The Bible’s Hidden Fanfiction: When 2 Peter and Jude Quoted the Outtakes
As I read through 2 Peter and Jude, I was surprised by how much these short letters draw on stories that don’t actually appear in the Hebrew Bible. Both writers refer to figures and events that seem familiar but come from other Jewish texts or oral traditions circulating at the time. It’s like catching glimpses of a much larger world of storytelling that surrounded early Christianity.
Angels, Arguments, and Ancient References
Jude mentions angels who left their proper place and are now chained in darkness (Jude 1:6), and he refers to the archangel Michael arguing with the devil over the body of Moses (Jude 1:9). Neither of these stories appears in the Old Testament. The first echoes passages from the Book of Enoch, an ancient Jewish work that expands on the idea of fallen angels. The second comes from a text called The Assumption of Moses, which no longer survives in full. 2 Peter picks up the same thread, describing rebellious angels thrown into hell (2 Peter 2:4), and even uses language similar to Jude’s. Both authors seem to assume their readers would know these stories already.
When the Canon Was Still Under Construction
This makes me wonder about how fluid the boundaries of scripture were in that period. The writers of 2 Peter and Jude didn’t seem concerned about quoting from texts that later generations would label “noncanonical.” Instead, they used whatever sources carried meaning for their audience. It suggests a time when the stories shaping faith and morality weren’t yet fixed in a single book but existed in a network of shared traditions, some written, some oral.
It’s also interesting how these borrowed stories serve moral purposes. The fallen angels and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah are examples of divine judgment against rebellion and immorality. The writers seem to be saying, “Look—this pattern has always existed.” By reaching beyond the Hebrew Bible to make that point, they reinforce their authority not through originality, but through connection to a collective memory of how the universe supposedly works.
The Creative Commons of Early Faith
Reading these letters through a modern lens raises questions about how ideas of truth and inspiration were formed. Today, many readers assume scripture has clear boundaries, yet these texts remind us that early Christianity didn’t emerge in isolation. It was part of a rich and overlapping web of traditions that drew from myth, legend, and interpretation. The early writers weren’t trying to build a rigid system of belief; they were speaking to people who already knew these stories and accepted them as part of their moral landscape.
2 Peter and Jude, in that sense, reveal something deeply human about how people make meaning. We build on what we’ve heard, retell old stories in new contexts, and borrow freely from the cultural vocabulary around us. These letters are less about defining the limits of faith and more about showing how ideas move, evolve, and take on new forms as they pass through generations.