) is that the Nephilim’s origin is still a big question mark:

“For centuries, scholars from Judaism and Christianity have presented different views on who the Nephilim were. 

• “The first view is that fallen angels had relations with the ‘daughters of men,’ which resulted in a part human, part supernatural being – the Nephilim.
• “The second position held by some is that demons or fallen angels possessed men, then had relations with the ‘daughters of men,’ resulting in the Nephilim.
• “A third position, called the Sethite View, is held by some scholars. The Sethite View defines the ‘sons of God’ as the righteous line of Seth.
• “Lastly, a view held by the minority is the ‘sons of God’ were simply fallen men.”⁴

The logistics of the procreation process not withstanding, the Nephilim were the veritable definition of “pure evil”—which led to the near extinction of the human race in the Great Flood.  So I believe that Jude was right when he said that a special punishment awaited the beings responsible for introducing the Nephilim into society, i.e., polluting/perverting the earth in such an malevolent way.  And we will see that this was also a type of pollution and perversion that the heathenish unbelievers were trying to embed in the Christian community that Jude was writing to.

2 Peter 2:3,4 corroborates this, in addition to giving the community hope:

…The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority.

There are actually four characteristics of this type of heathenish unbeliever.  They are hypocritical; they are unstoppably unrelenting; they pursue fleshly perversions; they despise authority—and more specifically, the authority of God.  It’s all about demonstrating their ultimate rebellion against the Most High, by attempting to destroy His creation (that is, human beings) in all sorts of ways.  But, as we will learn in subsequent posts, it may be an evolutionary process, i.e., the unbelievers don’t start out that way—and instead are victims of a downward spiraling process that can result from one highly unfortunate decision…to change focus. 

Once a person takes his eyes off God, and instead begins to focus on false idols, a destructive avalanche of unraveling happens.  Paul chronicles the process in Romans 1:21-32 – Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles… They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.

As I said in previous posts, there is a point of no return in this auguring-in process at which a person rejects God 100%–and then there is nothing that He can do for them.  Because this is a matter of the heart—known only to that person and God—no Christian can discern if the difficult person they are dealing with has irretrievably crossed that line.  So the best approach is to always assume that they have not, and there is a chance that they can be saved—that our witness and prayers will have an impact.  (And the first prayer may be that God will give us the strength to endure their difficult behavior.)   Here’s a testimony from a Vicar in Canning Town, East London about how one prayer made all the difference: 

“Satanism gripped me. It became my life. I drew the pentagram on everything, from my school books to my body. My friends and my girlfriend were freaked out – they all thought I’d gone too far. I went from being pretty popular to having no friends…Then one night I dreamt that Satan was standing at the end of my bed. He was well-dressed and well-spoken, like a character from a Sherlock Holmes film. He just stood there and said, ‘You’re going to finish your exams and then die’…So, I started making deals with Satan. If I stole things like booze from my parents, (devalued girls by saying) that I just wanted sex, or turned people against each other, then I got to live. I’d been quite a caring person until then, but I became horribly manipulative…

Salvation came in an unlikely form. A friend of my sister’s, who happened to be the local vicar’s daughter, invited me to a Christian festival…On the last night of the festival, I was listening to a talk about how to recognise when you’ve hit rock bottom when a stranger offered to pray for me… While he was praying, I felt a sense of peace flood my body. Afterwards, the man said that even though I felt there was no hope in my life, God had a plan for me and Satan was a liar. 

I went home feeling free and positive for the first time in ages…I started going to church more regularly, and I felt increasingly like I belonged. I (later) got a job in south London after college, working with dyslexic kids from local gangs. At the same time, I joined a new church in the area, and found myself being asked for advice by young members of the congregation about spiritual matters. I was like, ‘Wow, this is quite a big responsibility’. I decided to do some proper studying, and took a Bible Studies degree at the University of Nottingham.”⁵ 

Just one prayer honored by God—with Whom all things are possible!!

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¹Wikipedia website:  /wiki/Book_of_Enoch

²Quora website: /Why-was-The-Book-of-Enoch-removed-from-the-Bible?

³Wikipedia website:  /wiki/Book_of_Enoch

⁴Christianity.com website:  /wiki/angels-and-demons/who-were-the-nephilim-in-the-bible.html

⁵BBC Website:  /bbcthree/article/fd1bf610-2212-46e3-82b0-d2c7d78f0abd