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Apocrypha: Old Testament
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Keep in mind that the books of the Apocrypha were already in existence at the time of Jesus. Yet they were not quoted as Scripture by Him or the apostles, nor included in New Testament. With over 250 quotations from passages in the Old Testament in the New Testament; there is not one quotation from the Apocryphal writings.
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[I]nteresting as the connections of the Apocrypha with its Old Testament antecedents may be, its connections with the New Testament are more instructive. Between the 0ld Testament conceived of as a totality and the New Testament there is as wide a gap as that which separates Homer from the literature of Rome. Both later literature presuppose the earlier to the degree that they are completely intelligible only in the light of the earlier; but just as the literature of Alexandria supplies the essential link between the classical literatures, so the Apocrypha does for the Testaments. Scholarly commentaries on individual books of the New Testament as of the Apocrypha point to specific echoes of phrases and images and ideas from books of the Apocrypha in books of the New Testament; what is more illuminating is that the Apocrypha reflects the social and intellectual climate, the religious premises and the literary forms, of the area and the culture out of which the New Testament grew.
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Those who support the canonicity of the Apocrypha argue that both Jesus and his followers were familiar with the Greek OT called the Septuagint. They ... argue that when the New Testament writers quote Old Testament passages, they are quoting from the Greek OT. Since the Septuagint included the additional books of the Apocrypha, Jesus and the apostles must have accepted the Apocrypha as inspired scripture. In other words, the acceptance of the Septuagint indicates acceptance of the Apocrypha as well. Finally, they contend that the New Testament is full of references to material found in the Apocrypha, further establishing its canonicity. A number of objections have been raised to these arguments.
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Fourth, the Apocrypha refers to biblical books in an exceptional manner, unlike references to itself. "Isaiah" is recognized in Ecclesiasticus 48:22 as "the prophet" who was "great and faithful in his vision. He showed the things that should be until the end of time." In chapter 24:23ff the Apocrypha states, "All these things are the book of the covenant of the Most High God, even the law which Moses commanded." 1 Maccabees 12:9- 10 speaks of the Old Testament as "the holy books which are in our hands" which Nehemiah had gathered up in his return from captivity (2 Macc. 2:13) and Judas had preserved the sacred books during the Maccabean war (v.
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Several of the books of the Apocrypha were more generally accepted than the disputed books of the New Testament Canon. Melito (cir. 170), referring to the Hebrew Canon, separated them from the authoritative and Divine records; while Origen (cir.230), following the LXX, included in Daniel (and so among the Canonical Books) the history of Susanna; and speaks ambiguously about the Books of the Maccabees. Jerome , a century later, called them 'Apocryphal' (hidden, secret, and so of uncertain origin and authority), affirming (when speaking of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus) that 'the Church doth read them for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine'. In the Western Church they gradually rose in esteem, until the Council of Trent affirmed the canonicity of the greater part; but they are treated by more critical Roman divines as 'deuterero-canonical'... making some distinction between them and the books of the Hebrew Canon.
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[One] argument that is used for the Apocrypha is that the apostles quoted from the Septuagint (the Greek O.T., which contained the Apocrypha) and used it as their Bible, and therefore they viewed the Apocrypha as the Word of God. Now, it does appear that the apostles quoted from the Septuagint, because many (not all) of the quotes in the New Testament follow the wording of the Septuagint. But, this does not dictate (or demand) that the apostles accepted the Apocryphal writings as Scripture.
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