Yes, there was and is a book of Enoch. You can read it online. The quote that Jude excerpts is taken directly from the book. That much we know. Questions arise as to the nature and the author of that book. Tradition tells us, and obviously Jude believed, that the man Enoch wrote and passed on this book. The Jews as a whole, and Christians as a whole, do not accept this book as inspired Scripture, though some very small groups within each, do. Church fathers even quote the book as having some authority. The doubts that have arisen about this book have put it into that broad category of “apocryphal”, that is, of doubtful origin.

But that is not to say that the Holy Spirit Himself writes the book off in its entirety. As we have said regarding the book used by Jude in verse 9 above, so we say here. There is truth in other books, whether the entire book is true. Falseness can creep into an otherwise good document and cause the Spirit-led people to say no to it. But that does not negate the fact that much of the book is indeed true. The portion of “Enoch” that we shall consider inspired and true is that portion which Jude quoted, simply because we believe that the Spirit inspired him to quote it. Probably best not to go beyond that in the discussion.

Note that Enoch is called the seventh from Adam. That is to distinguish him from the Enoch who was the son of Cain (Genesis 4:17). The birth line goes: Adam, Seth, Enosh, Cainan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch. Enoch is the seventh generation of the line that leads eventually to Jesus.

Jude, inspired by God, actually links the prophesy given by a man at the beginning of the revelations of God to his own work, near the end of those revelations, and the message has not changed in all that time or from then until now. Namely, God is just and will bring justice to the ungodly. And the men of whom Jude is speaking in his letter are samples of what God means when He says through His prophets, “ungodly.” Church, take note.

Jude speaks here of the rapture and the second coming as one. Jesus and Paul tell how the saints will be gathered from the four winds of heaven, in the twinkling of an eye, and revelation finishes the picture by talking of the bloody but very quick war that shall soon follow. Judgment will follow the statement of indictment, namely that ungodly men did ungodly things in an ungodly way, evils that included even things which these same men have spoken against God.

Un-God reminds us of anti-Christ. There is godly and there is ungodly. There is Christ and there is anti-Christ. The world that Jesus, the Lord, shall visit in that hour will have been ruled for years by the anti_God, anti law, anti righteous, anti holy, anti Christ Himself. When the two meet, Christ and antichrist, the clash will be heard throughout the universe.

Vs. 16. Back to the list.

They (the false teachers) are grumblers, complainers, walking after their own desires (verse 16). I will treat these three entries as one, since they are so inter-related. The first two words are used nowhere in the New Testament but here, and can be interchangeable, as some translations prove. “Fault-finders” is the word most often used in the translations to replace “complainers.” But the reason for either the grumbling (murmuring in many versions) or the complaining, is the third part of the sentence: they want what they want, and if they do not get it, you will hear about it. This characteristic is certainly not limited to false leaders, but many false followers as well. This is in fact the sin that brought Israel to its near end in the wilderness. We spoke of it above.

Elevated to a public forum and leveled against church leadership, as wilderness people practiced, this sin is magnified a hundred fold. I don’t like what the church is teaching about this matter. So, I’ll grumble awhile. I’ll murmur awhile. I’ll complain awhile. And church members will hear me, and they’ll join me, until there is a full scale revolt, which can end in tragedy.

And the reason I don’t like such and such doctrine is because it touches my very flesh and bones. It hits me where it hurts. My life style will be affected by the holiness that preacher is talking about. My worldliness will be exposed. So I must expose the preacher before it goes any farther. They know how to flatter. So, some people resist me. I know how to get through to them. I’ll flatter them. Tell them things they have not heard for a long time, or ever. I’ll even try to say it publicly. How can they turn against me when I say such nice things to, and about, them? This too is connected to the rest of verse 16. Fleshly men, who want their own way, get it by grumbling about leadership, but flattering membership. Like Absalom of old, they sit at the city gate and win the hearts of the people to themselves.