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.
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.
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.
What do the apocryphal writings teach? In this post, we will continue to summarize them.
The additions to Esther: The additions to Esther claim to give the details about how Mordecai uncovered the plot to murder the king, as well as Esther’s prayers during her fast, along with various other details.
Both Wisdom and Sirach mimic Proverbs, but neither have the same force. Baruch is supposedly by Jeremiah’s scribe, but as we’ve seen, given the time frame of the apocryphal writings, that is not the case.
The additions to Daniel: Among other things, the additions to Daniel tell of the rise of Daniel, in part due to his rescue of Susannah from false charges of adultery. It also details a story of Daniel and the dragon: how he spent a week in the lion’s den as he rejected a false dragon god. During that time, God supernaturally has Habakkuk bring him food.
Prayer of Manasseh: The Prayer of Manasseh supposedly records Manasseh’s prayer of repentance, something Scripture does not provide.
1 and 2 Maccabees: 1 and 2 Maccabees have some historical value as the books tell of the Jewish revolt under the Maccabees against Antiochus IV. But, as we discovered in the previous post, it contains material that is unbiblical, but is used to support the Roman tradition of purgatory.
Tobit: We are looking at Tobit last, as it also contains egregious errors. The story is self-conflicted with an impossible timeline. The text of Tobit states that he lived 158 years (variant: 112). Tobit 1:4–5 requires him to be alive in 922 BC, at the time of the division of the kingdom of Israel into the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.
However, based on his experiences, and the kings he lived under after the Northern Kingdom was conquered by Assyria, he also had to be alive at least until about 675 BC. That math doesn’t work, does it? He lived to be 158 years old, but he experienced events that took place 247 years apart. The book of Tobit is therefore self-contradictory.
What are we to make of the Apocrypha? Why are the writings not part of the Protestant Bible? As we’ve seen, the Apocrypha contains numerous errors, legends, and considerable unbiblical material. As we saw, the writings were never considered part of the Old Testament by the Jews. The writings are, by biblical definition, not inspired. They are not Scripture.
Why were apocryphal writings added to Scripture by the Council of Trent? As we’ve noted, some of the writings support Roman tradition. But, I wonder if there isn’t another reason. Admittedly, the following comments are pure speculation: By including these books in the Canon of Scripture, it becomes easier for Rome to disregard the sole authority of the Bible, given the errors these books contain. It also becomes easier for Rome to elevate their tradition as being equal to Scripture. Both serve as means of countering the Protestant Reformation, and their insistence of Scripture alone.
Should Christians spend time reading the Apocrypha? As we saw, for most of church history, the Apocrypha was viewed as being of some use as devotional reading. The difficulty is that all too many of us spend far too little time reading Scripture as it is. Given that situation, it is arguably better to spend one’s time reading actual Scripture rather than writings regarded as suitable only for devotional reading. Worse, the writings sometimes contradict Scripture. They therefore run the risk of introducing confusion. In addition, many of them seek to provide answers to things God doesn’t tell us, filling in the blanks. That attempt to do so, biblically speaking, is not wise.
As for Apocrypha, as we have seen, there are good reasons why Protestant Bibles exclude them.