OT Apocrypha and the Canon

© Bennie R. Crockett, Jr., 2005

1. Importance, Authority, and Extent of the OT Canon

2. Influence of the OT Apocrypha
3. Recommended Bibliography

1. Importance, Authority, and Extent of the OT Canon

The notion of a Christian “canon” refers to that which is a standard for the practice of faith. In
the second century, the church found itself challenged internally by different ideas of God/Jesus
and externally by Roman persecution/ostracism. As the church grew, it defended itself in three
ways: 1) canon [OT and NT], 2) creed ["Jesus is Lord"], and 3) clergy [monepiscopacy]. Two
classic apologists (defenders) were Justin Martyr (AD 160) and Irenaeus (AD 185). Also, the
passing of the apostles and the decline of eschatological expectation had caused somewhat of a
dilemma for early Christians; in a sense, one could argue that the biblical canon was an
institutional replacement of the living voice of Jesus and the apostles.

By AD 200, there was general consensus in the Western and Eastern churches in favor of the
Jewish canon of the OT (formalized by some Pharisees at Jamnia in the late first century), the
four Gospels, Acts, the letters of Paul (including Hebrews, though disputed), 1 Peter, and 1 John.
Not until 367 was there a list of the current 27 NT books. No church council voted and set forth
a definitive canon list; rather, use in the churches and belief in apostolic origin yielded the
biblical canon.

Of importance here, however, is the fact that the early church used the Septuagint Greek text for
the OT. Since the apocryphal books were written primarily in Greek, the Hebrew Bible did not
include the apocryphal books. The Septuagint text included what later became known as the
“apocrypha” (i.e., hidden books). Despite the Hebrew canon adopted at Jamnia (22 books in
Hebrew; 39 in translation in a different order), the early church did not use the Hebrew Bible. Of
import is the fact that the vast majority of OT quotations in the NT derive from the Septuagint,
and without question, the Bible of the early church was the Septuagint, and later and more
importantly for the Western churches, the Latin Vulgate.

Since the Septuagint included the apocryphal books and the Hebrew Bible did not, there was
ongoing debate about the books’ validity for the faith and practice of the early church. Despite
the debate, the church fathers continued to quote and use the books alongside the OT and NT
books. Use in support of argument was an important methodological criterion.

Of equal, if not more, importance to the Septuagint’s inclusion of the OT Apocrypha, Jerome
(AD 400) included them (i.e., Tobit, Judith, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon,
Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, and additional chapters for Daniel and Esther) in his Latin
translation, the Vulgate (i.e., "the common tongue"). Though he doubted the authenticity of the
Apocrypha, his inclusion of the books in his papal-commissioned translation marked the West’s
practical adoption and liturgical use of the OT Apocrypha as scripture. Jerome translated the OT
from the Hebrew Bible, the Apocrypha from the Septuagint, and the NT from the Greek. As the
Latin language replaced the Greek in the western church, there were occasional questions about
the Apocrypha’s inclusion, but it continued to be read alongside the canonical books in the OT
and NT. The Eastern Church continued to use the Septuagint text for its OT, so the bulk of the
apocryphal books were not questioned there, though Revelation was criticized in the East for its
violent theme.

In the West from Jerome (AD 400) to Luther’s OT (1530), the OT always included the
apocryphal books. The early English translations of the OT from Wycliff (1385) to the King
James Version (1611), the English Revised Version (1898), and the Revised Standard Version
(1952; 1971; 1989) always included the Apocrypha. As a result, the cultural, artistic, musical,
and textual influence of the OT Apocrypha has been enormous. Luther did not accept the OT
Apocrypha as scripture because the books were not part of the Hebrew canon. However, Luther
did include the books in a separate section in his German Bible, and his theology continued to
reveal content from the Bible which included the OT Apocrypha and an Augustinian foundation.
Luther argued that one should read the OT Apocrypha for an understanding of the NT’s
background.

Of note also is the fact that Luther doubted the authenticity and canonicity of four NT books—
Hebrews, James, Jude, Revelation—all of which had been questioned by various writers for
centuries. Calvin and other Reformers accepted Luther’s judgment about the OT Apocrypha, but
rejected his argument about the four NT books. The fountainhead of all English modern Bible
translation, William Tyndale in 1526, followed Luther in separating the four books from the rest
of the NT. (Of all the NT books, Calvin did not write an exegesis of Revelation, which has
caused some to suggest that he doubted the book’s authenticity and canonicity.)

In the Catholic Counter-Reformation, the Council of Trent (1546) reaffirmed the Latin Vulgate
as the inerrant Word of God; as stated above, the Vulgate included the OT Apocrypha books.
The Eastern Orthodox Church did not undergo a “reformation,” and the Apocryphal books were
not questioned since they were part of the natural flow of the Septuagint. Even today, there is no
agreement on how many books are in the OT Apocrypha; Eastern Orthodoxy accepts three books
(i.e., 3-4 Maccabees, Psalm 151) in addition to what Roman Catholics accept. Evangelical
Protestants have followed the tenor of the Westminster Confession, "The books commonly called
Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the Canon of Scripture; and therefore
are of no authority in the Church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved, or made use of, than
other human writings," but other Protestants have followed the general statement in the Anglican
Catechism "The Apocrypha is a collection of additional books written by people of the Old
Covenant, and used in the Christian Church"
2. Influence of the OT Apocrypha

To understand the cultural and religious milieu of first century Judaism, the Apocrypha is more
important than the OT itself. A failure to understand the basic content of the Apocrypha
especially limits one’s understanding of the NT. 1 and 2 Maccabees are crucial for an awareness
of historical events in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC; these books give significant background
information about Judaism’s sectarian and sociological development.

Tobit, Susanna, and Judith form the basis of Jewish moralistic and pietistic novels, and they
reveal a picture of Jewish morality at the time of Jesus. Early Christian moral formation
undoubtedly received influence from the upstanding examples of piety in these books. The
books also are very important for an understanding of the development of Pharisaism. A variant
of the Golden Rule appears in Tobit 4:14-15: “what you hate, do not do to any one.” As a
Pharisee, St. Paul would have been familiar with these books.

One striking example of influence related specifically to Christmas is from Wisdom of Solomon
18:14-16, a classic piece of hellenistic-Jewish poetry:

[14] For while gentle silence enveloped all things,

and night in its swift course was now half gone,
[15] thy all-powerful word leaped from heaven, from
the royal throne, into the midst of the land that was doomed, a stern warrior
[16] carrying the sharp sword of thy authentic command, and stood and filled
all things with death, and touched heaven while standing on the earth.

This text from Wisdom has had an enormous influence on the interpretation of John 1:1-5,14 and
Rev. 19:13-16. “Thy all-powerful word” was interpreted by the fathers as a distinct reference to
the incarnation, and was cited in the same manner as OT prophetic texts. “Carrying the sharp
sword” was read in reference to Rev. 19:13 ff. Of devotional and mythic interest, “gentle silence
enveloped all things” undoubtedly influenced both “Silent Night” and “the silent stars go by”
(i.e., “O Little Town of Bethlehem”). The phrase “Night . . . was not half gone” was the basis
for the tradition that Jesus was born at midnight (i.e., “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear”).

Also in the history of interpretation, the Word (logos) was associated with Wisdom (sophia). In
“O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” the author coupled these ideas—“O come, thou Wisdom from
on high,” seemingly a union of the text above with the use of Wisdom as a practical synonym of
Word. Both the poetic Wisdom of Solomon and Sirach (i.e., Ecclesiasticus, "The Church Book")
contain extensive passages on the personification of Wisdom (cf. Prov. 8).

Other textual and ideological comparisons with the NT occur throughout OT Apocrypha. There
are many readings from the OT Apocrypha in the liturgical year for both Catholicism and
Anglicanism, the predecessors of all English-speaking Protestants in America.
3. Recommended Bibliography

Biblical Canon (Monograph)

 F. F. Bruce, The Canon of Scripture (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1988).

Online Introductions to the OT Apocrypha

 http://www.gnte.org/ecopub/apocrypha.htm (by Bruce M. Metzger, leading Greek NT
text critical scholar, 1946-1990; retired from Princeton Theological Seminary)
 http://www.orthodoxanglican.net/downloads/apocrypha.pdf (by Robert Dentan, an
Anglican of Berkeley Divinity School, who argues for the value of the OTA for an
understanding of the NT)
 http://www.bible-researcher.com/canon2.html--The Old Testament Canon and
Apocrypha

OT Apocrypha (Monographs)
 Bruce M. Metzger, Introduction to the Apocrypha (New York: Oxford University Press,
1957) [Presbyterian scholar].
 Daniel J. Harrington, Invitation to the Apocrypha (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans,
1999) [Roman Catholic scholar].
 David Arthur DeSilva, James H. Charlesworth, Introducing the Apocrypha: Message,
Context, and Significance (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2002) [DeSilva is a United
Methodist scholar at the evangelical Ashland Theological Seminary, and Charlesworth
now holds Metzger’s former chair at Princeton Seminary].

Denominational Perspectives on the OT Apocrypha

 Siegfried Meurer, ed., The Apocrypha in Ecumenical Perspective, trans. Paul Ellingworth
(London: United Bible Societies, 1991).