Summary
Enoch: A Life That Walked With God
Enoch appears in Genesis 5:21-24 as a descendant of Adam through Seth, the father of Methuselah, and the great-grandfather of Noah. His entire biography in Scripture is given in just four verses, yet those verses contain a remarkable claim: "Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." He lived 365 years before being taken directly into the Lord's presence without tasting death. Among the patriarchs, only Enoch and Noah are described with this phrase—"walked with God"—a description that signals not merely a religious activity but an entire way of life lived in nearness to the Lord.
Though he often seems like a minor character to modern readers, Enoch was a major figure in the imagination of Second Temple Judaism and the early Church. Writings attributed to him (such as 1 Enoch) circulated widely, and some early Christian leaders argued for their inclusion in the canon of Scripture. The Church ultimately discerned that these writings were not given by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and so they were not received as canonical. Even so, the familiarity of Enoch among first-century believers explains why the author of Hebrews and Jude could appeal to him with confidence as a model of faith.
In Hebrews 11:5-6, Enoch is held up as a paradigm of faith: "By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death... it was attested that he had pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please him." Faith, as the chapter opens, is "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Enoch never saw the promised Messiah, yet he trusted that God's promise of salvation would come. His translation into glory—body and soul together, without the separation of death—was a living sign that the God who creates by his Word also keeps his Word.
Enoch's faithfulness is striking because he lived in a deeply corrupt generation, one that grew so wicked God would soon judge it in the flood. He did not drift with his culture, did not make peace with its perversity, and did not soften his witness. Jude even records his prophecy: the Lord is coming with his holy ones to execute judgment on the ungodly Jude 1:14-15. The question this raises for every generation is unavoidable: do we walk with God, or do we drift along with a world that blasphemes his name, redefines his creation, and treats his gifts with contempt?
Honestly answered, none of us pleases God on our own. By nature we are, as Paul writes, children of wrath, enemies of God who seek only to please ourselves. This is where the gospel meets us. Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, was made lower than the angels and tasted death for everyone Hebrews 2:9 so that we might be clothed in a righteousness not our own. In his blood we are given the very righteousness that pleases the Father. The faith that Enoch had and the faith we have rest on the same promise—Christ crucified and risen.
That is why every believer can be said, with Enoch, to walk with God. God himself is the one who seeks us out, finds us in his Word, claims us in baptism, and feeds us in the Supper with the body and blood of Christ for the forgiveness of sins. We are living already in eternity; the reward of faith, as Jesus says in Mark 16:16, is salvation—life eternal with God. And one day, just as he did with Enoch, the Lord will say to each of his own, "We are closer to my home than yours. Come with me."
Video citations
- "Enoch" — Today we are going to talk about Enoc. Enoc is probably a very familiar name. You know you've heard it or read it somewhere in Scripture. You know it's probably Old Testament. And if you're thinking…