Introduction
The term means "hidden or concealed" from the Greek word apokruphos.
In the fourth century Jerome was the first to call the group of literature "Apocrypha". The Apocrypha consists of the books added to the Old Testament by the Catholic church that Protestants say are not canonical.
Why non canonical?
Unger's Bible Dictionary gives reasons for their exclusion:
A summary of the individual books
Ralph Earle, in his excellent study guide, How We Got Our Bible, gives brief details of each book. I have chosen, because of its quality, to print his outline instead of producing another.
"I Esdras (about 159 BC) tells of the restoration of the Jews to Palestine after the Babylonian exile. It draws considerably from Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, but the author has added much legendary material.
"The most interesting item is the Story of the Three Guardsmen. They were debating what was the strongest thing in the world. One said, 'Wine'; another, 'the King'; the third, 'Woman and Truth'. They put these three answers under the king's pillow. When he awoke he required the three men to defend their answers. The unanimous decision was: 'Truth is greatly and supremely strong'. Because Zerubbabel had given this answer he was allowed, as a reward, to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem.
"II Esdras (AD 100) is an apocalyptic work, containing seven visions. Martin Luther was so confused by these visions that he is said to have thrown the book into the Elbe River.
"Tobit (early 2nd cent. BC) is a short novel. Strongly Pharisaic in tone, it emphasizes the Law, clean foods, ceremonial washings, charity, fasting and prayer. It is clearly unscriptural in its statement that almsgiving atones for sin.
"Judith (about the middle of the 2nd cent. BC) is also fictitious and Pharisaic. The heroine of this novel is Judith, a beautiful Jewish widow. When her city was besieged she took her maid, together with Jewish clean food, and went out to the tent of the attacking general. He was enamored of her beauty and gave her a place in his drunken stupor. Judith took his sword and cut off his head. Then she and her maid left the camp, taking his head in their provision bag. It was hung on the wall of a nearby city and the leaderless Assyrian army was defeated.
"Additions to Esther (about 100 BC). Esther stands alone among the books of the Old Testament in having no mention of GOD. We are told that Esther and Mordecai fasted but not specifically that they prayed. To compensate for this lack, the Additions have long prayers attributed to these two, together with a couple of letters supposedly written by Artaxerxes.
"The Wisdom of Solomon (about AD 40) was written to keep the Jews from falling into skepticism, materialism, and idolatry. As in Proverbs, Wisdom is personified. There are many noble sentiments expressed in this book.
"Ecclesiasticus, or Wisdom of Sirach (about 180 BC), shows a high level of religious wisdom, somewhat like the canonical Book of Proverbs. It also contains much practical advice. For instance, on the subject of after-dinner speeches it says (32:8):
"'Speak concisely; say much in few words...'
"'Act like a man who knows more than he says.'
And again (33:4):
"'Prepare what you have to say,
And then you will be listened to.'
"In his sermons John Wesley quotes several times from the Book of Ecclesiasticus. It is still widely used in Anglican circles.
"Baruch (about AD 100) represents itself as being written by Baruch, the scribe of Jeremiah, in 582 BC. Actually, it is probably trying to interpret the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. The book urges the Jews not to revolt again, but to be in submission to the emperor. In spite of this the Bar-Cochba revolution against Roman rule took place soon after, in AD 132-134. The sixth chapter of Baruch contains the so-called 'Letter of Jeremiah', with its strong warning against idolatry - probably addressed to Jews in Alexandria, Egypt.
"Our Book of Daniel contains 12 chapters. In the first century before Christ a thirteenth chapter was added, the story of Susanna. She was the beautiful wife of a leading Jew in Babylon, to whose house the Jewish elders and judges frequently came.Two of these became enamored of her and tried to seduce her. When she cried out, the two elders said they had found her in the arms of a young man. She was brought to trial. Since there were two witnesses who agreed in their testimony, she was convicted and sentenced to death.
"But a young man named Daniel interrupted the proceedings and began to cross-examine the witnesses. He asked each one separately under which tree in the garden they had found Susanna with a lover. When they gave different answers they were put to death and Susanna was saved.
"Bel and the Dragon was added at about the same time and called chapter 14 of Daniel. Its main purpose was to show the folly of idolatry. It really contains two stories.
"In the first, King Cyrus asked Daniel why he did not worship Bel, sine that deity showed his greatness by daily consuming many sheep. together with much flour and oil. So Daniel scattered ashes on the floor of the Temple where the food had been placed that evening. In the morning the king took Daniel in to show him the king in the ashes on the floor the footprints of the priests and their families who had entered secretly under the table. The priests were slain and the temple destroyed.
"The story of the Dragon is just as obviously legendary in character. Along with Tobit, Judith, and Susanna, these stories may be classified as purely Jewish fiction. They have little if any religious value.
"The Song of the Three Hebrew Children follows Dan. 3:23 in the Septuagint and the Vulgate. Borrowing heavily from Psalms 148, it is antiphonal like Psalms 136, having 32 times the refrain: 'Sing praise to him and greatly exalt him forever.'
"The Prayer of Manasseh was composed in Maccabean times (2nd cent. BC) as the supposed prayer of Manasseh, the wicked king of Judah. It was obviously suggested by the statement in II Chron. 33:19 - 'His prayer also, and how GOD was entreated of him...behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers.' Since this prayer is not found in the Bible, some scribe had to make up the deficiency!
"I Maccabees (1st cent. BC) is perhaps the most valuable book in the Apocrypha. For it describes the exploits of the three Maccabean brothers - Judas, Jonathan, and Simon. Along with Josephus it is our most important source for the history of this crucial and exciting period in Jewish history.
"II Maccabees (same time) is not a sequel to I Maccabees, but a parallel account, treating only the victories of Judas Maccabeus. It is generally thought to be more legendary than I Maccabees."
Historical testimony of their exclusion
Geisler and Nix give a succession of 10 testimonies of antiquity against accepting the Apocrypha:
The New Testament Canon
TESTS FOR INCLUDING A BOOK IN THE NEW TESTAMENT CANON
The basic factor for determining New Testament canonicity was inspiration by GOD, and its chief test, apostolicity.
Geisler and Nix amplify the above:
"In New Testament terminology, the church was 'built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets' (Eph. 2:20) whom Christ had promised to guide into 'all the truth' (John 16:13) by the Holy Spirit. The church at Jerusalem was said to have continued in the 'apostles' teaching and fellowship' (Acts 2:42). The term 'apostolic authorship,' or 'that which was prepared under the direction of the apostles...'
"It seems much better to agree with Gaussen, Warfield, Charles Hodge, and most Protestants that it is apostolic authority, or apostolic approval, that was the primary test for canonicity and not merely apostolic authorship."
N.B. Stonehouse writes that the apostolic authority "which speaks forth in the New Testament is never detached from the authority of the LORD himself. Wherever the apostles speak with authority, they do so as exercising the LORD's authority. Thus, for example, where Paul defends his authority as an apostle, he bases his claim solely and directly upon his commission by the LORD (Gal. 1 and 2); where he assumes the right to regulate the life of the church, he claims for his word the LORD's authority, even when no direct word of the LORD has been handed down (I Cor. 14:37; cf. I Cor. 7:10...'
"The only one who speaks in the New Testament with an authority that is underived and self-authenticating is the LORD."
THE NEW TESTAMENT CANONICAL BOOKS
Three reasons for a need to determine a New Testament canon:
A heretic, Marcion (ca. 140 AD), developed his own canon and began to propagate it. The church needed to offset his influence by determining what was the real canon of New Testament Scripture.
Many Eastern churches were using books in services that were definitely spurious. It called for a decision concerning the canon.
Edict of Diocletian (AD 303) declared the destruction of the sacred books of the Christians. Who wanted to die for just a religious book? They needed to know!
Athanasius of Alexandria (AD367) gives us the earliest list of New Testament books which is exactly like our present New Testament. This list was in a festal letter to the churches.
Shortly after Athanasius, two writers, Jerome and Augustine, define the canon of 27 books.
Polycarp (AD 115), Clement and others refer to the Old and New Testament books with the phrase "as it is said in these scriptures".
Justin Martyr (AD 100-165), referring to the Eucharist, writes in his First Apology 1.67:
"And on the day called Sunday there is a gathering together to one place of all those who live in cities or in the country, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits. Then when the reader has ceased the president presents admonition and invitation of these good things."
He adds in his Dialogue with Trypho (pp. 49,103,105,107) the formula "It is written", to quote from the Gospels. Both he and Trypho must have known to what "It is written" refers.
Irenaeus (AD 180)
F. F. Bruce writes of the significance of Irenaeus:
The importance of evidence lies in his link with the apostolic age and in his ecumenical associations. Brought up in Asia Minor at the feet of Polycarp, the disciple of John, he became Bishop of Lyons in Gaul, AD 180. His writings attest the canonical recognition of the fourfold Gospel and Acts, of Rom., 1 and 2 Cor., Gal., Eph., Phil., Col., 1 and 2 Thess., 1 and 2 Tim., and Titus, of I Peter and I John and of the Revelation. In his treatise, Against Heresies, III,ii,8, it is evident that by AD 180 the idea of the fourfold Gospel had become so axiomatic throughout Christendom that it could be referred to as an established fact as obvious and inevitable and natural as the four cardinal points of the compass (as we call them) or the four winds."
Ignatius (AD 50-115): "I do not wish to command you as Peter and Paul; they were apostles..." Trall.3.3.
The Church Councils. It is much the same situation as the Old Testament (see Chapter 3, 6C, The Council of Jamnia).
F. F. Bruce states that "when at last a Church Council - The Synod of Hippo in AD 393 - listed the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, it did not confer upon them any authority which they did not already possess, but simply recorded their previously established canonicity. (The ruling of the Synod of Hippo was re-promulgated four years later by the Third Synod of Carthage.)"
Since this time, there has been no serious questioning of the 17 accepted books of the New Testament by either Roman Catholics or Protestants.
THE NEW TESTAMENT APOCRYPHA
Epistle of Pseudo-Barnabas (ca. AD 70-79)
Epistle of Pseudo-Barnabus (ca. AD 96)
Ancient Homily, or the so-called Second Epistle of Clement (ca. AD 120-140)
Shepherd of Hermas (ca. AD 115-140)
Didache, Teaching of the Twelve (ca. AD 100-120)
Apocalypse of Peter (ca. AD 150)
The Acts of Paul and Thecla (AD 170)
Epistle to the Laodiceans (4th century?)
The Gospel According to the Hebrews (AD 65-100)
Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians (ca. AD 108)
The Seven Epistles of Ignatius (ca. AD 100)
And many more.
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