Question:
Dear Greg,
Why
do some Bibles have other additional books that are not contained in other
versions? Someone told me these
additional books are only included in the Catholic Bible.
I know they are called the Apocrypha.
My questions are:
1.
Why are they called the Apocrypha?
2.
Why do some Bibles have them and some do not?
Some say it is because the
3.
What criteria did the people who completed our existing Bible use to
Thanks
very much once more!
Marciel
Answer: Dear Marciel,
The
word “apocrypha” comes from the Greek, meaning “hidden things.”
The word has come to mean “untrue” or “spurious”.
The
apocrypha (both Old Testament and New Testament books) were not included in the
original canon. The earliest Old Testament canon dates to AD 170 and the
earliest New Testament canon to AD 367. The
first undisputed Christian council on the canon dates to the Council of Carthage
in AD 397. After that time the 39
Old Testament books and 27 New Testament books became progressively more
accepted as the Bible, with other books being viewed, at best, as
extra-biblical, if not spurious.
Extra-biblical
books that do not disagree with biblical writing tend to be viewed with more
patience by Christians, and read as historical, while not inspired.
Others are spurious, as they do not agree with the biblical record.
In
Christ,
Greg
Albrecht