1. The Story-Line of Christian Precreation Rhetorolect LESSON 3: OLD TESTAMENT PSEUDEPIGRAPHA AS A RESOURCE FOR CHRISTIAN PRECREATION RHETOROLECT In the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, a later writing called “2 Enoch,” written in Slavonic, develops the story of God’s creation of “visible” things out of “the invisible.” 2 Enoch probably was written too late to be a resource for Christian Precreation Rhetorolect, but it contains assertions that help an interpreter understand certain statements in New Testament literature.  Click to read 2 Enoch 24.

2. Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Resource: GOD TELLS ENOCH ABOUT THE CREATION OF VISIBLE THINGS OUT OF THE INVISIBLE 2 Enoch 24:1 About the great secrets of God, which God revealed and related to Enoch; and he spoke with him face to face. And the Lord called me; and he said to me, “Enoch, sit to the left of me with Gabriel.” And I bowed down to the Lord. 24:2 And the Lord spoke to me: “Enoch, beloved, all that you see, all things that are standing still or moving about were brought to perfection by me. And I myself will explain it to you.  Click to continue with 2 Enoch 24.

3. Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Resource: THE CREATION OF VISIBLE THINGS OUT OF THE INVISIBLE cont. (1) 2 Enoch 24:2 Before anything existed at all, from the very beginning, whatever exists I created from non-being to being, and from the invisible into the visible. 24:3 And not even to my angels have I explained my secrets, nor related to them their composition, nor my endless and inconceivable creation which I conceived. 24:4 For before any visible things had come into existence, I, the ONE, moved around in the invisible things, like the sun, from east to west and from west to east.  Click to continue with 2 Enoch 24-25.

4. Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Resource: THE CREATION OF VISIBLE THINGS OUT OF THE INVISIBLE cont. (2) 2 Enoch 24:5 But the sun has rest in himself; yet I did not find rest, because everything was not yet created. And I conceived the thought [wisdom] of establishing a foundation, to create a visible creation. 2 Enoch 25:1 And I commanded the lowest things: ‘Let one of the invisible things descend visibly!’ and Adoil descended, extremely large. And I looked at him, and behold, in his belly he had a great light. 25:2 And I said to him, ‘Disintegrate yourself, Adoil, and let what is born from you become visible.’  Click to continue with 2 Enoch 25.

5. Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Resource: THE CREATION OF VISIBLE THINGS OUT OF THE INVISIBLE cont. (3) 2 Enoch 25:2 And he disintegrated himself, and there came out a very great light. 25:3 And I was in the midst of the great light. And light out of light is carried thus. And the great age came out, and it revealed all the creation which I had thought up to create. 25:4 And I saw that it was good.  Click to continue with 2 Enoch 25.

6. Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Resource: THE CREATION OF VISIBLE THINGS OUT OF THE INVISIBLE cont. (4) 2 Enoch 25:5 And I placed for myself a throne, and I sat down on it. And then to the light I spoke: ‘You go up higher (than the throne), and be solidified much higher than the throne, and become the foundation for the highest things.’ 25:6 And there is nothing higher than the light, except nothing itself. And again I bowed myself, and I looked upward from my throne.”  Click to continue with 2 Enoch 26.

7. Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Resource: THE CREATION OF VISIBLE THINGS OUT OF THE INVISIBLE cont. (5) 2 Enoch 26:1 God summons from the very lowest things a second time, so that Archas (“Beginnings”), both heavy and red, should come out. “And I called out a second time into the very lowest things, and I said: ‘Let one of the (in)visible things come out visibly, solid.’ 26:2 And Archas came out, solid and heavy and very red. 26:3 And I said: ‘Open yourself up, Archas, and let what is born from you become visible!’  Click to continue with 2 Enoch 26.

8. Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Resource: THE CREATION OF VISIBLE THINGS OUT OF THE INVISIBLE cont. (6) 2 Enoch 26:3 And he disintegrated himself. There came out an age, dark, very large, carrying the creation of all lower things! And I saw that it was good. And I said to him, 26:4 ‘Come down low and become solid! And become the foundation of the lowest things!’ And it came about. And he came down and became solid. And he became the foundation of the lowest things. And there is nothing lower than the darkness, except nothing itself.”  Click to continue with 2 Enoch 27.

9. Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Resource: THE CREATION OF VISIBLE THINGS OUT OF THE INVISIBLE cont. (7) 2 Enoch 27:1 And how God founded the water, and surrounded it with light, and established on it seven islands. “And I gave the command: ‘Let there be taken some of the light and some of the darkness.’ 27:2 And I said, ‘Become thickened, and be wrapped around with light!’ and I spread it out, and it became water. And I spread it out above the darkness, below the light. 27:3 And thus I made the solid waters, that is to say, the Bottomless.  Click to continue with 2 Enoch 27.

10. Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Resource: THE CREATION OF VISIBLE THINGS OUT OF THE INVISIBLE cont. (8) 2 Enoch 27:3 And I made a foundation of light around the water. And I created seven great circles inside it, and I gave them an appearance of crystal, wet and dry, that is to say glass and ice, and to be the circuit for water and the other elements. And I pointed out to each one of this his route, to the seven stars, each one of them in his own heaven, so that they might travel accordingly. And I saw that it was good.  Click to continue with 2 Enoch 27.

11. Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Resource: THE CREATION OF VISIBLE THINGS OUT OF THE INVISIBLE cont. (9) 2 Enoch 27:4 And I made a division between the light and between the darkness, that is to say, in the middle of the waters, this way and that way. And I said to the light that it should be day, and to the darkness (I commanded) that it should be night. And evening came, and (again) morning came, (that is) the first day.  Click to continue with 2 Enoch 30.

12. Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Resource: THE CREATION OF VISIBLE THINGS OUT OF THE INVISIBLE cont. (10) 2 Enoch 30:8 On the sixth day I commanded my wisdom to create the human out of the seven components: (1) his flesh from earth; (2) his blood from dew and from the sun; (3) his eyes from the bottomless sea; (4) his bones from stone; (5) his reason from the mobility of angels and from clouds; (6) his veins and hair from grass of the earth; (7) his spirit from my spirit and from wind.  Click to continue with 2 Enoch 30.

13. Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Resource: THE CREATION OF VISIBLE THINGS OUT OF THE INVISIBLE cont. (11) 2 Enoch 30:9 And I gave the human 7 properties: (1) hearing to the flesh; (2) sight to the eyes; (3) smell to the spirit; (4) touch to the veins; (5) taste to the blood; (6) to the bones, endurance; (7) to the reason, sweetness.  Click to continue with 2 Enoch 30.

14. Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Resource: THE CREATION OF VISIBLE THINGS OUT OF THE INVISIBLE cont. (12) 2 Enoch 30:10 Behold, I have thought up an ingenious poem to recite: From invisible and visible substances I created the human. From both of the natures [invisible and visible] come both death and life. And as my image the human knows speech like no other creature. But even at its greatest the human is small, and again at its smallest the human is great.  Click to continue with 2 Enoch 30.

15. Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Resource: THE CREATION OF VISIBLE THINGS OUT OF THE INVISIBLE cont. (13) 2 Enoch 30:10 And on the earth I assigned the human to be a second angel, honored and great and glorious. 2 Enoch 30:10 And on the earth I assigned the human to be a second angel, honored and great and glorious. 30:11 And I assigned the human to be a king, to reign on the earth, and to have my wisdom.”  Click for a summary.

16. Good Work! In this lesson you have learned that: In the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 2 Enoch develops the story of God’s creation of “visible” things out of “the invisible.” 2 Enoch contains assertions that help an interpreter to understand certain statements in New Testament literature.  Click to continue the summary.

17. Summary Continued In 2 Enoch, being came from nonbeing and visible things come from the invisible. Before God created the world, there was only God, the invisible, and nonbeing. God conceived the thought and acquired the wisdom to turn the invisible into visible creation.  Click to continue.

18. Excellent! In 2 Enoch, when God called the invisible to become visible, Adoil disintegrated himself and thus let out a great light. Light permeated everything, surrounded God, and allowed God to see the visible creation which was invisible in his mind. With the presence of light, God saw that the visible creation was good. According to 2 Enoch, Light and Wisdom aid God in the creation of all things visible.  Click to continue.

19. Congratulations!!!! THIS WAS THE THIRD LESSON on the Christian Precreation Story-Line. The next lesson focuses on Christian precreation rhetorolect in Paul’s letter of 1 Corinthians. Wonderful job!