Page 31 - Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible Christianity. Based on the King James Bible

ANXIOUS - APOCRYPHA

ANXIOUS. Worrying; fretting; carefulness. [See The Apocryphal Books
Careful.] I and II Esdras
ANYWAYS. Any wise; in any manner (Le. 20:4; Nu. Prayer of Manasseh
30:15; 2 Ch. 32:13). I and II Macabees
ANY WHILE. For any length of time (Mk. 15:44). Tobit
Judit
ANY WISE. [See Wise, Any.] The additions to the Book of Esther
APACE. At a great pace; swiftly (2 Sa. 18:25; Ps. The Wisdom of Solomon
68:12; Je. 46:5). Ecclesiasticus, or the Wisdom of Jesus the Son of
Sirach
APELLES (black). Ro. 16:10. Baruch
APARSACHITES (dividing). Ezr. 6:6. The Letter of Jeremiah
APARSATHCHITES (dividing, tearing asunder). Ezr. The Prayer of Azariah & the Song of the Three
4:9. Young Men
APHEK (fortress). Jos. 12:18. Susanna
Bel and the Dragon
APHEKAH (vigor, rapid stream). Jos. 15:53. The Apocrypha have a variety of content. Some are
APHIK (soundness, strength). Jud. 1:31. histories of events concerning the Jews. Some are short
APHRAH (dust, female fawn). Mi. 1:10. sayings similar to the Proverbs. Some are sermons;
APHSES (dispersion). 1 Ch. 24:15. others are like novels. One purports to be symbolical
APOCALYPSE. A term referring to the book of prophecy.
Revelation, and less frequently, to O.T. prophecies of the WHY REJECT THE APOCRYPHA: It is important that
future. It is also used of prophetic visions in general. God’s people understand why the Apocryphal books
[See Prophecy, Revelation.] (also called the Deuterocanonical Books) are rejected
APOCRYPHA. The word apocrypha is derived from from the canon of inspired Scripture. Because of
the Greek abscondita, which historically identified ecumenical activities involving the Roman Catholic
writings which had an obscure origin or which were Church, there is an increasing tendency for publishers to
heretical. In the Talmud the Jewish rabbis used this include the Apocryphal writings with the Bible. This is
word to describe works which were not canonical being done by the United Bible Societies in many
Scripture. The term has come to be applied particularly languages. By 1981, for example, the American Bible
to the 15 books added to the Roman Catholic Bible but Society had published over 500,000 copies of the
ordinarily rejected by non-Catholics. These were written Today’s English Version with the Apocryphal books
during the two hundred years preceding and one included. In the mid-1980s I visited the Bible Society
hundred years following Christ’s birth. The Roman book depot in Calcutta, India, and was shown massive
Catholic Church considers most of these writings to be stacks of Revised Standard Version Bibles containing the
part of the inspired Scripture. In 1546 the Council of Apocrypha. These had been published by the American
Trent decreed that the canon of the O.T. should include Bible Society and shipped to India for distribution. The
them (except the Prayer of Manasseh and I and II 1992-93 American Bible Society catalog of Scripture
Esdras) ... the decree pronounces an anathema upon Resources lists at least nine different Bibles containing
anyone who “does not accept as sacred and canonical the Apocrypha.
the aforesaid books in their entirety and with all their Following are the reasons the Apocrypha are rejected by
parts” (The Oxford Annotated Apocrypha, pp. x,xv). Bible believers:
The Council of Trent was an attempt by the Catholic 1. They are not included in the original Hebrew O.T.
Church to counteract the Protestant Reformation with preserved by the Jews. Ro. 3:1-2 states that God used
its battle cry of “faith alone” and “Scripture alone.” By the Jews to preserve His Word; therefore, we know that
adding the Apocrypha to the canon of Scripture, the He guided them in the rejection of the Apocryphal
Catholic Church, in effect, rendered the rest of the Bible books from the canon of Scripture.
impotent. “The books named in the decree [of Trent] 2. They were not received as inspired Scripture by
include the apocryphal Old Testament books, and placed the churches during the first four centuries after Christ.
unwritten traditions of the church upon an equal footing 3. They were not written in the Hebrew language,
with Holy Scriptures as approved of Christ or of the which was alone used by the inspired historians and
Holy Spirit. Any appeal to Holy Scripture as expressing prophets of the O.T.
the supreme will of God was thereafter useless in the 4. They do not claim to be the inspired Word of God.
Latin Church” (Edwin W. Rice, Our Sixty-six Sacred Unlike the inspired Scriptures, the Apocryphal books
Books, p. 112).

Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity 31