The Apocrypha is
a collection of Jewish writings
from the intertestamental period
(roughly 400 BC to the time of Christ)
that are not accepted as part of
the Hebrew canon of Scripture.
The word “apocrypha” means “hidden” or “secret.”
These books are included in
the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox
Old Testaments
(often called deuterocanonical)
but are excluded from the Protestant canon.
They provide valuable historical and cultural background
but are not regarded as inspired Scripture
by most Protestant churches.
The Apocrypha occupies a middle place in the history of Jewish and Christian literature. Written primarily in the centuries between the last Old Testament prophets and the coming of Christ, these works reflect the faith, struggles, and hopes of the Jewish people during that time. While they contain historical information, moral teaching, and some passages of literary beauty, they were not accepted by the Jewish community as part of the sacred Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus and the apostles consistently treated the Law, Prophets, and Writings (the books of the Protestant Old Testament) as the authoritative Word of God and never quoted the Apocrypha as Scripture. For this reason, most Protestant churches receive the Apocrypha as useful reading but not as inspired, authoritative, or equal to the canonical books.
The Apocrypha offers a window into the faith and struggles of the Jewish people between the Testaments and can be read with profit for historical and devotional insight. At the same time, it stands outside the canon of inspired Scripture recognized by Jesus, the apostles, and the Protestant tradition. The distinction is important: only the canonical books carry the full authority of the Word of God. Readers may benefit from the Apocrypha as background literature, but the rule of faith and practice remains the 66 books of the Protestant Bible — the Scriptures that are able to make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
Entry compiled for the JESUSaves.com Bible Glossary. Optimized for wiki.js Visual Editor.