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Apocrypha and Non-Canonical Writings

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Apocrypha and Non-Canonical Writings Apocrypha and non-Canonical Writings Contents Introduction ................................................. 2 Christian Canons .............................................. 2 “Our” Canon ............................................. 2 The Apocrypha ............................................... 3 The View of the Protestant Church .................................... 3 The Old Testament Apocrypha ...................................... 3 Character of the Books ........................................ 3 Historical Apocrypha ......................................... 3 The Legendary Apocrypha ..................................... 3 Apocalyptic Apocrypha ....................................... 3 Didactic Apocrypha ......................................... 4 Reasons for Rejecting the Old Testament Apocrypha ....................... 4 The New Testament Apocrypha ...................................... 5 Categories of the New Testament Apocrypha ........................... 5 Listing of New Testament Apocryphal books ........................... 5 The Pseudepigraphical Writings ...................................... 5 The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha ................................... 6 Apocalyptic Books .......................................... 6 Legendary Books ........................................... 6 Poetical Books ............................................ 6 Didactic (Teaching) Books ...................................... 6 The New Testament Pseudepigrapha ................................... 6 The pseudo-Gospels ......................................... 6 The pseudo-Acts ........................................... 6 The Epistle of paul to the laodiceans ................................ 6 The pseudo-Apocalyptic Books ................................... 6 Grace Notes, a ministry of Austin Bible Church http://gracenotes.info/ Apocrypha and non-Canonical Writings 2 Introduction “rules” were adopted, by many different divisions of Christianity, aimed at deciding on which writ- This article is a description of the writings which ings were authoritative. And so we have: evangelical Christians have ruled are not canonical, that is, they don’t belong in the inspired Bible. • Marcion’s canon, thought to have been the The word canon refers to any standard or con- first attempt at a Christian canon. vention, and the word is widely used in a variety • The various canons of the Apostolic Fathers of applications. The word comes from the Greek kanonmeaning “rule” or “measuring stick”. For • Various canons developed by synods and com- example, a musical canon follows a certain pat- mittees of Christian bishops and elders. tern, such as using a melody with one or more imitations (cf. Pachelbel’s Canon). The Canon • The canon of the Eastern Orthodox Church of Dutch Literature is a listing of the most im- (Alexandrian fathers) portant Dutch literary works, based on a standard • The canon(s) of the Roman Catholic church adopted for what books belong in the list. • Luther’s Canon A biblical canon or canon of scripture is a list of books considered to be authoritative scripture • The Protestant Canon by a particular religious community. And there is a huge variety of canonical lists, which have been See Wikipedia for a thorough review of biblical developed from ancient times down to the present, canonical literature. such as: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_canon# Christian_biblical_canons • The Jewish Canon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon • Samaritan Canon • Latter Day Saints Canon “Our” Canon • Endless varieties of Christian Canons In evangelical Christianity, the term canon of scripture refers to those Christian writings which See also the following Grace Notes topics, found in are judged to have been inspired by God. That is the Topical Library : to say, these books have been subjected to exami- (http://www.gracenotes.info/GN_TopicsLibrary.shtml) nation to determine that they are inspired litera- ture, thus having ultimate authority. Here is the • Jewish Theological Writings definition of inspiration. • Jewish Literature Inspiration: God the Holy Spirit so supernatu- rally directed the human writers of Scripture, that without waiving their human intelligence, individ- Christian Canons uality, literary style, personal feelings or any other human factor, His own complete and coherent mes- The early church used the Old Testament Canon sage to man was recorded in perfect accuracy in which was adopted by the Septuagint translators. the original languages of Scripture, the very words bearing the authority of divine authorship. Writings attributed to the apostles circulated amongst the earliest Christian communities. The The task of determining that some writings are in- Pauline epistles were circulating in collected forms spired, and the rules (canons) to be applied, is the by the end of the 1st century AD. Justin Martyr, subject of Bible seminary courses on Biblical In- in the early 2nd century, mentions the “memoirs troduction. You can imagine that there is much of the Apostles,” which Christians called “gospels,” controversy, doubt, and discussion about whether and which were considered to be authoritatively it is even possible to make such a determination, equal to the Old Testament. let alone how to go about it. Gradually, as New Testament writings began to be Christian Bible teaching is based on the acceptance assembled and examined, a very large variety of of the present organization of the Old Testament Grace Notes, a ministry of Austin Bible Church http://gracenotes.info/ Apocrypha and non-Canonical Writings 3 and New Testament canons, as found in the Protes- The Old Testament Apocrypha tant Bibles (King James, New American Standard, etc.). Character of the Books Authorities differ as to the classification of these The Apocrypha books. The Epistle of Jeremiah is often incorpo- rated in the Book of Baruch, and III and IV Mac- The word Apocrypha means “hidden,” or “secret.” cabees are often omitted. The term “Apocrypha” is usually applied to a col- Historic – I and II Maccabees; I Esdras lection of books, from eleven to sixteen in num- Traditional – Additions to Esther; Susanna; Song ber, which appeared during the interim between of the Three Holy Children; Bel and the Dragon; the Old and New Testaments. These books have Judith; Tobit come down to us in more or less close connection with the canonical books of the Bible. Prophetic – Baruch; Prayer of Manasses These books have a strange history. Ecclesiastical Apocalyptic – II Esdras; IV Esdras in the Latin opinion in different periods has differed widely as Vulgate to the value of this literature, and as to whether Instructive – Ecclesiasticus; The Wisdom of any of these books are divinely inspired. The Jews Solomon (in style like the Proverbs) of the Dispersion in Egypt placed a high estimate upon these books and included them in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, called the Sep- Historical Apocrypha tuagint; but there were rejected from the Hebrew canon by the Jews of Palestine. • 1 and 2 Esdras The Roman Catholic Church, in the Council of • 1 and 2 Maccabees Trent, 1546 AD, declared eleven of the books to be • Additions to Daniel canonical, and they appear in the modern Catholic editions of the Scriptures. • Additions to Esther • The Epistle of Jeremy is a deuterocanoni- The View of the Protestant Church cal (not part of the Hebrew Bible) book of the Old Testament; supposedly written by Jeremiah to the Jews who were about to be It is commonly agreed that some of these books carried away as captives to Babylon by Neb- contain material of literary merit and historical uchadnezzar. It is included in Catholic Bibles value. But the canonicity of all of the books of as the final chapter of the Book of Baruch. It the Apocrypha has been rejected, and they have is also included in Orthodox Bibles as a stan- been gradually omitted from the modern editions dalone book. The title of this work is mis- of the Protestant Bibles, for the following reasons: leading, for it is neither a letter nor was it written by the prophet Jeremiah. 1. They are never quoted by Jesus, and it is • The Prayer of Manasses doubtful if they were ever alluded to by the apostles. The Legendary Apocrypha 2. Most of the early Church Fathers regarded them as non inspired. • Book of Baruch 3. The books did not appear in the Ancient He- • Tobit brew canon. • Judith 4. The inferior quality of most of the writings, as compared with the canonical books, stamps Apocalyptic Apocrypha them as unworthy of a place in the sacred Scriptures. • 4th Esdras as 2 Esdras Grace Notes, a ministry of Austin Bible Church http://gracenotes.info/ Apocrypha and non-Canonical Writings 4 Didactic Apocrypha be used. Some thought they would be valuable as sermons, others are resources for research. • The Wisdom of Solomon The Puritans published a Bible that did not con- • Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) tain the Apocrypha, their having an aversion to any human book that was not in the Hebrew or Greek canon. During the early Christianity centuries, most Greek and Latin church fathers, such as Iranaeus, Tertul- The earliest version of the English Bible which ex- lian, Clement of Alexandria, and Cyprian, none of cluded the Apocrypha were some Geneva Bibles whom knew the Hebrew language, quoted passages printed in 1599 in Belgium. from the Apocryphal books as “scripture”, “divine George Abbot, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and scripture”, and “inspired”. one of the translators of the King James Bible, in Only occasionally did a Father make an effort
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