Apocrypha? Deuterocanonical?

 

Recently in church we have had some readings from the Book of Sirach, sometimes called Ecclesiasticus.  It is in a part of the Bible called the Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical Books. Our bibles place these books between the Old and New Testaments. 

In Roman Catholic and Orthodox bibles these books would be part of the Old Testament.  In Protestant Bibles they wouldn’t be anywhere.  Our Church of England at the Reformation said, “These books don’t have the same authority as the other Old Testament books, but they are valuable and useful so we will keep them in a separate section.”

Why the distinction?  Because these Apocryphal or Deuterocanonical Books were written later than the rest of the Old Testament and were written in Greek.  Greek speaking Jews of the Diaspora in the time of Jesus and the early Church used these books and they are referred to and quoted in the New Testament, which was itself written in Greek.  Aramaic-speaking Jews generally didn’t use them and after the Fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 there was a tightening up and clarifying of what counts as “scripture” for Jews and they excluded these books and that has been true for Jews ever since. By that time the Church was already using them but it always recognized a distinction between the older Hebrew books and the more recent Greek ones.  The Reformers in the 16th century, thinking that the Church had somehow snuck them in at some late point, threw them out, except our Church, which really is the closest to the early church attitude in keeping them but recognizing a distinction.

 And that is why we have an Apocrypha in our bibles.