A Word About The Apocrypha
A word about the Apocrypha, author unknown.
The canon (meaning “standard”) is the officially accepted list of books which make up the Bible. The test to decide whether a book fits into the canon is this: Is it authoritative? Is it prophetic? Is it authentic? Is it dynamic? Was it recieved, collected, and used? The need of the canon was realized when the Christians of the world began needing a common “instruction book” of the Christian faith. The Apocrypha means “hidden or concealed” from the Greek word apokruphos. The reasons why it was not accepted were: They abound with historical and geographical inaccuracies and anachronisms, they teach doctrines which are false and foster practices which are at variance with inspired scripture, they resort to literary tyoes and display an artificiality of subject matter and styling out of keeping with inspired Scripture, and they lack the distinctive elements which give genuine Scripture their divine character, such as prophetic power and poetic and religous feeling. They consist of: I Esdras, II Edras, Tobit, Judith, Additions to Esther, The Wisdom of Soloman, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, Bel and the Dragon, The Song of the Three Hebrew Children, The Prayer of Manasseh, I Maccabees.