Texts in conversation

Compare 2 Enoch 20:1 and Colossians 1:16

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · New Testament

Summary

Colossians and 2 Enoch describe a hierarchy of angels, following a common apocalyptic tradition. 2 Enoch describes the ranks and roles of heavenly beings, while Colossians similarly refers to thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers.

Passages

2 Enoch 20:1

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Secrets of Enoch

1 And those two men lifted me up from there onto the seventh Heaven, and I saw there a very great light, and fiery troops of great archangels, bodiless forces, and dominions, orders and governments, cherubim and seraphim, thrones and many-eyed ones, nine regiments, the Ioanit stations of light, and I became afraid, and began to tremble with great terror, 2 and those men took me, and led me after them, and said to me: 3 'Have courage, Enoch, do not fear,' and showed me the Lord from a distance, sitting on His very high throne. For what is there on the tenth heaven, since the Lord dwells here? God is in the tenth heaven, in the Hebrew language he is called Aravat. And all the heavenly troops would come and stand on the ten steps according to their rank, and would bow down to the Lord,

1–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 2 Enoch

Colossians 1:16

New Testament

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, 16 for all things in heaven and on earth were created in him—all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers—all things were created through him and for him. 17 He himself is before all things, and all things are held together in him. 18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son 20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross—through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

80–85 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Colossians

References

"... We know from the apocalypses and later Jewish mystical material that strict preparation was a necessary prerequisite for the receipt of visions. In the Dead Sea Scrolls, just as the angels in heaven have their allotted place in the heavenly liturgy (4Q405 23 i; compare 2 Enoch 20:3–21:1), so the earthly community is given a position corresponding to God’s everlasting purpose (1QS 2:22–26; 5:23–24; 6:8–10). It is possible that the problem addressed had two components: the ritual preparations and the visions themselves and an unhealthy concentration on other, lesser, heavenly beings, rather than Christ. In the light of this, the remarkable words in Colossians 1:15–20 and 2:9 become comprehensible. Passages such as Justin, Dialogue 114, where Christ is identified with the human figure on the throne of glory, suggest that Christ as the image of the invisible God is the concrete expression of God, the divine kavod ..."

Christopher Rowland, “Paul as an Apocalyptist,” in The Jewish Apocalyptic Tradition and the Shaping of New Testamenmt Thought, ed. Loren T. Stuckenbruck (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2017), 131–154.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

The Seventh to Tenth Heavens

2 Enoch73 chapters

Compare 2 Enoch 20:1 and Colossians 1:16

Summary

Passages

2 Enoch 20:1

Colossians 1:16

References

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