QUESTION: What is the Apocrypha?

The term “Apocrypha” is used to designate a collection of ancient Jewish writings which were written between 250 B.C. and the early Christian centuries. The Apocryphal books have come to be regarded as inspired scripture in the theology of the Roman Catholic Church, but the historic Protestant and Jewish viewpoint ascribes no real inspiration to them.

While Protestants study the Apocrypha for the light it throws on the life and thought of pre-Christian Judaism, they reject it as inspired Scripture for the following reason: the Apocryphal books were not a part of the Old Testament of Jesus and the early Church.

The threefold division of the Old Testament: the Law, the Prophets and the Writings (still used in Hebrew Bibles and the Jewish version of the Old Testament) do not include the Apocryphal books and never did. While the Apocrypha was known to Jesus and His disciples, they never quote from it as authoritative Scripture.