Most Christians own at least one Bible – hopefully one which is frequently read and well- worn. But many would be surprised to learn that the Bible they possess is not necessarily the same as the one their neighbor owns. If you open a Protestant Bible, you will find 39 books comprising the Old Testament. However, in a Catholic Bible there are seven additional Old Testament books, bringing the total to 46. Moreover, the Catholic Bible contains additional passages in the books of Esther and Daniel. To make matter even more confusing, Eastern Orthodox Christians recognize even more books than the Catholics, plus an additional Psalm!
All Christians agree that the scriptures are central to our faith. How then is it possible that Christ followers cannot agree on the contents of the Bible? How and when did these differences arise? These fascinating questions we shall address presently.
The Hebrew scriptures were first translated into the Greek language in Alexandria, Egypt during the third and second centuries BC. The Greek version of the Hebrew Bible – called the Septuagint – quickly became the scriptures used by most Jews throughout the world, even in Judea. The Septuagint was the Bible most often used by the first Christians. When the writers of the New Testament quoted the Old Testament, they usually cited the Septuagint rather than the original Hebrew.
In chronological terms, the last books of the Hebrew scriptures are Nehemiah & Malachi. Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the Persian King Artaxerxes, who reigned from 465 until 424 BC. Although the temple had been rebuilt, the Jews who had returned from exile were in distress. With the support of the king, Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem in 444 BC. Despite facing strong opposition from nearby non-Jewish officials, Nehemiah organized the hasty reconstruction of Jerusalem’s walls.
Malachi prophesied to the Jews living in Jerusalem around 430 BC. After Malachi, the voice of God through his prophets fell silent.
However, in the centuries between the prophesies of Malachi and the birth of Jesus, the Jewish people did not stop producing literature. During this “intertestamental” period, the books of the Apocrypha were composed. The Apocrypha are a group of writings which have been excluded from the Protestant Bible but included in the Catholic canon. The Catholic Church refers to these writings as Deuterocanonical, meaning “later added to the canon.” (The term protocanonical is used to denote books of the Hebrew scriptures.)
The term Apocrypha means “things that are hidden.” It’s not clear how this term originated. It might have had positive connotations, suggesting that these writings were a source of secret wisdom. Alternatively, it could have been a derogatory term, indicating that these books deserved to be hidden because they were unhelpful or even misleading.
The Apocryphal books are as follows: Tobit, Judith, additions to Esther, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus (or Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach), Baruch, Letter of Jeremiah, additions to Daniel (The Prayer of Azariah & the Song of the Three Jews, Susanna, Bel & the Dragon), 1 & 2 Maccabees, 1 & 2 Esdras and The Prayer of Manasseh.
Of these works, perhaps the most well-known are 1 & 2 Maccabees. These books contain solid historical accounts of the Jewish rebellion against the tyranny of the Seleucid King Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who attempted to impose Greek culture upon his subjects. Antiochus banned the Jewish religion. The Jews suffered cruel indignities at his hands: they were tortured and killed for refusing to sacrifice to the Greek gods or eating swine’s flesh. Others lost their lives for observing the Torah by circumcising their male children or honoring the sabbath day.
Although the Hebrew scriptures make only a few minor references to a future resurrection, this is a major theme in the Maccabean literature. In 2 Maccabees 7 there is a story of a Jewish mother and her seven sons who perished for their fidelity to God’s laws. One of the sons, just before his death, cried out against King Antiochus, “You accursed wretch, you dismiss us from this present life, but the King of the universe will raise us up to an everlasting renewal of life, because we have died for his laws.”
The Wisdom of Solomon and Ecclesiasticus are similar to the book of Proverbs. The book of Judith is a fictional account of a pious and cunning Israelite widow who saves her people by killing Holofernes, the general of the invading Assyrian army under King Nebuchadnezzar. (In reality, Nebuchadnezzar reigned over the Babylonian Empire – one of several historical incongruities in the book of Judith.)
Susanna is a fanciful tale added as chapter 13 to the Greek version of Daniel. (The Hebrew/Aramaic Daniel has only 12 chapters.) The protagonist of this short story is a righteous Jewess living in exile in Babylon. Two Jewish elders lust after the lovely Susanna and demand sex with her. When she refuses, they falsely accuse her of sexual misbehavior. Just as Susanna is condemned to death, the young prophet Daniel steps forward, exposes the perfidy of the wicked elders and exonerates Susanna.
To repeat, these writings are not found in the Hebrew canon. They were generally written in the two centuries before the birth of Jesus. Some were originally composed in Hebrew, others in Greek. But all were eventually translated into Greek.
Over time these books were included in the Septuagint. Before the time of Jesus, writings were contained on individual scrolls. But beginning in the late first century AD, Christians began to stitch together writings in the form of a book called a codex.
There are several ancient complete or near- complete codices of the Bible. One of these, Codex Vaticanus, is named after the Vatican Library in Rome where it has been kept since at least 1475. This manuscript dates to the mid 4th century (~350 AD) and contains most of the Septuagint. In addition to the protocanonical books, Codex Vaticanus contains the apocryphal books of Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah.
Other ancient manuscripts also attest to the fact that the apocryphal books were included in the Septuagint. Many of the early church fathers quote the Apocrypha and clearly regarded it as sacred scripture, or at least as edifying for the church.
In 382, Pope Damasus commissioned a new Latin translation of the gospels. Although Latin translations already existed, these versions were highly variable and generally poor in quality. Damasus wanted a single, standard, reliable version. For this task, the Pope turned to Jerome, a brilliant master of languages and the leading scholar of his age.
Working with alacrity, Jerome finished his Latin version of the four gospels in 383 AD. He then began used the Greek Septuagint to translate parts of the Old Testament such as the Psalms and Job. However, over time Jerome became dissatisfied with the Septuagint and instead began using the original Hebrew – what he called “the Hebrew verity” – as the basis for his Latin version of the OT.
The great scholar was acutely aware of the differences between the Hebrew canon and the Septuagint containing the Apocrypha. Jerome made it quite explicit that he regarded only the Hebrew scriptures as canonical. As for the Apocryphal books, he had no contempt for these writings. He acknowledged that they contained strong ethical teachings and even approved of their use in worship. However, Jerome insisted that only the canonical books ought to be used for “establishing the authority of ecclesiastical dogmas.”
Jerome completed his Latin translation of the Bible in 405. Even though he did not acknowledge the Apocrypha as canonical, he nevertheless included these writings in his Latin translation of the Bible. After all, they had been a part of the Septuagint for centuries and were well known to Christians all over the world.
Jerome’s work would eventually be called the Vulgate – from the Latin editio vulgata or “common version.” The Vulgate is the most influential translation of the Bible ever produced. For well over a thousand years, the Vulgate was the Bible utilized by the Catholic Church. It wasn’t until 1979 that a revised version (the Nova Vulgata or “New Vulgate”) replaced Jerome’s Vulgate as the standard text!
Jerome composed prefaces clearly differentiating the apocryphal writings from those he considered canonical. However, these prefaces were often not included in later editions. Thus, throughout the Middle Ages, the vast majority of those who read the Vulgate made no distinction between books of the Hebrew canon and the Apocrypha.
Additionally, the great theologian Augustine (354-420 AD) – the bishop of Hippo in North Africa – fully supported the canonicity of the apocryphal books. His massive influence ensured that these works were widely regarded as sacred scripture for most of church history.
