The Faith of Enoch

March 19th, 2026
by Lance Waldie

Hebrews 11:5-6 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

One of the most enigmatic characters in the Bible is Enoch, from the line of Seth—not to be confused with Cain’s son Enoch (cf. Gen. 4:17). According to Genesis 5:21-24 Enoch from Seth was the seventh in the line of Adam (cf. Jude 14) and the father of Methuselah, the oldest man recorded in the Bible at age 969 (5:27). Genesis 5:24 reveals that Enoch “walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.”

The phrase “walked with God” is used often in the Bible for faithful service and worship of Yahweh, describing personal communion with God. It is said that “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God” (Gen 6:9). “The Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be blameless” (17:1; cf. 24:40; 48:15). The prophet Micah asked, “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8). It was said of the parents of John the Baptist that “They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord” (Luke 1:6). Christians are taught to walk with God according to the Spirit (Rom. 8:4) and to walk according to love (Rom. 14:15). Thus, Christians are to “…walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory” (1 Thess 2:12). No wonder Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life” (John 8:12; cf. 11:9-10; 12:35). Enoch was thus a faithful follower of Yahweh, living consistently in fellowship with Him.

Now whereas every patriarch in the genealogy of Genesis 5 “died,” it is never said that Enoch died. As he faithfully followed God, in his 365th year, “God took him.” Hebrews 11:5 explains what happened: “By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.” So why did Enoch not die? Simply because he pleased God. He is one of only two men in the Bible—the other being Elijah—who never actually died but was taken by God before death. Enoch’s preaching against sin, coupled by his close walk with God, pleased God, so God spared him from death. It is therefore evident that Enoch sought God and was rewarded for his faith. He stands to this day as one of the stalwarts of saving faith.

The only other mention of Enoch in the NT is found in Jude 14-15 where Enoch is spoken of as a prophet railing against the ungodly. Jude 14-15 records his preaching: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” The quote resembles one from the pseudepigraphic book of 1 Enoch, yet Jude’s quote differs slightly from the extant copies of that work. Yet in spite of the fact that 1 Enoch is not part of the canon of Scripture, Jude’s quote of it is reliable. It speaks of a godly man who spoke against false teachers (i.e., the unrighteous line of Cain from Gen. 4:1-17) and warned of God’s coming wrath against the ungodly who act in ungodly ways.

Food For Thought
Those who truly experience an intimate walk with God can only do so through Jesus Christ, through trusting and submitting to Him as Lord and God. They know God because they read His word, believe everything in the Bible, strive to follow Him, and hate their sin. Like Enoch and all the other saints, they trust that God will reward them for their faithfulness and that He will judge those who reject Christ as Lord. In short, their lives are consumed with God. Jesus said that whomever has seen Him has seen the Father (John 14:9). He also said, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). Certainly, those who believe in Christ have eternal life (John 3:16). They do not waver in their faith, they do not fail to fellowship with God by never opening their Bibles, they give of what they have, and they are willing to die or be taken away from this earth whenever God chooses because they long to be with Christ above all else. Oh that the modern Christian would strive to be people who walk with God! One day we will be no more on this earth, just like Enoch. But we will be somewhere in eternity—either eternal hell for rejecting Christ as Lord and Savior or with Christ for receiving Him as Lord and God. There is no in between.