The Problem of the Apocrypha
The biblical text has been transmitted to our time very precisely. In this context, the question of the scope of the text arises. Which books belong to the “Bible”?
The Prophet Test
In certain editions of the Bible, additional writings are inserted between the books of the Old and New Testaments, commonly referred to as “Apocrypha.” Do these books belong to the Bible or not?
In ancient Israel, these books were clearly rejected because, unlike the writings of the OT, they were not written by accredited prophets. An accredited prophet in Israel had to be demonstrably infallible in his prophetic statements (Deuteronomy 18:20-22; Jeremiah 28:9). His short-term prophecies had to be 100% fulfilled and accurate. Furthermore, he was not allowed to say anything that contradicted the Law of Moses or could lead to apostasy from the God revealed in the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 13:1-5). The writers of the OT were always prophets: Moses, the writer of the Law (the first five books of Moses), was a prophet according to Deuteronomy 18:15. In ancient Israel, it was customary to refer to all other books besides the Law as “the Prophets” (cf. e.g., Matthew 22:40).
The Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin 11a, states: “After the last prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi died, the Holy Spirit departed from Israel.”
Apocrypha – Not Written by Prophets
In this context, the lament over the lack of prophets in Israel, as found in the apocryphal (!) book of 1 Maccabees, is particularly noteworthy (Chapter 9:27). Indeed, the Apocrypha indicate that there were no prophets during the time of the Apocrypha! The Apocrypha were all written after Malachi, the last prophet of the OT (around 400 BC)! This explains why the Apocrypha were never part of the Hebrew OT.
Furthermore, the following points should be noted: The Apocrypha themselves do not claim to be divinely inspired writings. They also contain numerous historical, ethical, and doctrinal errors. In the NT, there is not a single instance where an apocryphal book is quoted as authoritative, inspired scripture. Jesus Christ recognized the canon of the OT exactly as it was regarded as authoritative in orthodox Judaism at that time and still is today.
Books not belonging to the canon, as previously explained, were not allowed to be taken to the Temple Mount. It was also forbidden to bring apocryphal books into the temple courts. The temple and its order required every Jew to be clear about the exact scope of the biblical books! To give a concrete example, no one intending to go to the temple in Jerusalem would have been granted entry by the Levitical temple guards with books attributed to Homer, like the “Iliad” and “Odyssey,” in hand. Similarly, one would have been turned away if they attempted to bring one of the apocryphal books onto the Temple Mount!
On the Pseudepigrapha
After Malachi, the last prophet, books were also written in Israel that we now know as “Pseudepigrapha.” This term means “writing under a false name.” There were false prophets at that time who knew that their writings would have been immediately rejected by the Jewish community if published under their own names. Therefore, they wrote books under a false but well-known name from biblical times to lend weight to their writings. This is how books like “Enoch” or “The Psalms of Solomon” and many others, supposedly from ancient times, came into being. However, these fraudulent writings were not included in the Hebrew Bible of the OT. The Jewish community as a whole did not fall for any such deception. In Romans 3:2, Paul explains that the Jewish people were entrusted with the oracles of God in the OT. Therefore, Judaism had the task of testing all prophets according to the mentioned criteria to discern which books belonged to the OT and which did not. In this light, it becomes clear that what happened at the Council of Trent (1545 – 1563) was entirely misguided: The Roman Catholic Church officially equated the Apocrypha with biblical writings. The Church of Rome was about 2000 years too late. The question of whether additional books could be added to the Old Testament after Malachi had to be settled in the 4th century BC, not in the 16th century AD! Moreover, the Roman Church in the 16th century was not in a position to subject the authors of the Apocrypha to the prophetic test, as Israel had already done.
Pseudepigraphical writings are also never cited as Holy Scripture in the New Testament. The Enoch quote in Jude 14 does not even come from the Book of Enoch! Of course, there is a similar-sounding verse in that book. But a close text comparison makes it clear that Jude did not have this fraudulent book before him when he wrote his letter. The fraudulent Book of Enoch states that the LORD will come to judge the believers (the saints). This is a statement that contradicts the Bible (cf. Romans 8:1,31-39). But the text in Jude’s letter states that the LORD will come with his saints to judge the ungodly. In Judaism, this prophetic utterance was passed down by the biblical figure named Enoch (cf. Genesis 5:18-24) alongside the Bible, as were many other things. Both the letter of Jude and the Book of Enoch have taken up this tradition, but with the difference that the letter of Jude correctly renders the quote so that it aligns with the overall teaching of the Bible, while the statement in the Book of Enoch was distorted in content.
The Apostolic-Prophetic Test for NT Books
Now follow some remarks on the scope of the NT: Jesus Christ bestowed a special authority on certain individuals by giving them the apostolic office (Luke 6:12-16; Galatians 1:1). His promise to them was (Matthew 10:40):
Whoever receives you receives me.
Most of the books of the New Testament were written by apostles. Therefore, it is self-evident for Christians that the authorship of the apostles—besides the self-authentication through their content—is an important criterion for recognizing their writings, especially since the Lord promised the apostles the inspiration of the Holy Spirit regarding the transmission of his word (John 14:26; 15:26; 16:12-13).
According to Ephesians 2:20, the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets (= inspired persons):
. . . built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ himself as the chief cornerstone, . . .
Therefore, books by individuals who were not apostles but were prophets in the early church could also be recognized by Christians. However, their writings had to align with the teachings of the apostles.
This category includes Luke, the author of a Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, and Mark, the writer of the Gospel named after him, as well as Jude and James, known as the half-brothers of the Lord. They were authors of one letter each in the NT.
All these individuals lived in the 1st century AD. They operated within the environment of the apostles and enjoyed their recognition as servants of God. In this context, it is noteworthy that the Apostle Paul explicitly recognized the Gospel of Luke as a book belonging to Holy Scripture.
In the early centuries of Christianity, there were many writings under false names (e.g., the Gospel of Thomas, the Apocalypse of Peter, etc.). It is a testament to the great conscientiousness and commendable investigative spirit that the early church gradually rejected all these many forged writings with complete determination.
Some of these forged writings were authored by Gnostic heretics. These were sectarians who taught—contrary to the Bible—that all matter was evil and inferior. Such ideas traced back to the Greek philosopher Plato. These deceivers taught that Jesus Christ did not become a real human. If he had become a true human, they argued, he would have had a body of real flesh and blood, and that would have been inferior. However, the Apostle John, one of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ, explicitly warned against these teachings. He wrote that false deceivers can be recognized, among other things, by their refusal to acknowledge that Jesus Christ came “in the flesh,” i.e., as a true, real human (cf. 1 John 4:1-6; John 1:14). This provided early Christians with a solid basis to reject forgeries from Gnostic circles, such as the Gospel of Thomas (written under a false name around 140 AD, long after the Apostle Thomas had died) or the Gospel of Judas (likely written in the mid-2nd century AD, under a false name).
For the fact that writings by early Christian authors, some of whom lived during the apostolic era (e.g., Polycarp, Ignatius, Papias, Clement of Rome), did not gain recognition as God’s Word, one can find full understanding when knowing that they themselves did not claim to have been inspired.
The Council Legend
It is often claimed that early Christian councils decided which books belong to the NT and which do not, and that this is why there is such an impressive unity throughout Christendom regarding the scope of the 27 New Testament books.
Such statements reveal a lack of knowledge: Not a single one of the great councils, which were supposed to represent the entire Christian world by including representatives from all over the then-known world (these comprehensive councils are therefore called “ecumenical councils”), decided the canon question, neither in Nicaea (325 AD) nor in Constantinople (381 AD), nor in Ephesus (431 AD), etc.
Yes, the canon question was discussed at the Council of Hippo (397 AD) in North Africa, but that was a regional council that did not determine the entire Christian world.
How then did such a consensus arise in Christendom regarding which books belong to the NT and which do not? This unity is explained by the criteria mentioned above: Only books that were demonstrably written by an apostle or by a prophet recognized by the apostles were accepted. All forgeries were radically rejected.
We see: Even for the delineation of the New Testament canon, there were and are objective criteria that led to a clear result here.
The canon was never decided by a council or any other authoritative body. The canon merely had to be “recognized” by Christians, based on the criteria taught by the Bible itself.
While the Christians of antiquity eventually uncovered and decisively rejected all forgeries from the early centuries, today “modern people” fall for fraudulent writings published under false names like the “Gospel of Thomas” or the “Gospel of Judas,” simply because certain modern authors with a sharp pen want to convince them that “the truth about Christianity” can be found there. This is, of course, a regrettable phenomenon. Often, people of antiquity were accused of being naive and unenlightened, credulous of miracles. But as modern people, we must be careful not to be naive and to hastily believe any claims.
The Bible repeatedly warned against adding fraudulent books:
Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar. (Proverbs 30:6)
On the last page of the book of Revelation, which concludes the Bible, it states:
I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book; and if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this book (Revelation 22:18-19)