From the Encyclopaedia Britannica...
"Apocrypha, (from Greek apokryptein, “to hide away”), in biblical literature, works outside an accepted canon of scripture. The history of the term’s usage indicates that it referred to a body of esoteric writings that were at first prized, later tolerated, and finally excluded. In its broadest sense apocrypha has come to mean any writings of dubious authority."
Many false doctrines came into the church and are supported by the writings of the Gnostics and by the Apocrypha (The Apocrypha are the books which some try to claim are canonical and which are included in some Bibles. They are based on mysticism and supposedly contain the secret doctrines (hidden things, which are opened to the enlightened or illuminated ones.) The Apocrypha is a collection of books with mysticism and fables mixed into stories, not books of faith. Not a bit of it is inspired, or even claims to be. If fact, the Jews never considered these stories to be divinely inspired. On the contrary, they denied their authority. At the time of Christ we have the testimony of Josephus that they were only 22 books divinely inspired by God. These books are the same as our thirty-nine in the Old Testament. The books of the Apocrypha were not among these. Josephus explicitly rejected the Apocrypha and listed the Hebrew Canon to be 22 books. (The Old Testament Canon in the Bible contains 39 books while the Hebrew canon has 22 or 24. These are the exact same books as the Protestants have in their Bibles, but they are just arranged differently and some of the books are combined into one. For example, Kings is one book. There is not 1st Kings and 2nd Kings. Also, all of the 12 minor prophets (Hosea through Malachi) are one book in the Hebrew Canon.) Jerome, a Biblical scholar who was able to read the Hebrew Canon and was translator of the Latin Vulgate, rejected the Apocrypha as Scripture. The leaders in Rome forced him to include it in his translation, and later they began a campaign to banish Jerome.
Regarding the Apocrypha, The Council of Trent decreed:
Whoever shall not receive as sacred and canonical all these books and every part of them, as they are commonly read in the Catholic Church, and are contained in the old Vulgate Latin edition, or shall knowingly and deliberately despise the aforesaid traditions, let him be accursed. - Council of Trent fourth session.
These writings were never considered part of the Canon, as they clearly contradict the Scriptures as can be seen in the following few examples:
Bewitching Art:
Tobias 6:4-8 ... Open the fish, and take the heart and liver and the gall .....if a devil or an evil spirit trouble any, we must make a smoke thereof before the man or the woman, and the party shall no more be vexed. As for the gall, it is good to anoint a man that hath witness in his eyes, and he shall be healed.
The Biblical rebuke to this statement is found in Mark 16:17 and Acts 16:18:
And signs will follow to those believing these things: in My name they will cast out demons. Mark 16:17
... But being distressed, and turning to the demonic spirit, Paul said, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her! And it came out in that hour. Acts 16:18
Salvation by Works:
Tobias 12:9 For alms doth deliver from death, and shall purge away all sin.
Biblical rebuke: Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers. 1 Peter 1:18-19
Prayer for Dead:
2 Maccabees 12:43-46, ... For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should have risen again, it had been superfluous and vain to pray for the dead ....Whereupon he made reconciliation for the dead, that they might be delivered from sin.
Biblical rebuke: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 1 John 1:7
The Apocrypha was never accepted by the Reformation and the fact is that those translations that lean heavily on Catholic documents are highly problematic. The King James is universally accepted and unless you know Greek is the most trusted translation.
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Topic: Validity of Scripture, why the Apocrypha is not Canon. (Read 10742 times)
