Pictured to the left is a copy of a version of the Holy Bible, known as the New Living Translation ( NLT ). John 8:31-34 read as follows:
"Jesus said to the people who believed in him, 'You are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.' 'But we are descendants of Abraham,' they said. 'We have never been slaves to anyone on earth. What do you mean, '"set free"'?' Jesus replied, 'I assure you that everyone who sins is a slave of sin.'"
Moreover, 2 Peter 2:19 reads as follows: "They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves to sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you."
The word "apocrypha" ( with regard to the Old Testament apocryphal books ) is defined as follows:
"Meaning 'things that are hidden,' apocrypha is applied to a collection of fifteen books written between about 200 B.C. and A.D. 100. . . . The word 'apocrypha' is not found in the Bible. Although never part of the Hebrew Scriptures, all fifteen apocryphal books except 2 Esdras appear in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint. . . ." [ See HOLMAN BIBLE DICTIONARY, HOLMAN BIBLE PUBLISHERS, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, Copyright 1991 Holman Bible Publishers, p. 69. ]
The word "apocrypha" ( with regard to the New Testament apocryphal books ) is defined as follows:
"When the term apokryphos occurs in the New Testament, it simply means 'hidden things.' This original sense does not include the later meanings associated with it. In the formation of the Christian canon of Scripture, 'apocrypha' came to mean works that were not divinely inspired and authoritative. . . ." [ Ibid., p. 71. ]
A list of the New Testament apocryphal books is as follows:
"Epistle of Pseudo-Barnabas (A.D. 70-79)
Epistle to the Corinthians (about A.D. 96)
Ancient Homily, or the so-called Second Epistle of Clement (about A.D. 120-140)
Didache, Teaching of the Twelve (about A.D. 100-120)
Apocalypse of Peter (about A.D. 150)
The Acts of Paul and Thecla (A.D. 170)
Epistle to the Laodiceans (fourth century?)
The Gospel According to the Hebrews (A.D. 65-100)
Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians (about A.D. 108)
The Seven Epistles of Ignatius (about A.D. 100)
This is but a partial list of spurious and rejected writings. (Geisler, BP, 297-316)" [ See The NEW EVIDENCE THAT DEMANDS A VERDICT, McDOWELL, JOSH, THOMAS NELSON PUBLISHERS, Nashville, Copyright 1999 by Josh D. McDowell, p. 25. ]
Why the New Testament apocryphal books are rejected:
"Geisler and Nix sum up the case against the canonical status of these books: '(1) None of them enjoyed any more than a temporary or local recognition. (2) Most of them never did have anything more than a semi-canonical status, being appended to various manuscripts or mentioned in tables of contents. (3) No major canon or church council included them as inspired books of the New Testament. (4) The limited acceptance enjoyed by most of these books is attributable to the fact that they attached themselves to references in canonical books (e.g., Laodiceans to Col. 4:16), because of their alleged apostolic authorship (e.g., Acts of Paul). Once these issues were clarified, there remained little doubt that these books were not canonical.' (Geisler, GIB, 317)" [ Ibid., pp. 25, 26. ]
A list of the Old Testament apocryphal books is as follows:
"First Esdras (about 150 B.C.) . . . .
Second Esdras (A.D. 100) . . . .
Tobit (early second century B.C.) . . . .
Judith (about the middle of second century B.C.) . . . .
Additions to Esther (about 100 B.C.) . . . .
The Wisdom of Solomon (about A.D. 40) . . . .
Ecclesiasticus, or Wisdom of Sirach (about 180 B.C.) . . . .
Baruch (about A.D. 100) . . . .
Letter of Jeremiah (contained in the sixth chapter of Baruch) . . . .
Susanna ('first century before Christ') . . . .
Bel and the Dragon (about the same time as Susanna) . . . .
The Song of the Three Hebrew Children ('follows Daniel 3:23') . . . .
The Prayer of Manasseh (second century B.C.) . . . .
First Maccabees (first century B.C.) . . . .
Second Maccabees (same time) . . . ." [ Ibid., pp. 30, 31. ]
Why the Old Testament apocryphal books are excluded:
"Geisler and Nix give ten testimonies of antiquity that argue against recognition of the Apocrypha:
1. Philo, Alexandrian Jewish philosopher (20 B.C.-A.D. 40), quoted the Old Testament prolifically, and even recognized the threefold classification, but he never quoted from the Apocrypha as inspired.
2. Josephus (A.D. 30-100), Jewish historian, explicitly excludes the Apocrypha, numbering the books of the Old Testament as twenty-two. Neither does he quote the apocryphal books as Scripture.
3. Jesus and the New Testament writers never once quote the Apocrypha, although there are hundreds of quotes and references to almost all of the canonical books of the Old Testament.
4. The Jewish scholars of Jamnia (A.D. 90) did not recognize the Apocrypha.
5. No canon or council of the Christian church recognized the Apocrypha as inspired for nearly four centuries.
6. Many of the great Fathers [ sic ] of the early church spoke out against the Apocrypha-for example, Origen, Cyril of Jerusalem, and Athanasius.
7. Jerome (A.D. 340-420), the great scholar and translator of the Latin Vulgate, rejected the Apocrypha as part of the canon. Jerome said that the church reads them 'for example of life and instruction of manners,' but does not 'apply them to establish doctrine.' He disputed with Augustine across the Mediterranean on this point. At first Jerome refused even to translate the apocryphal books into Latin, but later he made a hurried translation of a few of them. After his death and 'over his dead body' the apocryphal books were brought into his Latin Vulgate directly from the Old Latin Version.
8. Many Roman Catholic scholars through the Reformation period rejected the Apocrypha.
9. Luther and the Reformers rejected the canonicity of the Apocrypha.
10. Not until A.D. 1546, in a polemical action at the counter-Reformation Council of Trent (1545-63), did the apocryphal books receive full canonical status by the Roman Catholic Church. (Geisler/Nix, GIB, 272-273)
CONCLUSION
David Dockery, Kenneth Matthews, and Robert Sloan, after reviewing the evidence in their recent book, Foundations for Biblical Interpretation, conclude concerning the Bible's canon: 'No Christian, confident in the providential working of his God and informed about the true nature of canonicity of his Word, should be disturbed about the dependability of the Bible we now possess.' (Dockery, FBI, 77, 78)" [ Ibid., pp. 31, 32. ]
With all of the above-given information in mind, the truth will set us free from the control of sin; the sin, in this case, being the false teaching that the apocryphal books are inspired by God ( see Psalm 119:65-73, 142, 151, Matthew 28:18, John 1:1, 14; 3:16, 17; 5:26, 27; 7:16; 8:26; 10:30; 14:6; 17:17, Romans 1:20 ( see Romans 1:20 ( KJV, for example; with center-column references, for example ) to get the equivalent translation for the word "Godhead" ), Colossians 2:8, 9, 2 Timothy 2:15; 3:16, 17, Titus 1:1, 2, and 1 John 3:4; 5:6-8, for example ).
If you have any questions about the Holy Bible, you can contact me by e-mail at:
<rewillis1_1@juno.com>
<Russell E. Willis>
NOTE: The word "council" does not appear in the context of Acts 15:22-29. An explanation of this word, as well as the word "canon" ( and related concepts ), will be provided in a future posting to this weblog. As a reminder, there is no such thing as a denominational Christian ( see Acts 11:26 and Ephesians 4:5, for example ).
