In a time when division runs rampant—even in the church—and believers shred each other publicly for differing opinions, one man bravely steps out to call Christians to unity in the One who binds them all together—Jesus Christ. Author Dr. James W. Walraven dares to suggest that Christians make wiser choices, forgive one another, and mature in their faith.
Walraven, author of Will God Save Everyone, doesn’t shy away from tough topics. He suggests that though doctrines diverge, rather than separate over differences, Christians rally around the truth of the gospel—believers should treat others better than themselves. In a me-first, turbulent culture, the biblical call to love one another is almost a radical concept, but Walraven is convinced unity can be achieved.
“Spiritual maturity is critical when it comes to recognizing and resisting the many false teachings that are being promoted,” Walraven says. “As the world becomes increasingly hostile toward the Christian faith, the need for unity will be increasingly important.”
Dr. Walraven’s new book, One in Christ is written with strength through supporting Scriptures and other resources, yet with personal vulnerability, each chapter concludes with thought-provoking personal challenges designed to move believers closer to oneness in Christ.
The Apocrypha. If there is a gray area in extra-biblical writings, it is found in the Apocrypha. How did this happen?
The Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek, known as the Septuagint, in the third and second centuries BC, the apocryphal writings were tacked on as a type of appendix. For most of church history, they were viewed as being somewhat useful for devotional reading, but not considered part of Scripture.
That changed at the time of the Protestant Reformation. The Protestants asked a logical question. Were the apocryphal writings ever considered by the Jews to be part of the Old Testament canon (known validated books)? The answer was a clear, “No.” Since the writings were not considered Scripture by the Jews, there was no reason to include them as part of the Bible.
In reaction to the Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church, at the Council of Trent in 1546, approved them as part of their biblical canon. In a couple places these writings seem to confirm Roman Catholic doctrine or tradition.
2 Esdras 9:7–8 (KJV Apocrypha): And every one that shall be saved, and shall be able to escape by his works, and by faith, whereby ye have believed, Shall be preserved from the said perils, and shall see my salvation in my land, and within my borders: for I have sanctified them for me from the beginning.
We see that 2 Esdras 9:7–8 supports the Roman insistence that salvation is by works and faith. The passage insists that people are saved and escape by both works and faith.
2 Maccabees 12:39–45 prefigures Purgatory, although Roman Catholic theologians admit that the complete doctrine is not found here:
2 Maccabees 12:39–45 (KJV Apocrypha): And upon the day following, as the use had been, Judas and his company came to take up the bodies of them that were slain, and to bury them with their kinsmen in their fathers’ graves. Now under the coats of every one that was slain they found things consecrated to the idols of the Jamnites, which is forbidden the Jews by the law. Then every man saw that this was the cause wherefore they were slain. All men therefore praising the Lord, the righteous Judge, who had opened the things that were hid, Betook themselves unto prayer, and besought him that the sin committed might wholly be put out of remembrance. Besides, that noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves from sin, forsomuch as they saw before their eyes the things that came to pass for the sins of those that were slain. And when he had made a gathering throughout the company to the sum of two thousand drachms of silver, he sent it to Jerusalem to offer a sin offering, doing therein very well and honestly, in that he was mindful of the resurrection: For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should have risen again, it had been superfluous and vain to pray for the dead. And also in that he perceived that there was great favour laid up for those that died godly, it was an holy and good thought. Whereupon he made a reconciliation for the dead, that they might be delivered from sin.
The Roman Catholic Church therefore had good reason to include the Apocrypha as part of their Scriptures. By doing so, they could justify some of their non-biblical teachings.
What writings are part of the Apocrypha? What do they contain? We will turn to those questions in the next post.
Do we follow the Bible, or are we drawn to other extra-biblical books? We often want to fill in the gaps where Scripture is silent, or to have access to “secret knowledge” others don’t possess. Thus, non-canonical writings have a seductive appeal. Numerous supposed “biblical” books have been heartily endorsed, books that supposedly reveal the “real truth” that Scripture deliberately hides or denies.
We’ve been looking at the way the NAR and the progressives/inclusivists twist or ignore Scripture, but that is far from the only danger. Consider the endorsement of the Apocrypha by Roman Catholicism and some Anglicans. Others favor “The Gospel of Thomas,” along with other Gnostic gospels that purport to give special knowledge, viewing them as more authentic than anything recorded in the New Testament Gospels.
We also have the increasing curiosity and fascination with first, second, and third Enoch, particularly first Enoch. What are we to make of these supposed “biblical” books? After all, 1 Enoch is included in the Ethiopian Bible. Among other things it purports to give the true origin of sin and the details about how those shadowy creatures, the Nephilim, came to be. Weren’t all the other churches wrong to exclude it? It is sometimes inferred that there are all sorts of things that the Church doesn’t want us to know.
Do any of these books provide us with extra-biblical, but more authentic authoritative “truth”? We will start by looking at the Apocrypha, then “The Gospel of Thomas” along with other Gnostic writings, and close with an examination of the various books of Enoch.
What writings are part of the Apocrypha? What do they purport to teach?
The following writings are part of the Apocrypha: 1 and 2 Esdras; Tobit; Judith; additions to Esther; Wisdom of Solomon; Ecclesiasticus (Sirach); Baruch; Song of the Three Holy Children (Azariah); Story of Susanna; Bel and the Dragon; Prayer of Manasseh; 1 and 2 Maccabees
All of them were written during the intertestamental period, roughly 300 BC to 100 AD. All told, the writings are about 5/6 the length of the New Testament. Some of them attempt to fill in the gaps of what Scripture doesn’t tell us: Song of the Three Holy Children; Prayer of Manasseh; Baruch; and 1 & 2 Esdras. Some claim to give new revelation, while others provide additional historical information.
We will not examine all of them in detail but will give examples from some of them, and briefly summarize most of them.
1 Esdras: 1 Esdras chapter one speaks of Josiah’s reforms, keeping of the Passover, etc. The chapter reads slightly off, taking bits and pieces of other Old Testament books and then stating that Josiah did the same. Other chapters fill in gaps in Scripture with legendary stories, conflates other biblical passages, but also contains biblical errors regarding Israel’s return.
2 Esdras: 2 Esdras contains Ezra’s supposed prophecies, as well as conversations with God. Here are a couple examples:
2 Esdras 6:20–21 (KJV Apocrypha): And when the world, that shall begin to vanish away, shall be finished, then will I shew these tokens: the books shall be opened before the firmament, and they shall see all together: And the children of a year old shall speak with their voices, the women with child shall bring forth untimely children of three or four months old, and they shall live, and be raised up.
2 Esdras 7:28–30 (KJV Apocrypha): For my son Jesus shall be revealed with those that be with him, and they that remain shall rejoice within four hundred years. After these years shall my son Christ die, and all men that have life. And the world shall be turned into the old silence seven days, like as in the former judgments: so that no man shall remain.
Do either of those passages sound even remotely biblical? No. Rather, don’t they sound legendary? The passage about the Messiah has no basis in reality. Rather, it is biblically in error.
The book of Judith is rife with errors. Judith 1:1 (KJV Apocrypha): “In the twelfth year of the reign of Nabuchodonosor, who reigned in Nineve, the great city; in the days of Arphaxad, which reigned over the Medes in Ecbatane.”
That one verse is rife with error. Obviously, Nebuchadnezzar was not the ruler over Assyria, and didn’t reign from Nineveh. Also, later on per Judith, Ozias (a Greek variant of Uzziah) was king at the time as Nebuchadnezzar, yet another obvious error.
Judith was a godly widow, a prophetess and leader who led Israel to victory over the Assyrian enemy Holofernes, a legendary character, the leader of the Assyrian armies of Nebuchodonosor. Judith decapitates him while he is asleep (note the close parallel to Jael’s killing of Sisera in Judges). Israel’s leader Ozias ends up leading a great slaughter after the death of Holofernes. Judith dies, still a widow, at 105.
As we are starting to see, the apocryphal writings are problematic in numerous ways. We will continue looking at them in the next post.