The “Lost” Books of the Bible: The Apocrypha
If you watch the History Channel, you’ve probably seen a documentary or two where a bunch of “historians” claim that the Bible had books other than the 66 you find in your leather-bound personal Bible. Granted, most of the ones you’re likely to see are focused on the New Testament. They will present extra-biblical works such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Didache, or the Gospel of Judas as if they originally belonged to the canon of scripture. Some go so far as to say that they have just recently been discovered and turn Christianity upside-down, even though we have known about most of these works for well over 75 years; some even over 125 years! But I’m getting off topic, for in this article, we will be discussing a collection of books that some skeptics say belong in the Old Testament: the Apocrypha.
For those who have never heard of this collection of books, we’ll begin with an introduction.
The word Apocrypha simply means “hidden,” and is used to refer to 14 books that were written in the “silent years,” or the 400-plus years in between the last prophet of the Old Testament and the advent of Christ. There is a reason each of these books were written, but to keep this article short, we’re just going to focus on why these works as a whole are not scriptural canon. There are three major reasons why Christians today reject the apocrypha as inspired scripture.
First, the Jews at the time these works were written did not accept these works as scripture. The Jews were God’s chosen people whom He entrusted with His holy scriptures: “Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God.” -Romans 3:1-2
So if the Jews did not accept the apocrypha when it was written, we have a biblical reason to be skeptical of it. That’s strike one.
Second, we read Jesus’s words in the gospels quoting the books of the Old Testament, normally being preceded by “it is written,” or, “as it is written,” or, “Have you not read?” Jesus quotes from all over the Old Testament, but never from any of these 14 books in question. Strike two.
Third, there are numerous historical and doctrinal errors in these books. Some examples include Judith 1:5 claiming that Nebuchadnezzar was the king of the Assyrians instead of the Babylonians, and Baruch 6:2 claiming that the Jews were to serve Babylon for 7 generations, when Jeremiah prophesied that they would serve 70 years. Doctrinal issues include the book of Tobit claiming twice that “alms giving” will deliver people from sin and death, when we know that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” Hebrews 9:22. Strike three.
It is important to note that there is one major church that accepts the apocrypha as scripture, and that is the Roman Catholic church. The RCC declared certain books, not all 14, canon in the 1500’s at the Council of Trent, largely in response to the Protestant Reformation. I could go into great detail about the particulars of this event, but entering into the world of errors within Roman Catholic doctrine would take up multiple series of articles.…maybe one day. But until then, Christian, rest assured that you have the complete, infallible, inspired Word of God.
Recommended Resource:
How we got the OT Canon: Evidence for the Bible pt11 by Mike Winger