Jude quoting the Book of Enoch question

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Onthisrock84

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When a book regarded as scripture quotes a book such as when Jude quotes Enoch 1:6, is this to be interpreted that it only applies to when reading the Book of Jude or will that also mean when someone reads that verse while reading the Book of Enoch it is also scripture? Does that make any sense? Something I’ve wondered , and also this isn’t the only non canonical book quoted in scripture, it happens a lot,so I guess the question can more broadly be does it make any no canonical quotation canon on that specific verse?
 
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There were a number of books floating around at that time. Some of them even contain useful information. The protoevangelum comes to mind. To have these known books quoted in scripture should not be considered strange. However, these books were not deemed divinely inspired and thus not Scripture. They were still useful books.

I happen to enjoy all the “Enoch” books, but contain a lot of really bizarre passages as well as some useful ones.
 
Oh I mean I own volumes of New Testament Apocrypha and Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. They are very interesting. Some are really strange but some were actually regarded as scripture by early Christian’s.

I more or less was asking if a canonical book quotes a writing or text that in itself is not scripture.( I believe Saint Paul even quotes words of a couple Greek philosophers such as the " All Cretans are liars" verse. What I mean is does this make the verse scripture in all sense such as if I’m reading the source quoted and reading it outside the scripture is it still scripture or does it only apply to when read in the context of the canonical book? Because the verse could have a totally different meaning in the source material.
 
I’d say only the context of scripture. Quoting non scripture within scripture does not impart any canonical status to the quoted book. Only the quote within the context of the scripture in that scripture.
 
StephieNorthCo said:
I’d say only the context of scripture. Quoting non scripture within scripture does not impart any canonical status to the quoted book. Only the quote within the context of the scripture in that scripture.
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I was just going to post the same thing. But you snuck in ahead of me and also you expressed the idea much more clearly and elegantly!
 
I agree! At first I was puzzled but I think Steph hit the nail on the head here. The verse in question would not be canonical in the quoted source, only within Scripture itself. Great answer!
 
Thanks. That’s a great response. Something I’ve been wondering sometime now.
 
I mean even that verse in one of Paul’s letters about being saved from the mouth of the lion, in most views has a different meaning but some have compared it to the apocryphal Acts of Paul and within it the Acts of Paul and Thecla where in one verse Paul baptized a lion. And in the Acts of Paul the lion speaks to Paul when both are about to be persecuted and says something to the sort that because Paul baptized him he was now going to share the same fate. Interesting. Animals talk a lot in the New mass apocrypha. In the Acts of Peter a dog talks and delivers a message to Simon Magus who is hiding in a house and actually speaks as though being possessed by God and reprimands him for leading people astray.

Before thinking this is bizarre, remember in scripture animals do at times come filled with the spirit and speak. Such as in Absallom and the donkey he is riding in what the book of Numbers was it? One of the penteteuch books.
 
They can be interesting stories, but just remember they’re not Scripture.
 
Oh of course.
I view them in a historical sense. Although not scripture one can learn about the stories and traditions held by early Christians.
Many of our traditions are found in these books like the Protoevangelium of James, the martyrdom of Peter and Paul are described in those Acts. The Apocalypse of Peter and the later Paul seem to represent our views of heaven and hell and some say inspired Dantes Divine Comedy.
 
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Not only St Jude but also St Augustine and Origen also quote form the Book of Enoch. When Jesus said ‘Son of Man’ that phrase was known to Jews from the Book of Enoch. So it is a useful book.
 
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