Why the Apocrypha is not inspired Scripture

Why the Apocrypha is not scripture…

There is a big misconception surrounding the Jewish Apocrypha. There are those who seem to think it was taken out of scripture or that it is actually divinely inspired scripture. I will outline several reasons why it should have never been added to scripture and why it is not inspired scripture.

First what is the Apocrypha? The Apocrypha is a collection of Jewish writings that were written between 400-200 B.C. Although the give a great historical account of things that went on they themselves say they are not divinely inspired.

The Apocrypha was not officially added to the cannon of scripture until the Council of Trent (1546 AD). This happened because the Roman Catholic church knew that it contained information that supported some of their doctrines that were disputed like praying for the dead, purgatory and treasurer of merit . Also not one of these writings is written in Hebrew, they were added to the Greek Septuagint. Well some will ask what is the issue. The issue is that all of the Old Testament (OT) Books are written in Hebrew. The Septuagint was translated from Hebrew to Greek because of so many Jews during their persecution by the Persians and Greeks has lost the ability to speak Hebrew (Nehemiah 13:24). So the Apocrypha was not translated to be added to the Septuagint it was written in Greek and then added. Hebrew alone was the language used by the inspired writers, Historians and Poets of the Jewish OT.

NOT ONE OF THE APOCRYPHA WITERS CLAIMS THEIR WRITINGS ARE INSPIRED. 

The OT writers routinely claimed divine inspiration with statements such as “Thus Saith the LORD.” This is how the Jews considered something scripture most were written by prophets which was another confirmation that scripture had been written. The Apocrypha says in 1 Maccabees 4:46/9:27 and 14:41

1 Maccabees 4:46 and they laid p in the mountain of the temple in a convenient place, till there should come a prophet, and give answer concerning them.

1 Maccabees 9:27 and there was a great tribulation in Israel, such as was not since the day, that there was no prophet seen in Israel.

1 Maccabees 14:41 and that the Jews and their priests, had consented that he should be their prince and high priest forever, til there should arise a faithful prophet.

This shows here the Apocrypha itself unlike other scripture makes a claim that it IS NOT DIVINELY INSPIRED.

The other thing is that the Jews never looked at the Apocrypha as inspired scripture.  Ist Century Jewish Historian Flavius Josephus wrote in Against Apion 1:8 that the Jewish Cannon of Scripture had only 22 books. We have in ours 39 because the Jewish cannon was organized differently and some books like Ruth and Judges were considered one book as were Lamentations and Jeremiah. They however contain ALL the material in our 39 books.  Also the Manual of Discipline in the DEAD SEA SCROLLS rejected the Apocrypha as inspired scripture. So if the Jews in BC times and in the 1st Century AD reject the Apocrypha why should we now accept it? 2 Maccabees also alludes to the fact that it is not divinely inspired. 2 Maccabees 2:24-32  and 2 Maccabees 15:39-40.

The Apocrypha also has offensive content toward women which is not in coherence with Gods authorship.

Ecclesiasticus 25:19 Any Iniquities is insignificant to a wife’s  iniquity

Ecclesiasticus 25:24 From a Woman sin had its beginning because of her we all die

Neither of these to me are worse than

Ecclesiasticus 22:30 it is a disgrace to  be the father of an undisciplined, and the Birth of a daughter is a loss.

WHAT????? I have 4 daughters and no son so basically this is saying my daughters are useless to society or they are a waste of my sperm.  Why would anyone feel this is divinely inspired?

The Apocrypha also teaches immoral practices such as lying, suicide, assassinations and magical incantations. Not to mention it has contradictions within perfect example of this is how in the 2 books of Maccabees, Antiochus Epiphanes is made to die three different deaths in three different places.

How did the early Church View the Apocrypha?

First and foremost the New Testament (NT) has 263 quotations and 370 allusions to the OT and NOT ONE REFERS TO THE APOCRYPHA. Therefore the NT writers must not have seen this known document to be part of inspired scripture. Almost every book of the OT is quoted in the NT except Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. The difference in these Books compared to the Apocrypha is that they were ALWAYS included in the History Collection of the Jewish Cannon. Whereas the Apocrypha were not even allowed to be placed among the sacred text.

Melito (170 AD) and Origen both rejected the Apocrypha as scripture(Eccl. Hist. VI.25, Eusebius) and Origen was a known heretic who would have had reason to accept it but he knew better. Also the Muratorian Cannon rejects it as well.

Jerome, translator of the Latin Vulgate vigorously resisted adding the Apocrypha to his translation. It however was added in later Vulgate manuscripts (Not Jerome’s) by the Roman Catholic Church. Jerome was the first to describe the 7 books as the “Apocrypha” (doubtful Authenticity).

In Closing

I have shown several reasons why the Apocrypha was never seen as divine scripture. There are more this is just a scratch of the surface. IT IS NOT DIVINELY INSPIRED. The Apocrypha in several of its books it says such of itself. This in contrast to the NT in several verse and books alludes to its inspiration Matthew 10:19-20 and 1 Corinthians 2:12-13 just to name a few. The NT also Alludes to the OT as divinely inspired scripture. So before we say something was removed from the Bible Cannon or that it should be considered scripture and is important to understanding other scripture let’s do proper research and not lean to our own  understanding.  Just because “IT IS WRITTEN” doesn’t mean its divinely inspired.