What about the Apocrypha?

Council of Trent, Session 21, Chapter 2 The Catholic Church does not profess to

be founded on Scripture only: it claims a right to depart from what is contained in it-a right to add to Scripture what is handed down by tradition; and both to depart from and add to Scripture by making new decrees.

It tells us that Rome receives The Sacred Scriptures and "The Unwritten Traditions ... preserved in continuous succession in the Catholic Church, with equal affection of piety and reverence" (Session 4); also that "no one may dare to interpret the Sacred Scriptures" in a manner contrary to that "Church; whose it is to judge respecting the true sense and interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures;" nor may any one interpret them "in a manner contrary to the unanimous consent of the fathers" (Session 4).

Christ Commands us To:A. “PROVE all things" (1 Thess 5:21)

B. to “SEARCH the Scriptures" (John 5:39)

C. to ascertain for ourselves, as the Bereans did, whether what we hear agrees with what we read in Scripture (Acts 17:11)

D. He commands us to “HOLD FAST the form of sound words," uttered by Himself and His Apostles (2 Tim 1:13)

E. to "contend earnestly for the faith DELIVERED once for all to the saints" (Jude 3).

General Summary The Jews do not accept the Apocrypha as part

of their Scriptures. The Church of Christ does not accept the

Apocrypha as a part of the inspired word of God

Protestants do not accept the Apocrypha as Scripture, though some ascribe to them value as "good and useful reading" and "for example of life and instruction of manners."

The Roman Catholic 'Church' in effect accepts 12 of the apocryphal books as canonical (omitting I & II Esdras and the Prayer of Manassah from the above list.)

The Test of Truth

1. 1) Was the author an APOSTLE or have a close CONNECTION with an apostle?

2. 2) Is the book being ACCEPTED by the Body of Christ at large?

3. 3) Did the book contain CONSISTECNY of doctrine and ORTHODOX teaching?

4. 4) Did the book bear EVIDENCE of high moral and spiritual values that would reflect a work of the Holy Spirit?

Apocrypha Errors

Sirach 3:3, 30 “Whoso honoureth his father maketh an atonement for his sins...Water will quench a flaming fire; and alms maketh an atonement for sin

Tobit 12:9 alms doth deliver from death, and shall purge away all sin

Sirach 12:4-7 Give to the godly man, and help not a sinner. Do well unto him that is lowly, but give not to the ungodly; hold back thy bread, and give it not unto him... give unto the good, and help not the sinner

Judith mistakenly identifies Nebuchadnezzar as king of the Assyrians (1:1, 7) when in fact he was the king of Babylon (2 Kings 24:1).

Wisdom 12:10 God is unaware the origin of some is evil

2 Maccabees 5:12-16 Jeremiah, though dead, prays for Jews

Deuteronomy 13:1-5 If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears

among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, 2 and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, "Let us follow other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let us worship them," 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. 5 That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way the Lord your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.

Galatians 1:8-9

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

Why we don’t accept the Apocrypha (added books)?1. No apocryphal books CLAIM divine inspiration2. None were WRITTEN by a prophet or apostle3. Jesus or the New Testament writers who quoted 35 out of the 39

books in the Old Testament DO NOT once quote them. Our Lord and his apostles confirmed by their authority the ordinary Jewish canon, which was the same in all respects as we now have it.

4. These books were written not in Hebrew but in Greek, and during the “PERIOD OF SILENCE," from the time of Malachi, after which oracles and direct revelations from God ceased until the Christian era.

5. The CONTENTS of the books themselves show that they were no part of Scripture.

6. None contain even a single PROPHETIC scripture7. They contain FALSE doctrines such as: good works atone for

sin, doctrines of purgatory, invocation intercession of the saints, angel worship, the Mass, the creation of the world from preexistent matter, and others.

Example: Ecclesiasticus asserts that “water extinguishes a blazing fire: so almsgiving atones for sin” (Ecclesiasticus 3:30).

Example: Tobit contains certain historical and geographical errors such as the assumption that Sennacherib was the son of Shalmaneser (1:15) instead of Sargon II, and that Nineveh was captured by Nebuchadnezzar and Ahasuerus (14:5) instead of by Nabopolassar and Cyaxares

The Apocryphal books supported such doctrines as a. prayers for the dead (II Macc. 12:44)

b. The Expiatory Sacrifice (Eventually to become mass, II Macc. 12:39-46)

c. Alms giving with expiatory value, also leading to deliverance from death (Tobit 12:9; 4:10)

d. Invocation and intercession of the saints (II Macc. 15:14; Bar. 3:4)

e. The Worship of Angels (Tobit 12:12)

f. Purgatory; and the redemption of souls after death (II Macc. 12:42, 46)

8. The Apocrypha books are not included as GOD INSPIRED in the lists by Melito, bishop of Sardis, Origen, Cyril of Jerusalem, and Jerome

9. Jerome, who was the is author of the Latin Vulgate Translation of the bible, said, “As, then, the Church reads Judith, Tobit, and the books of Maccabees, but does not admit them among the canonical Scriptures, so let it read these two volumes for the edification of the people, not to give authority to doctrines of the Church

10. Josephus REJECTS the Apocrypha. Both Josephus and the Talmud asserted that the end of the prophetic line came in Nehemiah's day with Malachi in 400 BC.

11. Philo never refers to it 12. The New Testament links itself immediately with the end

of Old Testament, as if no inspired writing came between. The gospel begins at the outset with claiming to be the fulfillment of Malachi (Mal 3:1; 4:5-6; compare Mark 1:2; Luke 1:16-17)

2 Thessalonians 2:13-15 13 But we ought always to thank God for

you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.