My freshmen year at the University of Illinois I had a lot of questions. Questions like…

a.    “Why am I almost failing Geology 117?”

b.    “Why does the guy in the room next to mine eat so many Burger King Whoopers?”

c.    “How can I get that girl to be interested in me?”

d.    “Why does the Bible I just bought have 80 books in it?”

My freshmen year I took a religious course. I was required to buy the New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha for the class. My first question was, “What is the Apocrypha?” I had learned that there are 66 books in the Bible, not 80. How come I had never heard of these books? How many books make up the Bible? Is it 66 or 80? I knew what Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:16: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” So are these Apocrypha books inspired? Let’s answer that question.

Some Facts About The Apocrypha Books.

Let’s first understand some facts concerning these books.

• The word “Apocrypha” means, “Things that are hidden.”

• This term in antiquity held an honorable significance as well as a derogatory one, depending upon the point of view of those who made use of the word.

According to the traditional usage “Apocrypha” has been the designation applied to the 14 books, or portions of books, that are found in Catholic Bibles.

1. These books are the following: (Tobit, Judith, The Additions to the Book of Esther ‘contained in the Greek version of Esther’, Ecclesiasticus or the Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach, Baruch, The Letter of Jeremiah, The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Jews, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, 1 and 2 Maccabees, 1 and 2 Esdras, and The Prayer of Manasseh. Some of these books are historical, novelistic, didactic, devotional, epistolary, and apocalyptic.

2. Depending upon how they are grouped there are either 14 or 15 books.

3. It was the Catholic Church in 1546 A.D. at the Council of Trent that said that these books were “infallibly” pronounced to be part of the Canon (which books are the normative books for Christian faith and inspired). It was stated at this council, “If anyone, however, should not accept the said books as sacred and canonical, entire with all their parts…and if both knowingly and deliberately he should condemn the aforesaid tradition let him be anathema (forever cursed) (Denzinger, SCD, number 784).”

4. There are some who believe that there’s a strong argument to be made about these books. For example, it’s been said that…

   1. There are similarities between them and the New Testament text, 2 Maccabees 7,12.

   2. The New Testament quotes, mostly from the Greek Old Testament (LXX), which contained the Apocrypha. Therefore, this gives tacit approval of the whole text, including the Apocrypha.

5. For some, the arguments seem to be solid. So, have we been missing something?

Are These Books Inspired?

The answer to the question is NO! But why? Consider the following facts.

1. While there may have been allusions to the Apocrypha in the New Testament, there are no clear New Testament quotations from them--not once is there a definite quotation from any apocryphal book. While there are other quotations in the New Testament from outside sources (Acts 17:28) none of these are described as Scripture. The writers simply referred to a truth contained in these writings or statements. While there are no allusions to the Apocrypha as being scripture in the New Testament, that’s not the case with the other books in the Old Testament. Jesus and the other New Testament writers referenced 18 of the 22 Old Testament books, Matthew 19:4-5; 1 Corinthians 10:1-2; John 3:14.

2. The fact that the New Testament writers quoted from the Greek Old Testament in no way proves that the Apocryphal books contained in Greek manuscripts of the Old Testament are inspired.

   1. It’s not certain if the Greek (LXX) of the first century A.D. contained these books. The earliest Greek manuscripts that included them were in the 4^th Century.

   2. Even if they were, Jesus and the apostles never once quoted them although they are supposed to have been included in the very version of the Old Testament (the LXX) that they usually cited. The Jews had a good understanding of what was inspired and what was not, Deuteronomy 17:18; Nehemiah 8:1; Daniel 9:1-2; Jeremiah 26:18; Ezekiel 14:14. They stored them carefully, Deuteronomy 31:26; Joshua 24:26.

   3. In current Roman Catholic Bibles (NAB) they reveal that the Apocrypha are “religious books used by both Jews and Christians which were not included in the collection of inspired writings.” Instead, they “were introduced rather late into the collection of the Bible (see St. Joseph Edition of the New American Bible, 413).

3. From a historical standpoint the Jews recognized that there were 22 books (equivalent to our 39) that made up the Hebrew Bible. These books were not recognized as scripture by the Jews, by Jesus Himself, by the apostles, or even by Jewish historians like Josephus. Even first century Christians recognized what was inspired writings, 1 Timothy 5:15-17.

4. Finally, when you start to read the Apocrypha, one will be able to take away that it’s not to be viewed as inspired. In 1 Maccabees 9:27 it says, “So there was great distress in Israel, such as had not been since the time that prophets ceased to appear among them.” What’s being said there? He’s saying that his words are to be viewed differently than from a prophet. Prophets were God’s spokesmen and were inspired. None of these books claim to have been written by prophets. There are no supernatural confirmations of any of the writers or what they said. There is no predictive prophecy, and in the Jewish community whose books these were, they acknowledged that the prophetic gifts had ceased in Israel (4^th century) before the Apocrypha was written! Case Closed!

What is the conclusion to the matter? The Apocrypha books are not inspired books!

Conclusion:

The 66 books we have are the words of God, 2 Timothy 3:16. The Spirit has preserved them for us. Therefore, let’s be sure that we know these books.

Let’s trust what we have and let’s be confident that we are not missing any of God’s truth. Let’s embrace His truth and live it, John 8:32. We will be judged by them on the last day, John 12:48-49.