Jude 1:14-15

Jude quoted loosely from a prophecy that Enoch gave, which stands recorded in the apocryphal Book of 1 Enoch. This is the only place in Scripture where we read that Enoch was a prophet. He is the only individual who lived before the Flood that God identified as a prophet. Though God had not inspired that book, He led Jude to quote Enoch’s prophecy. [Note: Cf. Fanning, p. 465; Bauckham, p. 96.] The Holy Spirit sometimes led Paul to quote pagan philosophers (cf. Acts 17:28). This was a prophecy of God’s judgment that will take place at the second coming of Christ (cf. Matthew 24:30; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10). As such it is the earliest recorded prophecy of the second coming of Christ. The unbelievers among the false teachers would be the objects of God’s judgment then if they were living then.

Jude’s reference to Enoch as the seventh (generation) from Adam seems to support the idea that Genesis 5 records all the generations (i.e., it is a closed genealogy). However, critics of this view contend that Jude simply meant that Enoch was the seventh generation from Adam in the biblical genealogy. They assume there were additional intervening generations that Moses did not mention in Genesis. Nevertheless a careful reading of that genealogy shows that Moses left no room for omitted generations, though other biblical genealogies do contain gaps. A different explanation follows.

"However, a solution to the problem may rest in the fact that this alleged prophecy is a citation not from a single passage in Enoch, but from several, and it is probable that Jude also quoted the line ’the seventh generation from Adam’ from Enoch 60:8. Thus Jude did not intend to refer to the Enoch of Genesis 5, but referred entirely, even in the introductory line, to words found in the apocryphal Enoch. While the prophecy has no canonical status, its predictions are paralleled and supported by numerous Biblical passages, such as, Matthew 25:31-46." [Note: David H. Wallace, "Jude," in The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, p. 1489.]

"Ungodly deeds may be performed by persons who have a form of godliness. Every action that proceeds from an unholy, unrepentant heart is an ungodly deed." [Note: Wolff, p. 113.]

"Satan in Eden and Judas in Gethsemane clothed ungodly deeds in soft words." [Note: Williams, 7:18.]