In the first lesson we examined the scriptural status of various religious books written during the testaments. There also exists a large group of "Apocrypha" books which were written during the first few centuries after Christ. In this lesson we want to examine some of those writings. But before we proceed, we need to consider some foundational facts.

A. These Books Were Never Secretly Removed:

By the ninth century A.D., Photius listed some 280 of them. Many of these books were very popular among Christians. The Epistle of Pseudo-Barnabas (c. A.D. 70-79), was widely circulated and the Shepherd of Hermas (c. A.D. 115-40) was the most popular of all the noncanonical books. In addition, many of those who lived and wrote after the lifetime of the apostles quoted from these books. The Apocalypse of Peter (c. 150 A.D.) enjoyed a great popularity in the early church and was a source from which Dante's Inferno was derived.

B. Popularity Doesn't Equal Inspiration:

Many popular but uninspired books exist among Christians today. Many Christians have a Vines, Strongs, or some popular book written by a member of the Church. In the last lesson we pointed out that quoting from a document doesn't mean that you consider the source as inspired. The Apostle Paul even quoted from secular sources (Acts 17:28; Titus 1:12). We must also note that a few books that compromise our New Testament, were disputed by some. For various reasons the book of Hebrews, James, II Peter, II and III John, Jude and Revelation were books that some had questions about. The Epistle of Hebrews was questioned by some because of its anonymity (author's name isn't given). James, because some supposed that it conflicted with Paul's teaching on justification by faith. II Peter, because it differs in style from 1 Peter. II and III John, due to their private nature and limited circulation. Jude, mainly because of its reference to an uninspired source (14-15). Revelation, because certain "millennial" sects were using it (perverting it) to support false doctrine.

C. "Lost Books": A Warning Jesus Never Gave His Disciples:

Through His Apostles Jesus gave His followers many warnings concerning the future trials that the church would face: (1) False Teachers who looked innocent-Matthew 7:15. (2) Various forms of persecution-Matt. 10:17-28. (3) Corrupt elders-Acts 20:30. (4) Smooth talkers-Romans 16:18. (5) Specific false teachings-1 Timothy 4:1-3. (6) False letters-2 Thess. 2:2. (7) Unfaithful members-2 Tim. 4:2-3. (8) Those who would teach a false view of God's grace-2 Peter 2:19; Jude 4 (9) Error concerning the nature of Jesus-1 John 4:1-3. And yet in all these warnings and many of them very specific, never does Jesus or any N.T. writer warn about a time when the Bible won't be complete, because someone had deleted certain books from it. Considering that such a situation would be the worst possible scenario. Because when you have the complete revelation of God, any false teaching can be corrected. And individuals or religious groups can always get back on track if they love the truth. But if whole books are missing from the Bible, then how do you repair the damage? Note the following quote: "Recently the sands of Egypt have yielded even earlier copies of New Testament books from about A.D. 200-250..these copies preserve large portions of the N.T., Luke, Acts, much of the Pauline Epistles and Revelation..What do these copies look like? They differ from the text of the King James Version only in details. It may be said in general that these earliest manuscripts show a text practically the same as that used in the American Revised Version...Anyone can therefore test for himself approximately how much variation there is among these manuscripts by comparing these two versions. (The KJV and ASV) There is one fragment of John called the Rylands Papyrus dated about A.D. 125. It is extremely early, being written within thirty years of the original copy..A translation of it reads exactly like the American Revised Version. These facts reinforce the famous dictum of Westcott and Hort that not one-tenth of one per cent of the text of the New Testament is in dispute, and none of this concerns any doctrine of faith." ("The Problem of Communication". R. Laird Harris. In: "The Bible The Living Word of Revelation. p. 97) My question would be, if this is the integrity of the text which compromises the New Testament books, and such reflects the great care taken in copying those books that were viewed as the word of God. Then how can it be seriously argued: "Error didn't creep into the text, but whole books were lost". They meticulously copied, preserved and even died for 27 books, while others, equally inspired were so carelessly handled that they ended up lost?

D. Church Councils Didn't Remove Books:

Many Christians and non-Christians are unaware that various "lists" of inspired books were in existence long before the Church Councils of later centuries. 'The earliest list of New Testament books of which we have definite knowledge was drawn up at Rome by the heretic Marcion about 140 A.D...Another early list..dated about the end of the second century, is commonly called the 'Muratorian Fragment'..it evidently mentioned Matthew and Mark, because it refers to Luke as the third Gospel; then it mentions John, Acts, Paul's nine letters to churches and four to individuals..Jude, two Epistles of John, and the Apocalypse of John..it adds that other letters circulating under's Paul's name were not accepted by the Church..The Shepherd of Hermas is mentioned as worthy to be read (when Christians assembled) but not to be included in the number of prophetic or apostolic writings...Eusebius (c. 265-340) mentions as generally acknowledged all the books of our New Testament except James, Jude, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, which were disputed by some, but recognized by the majority. Athanasius in 367 lays down the twenty-seven books of our New Testament as alone canonical; shortly afterwards Jerome and Augustine followed his example in the West..The first ecclesiastical councils to classify the canonical books were both held in North Africa--at Hippo Regius in 393 and at Carthage in 397--but what these councils did was not to impose something new upon the Christian communities but to codify what was ALREADY the general practice of those communities.' (The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? F.F. Bruce, pp. 22-27)

I. Pseudepigrapha:

'During the first few centuries, numerous books of a fanciful and heretical nature arose that are neither genuine nor valuable as a whole. Eusebius called these 'totally absurd and impious'...they have historical value only, indicating the heretical teachings of Gnostic, Docetic and ascetic groups, as well as the exaggerated fancy of religious lore in the early church.' (A General Introduction To The Bible. Gesiler/Nix, p. 199) 'The primary significance of all these documents is that they serve as a foil to set off the comparative sobriety and restraint of the canonical gospels and reveal what can happen when imagination and legendary embellishment are allowed free play. Often they take over and expand or elaborate canonical material..' (Zond. Ency. "Apocryphal New Testament", p. 212) Paul warned us concerning false letters bearing his name (2 Thess. 2:2) and that even some members would be drawn into myth and fable (2 Timothy 4:4). What many of these books have in common is the desire to fill in the supposed gaps found in the biblical record, especially concerning the childhood of Jesus and the lives of the apostles. One writer made the point that by just reading these books you can tell they are not Scripture, that is, it doesn't take a genius to soon discover that such writings are uninspired. For example, the Gospel of Thomas is a Gnostic view of Jesus' childhood miracles. The following is a sample from the Gospel of Thomas: 'When Jesus what he had done he was enraged and said to him: "You insolent, godless dunderhead…See now you shall wither like a tree.." And immediately that lad withered up completely..But the parents of him that was withered took him away, bewailing his youth, and brought him to Joseph and reproached him: "What a child you have, who does such things". (3:1-3) The Gospel of the Egyptians, contains ascetic teaching against marriage and meat (which Paul said is false doctrine-1 Timothy 4:1-4). The Gospel of Joseph the Carpenter, were the writings of a cult that glorified Joseph. The Passing of Mary contains an advanced stage of Mary worship. When John wrote his epistles, the error that he was vigorously opposing was the false teaching known as Gnosticism, which included the belief that Jesus hadn't come in the flesh (1 John 1:1-3; 4:1-3). Paul had also argued against such false teachings, especially in his letter to the Colossians ( 2:9; 18-23). Quite a stir was caused when the Gospel of Thomas was discovered in Upper Egypt in 1945 or 1946, along with 48 other documents. "The great majority of them proved on examination to be Gnostic in character, that is to say, they represent a more developed form of the sort of heresy which Paul refutes in the Epistle to the Colossians." (The Books And The Parchments. F.F. Bruce, p. 261) In light of the fact that around 280 of these false writings exist, no wonder John warned Christians that (1) "Many antichrists have arisen" (1 John 2:18). (2) "Do not believe every spirit" (1 John 4:1). Evidently, even including messages in written form.

II. The Apocrypha:

In distinction from the writings that fit in the previous category, the documents that have been labeled: "New Testament Apocrypha", contain writings that for a short period of time gained some form of acceptance among some "Christians" who lived after the apostles. F.F. Bruce has various interesting details to share with us concerning some of these books: "They themselves recognize the superior authority of the apostolic writings. Ignatius..author of seven epistles..says in his Epistle to the Romans (4.3): 'I do not enjoin you, as Peter and Paul did. They were Apostles..'..The 'Epistle of Barnabas'..among other improbable fancies tells us that the hyena changes its sex year by year..Clement of Rome, writing to the Corinthian Church about A.D. 95, adduces the fable of the phoenix in illustration of the resurrection." (Books And the Parchments, pp. 259-260)

Instead of discrediting the New Testament, they are a witness to the authenticity of New Testament books. These writings were written between the years 80-180 A.D., and contain many quotations from the writings of the Apostles. One writer summed up the situation with the following words, "Today no one would put in a plea for its recognition as Scripture (i.e. Clement's letter to the Corinthians), yet from a historical point of view the Epistle has no little interest to us...It contains explicit references to Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians, and gives several quotations from the Epistle to the Hebrews, and so PROVES that these books were widely circulated and RECOGNIZED before the close of the first century." (Hebert T. Andrews, An Introduction to the Apocryphal Books of the Old and New Testaments. p. 102) In fact, the Epistle to the Laodiceans is just a collection of Pauline phrases strung together without any definite connection or aim.

III. Modern Day Forgeries:

"A number of religious books--perhaps a dozen or more--mostly written within the last hundred years and purporting to add to the revelation of the Bible. They claim to be based upon genuine documents of Christian antiquity, but every one has been shown by scholars to be a hoax..The Unknown Life of Christ, published in 1894, and written by a Russian named Nicolas Notovitch, on the basis of information he said he received from the chief lama of a Tibetan monastery. It is claimed that Jesus spent the years between thirteen and twenty-nine in India, Tibet, and Persia, and then returned to Palestine. The monks at Tibet denied ever seeing Notovitch or knowing anything about the ancient manuscript about Christ they allegedly showed to him...(Concerning this view of the young adult life of Jesus I have the following questions: (1) Why didn't the people in Jesus' own hometown know about such supposed travels? Mark 6:2-3 (2) Why did the Son of God need to go to India? To learn?).. The Lost Books of the Bible. This book, published in 1926, is claimed by the publishers to include religious books deliberately kept out of the NT by the early bishops of the Church..It is actually nothing more than a reprint of an edition of the apocryphal NT which had been published in 1820, and an edition of the Apostolic Fathers which had appeared in 1737." (Zond. Ency. pp. 213-214)