Hi Hannah. The Old Testament Apocryphal books were written in that 'silent period' of 450 years between the Old & New Testaments. I therefore assume that you're referring to these books rather than the books comprising the New Testament Apocrypha written after the formation of the Church & the apostolic period.
So, those OT Apocryphal books were, under examination, generally considered not to have the backing & authority from the Word of God (i.e. the Torah, the Prophets & the Writings). The Jews of Jesus' day did not accept them, neither did Jesus or believers in Him allude to them. As the Jews were dispersed in that silent period, coming under the various rulerships of Egypt, Syria & Rome, many Jews did however accept those books because of a dearth of anything else (from God?) & they were translated into Greek which they would have been more familiar with than Hebrew. But as a rule, the Jews of Jesus' day gave those apocryphal writings no regard, believing that the whole revelation & Word from God were contained between the Books of Genesis & Malachi & no further.
If a close examination is done in the Apocryphal Books, we find that there is much that is worthy to read & digest but also things written that are dubious & anti-scriptural. So, my belief is that if there is anything scripturally unsound or from writers that are unrecognized, then we must approach those writings with great caution. And I suspect that God would not expect both natural Israel nor engrafted Israel (Christians) to accept those writings as authoritative as His Own Word, the Bible, given to us.
So, those OT Apocryphal books were, under examination, generally considered not to have the backing & authority from the Word of God (i.e. the Torah, the Prophets & the Writings). The Jews of Jesus' day did not accept them, neither did Jesus or believers in Him allude to them. As the Jews were dispersed in that silent period, coming under the various rulerships of Egypt, Syria & Rome, many Jews did however accept those books because of a dearth of anything else (from God?) & they were translated into Greek which they would have been more familiar with than Hebrew. But as a rule, the Jews of Jesus' day gave those apocryphal writings no regard, believing that the whole revelation & Word from God were contained between the Books of Genesis & Malachi & no further.
If a close examination is done in the Apocryphal Books, we find that there is much that is worthy to read & digest but also things written that are dubious & anti-scriptural. So, my belief is that if there is anything scripturally unsound or from writers that are unrecognized, then we must approach those writings with great caution. And I suspect that God would not expect both natural Israel nor engrafted Israel (Christians) to accept those writings as authoritative as His Own Word, the Bible, given to us.
This comment thread is locked. Please enter a new comment below to start a new comment thread.
Note: Comment threads older than 2 months are automatically locked.
Do you have a Bible comment or question?
Posting comments is currently unavailable due to high demand on the server.
Please check back in an hour or more. Thank you for your patience!
Report Comment
Which best represents the problem with the comment?