Huntington Church of Christ

The word Apocrypha is defined by Noah Webster as "Hidden, Obscure, Any writings, anecdotes (biographies), etc. of doubtful authenticity or authorship". Webster further states this term is used to refer to "fourteen books of the Septuagint that are rejected in Judaism and regarded by Protestants as not canonical: eleven of them are fully accepted in the Roman Catholic canon." The fourteen books are:

• 1 & 2 Esdras
• Tobet
• Judith
• Esther (Parts not found in the Hebrew or Chaldee originals)
• The Wisdom of Solomon
• The Wisdom of Eccleseasticus
• Baruch
• The Song of the Three Holy Children
• The History of Susanna
• Bel and the Dragon
• The Prayer of Manasses (King of Judah)
• 1 & 2 Maccabees

These fourteen did not meet the rules by which books were determined to be inspired. Scholars will note portions of these books contain excellent history (such as the books of Maccabees), but generally speaking, they contain a great deal of legend, nonsense, and gross historical errors. You might consider the following reasons why it is wise to reject these books:

1. There is no eternal or external evidence that would allow these books into the Canon of Scripture.

2. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, but none of these books exist in that language.

3. The Bible claims to be inspired of God, but none of the Apocryphal writers make the claim. In fact, the author or 2 Maccabees openly denies inspiration.

4. The Jews, to whom the Old Testament Scriptures were directed, have never acknowledged the Apocrypha as being from God. It was never included in their Septuagint (Greek) version.

5. The New Testament does not quote or refer to any Apocryphal book. It does quote the Old Testament 260 times and makes reference to some 370 Old Testament passages.

6. The basic Catholic Bible is the Latin Vulgate translated by Jerome. he called these additional books (Apocrypha" which means "of doubtful origin." The bishops of the Council of Hippo in 390 AD declared Jerome to be infallible in his work of producing the Latin translation, yet they included the very books which he personally disavowed.

7. The most distinguished early writers rejected these books: Origen, Athanasius, and Jerome.