The book of Jude is small but mighty. It is short, but deep since Jude draws on his reader’s knowledge of their faith heritage. In its 25 verses, it alludes to the Old Testament 9 times.
If you read the book of Jude, you may recognize Adam, Sodom and Gomorrah, Balaam, Cain, the Exodus from Egypt, and Korah’s rebellion. You feel proud of all the years you spent in Sunday School, memorizing Bible trivia, or reading through the hard parts of the Bible in the beginning of the Old Testament.
But a cold sweat comes over you when you don’t remember the story mentioned in verse 9:
But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
You read further. You come to verses 14-15:
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 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.”
You furrow your brow, searching your memory for this story about Enoch. You don’t remember anything about Enoch saying anything. You thought all he did was disappear. You come to the conclusion that your Sunday School teachers must have skipped this part of Scripture on purpose. Why didn’t they teach me this story? Now I feel like an idiot!
Relax.
No one was holding out on you.
These stories are not from the Old Testament.
These stories are from Jewish literature. Michael disputing with the devil for the body of Moses is from the Testament of Moses. Enoch’s prophesy is from the First Book of Enoch which was written in the first century B.C.
The first readers of Jude’s book would be familiar with these stories as part of their faith heritage. That’s why Jude mentions the two references as naturally as he does the Old Testament references.
Is it a problem that Jude referred to these books that are not in the Bible? Shouldn’t those writings be in the Bible if Jude referred to them?
No.
Just because a cultural or historical reference appears in Scripture does not mean that all of the cultural or historical reference’s work must be Scripture, too.
In the book of Titus, Paul quotes a Cretan philosopher. Titus 1:12-13 says, “One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” 13 This saying is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith.“
Paul’s inclusion of this quote doesn’t mean that all of the Cretan’s philosophers work should be considered Scripture. Paul is bringing up that particular cultural reference to make a point that the Holy Spirit has directed him to make.
In Acts 17, Paul is speaking in Athens and quotes two different philosophers when he says in verse 28: ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
Jude and Paul are using cultural references to explain God’s truth to the people.
We are not Scripture writers, but we can explain God’s truth through cultural references, too.
Our family has a weekly pizza and movie night. We watch for entertainment, but we also discuss what from the movie reminded us of a truth from God’s word. Oftentimes there is a character who sacrifices himself for the good of others. That kind of movie character reminds us of Christ and His death on the cross. If a character in a movie finds himself in a pickle because of his sin, we see an example of the consequences of disobedience to God.
How have you used cultural or historical references to “prove” God’s truth? Comment below.
Download the free 15-day study guide for the book of Jude to discover how to contend for the faith without being contentious.
