1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 ♪♪ 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Apocrypha comes from a Greek word, apokrypta, which means to hide what is hidden. 3 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:17,000 The English word apocryphal has come to mean false. 4 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:23,000 So when people talk about the apocrypha, as Protestants, as a Protestant evangelical, 5 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:28,000 I'm talking about additional books that I don't believe are part of the canon, 6 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:31,000 but additional books that some Christian traditions, 7 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:36,000 like Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, include within their Old Testament canon. 8 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:43,000 There's no debate about the content of the New Testament among major Christian traditions. 9 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:48,000 As some people have said, it's amazing when you look at the diversity and geographical spread, 10 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:52,000 and there's this affirmation of the 27-book New Testament canon that we have. 11 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:57,000 But depending on how you divide it up, because there's portions of books and so on, 12 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:03,000 whether it's 12 additional books or for Eastern Orthodoxy, there's even more. 13 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:08,000 Where did these books come from, and why do Protestants not believe they're part of the canon? 14 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:14,000 The easy explanation for this is to say Jesus and the apostles didn't believe this was part of the canon. 15 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:18,000 The Jews who wrote these books in the time between the Old and New Testament 16 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:22,000 never included it in their canon. They're not in the synagogue that you go to. 17 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:27,000 They're not quoted as Scripture, as the Scripture says, as the Word of God says. 18 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:29,000 They're not quoted as Scripture in the New Testament. 19 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:36,000 And so we don't believe that those should be included within our canon. 20 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:44,000 The Apocrypha also contains clear historical error, unlike the Old and New Testament Scriptures. 21 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,000 You can see lists of these errors, for example, in Paul Wagner's book, 22 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:49,000 The Journey from Text to Translations. 23 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:55,000 The Catholic Church, there were certain regional councils that affirmed books of the Apocrypha, 24 00:01:55,000 --> 00:02:04,000 but a church-wide council did not affirm the Apocrypha as Scripture within the Catholic Church 25 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:10,000 until the Council of Trent in 1546 in reaction against the Protestant Reformation. 26 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:16,000 So that should give us pause if we don't have a church-wide council affirming those books 27 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:20,000 until a reaction against Protestants. 28 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:24,000 And having said that, I teach at a Baptist seminary, 29 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:29,000 and so many times students who come from the Baptist tradition are very skeptical about the Apocrypha. 30 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:32,000 They think it's almost like an evil book. Evil books, don't read it. 31 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:37,000 But I think that's wrong. I mean, these are books that are written by early Jews 32 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:43,000 who are seeking to live a life many times pleasing to God. 33 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:47,000 There's a diversity within it, but portions of the Apocrypha, 34 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:52,000 you sound just like the Psalms, calling out to God and praise for his attributes. 35 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:59,000 There's a beautiful passage in Sirach chapter 38 about physicians that don't despise the physician. 36 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:02,000 Pray to God for healing, but don't be afraid to go to the physician 37 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:06,000 because God's given him wisdom about the herbs of the earth and how they can heal you too. 38 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:12,000 So we read this and we think, this is people seeking to live, to serve God many times. 39 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:17,000 I've always thought the book of Tobit would make an amazing Disney movie. 40 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:22,000 It's not Scripture, but if you read the book of Tobit, it has love, it has intrigue, 41 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:28,000 and it's really enjoyable to read as a book, but it's not Scripture. 42 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:33,000 We can also, when we read the Apocrypha, it can help us understand 43 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:38,000 what happened between the last book of the Old Testament and Jesus ministering. 44 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:41,000 Where did these Pharisees come from? Where did these Sadducees come from? 45 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:44,000 That story is told really in the Apocrypha. 46 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:48,000 You read 1 and 2 Maccabees, and so it gives us helpful historical background. 47 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:53,000 Within the Protestant tradition, I've found that there are really two strands. 48 00:03:53,000 --> 00:04:00,000 There's a strand that ends up in sort of Anglicanism, the English church, 49 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:05,000 and then there's a strand that's more like Baptist and Presbyterian, 50 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,000 and I guess Lutheranism will be over here with Anglicanism. 51 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:14,000 And they will use words from the Apocrypha for hymns and other things like that. 52 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:15,000 They don't believe it's Scripture. 53 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:18,000 But within the Baptist and more Presbyterian tradition, 54 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:23,000 it's really only looked at as valuable for historical background many times. 55 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:30,000 But if you look in your hymnal, sometimes we even sing hymns based on the Apocrypha, 56 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:32,000 but it usually doesn't say that in our hymnal. 57 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:33,000 For example, the famous hymn, 58 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:39,000 which is in the Baptist hymnal, is based on Sirach chapter 50, 59 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:40,000 almost word for word. 60 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:41,000 It's a beautiful hymn to God. 61 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:49,000 Or the famous Christmas carol, 62 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:57,000 So the Apocrypha is not Scripture, 63 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:00,000 but it is helpful sometimes to understand the things that happen 64 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:01,000 between the Testaments. 65 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:04,000 And some Christian traditions have written hymns and other things 66 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:07,000 that use some of the wording of the Apocrypha.