Why dont modern day Christians refer to the Apocrypha.?

Answer 1

The Apocrypha is a collection of uninspired, spurious books written by various individuals.

At the Council of Trent (1546) the Roman Catholic religion pronounced the following apocryphal books sacred.
The Roman Catholic Apocrypha
Tobit
Judith
Wisdom
Ecclesiasticus
Baruch
First and Second Maccabees
Additions to Esther and Daniel

Apocryphal Books rejected by the Catholic Religion:

First and Second Esdras
Prayer of Manasses
Susanna*

*some say Susanna is in the Roman Catholic canon. It is Daniel 13.

Why the Apocrypha Isn't in the Bible.

1. Not one of the apocryphal books is written in the Hebrew language, which was alone used by the inspired historians and poets of the Old Testament. All Apocryphal books are in Greek, except one which is extant only in Latin.
2. None of the apocryphal writers laid claim to inspiration.
3. The apocryphal books were never acknowledged as sacred scriptures by the Jews, custodians of the Hebrew scriptures (the apocrypha was written prior to the New Testament). In fact, the Jewish people rejected and destroyed the apocrypha after the overthow of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
4. The apocryphal books were not permitted among the sacred books during the first four centuries of the real Christian church
5. The Apocrypha contains fabulous statements which not only contradict the "canonical" scriptures but themselves. For example, in the two Books of Maccabees, Antiochus Epiphanes is made to die three different deaths in three different places.
6. The Apocrypha includes doctrines in variance with the Bible, such as prayers for the dead and sinless perfection. The following verses are taken from the Apocrypha translation by Ronald Knox dated 1954:
Basis for the doctrine of purgatory:

2 Maccabees 12:43-45, 2.000 pieces of silver were sent to Jerusalem for a sin-offering...Whereupon he made reconciliation for the dead, that they might be delivered from sin.
Salvation by works:

Ecclesiasticus 3:30, Water will quench a flaming fire, and alms maketh atonement for sin.
Tobit 12:8-9, 17, It is better to give alms than to lay up gold; for alms doth deliver from death, and shall purge away all sin.

Magic:

Tobit 6:5-8, If the Devil, or an evil spirit troubles anyone, they can be driven away by making a smoke of the heart, liver, and gall of a fish...and the Devil will smell it, and flee away, and never come again anymore.
Mary was born sinless (immaculate conception):

Wisdom 8:19-20, And I was a witty child and had received a good soul. And whereas I was more good, I came to a body undefiled.

7. It teaches immoral practices, such as lying, suicide, assasination and magical incantation.
8. No apocryphal book is referred to in the New Testament whereas the Old Testament is referred to hundreds of times.
9. Because of these and other reasons, the apocryphal books are only valuable as ancient documents illustrative of the manners, language, opinions and history of the East.

Wasn't the Apocrypha in the King James?

The King James translators never considered the Apocrypha the word of God. As books of some historical value, the Apocrypha was sandwiched between the Old and New Testaments as an appendix of reference material. This followed the format that Luther had used. Luther prefaced the Apocrypha with a statement:

"Apocrypha--that is, books which are not regarded as equal to the holy Scriputres, and yet are profitable and good to read."
King James Version Defended page 98.
In 1599, TWELVE YEARS BEFORE the King James Bible was published, King James said this about the Apocrypha:

"As to the Apocriphe bookes, I OMIT THEM because I am no Papist (as I said before)..."
King James Charles Stewart
Basilicon Doron, page 13
Not only this, but the sixth article of the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England (1571 edition) states:

In the name of the Holy, we do vnderstande those canonical bookes of the olde and newe Testament, of whose authoritie was never any doubt in the Churche...
Now concerning the apocrypha it states,

And the other bookes, (as Hierome sayeth), the Churche doth reade for example of life and instruction of manners: but yet doth it not applie them to establish any doctrene [sic].
Philip Schaff, Creeds of Christendom. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1977, Vol. III, pp. 489-491.

The Apocrypha began to be omitted from the Authorized Version in 1629. Puritans and Presbyterians lobbied for the complete removal of the Apocrypha from the Bible and in 1825 the British and Foreign Bible Society agreed. From that time on, the Apocrypha has been eliminated from practically all English Bibles--Catholic Bibles and some pulpit Bibles excepted.

Not even all Catholic "Church Fathers" believed the Apocrypha was scripture.

Not that this really means anything. The truth is not validated by the false. Nevertheless, this may be of interest to some... Jerome (340-420) rejected the Apocrypha:

"As the Church reads the books of Judith and Tobit and Maccabees but does not receive them among the canonical Scriptures, so also it reads Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus for the edification of the people, not for the authoritative confirmation of doctrine."
Jerome
Jerome's preface to the books of Solomon
According to Edward Hills in The King James Version Defended p. 98 other famous Catholics with this viewpoint include Augustine (354-430 who at first defended the Apocrypha as canonical), Pope Gregory the Great (540-604), Cardinal Ximenes, and Cardinal Cajetan.

There are other spurious books.

These include the Pseudepigrapha which contains Enoch, Michael the Archangel, and Jannes and Jambres. Many of these books falsely claim to have been written by various Old Testament patriarchs. They were composed between 200 B.C. and 100 A.D. There are lots of these spurious books like The Assumption of Moses, Apocalypse of Elijah, and Ascension of Isaiah.

Answer 2

Because the Canonical list as given by the Council of Trent established the true Bible.

The Apocrypha was basically removed by the Protestants about the same time because they wanted to do what they wanted to do.

Some people think the Catholics "added" extra books to their Bible but the fact is the "extra" books were removed by the Protestants. Even more disturbing to the Protestants is that the actual original first Authorized King James Bible had all the same Books as the Catholic Douay. It was a few years later the 7 "extra" books were taken out.

A note there J.P. The Pentateuch is only the first 5 books of the Old Testament, also known as the Books of Moses. Try again. Also, Pedagogia means a method of teaching, so you'll have to re-do that one too.

From Wikipedia: The different ways to teach are often referred to as the teacher's pedagogy. When deciding what teaching method to use, a teacher will need to consider students' background knowledge, environment, and their learning goals as well as standardized curriculum as determined by their school district.

Apocrypha simply means Apocrypha.

Answer 3

Jay-V-Dub,
Just to let you know, I like the Apocrypha. From what I've read so far, there has been some historical fallacy in it, but the stories and the prophecies are astounding.

This Protestant is reading them because I don't care what other Protestants say, I get concerned when:

1) there are former parts of the Bible that were taken out by Legalistic parts of the Christian movements, namely Puritans, who decided that I would be better off, I'm NOT a Legalist and would like to see them.
2) I get VERY concerned when such writings are called "Hidden", I want to see why they are "hidden."

Answer 4

So do the Book of Mormon, the Apocrypha, the Quran, and the Gnostic gospels belong in our Bibles? No! We can be confident that, by the wisdom and providence of God, the early church made sure the book we trust as inspired Scripture contains the whole Bible and nothing more.

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Answer 5

When the King James version of the Bible was adapted as the "acceptable version" the Apocrypha was ommited, as were many other books.

Answer 6

It is all Jewish literature, why don't the Jews consider it authoritative?

People act like it is wrong to not have it, but the Jews never accepted these books. They were included in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament which was completed over 100 years before Christ and is commonly quoted in the Greek New Testament.

This book was not translated FOR JEWS, rather, for the library at Alexandria. It was for the library's purposes that it was included, not the Jews.

Answer 7

Because Martin Luther accidentallly used the Pentateuch instead of the Septuagint when he translated the Bible into the vernacular.

Until Martin Luther translated the Bible, the Pedagogia (apocrypha is the more protestant name for them) were included (from 330AD to 1550AD, these books were in there...)

Answer 8

See J P's answer as it is the closest to a truth as to why.
Also if you ask most CHRISTIANS you will get a blank stare and the question the what.


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CelticPagan and Christian