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On Christian Discipline

About this book
Chapter 3

When Almighty God, to beautify the nature of the world, willed that that earth should be visited by angels, when they were sent down they despised His laws.⁠ Such was the beauty of women, that it turned them aside; so that, being contaminated, they could not return to heaven. Rebels from God, they uttered words against Him. Then the Highest uttered His judgment against them; and from their seed giants are said to have been born. By them arts were made known in the earth, and they taught the dyeing of wool, and everything which is done; and to them, when they died, men erected images. But the Almighty, because they were of an evil seed, did not approve that, when dead, they should be brought back from death. Whence wandering they now subvert many bodies, and it is such as these especially that you this day worship and pray to as gods.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 8:1 and Commodianus, On Christian Discipline 3

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Early Christian

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Summary

The Christian author Commodianus draws on 1 Enoch including the narrative of the angels taking human wives and teaching forbidden skills such as metalworking, wearing makeup, and magic, demonstrating how 1 Enoch influenced early Christian traditions.

Passages

1 Enoch 8:1

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 And Azâzêl taught men to make swords, knives, shields, and breastplates, and revealed to them the metals of the earth and how to work with them, as well as how to make bracelets, ornaments, and the use antimony, beautifying the eyelids, along with all kinds of precious stones and various dyes. 2 Widespread wickedness arose, and they engaged in fornication, were led astray, and corrupted all their ways. 3 Semjâzâ taught spells and the cutting of roots, Armârôs taught how to break spells, Barâqîjâl taught astrology, Kôkabêl taught about the constellations, Êzêqêêl taught about the clouds, Araqiêl taught the signs of the earth, Shamsiêl taught the signs of the sun, and Sariêl taught the course of the moon. 4 And as men died, they cried out, and their cries ascended to heaven.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Commodianus, On Christian Discipline 3

Early Christian
When Almighty God, to beautify the nature of the world, willed that that earth should be visited by angels, when they were sent down they despised His laws. Such was the beauty of women, that it turned them aside; so that, being contaminated, they could not return to heaven. Rebels from God, they uttered words against Him. Then the Highest uttered His judgment against them; and from their seed giants are said to have been born.
240–250 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Commodianus, On Christian Discipline

References

"... Commodian (mid-third century). Commodian was a Latin Christian poet who, though he became a bishop in North Africa, may have had some connection with Palestine. In his Instructiones adversus Gentium Deos pro Christiana Disciplina 3 Commodian, like the earlier apologists, deals with demons in connection with the angel story ... It is noteworthy that Commodian sets forth a rather full form of the Watcher myth, but his initial words reveal that he knew a version in which the descent was God's will, not the result of angelic lust from heaven ..."
James C. VanderKam and William Adler, eds., The Jewish Apocalyptic Heritage in Early Christianity, CRINT 3.4 (Assen: Van Gorcum, 1993), 82.

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

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1 Enoch 8:1 and Commodianus, On Christian Discipline 3

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