Ancient Churches Lexicon Entry:

Enoch, Who Walked with God

Back to: Lexicon Index | Lexicon Home


“Enoch” was not the name of an actual person, but the name given to the seventh of the churches in line from the church called “Adam” (AC 463). The perception of these people was general, vague, and indefinite, and for this reason their attention was fixed on doctrinal matters (AC 522).

The Lord foresaw that spiritual understanding and perception would perish, which would result in the loss of the knowledge of correspondences, the means by which the human race is conjoined with heaven (AE 728). For this reason, when perception began to disappear, the Lord provided that the people called Enoch, who lived with the most ancient people, should collect the correspondences, representatives, and significatives that came from this perception. Enoch then converted these things into doctrine and preserved them in a manuscript (AC 2896, AE 728, AC 521). Converting matters of perception into doctrine was something the Lord had not previously allowed the people of that time to do (AC 521). These matters consisted in earthly objects that carried spiritual meanings such as, for example, mountains, which meant heavenly things and the Lord (AC 920).

This manuscript was not created for the sake of the people of the Most Ancient Church, but was intended to serve the churches established by the Lord after the Flood. For this reason it was preserved by the Lord and protected from the final posterity of the Most Ancient Church, who were evil and would have harmed it (AC 521, AE 728). The people that followed the Most Ancient Church needed the manuscript prepared by Enoch, for they did not learn truths by perception, but from doctrine (AC 521). It provided them with some knowledge of the spiritual things that are within natural things, and was the origin of all the representatives and significatives that were known to the Ancient Church (AE 728, AC 5136). As a result of Enoch’s work, the knowledge of correspondences existed in many kingdoms of Asia, and was developed further in many other locations (Verbo 7).
This church called Enoch, described as one who “walked with God,” held doctrines that differed from those of another church called Enoch, but described as the “son of Cain” (AC 485).

See also:

Adam, Antediluvians, , Communication with the Spiritual World, Correspondences, Doctrine, The Fall, Flood, Perception, Posterities, Representatives, Significatives

Passages relating to Enoch (Who Walked with God) and the Ancient Churches:

AC 463; AC 464; AC 483; AC 485; AC 513; AC 516; AC 519; AC 520; AC 521; AC 522; AC 609; AC 614; AC 736; AC 920; AC 1241; AC 2896; AC 2897; AC 3349; AC 5136; AE 670; AE 728; Verbo 7, SS 21; SE 5999; TCR 202
Help with References and Abbreviations