Question:

Is the Apocrypha part of the Bible? Are there more than 66 books?

Answer:

  • Some wrongly claim there more than 66 books of the Bible
  • Apocrypha – a book translated when they translated the King James Version Bible but it was NEVER considered part of the Bible
    • Sometimes in the addendum or other places because it was not canonized
  • The Apocrypha books were rejected for multiple reasons
    • None were written in Hebrew (the Old Testament language)
    • No authors claimed Divine Inspiration (ex. “Lord spoke” or “word of God”)
      • Those books never even claim to be the word of God
    • No allusions to the Old Testament
      • Cp. King James has 263 direct quotes and 370 allusions to the Old Testament
    • Judaism never acknowledged the Apocrypha as sacred
    • The 1st to 4th Century Christian church never regarded it as sacred
    • It contradicts Biblical Doctrines
      • Includes “Prayers for the dead” – ex. in 1st & 2nd Maccabees, Antiochus dies 3 different deaths
      • Anti-doctrinal writings from the Apocrypha:
        • Tobit 6:5-8 – “If the devil, or an evil spirit trouble anyone, they can be driven away by making a smoke of the heart, liver, and gall of a fish … 17 and the Devil will smell it and flee away, and never come again anymore.”
          • You cannot cast out devils with fish livers or hearts
        • Tobit 12:8-9 – “It is better to give alms than to lay up gold; for alms doth deliver from death, and shall purge away all sin.”
        • Ecclesiasticus 3:30 – “Water will quench a flaming fire, and alms maketh atonement for sin.”
        • 2 Maccabees 12:43-44 – “Two thousand pieces of silver were sent to Jerusalem for a sin-offering … Whereupon he made reconciliation for the dead, that they might be delivered from sin.”
    • It promotes & condones immorality
      • Ex. lying, magical incantations, suicides
  • The Apocrypha was never and is not part of the Bible – don’t let anyone deceive you
    • The Bible we have is the word of God
    • The prophecy in there is greater than any word you’ll ever get from heaven (2 Pet. 1:17-21)