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 The Apocrypha or the Deuterocanonicals should not be considered as writings inspired by God, and so they should not be included in the Holy Scriptures.
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  Interesting Questions-144

On Apocryphal/ Deuterocanonical Books


Letter to the Editor:
PASUGO, November 2002, p.2

AFTER ATTENDING A Bible study sponsored by your Church, I became more inclined to read the Bible, and in the course of my readings I came across the Deuterocanonical books. I have read some information regarding them, and what I find intriguing and troubling is that Christians are divided as to whether such writings should be included in the Christian canon. I would like to know what is your Church 's stand concerning this debate about the books that for others they should be considered as Scriptures inspired by God?

Corazon Patricio
Las Pinas City, Philippines


Editor's reply:

     The Church of Christ upholds that the books and writings that comprise the body of literature termed as either Apocrypha or Deuterocanonicals should NOT be included among the books that comprise the Old Testament of the Holy Scriptures because:

     First, the Apocryphal or Deuterocanonical books are not included in the body of writings from which Christ quoted. Christ enumerated such writings when He said, “These are the very things I told you about while I was still with you: everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the writings of the prophets, and the Psalms” (Lk. 24:44, TEV). The body of writings that consists of the Law of Moses, the writings of the prophets, and the psalms, which Christ was referring to, is the Hebrew canon or the sacred scriptures of the Jews. The Church of Christ firmly believes that the books that should comprise the Old Testament should be identical content-wise with the sacred Scriptures of the Jews because the Jews themselves were the ones entrusted with God’s words before the Christian dispensation (Rom. 3:1-2, NIV; 9:4, TEV). As attested by biblical scholars, none of the Apocryphal or Deuterocanonical writings is included in the Hebrew canon of the Holy Scriptures (“ Introduction to the Apocryphal / Deuterocanonical Books” from The New Oxford Annotated Bible: An Ecumenical Study Bible, iii AP).

     Second, the Apocrypha or Deuterocanonicals mention doctrines that violate God’s teachings contained in those writings Christ and the apostles recognized and quoted from. For example, what is written in II Maccabees 12:43-45 clearly contradicts a biblical teaching. The passage from the Apocryphal writing of II Maccabees speaks of Judas Maccabeus collecting two thousand drachmas of silver and sending it to Jerusalem as “atonement for the dead, so that they might be delivered from their sin.” However, the biblical teaching expressed in Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 that the dead cannot benefit from the deeds done in their behalf by the living because the dead “don’t know anything … and will never again share in the things that happen on earth” (Easy-to-read Version) is blatantly violated. Let us bear in mind that God’s teachings written in the Bible do not contradict one another (I Cor. 2:13, NKJV).

     Therefore, the Apocrypha or the Deuterocanonicals should not be considered as writings inspired by God, and so they should not be included in the Holy Scriptures. And as for the Church of Christ, the Bible, the Scriptures inspired by God, is composed of the Old and New Testaments, with the latter consisting of 27 books and the former consisting of 39 books that are the same in content with the sacred Scriptures of the Jews.

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Bible Study Suggestion: If you have further questions, please feel free to visit the Iglesia ni Cristo congregation nearest you. A minister or an evangelical worker would be happy to answer any biblical question you have in mind.

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