Why was the Apochypha removed from the bible?

Answer 1

It hasn't been all removed.

FAQ: What books are in the Word and what are apocrypha?


"The books of the Word are all those which have the internal sense; but those books which have not the internal sense, are not the Word. The books of the Word, in the Old Testament, are the five Books of Moses, the Book of Joshua, the Book of Judges, the two Books of Samuel, the two Books of Kings, the Psalms of David, the Prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi: and in the New Testament, the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John; and the Apocalypse. The rest have not the internal sense" (Arcana Coelestia n. 10325 or Heavenly Doctrine n. 266).

Answer 2

The Council of Nicaea (envoked by Roman emperor Constantine I) is where it was determined which books of the Apocrypha would be compiled into the Christian Bible. Extensive research had been done to prove the validity of the facts in each book. Out of the books that were selected (in what is now the New Testament), historical facts were matched against historical data including public and goverment records of events that had allegedly taken place. No error was found in any of these books. Many of the books that were left out spoke of events that, according to these records, never even took place....thus there is not enough evidence to support them as fact. This does not necissarily mean that they are not all true...but the council did not want to put anything into the final version of the Bible that they were not certain was valid.

The facts in the books of the Apocrypha were also studied, and some of them contained information that was contradictary to other books. These books were also left out.

In other words, the books that were chosen are the books that were proven to be historically and factually accurate by the Nicene Council. This is why there is little arguement (by Christians and non Christians) about the factual content of the Bible. Only the spiritual portions are debated.

I hope this helps!

By the way...claims that Martin Luther decided on which books would be included are not true. The books were voted on by a group of 300 or so people.

Answer 3

The Apocypha is a collection of nine books (some additions to the Old Testament book of Daniel) which is nor included in all copies of the Bible.

The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew and officially closed as to its content around 400 BC. That collection is referred by the Jews as the Torah.

Around 250 BC, the Jewish - then under the rule of the Greek empire, where lead in a revolt by the Maccabee family. Judas "The Hammer" Maccabee being the main leader of the revolt. Several books were written during that time included a couple of history of the Maccabee revolt, a new book of psalms (songs) and new book of wise sayings (similar to Proverbs), etc. The followers of the Maccabees collected these together and added them to the writings of the Torah. They were not - and still are not - recognized by the rest of the Jewish people. Only this one small group.

The Maccabees version of the Torah was translated into Greek. The majority of Jewish at the time where evolving from Hebrew to Aramiac as their spoken language and Greek as their written language. So the Greek translation of the OT became the most commonly used "street version" by the time of Jesus. In fact, all of the New Testament quotes are from that Greek version. (Since the NT was written in Greek, it made more sense than quoting the Hebrew).

By the 4th century, Greek was being replaced by Latin as the most common language amoung Christians. So it was decided to translate the Bible into Latin (the Vulgate translation). Because the main translator (Jerome) was not an expert in Hebrew - only Greek - he choose to make the translation from the Greek Old Testament which include the Apochypha books. But like the Jewish, he did not consider them to be part of scripture, so he moved them from the Old Testament to a small section in between the testament and called it the Apochypha (meaning "minor knowledge"). When he actually published the Vulgate, the Apochypha was not included.

It has bounced around ever since. But other then a small group a radical Jews in the 250s BC, it has never been recognized by either the Jewish or the Christian faith as scripture.

Answer 4

There are actually two groups; the Apochypha (the books accepted by Catholics), and the Pseudo-Apochypha the group rejected by both the Catholic and Protestant groups)..
While I was raised in a Protestant group, I agree currently (after self study of the scriptures and history) with the 'Catholic' adoption of some books.
I will let others explain their rejection of the 'Apochypha'.

Answer 5

The Apochrypha is not included in the Bible because the books it contains are full of errors, complete with doubtful authorship.

Answer 6

J.P is correct Martin Luther did not see them as important.But not for the same reasons given. We Catholics do not give them quite the same attention as it were or emphasis as we do the rest of the Bible.

Answer 7

Because they didn't support Martin Luther's anti-authoritarian stance against the Roman Catholic Church.