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1 Enoch

Ethiopic Book of Enoch

About this book
Chapter 19

1 And Uriel said to me: “Here will stand the angels who have united with women, and their spirits, taking many different forms, are corrupting mankind and will lead them astray into sacrificing to demons as gods.⁠ Here they will remain until the day of the great judgment when they will be judged and brought to an end.⁠ 2 And the women of the angels who went astray⁠ will become sirens.”⁠

3 And I, Enoch, alone saw the vision, the ends of all things, and no one will see what I have seen.

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Compare 1 Enoch 19:1 and Justin Martyr, Second Apology 5

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Early Christian

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Summary

The Christian theologian Justin Martyr draws on the narrative in 1 Enoch where angels took human wives and shared forbidden knowledge with humanity, using it as an authoritative source to explain the origin of demons and the spread of idolatry.

Passages

1 Enoch 19:1

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Ethiopic Book of Enoch
1 And Uriel said to me: “Here will stand the angels who have united with women, and their spirits, taking many different forms, are corrupting mankind and will lead them astray into sacrificing to demons as gods. Here they will remain until the day of the great judgment when they will be judged and brought to an end. 2 And the women of the angels who went astray will become sirens.”
325 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Justin Martyr, Second Apology 5

Early Christian
Someone may think that if we acknowledge God as our helper, we should not, as we say, be oppressed and persecuted by the wicked. I will resolve this difficulty too.God, when He had made the whole world, and subjected earthly things to humanity, and arranged the heavenly elements for the growth of crops and the cycle of the seasons, and appointed this divine law, entrusted the care of people and of all things under heaven to angels whom He appointed over them. He clearly made these things for humanity too. But the angels violated this charge, and were captivated by love of women, and fathered the children called demons. They also later brought the human race under their control, partly by magical writings, and partly by fears and the punishments they caused, and partly by teaching them to offer sacrifices, and incense, and drink offerings, which they needed after they were enslaved by lustful passions. Among people they spread murders, wars, adulteries, acts of uncontrolled indulgence, and all wickedness.
150–160 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Justin Martyr, Second Apology

References

"... In his first apology (ca. 155) Justin defends the Christians against, among other slanders, the charge of atheism. He accuses their detractors of not examining what they say and responding with passion under the guidance of evil demons ... Here Justin argues emphatically that Greek religion is demon-based - a theme which will emerge among other apologists for the faith. But who are these demons who through terror induced humans to call them gods? Justin answers this query in his second apology (circa 161). In it he explains that God entrusted the care of humanity and all things under heaven to angels ... Justin reproduces several aspects of the angel story - their lust, fatherhood, and teachings - but also their role in religion. However, in his version the demons are the offspring of the angels, not apparently the emanations from the giants dead bodies. Here, as in 1 Peter 3:19-20, the basis for Justin's claims is 1 Enoch 19:1. Justin's point is that the gods of Greek mythology, who committed a host of immoral deeds, were actually the evil demons depicted in the Enochic angel tale ..."
James C. VanderKam and William Adler, eds., The Jewish Apocalyptic Heritage in Early Christianity, CRINT 3.4 (Assen: Van Gorcum, 1993), 64–65.

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 19:1 and Justin Martyr, Second Apology 5

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