by Johnathan Arnold and Travis Johnson
There are some topics in the Bible, such as angels, demons, and the infamous “Nephilim,” that shouldn’t consume our attention. But we shouldn’t ignore them either. Several scriptural texts force us to wrestle with these mysterious beings, and doing so in a thoughtful way can heighten our awareness that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but “against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:2).
One such text is Jude 6, which speaks of rebellious angels who are now bound in eternal chains: “The angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day.” To which angels is Jude referring? Is Jude referring to “the sons of God” in Genesis 6, from whom the Nephilim descended, or to the Book of 1 Enoch?
The Fall of Angels in General
It’s possible that Jude is simply referring to fallen angels in general. Every fallen angel or “demon” has failed to “stay within their own position of authority”—they have stopped submitting to God and become a law unto themselves. Every fallen angel has likewise “left their proper dwelling”—they have left the heavenly places for which they were made.
Being “kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness” could be understood figuratively—demons are constantly plagued by the knowledge of the certain and inescapable judgment of God that is yet to come. Thus Calvin contends, “We are not to imagine a certain place in which the devils are shut up, for the Apostle simply intended to teach us how miserable their condition is, since the time they apostatized and lost their dignity. For wherever they go, they drag with them their own chains, and remain involved in darkness.”
While it’s possible that Jude 6 refers to fallen angels in general, there are reasons to think that Jude may be referring to a specific group of angels who committed a more heinous breach of authority and were uniquely punished by God.
Reasons to Consider Something More Specific
First of all, Jude 6 parallels with 2 Peter 2:4: “God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment.” Peter connects the angels’ “chains” with a place, which is translated as “hell” in our English Bibles but is “Tartarus” in the Greek. In Jewish literature between the OT and NT, Tartarus was viewed as the lowest “compartment” of hell or Hades, reserved for certain rebellious angels.
Furthermore, 2 Peter 2:4 comes after Peter’s first letter, in which he writes of “the spirits in prison” who “formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared” (1 Pet. 3:19–20). While this could refer to human spirits in Hades, “spirits” (plural) usually refers to angelic beings in the New Testament and the idea of a group of imprisoned angels fits well with 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 6.
More important, though, are the clues within Jude’s own letter. One of the unique features of Jude is that it frequently cites or alludes to Jewish tradition or Jewish intertestamental literature. For example, in verse 9, Jude is likely drawing from a Jewish work called The Assumption of Moses when he says that Michael the archangel fought with Satan over the body of Moses (see the article “Why Did Michael Argue With the Devil About Moses’s Body?“). More to the point, though, Jude 1:14–15 cites a fairly lengthy passage from the first part of the book of 1 Enoch, “The Book of Watchers”: “It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all ….” These verses raise questions for another time, but they show that Jude was familiar with the Book of Watchers in 1 Enoch and thought that some of its material (however little) was true.
Jude was familiar with the Book of Watchers in 1 Enoch and thought that some of its material (however little) was true.
This is important because “The Book of Watchers” is about Genesis 6 (the sons of God taking the daughters of man), interprets it as an angelic rebellion, and claims that it ended with God imprisoning the guilty angels under the earth! David DeSilva comically refers to the first portion of 1 Enoch as “The Book of Angels Behaving Badly.” It seems most likely, then, that Jude also viewed Genesis 6 as referring to an angelic rebellion, and that he believed that The Book of Watchers was true on this point: God consigned that group of angels to a prison in hell where they are stuck and can do nothing further until the final judgment.
Jude and Genesis 6
Let’s take a closer look at Genesis 6:1–8 to see whether or not a strong case can be made that it refers to the kind of angelic rebellion that fits the details of Jude 6. The passage simply says that “the sons of God” took wives from among “the daughters of man,” and that “the Nephilim”—mighty and renowned men of old—resulted from this union. It also says that God was grieved by these events, and then proceeds to describe man’s widespread wickedness which led to the flood of Noah.
First, it’s significant that the Hebrew phrase from which “sons of God” is translated (bene ha’elohim) consistently refers to angels elsewhere in the Old Testament (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7). Nowhere is it used of human beings. In fact, the Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation of the OT which was used in Jude’s day, translates the phrase as “angels of God.”
Moreover, the union of “the sons of God” and the daughters of men resulted in extraordinary offspring, “the Nephilim.” When Genesis 6:4 says that “these were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown,” it could just mean great kings or rulers. However, Numbers 13:32–33 suggests that the Nephilim were also giants: “all the people that we saw in [the land] are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” The Hebrew word “Nephilim” means “fallen ones,” but the Septuagint translates it as “gigantes,” meaning “giants.” This is significant, once again, because the Septuagint was the Bible translation of Jude’s day.
Moreover, we have the weight of tradition behind this reading. While some fourth-century church fathers, such as Julius Africanus and Cyril of Alexandria, began to interpret “sons of God” as righteous men from the line of Seth (the Sethite interpretation), there was a consensus among the earliest Christian and Jewish commentators that Genesis 6 referred to an angelic rebellion (the angelic interpretation). As we’ve seen, this was the view of 1 Enoch, one of the most important Jewish works from the intertestamental period, and it is reflected in other works such as the book of Jubilees. Church fathers of the 2nd and 3rd century, such as Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, and Cyprian, carried this view forward. Jude’s audience would have been unfamiliar with the Sethite interpretation.
There was a consensus among the earliest Christian and Jewish commentators that Genesis 6 referred to an angelic rebellion.
The view that Jude was specifically referring to the angelic rebellion of Genesis 6 is further strengthened by its connection to Sodom and Gomorrah, “which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire” (Jude 1:7). Jude seems to be indicating that the angels left their proper dwelling by indulging in sexual immorality and pursuing unnatural desire. This makes perfect sense if Jude 1:6 refers to angels in Genesis 6 who lusted after and procreated with human women.
Jude and the Book of Watchers in 1 Enoch
So far we have established that Genesis 6 can be interpreted as an angelic rebellion, this was the prevailing view in Jude’s day, and the details of Genesis 6 fit well with what Jude describes in verse 6. Finally, let’s take a closer look at how Genesis 6 is featured in 1 Enoch, which Jude cites in verses 14–15.
The book known as 1 Enoch is actually a group of books written over a period of several hundred years that were brought together under a single title. The first part of 1 Enoch, The Book of Watchers, begins with an oracle of judgment and a theophany—a description of God appearing with his angels in judgment, which will cause “the watchers” (Enoch’s way of referring to angels) to tremble in fear. It’s from this opening theophany that Jude cites in Jude 1:14–15. The Book of Watchers continues with an indictment and verdict against the wicked ones. But the real story begins in Chapter 6 with the rebellion of the watchers, which expands on Genesis 6:
6:1 When the sons of men had multiplied, in those days, beautiful and comely daughters were born to them. 2 And the watchers, the sons of heaven, saw them and desired them. And they said to one another, “Come, let us choose for ourselves wives from the daughters of men, and let us beget children for ourselves.” 3 And Shemihazah, their chief, said to them, “I fear that you will not want to do this deed, and I alone shall be guilty of a great sin.” 4 And they all answered him and said, “Let us all swear an oath, and let us all bind one another with a curse, that none of us turn back from this counsel until we fulfill it and do this deed.” 5 Then they all swore together and bound one another with a curse. 6/ And they were, all of them, two hundred, who descended in the days of Jared onto the peak of Mount Hermon. And they called the mountain “Hermon” because they swore and bound one another with a curse on it.
After listing the names of the 20 chief demons, each charged with a group of 10, the book continues:
7:1 These and all the others with them took for themselves wives from among them such as they chose. And they began to go in to them, and to defile themselves through them, and to teach them sorcery and charms, and to reveal to them the cutting of roots and plants. 2 And they conceived from them and bore to them great giants. And the giants begot Nephilim, and to the Nephilim were born Elioud [meaning unknown—words presumed to be corrupt]. And they were growing in accordance with their greatness.
Chapters 7 and 8 describe how the fallen angels taught human beings all kinds of things to increase wickedness on the earth. Then, in Chapter 9, the wickedness of the fallen angels comes to the attention of four archangels: Michael and Gabriel, who are mentioned in the Book of Daniel, as well as two others, Sariel and Raphael. The archangels appeal to God, condemning the demons for their wicked teaching and for producing “giants, half-breeds” (1 Enoch 9:9). God sends Sariel to warn Noah about judgment in the form of a flood, and he sends Gabriel to destroy the giants.
Most importantly for our understanding of Jude 6 is what God says to Michael in 1 Enoch 10:11–15:
11 Go, Michael, bind Shemihazah and the others with him, who have mated with the daughters of men, so that they were defiled by them in their uncleanness. 12 And when their sons perish and they see the destruction of their beloved ones, bind them for seventy generations in the valleys of the earth, until the day of their judgment and consummation, until the everlasting judgment is consummated. 13 Then they will be led away to the fiery abyss, and to the torture, and to the prison where they will be confined forever. 14 And everyone who is condemned and destroyed henceforth will be bound together with them until the consummation of their generation. <And at the time of the judgment, which I shall judge, they will perish for all generations.> 15 Destroy all the spirits of the half-breeds and the sons of the watchers, because they have wronged men.
This passage has strong parallels with Jude 6, 2 Peter 2:4, and 1 Peter 3:19–20, which says that While Jude and Peter do not approve of everything that is said in 1 Enoch, they seem to agree with the book at this point, which was common in Jewish tradition: Genesis 6 was a uniquely heinous angelic rebellion which resulted in the demonic perpetrators being condemned to a special prison in hell until the final judgment.
Conclusion
Whatever you ultimately conclude about the meaning of Jude 6, don’t miss the main point that Jude is making. Jude writes, “I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day.” Jude was writing to a Christian audience which had lost their sense of certainty about the coming judgment of God, and therefore became susceptible to false teaching and licentious living!
As Christians, we do not need to live in fear of God’s judgment, since we are safe in Christ (1 John 4:18). However, we should have a healthy fear of the judgment—a serious awareness of the reality of the final judgment, which helps to keep us on the straight and narrow path (Rom. 11:20–22; Php. 2:12–13; 1 Cor. 10:11–12; 2 Cor. 5:10–11; Heb. 10:26–31; 1 Pet. 1:17). God will judge the rebellious angels, and we must persevere in true faith—the faith that produces holiness—if we want to escape their terrible fate.
