BibleFacts

History of the Apocrypha

 On Church History

The Protestant Bible contains 66 books. Every Christian denomination has these 66, but a few add more books to their bibles. these additions are called the Apocrypha.
Here are the books added by each group:

Roman Catholic Eastern Orthodox Anglican Other
  • Have all the 66 books of the Protestant Bible plus:
  • Have all the Catholic additions plus:
  • Have all the Eastern Orthodox books plus:
  • Church fathers also mention other books:

 
  • 4 Esdras. (also called 2 Esdras or the Esdras apocalypse)

Note:
In some bibles Ezra and Nehemiah are called first and second Esdras respectively.
When this occurs 1 Esdras is renamed 3 Esdras and the apocalypse, 2 Esdras, is renamed 4 esdras.

 

 

The major arguments against the Apocrypha are:

  1. No Hebrew Copies. Jerome (5th Century) noticed they were included in the Septuagint (Greek version of the bible) but there were no copies of them in Hebrew. This would seem to indicate that they may have never been a part of the Jewish canon.
    1. When the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1948 they contained Hebrew copies of 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, Sirach, and Psalm 151.
  2. Historical errors. Some of them contain very obvious historical errors. For instance in Judith, there is a mention of king Nebuchadnezzar instead of the King of Assyria, this is about a 100 years discrepancy.
    1. Justin Martyr (165AD) stated, in Dialogue 41,72,73, that the Jews removed passages from Jeremiah (11:19), Isaiah, Psalm 96 and Esdras because they point to Christ. Apparently all were put back in Christian copies except the prophecies from Esdras and part of Psalm 96, which we still do not have.
    2. Origen (240AD) states, in his letter to Africanus 8, that these did not exist in the Hebrew Canon because the unbelieving Jews removed them (council of Yavneh, 90 AD). These Jews created some very obvious errors in the Greek versions and destroyed the Hebrew versions in in order to convince readers they were fake. In chapter 13 he states that because of this some in his day were doubting the authenticity of Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, parts of Esther, Jeremiah, Exodus, Genesis, Tobit, and Psalm 155. That same council of Yavneh defined Jewish believers (Christians) as heretics, stating they are “no longer the people of God.”


The chart below show which early church fathers said anything about the Apocrypha. Below that are references. 

  Tob Sus Bel Wis Barn Did En Bar Ep.Jer  1 Mac 2 Mac Shep. Sir Jud 4 Esd
Clement of Rome       b                   b  
Polycarp b                            
Ignatius   b                          
Barnabas       A                      
Justin Martyr             b                
Clement of Alex. A     A A b   A     b b A b b
Origen b A b A,c A   b,c       b b,c A    
Irenaeus   b b b     b b       A b    
Eusebius   b,c   b c c b   b b b   b    
Cyprian b   b A           A     b    
Tob=Tobias
Sus=Susanna
Bel=Bel and the Dragon
Wis=Wisdom of Solomon
Barn=Epistle of Barnabas		 Did=Didache
En=1 Enoch
Bar=Baruch
Ep.Jr=Epistle of Jeremiah
1Mac= 1 Macabees		 2Mac=2 Macabees
Sherp=Shepard of Hermas
Sir=Sirach
Jud=Judith
4Esd= Apocalypse of Esdras
A) calls it Scripture,
b) Quotes it,
c) says some dispute it,
d) disputes it.

  

References:

Clement of Rome: 1 Clement 27,55
Polycarp: 10
Ignatius: Mag. 3L,
Epist of Barnabas: 6
Justin Martyr: 2 Apol. 5
Irenaeus: 2.28, 4.5, 4.16, 4.20, 4.26, 5.35		 Clement of Alexandria: Mics. 2.23.139, 2.31.2, Inst. 1,8,1.10, 2.3, 2.9, Str. 1.29, 2.7, 3.16, 6.3.
Origen: Of first principles 1:2:5, 1:3:3, 2:1:5, 2:9:3, 3:2:4, 4:1:11, 4:1:32; Cel 1:63, 5:48, 6:7; Rom 1:24
Cyprian: Epistles 51,54,55,70 & Against Jews
Eusebius: H.E. 3.25.4

Bibles:

Objections:

Possible quotes of the Apocrypha from the New Testament:

Notes: