This article is the eighth installment in our series "Christian, What Do You Believe: The Belgic Confession of Faith". Find the whole series here.
Few Protestants put much thought into the apocrypha. And that’s fine. It isn’t required reading.
Still, the Belgic Confession’s article on these books is helpful. The Apocrypha has apologetic value in defending the Protestant canon against the Catholic claim that the reformers eliminated books from the Bible. And, perhaps most importantly, it illustrates the doctrine of sola Scriptura. Insofar as it reflects God’s truth, the Apocrypha has some value. But Scripture alone is our ultimate authority.
Given its historical influence, let’s briefly examine the apocrypha and use it as an example of how to evaluate human wisdom.
An Overview and History of the Apocrypha
The Apocrypha is the collection of books accepted by Roman Catholics as Scripture but rejected by Protestants. Some of these books claim to supplement Scripture’s historical record. Others are ethical treatises in a similar style to Biblical books. Still others are fanciful parables akin to Aesop’s fables.
Here’s a quick rundown of the books. Third and Fourth Esdras recount Ezra’s ministry, who guided God’s people back from exile. Tobit describes how a godly father who loses his sight is helped by a magical fish. Judith is a fantastical story of a Jewish woman who delivered her people from an Assyrian army. Wisdom is an ethical work commending righteousness and denouncing sin. Jesus Sirach, also called Ecclesiasticus (not Ecclesiastes) is similar to Proverbs and has been highly respected in the church. Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah expand upon Jeremiah’s prophecies. The Appendix to Esther adds to the story of Queen Esther. Three apocryphal books are additions to Daniel: The Song of the Three Children in the Furnace augments Daniel 3, the Story of Susannah describes events that purportedly took place in Daniel’s childhood, and, in Bell and the Dragon, Daniel is supposedly thrown into the lion’s den a second time after a conflict with a Babylonian god. The Prayer of Manasseh—accepted by neither Catholics nor Protestants—supplements 2 Chronicles 33. Finally, First and Second Maccabees is a valuable story of the Jewish wars for independence against Syria.
Most of these books were written between the close of the Old Testament canon and the early Christian era. In the fourth century, Jerome prepared a Latin version of the Bible called the Vulgate. He appended apocryphal books to the Old Testament, but indicated in the preface that these writings were not canonical. Some copyists would later omit the preface. So throughout the medieval period, the books were generally seen as biblical. Yet, many of the Greek Fathers— beginning in the fourth century—distinguished these books from Scripture. The councils of Laodicea (364) and Constantinople (381) rejected them as non-canonical.
During the Reformation, the conflict over the Apocrypha became heated as several disputed doctrines—such as purgatory and prayers and masses for the dead—were supported by texts from the Apocrypha (e.g. 2 Macc. 12:43-45). The reformers generally agreed with Jerome: Apocryphal books might be useful, but are not God’s word and therefore not authoritative. In 1546 the Council of Trent condemned anyone who “does not accept these entire books, with all their parts.” The Synod of Dort (1618–19) authorized the apocryphal books to be printed in the back of the official Dutch Bible in small print with the warning that they should not be read publicly in the congregation.
The Limits and Value of the Apocrypha
There are many good reasons for calling the apocrypha non-canonical. First, the Apocrypha is not part of Hebrew Bible. The Hebrew Fathers who were “entrusted with the oracles of God” (Rom. 3:2) did not recognize these books. Second, while several New Testament writers allude to apocryphal books, they do not quote them as they do the Old Testament. Third, apocryphal books lack the stamp of prophetic authority; the common Old Testament phrase, “Thus says the Lord,” is absent from them. As the Jewish historian Josephus put it, “The exact succession of the prophets” was broken after the close of the Hebrew canon. Fourth, apocryphal books include patent inaccuracies. Judith identifies Nebuchadnezzar as king of Nineveh long after he died. The Prayer of Manasseh is so plainly inauthentic that Roman Catholics also reject it. Fifth, writers of these books sometimes deny inspiration altogether: “So I too will here end my story … if it is well told and to the point, that is what I myself designed; if it is poorly done and mediocre, that was the best I could do” (2 Macc. 15:37–38). Some historical errors are glaring and may be intended to identify the works as fiction.
So what should we do with these books, or books like them? Or any human wisdom in any form?
We should distinguish Scripture from everything else that might influence us. We may “read these books and learn” from the apocrypha. In fact, it is prudent to know books like these because they have influenced Christian hymns, everyday vocabulary, and historical discovery. Additionally, they can help our understanding of biblical context; they are old books that describe the culture of Scripture. Finally, some passages are deeply edifying. Baruch provides beautiful examples of biblical confession of sin. The first edition of the Belgic Confession even references Bel and the Dragon (14:4) to illustrate the doctrine of creation. We can read the apocryphal books “for example of life and instruction of manners.” This advice applies to all other examples of human wisdom. All truth harmonizes with Scripture and is useful for helping us navigate God’s world. But only Scripture has the “power and virtue” to confirm “any point of faith or of the Christian religion.”
Still, sometimes we give too much weight to non-divine influences. The reformers grew up with a reverence for the apocrypha. Yet most would have generally agreed with the Westminster Confession of Faith’s statement that it is “of no authority in the Church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved or made use of, than other human writings.” God has not vested the apocrypha with authority. In a similar way, he has not given church governing boards the right to affirm sexual sin. Church tradition cannot masquerade as biblical law. More personally, God has not given your friends the right to influence your life in ways contrary to God’s word.
Sola Scriptura teaches us that Scripture is “the rule of faith and life.” It is the very word of the living Word, Jesus. Yes, all truth is God’s truth. But only the word of Christ is king over our consciences. God has given many voices to speak wisdom into our lives. We need to carefully listen with ears that have been tuned by the wisdom of God’s Word. In our quest to become “wise and understanding people” (Deut. 4:6), we must listen most carefully to the word of God.
Footnotes
Including Eusebius, Athanasius, Cyril of Jerusalem, and Gregory of Nazianzus. Bruce Metzger, ed. The Oxford Annotated Apocrypha (New York: Oxford University Press, 1965), xiii.
The first English Bibles to exclude the Apocrypha was the 1599 Geneva Bible. This was apparently the printer’s decision since the titles of the apocryphal books occur in the table of contents. Metzger, The Oxford Annotated Apocrypha, xv.
Fourth Session: Decree Concerning the Canonical Scriptures.
Josephus quoted in Metzger, The Oxford Annotated Apocrypha, xii.
The hymn, “Now Thank We All Our God” is dependent upon Luther’s translation of Sirach 50:22-24. George Frederick Handel wrote oratorios commemorating the Apocryphal characters Susanna and Judas Maccabaeus. A passage from 2 Esdras (6:42), erroneously suggesting that only one-seventh of earth’s surface is covered with water, was instrumental in helping Columbus discover the new world. Metzger, The Oxford Annotated Apocrypha, xvii, xviii.
Thirty-Nine Articles, art. 6, cf. The Waldensian Confession (1530) says we may read apocryphal books “for the instruction of the people, not to confirm the authority of the doctrine of the church” (art. 3).
Westminster Confession of Faith, 1.3.
Westminster Confession of Faith, 1.2.
