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The Apocrypha

It is true, the Roman Catholic Church does have extra books in the versions of Bible that it uses, and these extra books are called "The Apocrypha". These books were Never accepted as part of the Bible. They were rejected by the Early Church and by the Early Church Councils. The bottom line is that those books never received the endorsement that the 66 books of the Bible did.

The Regular Bible is a compilation of 66 books, 39 in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament. The Apocrypha are books that Not part of those 66 books. 

However the term Apocrypha often refers to a much wider selection of books, than merely those that are in the Roman Catholic Bible. Some people today use the term "Apocrypha", when all they mean is books that sound religious but were never a part of the Bible. (Publishers like to do this, because they can sell more books). All apocryphal books were rejected because they were in  doctrinal contradiction to the 66 books, and because they have either internal inconsistencies, or because they are known to contradict history. Apocryphal books were also rejected because the Jews refuse to recognize any books outside of the 39 books of the Old Testament (for inclusion into their Old Testament), and also because Jesus Christ never quoted nor used ANY apocryphal book. 

Defending the RCC Apocryphal books usually puts Roman Catholics in a very difficult position. On the one hand, we can document that several of those books are historically innacurate, on the other hand, Catholics try to use those books to prove the sovereignty of God. But if God were sovereign with those books, surely He would be sovereign enough to avoid historical errors. The answer - is that He IS historical enough to do this, and therefore those books are counterfeit.

As soon as the Apostles & Disciples had finished their letters, the devil stepped in to try to confuse people. The Canon of the N.T. was NOT established by Church Councils. The Canon of the N.T. was kept and guarded by the Apostles, until the last one of them, John, (about 90-95 AD) wrote the last book (Revelations), closed the Canon, and instructed the churches under the guidance of the Apostles...which books were genuine, and which books were counterfeit.

The Church councils later simply affirmed (rather than "Decided")

Obviously, when the last Apostle to be alive (John) died around 90-95 A.D, then what happened ? Did all of the other churches - which had been operating all over the world, suddenly stop and cry for a Pope to rule over them ??? Of course not. 

Their own claim to authenticity (of these churches all over the world) - was that so many of those churches - had been personally visited by one of disciples ( or more) or that the Apostles had stayed in a particular city...for a period of time..in order to establish and found a church that would be the True church, made up of the Real body of Christ.

There was no Sacrament, there certainly was no host, and everyone took communion as ...like the Bible says...an "Act of Remembrace" to remember what the Lord did for everyone through his death & resurrection.

But the point is that the Authenticity of Each of those churches, was ALREADY established, through the Personal visits & work - of the Apostles themselves. So, the LAST action any of those church bodies would ever take, would be to erase their own authenticity....by suggesting that they should all volunteer to hold everything - until a successor to Peter had been found.

The real point here - not to be missed - is that the successor to Peter...were the OTHER Apostles, such as John, and not any fictional person who never existed. THe Apostles were real. They wrote books and carried on wide ministries all over the Roman Empire. 

John the Apostle (Saint John) was still writing after the death of Peter. And nowhere in the books written by John does he say anything about anyone needing to follow Peter. No, that claim (about Peter) was simply invented by the Roman Catholic Church, After it was created by the Roman Empire.

Those Churches and those Apostles that guided them received their mantle of authority Directly from Jesus Christ. God was big enough ! He did not need to only use ONE Apostle to establish His church. That is why God established TWELVE Apostles...and many others to help them. God must have been pleased with their work. The last book of the Bible says that those 12 Apostles will be ruling with Jesus Christ in the Millennium. 

There are many counterfeits to the Bible. Some of those books even claim to be inspired. Several of them claim to be inspired not by God, but by Angels. Whether those Angels are fallen or not becomes self-evident, as those "angels" are inspiring books that are clearly opposite to what God had Already written in the 66 books.

Roman Catholics are usually taught that the Apocrypha was canonized early. The truth is that they were Not Canonized even by the RCC until the Council of Trent, One Thousand Five Hundred Years AFTER CHRIST. The Council of Trent was trying to stop the work of the Reformation of the Church. 

The Cardinals & Archbishops could not fight Luther or Calvin intellectually on doctrine, so they expanded the definition of the Canon, in order to claim that Protestant doctrine was wrong. (and if you think that you can intellectually handle what Calvin says, you can put your mind to the test through his main work - available here at Amazon.com - or here).  It was the RCC that continued to go farther and farther astray,...in an attempt to claim that New Doctrines were old doctrines...

The RCC also pronounced "Anathema" all those who disagreed with the Council of Trent, who refused to agree that the Apocryphal books should be inspired on the same level of inspiration as the Bible.  Wouldn’t want all that "thinking" to get out of hand...

Prior to the time of the Council of Trent in the 1500s, the Roman Catholic Bibles did NOT include the Apocrypha as being part of the Formal Bible, nor as being Inspired in the same sense as the 66 books of the Bible. The acceptance of the Apocrypha as being "inspired" did not exist - for the first 1500 years of Christianity. 

Some of those books are interesting. The forces that oppose Jesus Christ usually do make their work interesting. But they are a long way from being inspired...in any true sense of the word.

------------

Books that some proposed should be considered as New Testament scripture, but which were NOT considered part of Scripture by the Early Christian Church:

The Acts of Andrew
The Acts and Martyrdom of Andrew
The Acts of Andrew and Matthew
The Acts of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas (thought to be inspired by some.)
The martyrdom of Bartholomew
The Gospel of Bartholomew
The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians (thought to be inspired by some.)
The Second Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians (thought to be inspired by some.)
The First Apocalypse of James
The Second Apocalypse of James
The Gospel of James
The Apocryphon of James
The epistle of James (Thought to be non- inspired by some.)
The Gospel of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. (Unsigned, but thought to be by John.)
The first epistle (Unsigned, but thought to be by John.)
The second epistle (Unsigned, but thought to be by John.)
The third epistle (Unsigned, but thought to be by John.)
The Revelation of John (Thought to be non- inspired by some.)
The Acts of John
The Book of John Concerning the Death of Mary
The Apocryphon of John
The Epistle to the Laodiceans
The Mystery of the Cross
The epistle of Jude (Thought to be non- inspired by some.)
The Gospel of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. (Unsigned, but thought to be by Luke.)
The Acts of the Apostles (Unsigned, but thought to be by Luke.)
The Gospel of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. (Unsigned, but thought to be by Mark.)
The Secret Gospel of Mark
The Passing of Mary
The Apocalypse of the Virgin
The Gospel of the Nativity of Mary
The Gospel of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. (Unsigned, but thought to be by Matthew.)
The Acts and Martyrdom of Matthew
The Martyrdom of Matthew
The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew
The Epistle of Paul to the Romans
The First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians
The Second Epistle of Paul to Corinthians
The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians
The Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians
The Epistle of Paul to the Philippians
The Epistle of Paul to the Colossians
The First Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians
The Second Epistle of Paul to Thessalonians
The First Epistle of Paul to Timothy
The Second Epistle of Paul to TimothyThe Epistle of Paul to Titus
The Epistle of Paul to Philemon l
The Epistle to the Hebrews (Thought to be by Paul, but non- inspired by some.)
The Acts of Paul
The Acts of Paul and Thecla
The Apocalypse of Paul
The Revelation of Paul
The Vision of Paul
The Prayer of the Apostle Paul
The Correspondence of Paul and Seneca
The first epistle of Peter
The second epistle of Peter (Thought to be non- inspired by some.)
The Acts of Peter
The Acts of Peter and Andrew
The Acts of Peter and Paul
The Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles
The Apocalypse of Peter
The Revelation of Peter
The Gospel of Peter
The epistle of Peter to Philip
The Acts of Philip
The Gospel of Philip
The Revelation of Stephen
The Acts of Thomas
The Consummation of Thomas
The Apocalypse of Thomas
The Gospel of Thomas
The Book of Thomas the Contender
The Infancy Gospel of Thomas
The Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians (thought to be inspired by some.)
The Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians (thought to be inspired by some.)
The Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians (thought to be inspired by some.)
The Epistle of Ignatius to the Romans (thought to be inspired by some.)
The Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans (thought to be inspired by some.)
The Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians (thought to be inspired by some.)
The Epistle of Ignatius to Polycarp
The Epistle of Ignatius to Mary at Neapolis
The Epistle of Ignatius to St. John the Apostle
The Second Epistle of Ignatius to St. John the Apostle
The Epistle of Ignatius to Hero, A deacon of Antioch
The Epistle of Ignatius to the Antiochians
The Epistle of Ignatius to the Tarsians
The Second epistle of Ignatius to the EphesiansThe Epistle of Ignatius to the Philippians
The Epistle of Ignatius to the Virgin Mary
The Reply of the Virgin Mary to Ignatius
The Epistle of Maria the Proselyte to Ignatius
An Arabic Infancy Gospel
Community Rule
Excerpts from Pistis Sophia
Fragments of Papias
Justin on the Resurrection
Justin on the sole government of God
Justin's Discourse to the Greeks-1
Justin's Hortatory Address to the Greeks
Other Fragments from the Lost Writing of Justin
The Acts of John the Theologian
The Acts of Thaddaeus
The Apocalypse of Adam
The Apocalypse of Sedrach
The Avenging of the Saviour
The Correspondence of Jesus and Abgar
The Death of Pilate
The Didache (thought to be inspired by some.)
The Epistle of Adrian in behalf of the Christians
The Epistle of Antoninus
The Epistle of Marcus Aurelius to the Senate
The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus
The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians
The Epistle of the Apostles
The First Apology of Justin
The Giving Up of Pontius Pilate
The Gospel of Mary
The Gospel of Nicodemus
The Gospel of the Lord
The History of Joseph the Carpenter
The Letter of Pontius Pilate to the Roman Emperor
The Martydom of Polycarp
The Narrative of Joseph of Arimathaea
The Report of Pilate to Caesar
The Report of Pilate to Tiberius
The Report of Pontius Pilate to Tiberius
The Revelation of Esdras
The Revelation of John the Theologian
The Revelation of Moses
The Revelation of StephenThe Second Apology of Justin
The Shepherd of Hermas (thought to be inspired by some.)
The Sophia of Jesus Christ
The Teachings of Addeus the Apostle
The Three Steles of Seth

Why are we so insistent...on trying to find God outside the books of the Bible ? One of the reasons is that we think we know what the Bible actually says. But many people have actually Never read it. A good place to start reading it, is in the New Testament book of John. 

The bottom line is that we CAN take God at His word: We should try to find Him, where He told us that He could be found...through His Word, the Bible. 

There are no stupid questions about the Bible, if you have any questions, write and ask us. We will be glad to answer (Email us at xofcbooks2@yahoo.com  ).

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