The Apocrypha

by Johnny McCulloch

One often hears, "What about the Books of the Apocrypha, and why aren't they in my Bible?" Another says, "It's in mine, only it is pronounced Apocalypse." The tivo terms are often confused. The word Apocrypha means "concealed, hidden, or secret," and refers to the 14 bo,oks found between the Testaments in the Catholic Bible. The friend was no doubt right, for in the Old English version of the N.T. the last book is called the Apocalypse of St. John the Divine. It is our book of Revelation. The two words are often confused because of the similarity in sound and spelling. Actually, they are exactly opposite in meaning as Apocalypse means revelation or disclosure, as opposed to Apocrypha meaning hidden.
The Apocrypha is called "Sacred Writings" in non Biblical reference works, but actually there is nothing sacred about them. They are of uncertain authorship, written about two centuries before Christ, never quoted by the Jews, rejected by Josephus, and of such a wild and fanciful nature that by the end of the second century scholars tagged them with the adjective "Spurious", and so they are regarded today. Webster give the following meaning of spurious: bastard, not proceeding from the true source, not genuine, counterfeit or false. Why did they catch on at all? People of all ages have always 1011ged and searched for the events, sayings and prophecies that the Bible does not record. Too this was in the period of 400 years between the Testaments from Malachi to John the Baptist in which no prophet of God had appeared on the scene. In such times people often grasp at straws.
These books were carried over in the Latin translation of the Bible, thence into the Latin Vulgate, even though Jerome, who made the translation, rejected these books of the Apocrypha. As the Latin Vulgate was the only translation available to Western Europe, it became the,common version for all the people, when available,which was seldom, as the Bibles were "Chained to the Pulpits." When the Protestant Reformation came along in the Fifteenth Century, the leaders of the movement rejected these books of the Apocrypha as not being a part of God's word, basing their authority on the Bible and lefi it out of their Bibles. The Catholics not wanting to agree with the Protestants and being caught in a bind declared the books to be canonical (Council of Trent 1546), and they still are in their Douay version of their Bibles. The Protestant's Bibles have as a general rule omitted them since that time, but random publishers have continued to include them. I remember reading someone's Bible long ao that had the 14 books of the O. T. Apocrypha and the book of Revelation listed as the Apocalypse.
The 14 books of the O. T. Apocrypha are as follows: I & II Esdras (Greek form of Ezra), Tobit, Judith. The Rest of Ezra, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch (Scribe of Jeremiah), Song of the 3 Holy Children (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego), History of Susanne, Bel and the Dragon, Prayer of Mannasses (King of Judah), I Maccabees (A historical work of great value on period 175-135) II Maccabees, (far inferior to I).
The Apocryphal books of the N. T. began to appear in the 2nd century A D. There were over 50 of these so called Gospels, as well as numerous Acts and Epistiles. They are so full of non-sensical stories of Christ and the Apostles that they have never been called divine, nor bound in our Bibles, and are deliberate attempts to fill the gaps in the N. T. story of Jesus in order to further heretical ideas by false claims. Unfortunately the proliferation of this fake scripture confused the early Christians as to what was true and what was not. It is said that Mohammed got his impression of Christ and Christianity largely from these books.
Here is a partial list of some of the best known of these fake Sacred Writings Gospel of Nicodemus Protevangel of James (Narrative from the birth of Mary to the slaughter of the innocents), Passing of Mary, Gospel according to the Hebrews, Gospel of the Ebionites, Gospel of the Egyptians, Gospel of Peter, Nativity of Mary, Gospel of Joseph the Carpenter, etc. The main characteristics of these writings are that they are fiction representing itself as history, but so absurd the falsity is self evident.
A scholar names Archibald Alexander has complied a list of reasons why the Apocryphical Books should not be accepted as inspired of God, and therefore have no place in the "Holy Bible."
1. Just one of these books even claim to be inspired, and it has internal evidence that proves it was not inspired of God.
2. These books were not written by prophets or inspired men, but by writers who wrote of their labors in a way wholly incompatible with divine inspiration.
3. These books abound in stories that concradict the plain acknowledged doctrines of the Bible and the history of the Jews.
4. Jerome in the 14th century A D. gave the world the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible. This translation was acknowledged by the Council of Trent 0546 A D.) to be the official Bible of the Catholic Church. They added the books of Apocrypha to this Bible, but Jerome who made the translation rej ected the books as a being uninspired.
5. These books were never cited by any N. T. writer and the N. T. abounds in references to the O. T.
6. These books were not received as part of God's word by the so called "Church Fathers."
7. These books have never been accepted by the Jews as a part of the O. T.; they are a good judge as to what belonged in it.
While claiming to be the preserver of God's word, the Catholic Church has corrupted God's word by adding books to the Bible that have no place in it.

• Silent Where the Bible is Silent -Mar 09, 1997