The Apocrypha
THE COMPONENTS OF THE BIBLE
The translators were divided into six companies, with the following assignments:
The First Westminster Company, responsible for the “Pentateuch” [that is, the first five books of the Bible] and “the Story from Joshua to the first Book of Chronicles, exclusive).”
The First Cambridge Company responsible for “the First of the Chronicles, with the rest of the Story, and the Hagiographi, viz. Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Canticles, Ecclesiastes.”
The First Oxford Company, assigned to “the four, or greater, Prophets, with the Lamentations, and the twelve lesser prophets.”
The Second Oxford Company, assigned to “the four Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, Apocalypse.”
The Second Westminster Company, responsible for “the Epistles of St. Paul, the Canonical Epistles.”
The Second Cambridge Company, responsible for “the Prayer of Manasses and the rest of the Apocrypha.”
These six companies were thus responsible for three sections of the Bible: The Old estament; the Apocrypha; and the New Testament. We shall explore this division, and some of the issues that it raises.
First, we may pause to examine the term “Bible” itself. The term “Bible” is used to refer to the collection of writings regarded as authoritative and foundational by Christians. Like many words in modern English, it derives from a Greek phrase: ta biblia, which literally means “the books.” Other terms are also used, such as “Sacred Scripture” or “Holy Scripture.”
James I himself had a firm understanding of the importance of the Bible both for personal faith and communal behavior and values. He set out something of his understanding of the role of the Bible in the opening section of the Basilikon Doron, intended to provide instruction to his son for godly princely living.
The whole Scripture is dited by God's Spirit, thereby (as by his lively word) to instruct and rule the whole Church militant, till the end of the world. It is composed of two parts, the Old and New Testament. The ground of the former is the Law, which sheweth our sin and conteyneth justice. The ground of the other is Christ, who pardoning sin contayneth Grace. The sum of the Law is the ten Commands, more largely dilated in the Law, interpreted by the Prophets: and by the histories are the examples shown of obedience or disobedience thereto, and what praemium or poena was accordingly given by God. But because no man was able to keepe the Lawe, nor any parte thereof, it pleased God of his infinite wisdom and goodness, to incarnate his only Son in our nature, for satisfaction of his justice in his suffering for us: that since we could not be saved by doing, we might (at least) be saved by beleiving The ground therefore of the Law of Grace, is contayned in the foure histories of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ.
THE OLD TESTAMENT
The Old Testament consists of thirty-nine books, beginning with Genesis and ending with Malachi. It is almost entirely written in Hebrew, the language of Israel; however, some short sections are written in Aramaic, an international language widely used in the diplomacy of the Ancient Near East. We shall consider these languages shortly.
The Old Testament includes a number of different kinds of writings, of which the most important are the following:
The Five Books of the Law are sometimes also referred to as The Five Books of Moses, reflecting a traditional belief that they were largely written by Moses. In more scholarly works, they are sometimes referred to as The Pentateuch, from the Greek words for “five” and “books.” They are: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These deal with the creation of the world, the calling of Israel as a people, and its early history, including the Exodus from Egypt. The story they tell ends with the people of Israel being about to cross over the Jordan, and enter the promised land. One of the most important themes of these books is the giving of the Law to Moses, and its implications for the life of Israel.
The Historical Books: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. These books deal with various aspects of the history of the people of God from their entry into the promised land of Canaan to the return of the people of Jerusalem from exile in the city of Babylon. It includes detailed accounts of the conquest of Canaan, the establishment of a monarchy in Israel, the great reigns of kings David and Solomon, the breakup of the single nation of Israel into two parts (the northern kingdom of Israel and and the southern kingdom of Judah), the destruction of Israel by the Assyrians, the defeat of Judah, and the exile of her people by the Babylonians, and the final return from exile and the rebuilding of the Temple. The books are arranged in historical order.
The Wisdom Writings: Job, Psalms; Proverbs, Ecclesiastes; Song of Solomon. These works deal with the question of how true wisdom may be found, and often provide some practical examples of wisdom.
The Prophets. This major section of the Old Testament contains the writings of a group of individuals, inspired by the Holy Spirit, who sought to make the will of God known to their people over a period of time. There are sixteen prophetic writings in the Old Testament, which are usually divided into two categories. First, there are the four major (or “greater”) prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. These are followed by the twelve minor (or “lesser”) prophets: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zech-ariah, and Malachi. The use of the words “major” and “minor” does not imply any judgment about the relative importance of the prophets. It refers simply to the length of the books in question. The prophetic writings are arranged roughly in historical order.
We now turn to consider the group of writings which has, since the sixteenth century come to be known as the “Apocrypha.”
THE APOCRYPHA
It must be remembered that the Reformation saw major debates within Western Christianity over many aspects of the Christian faith. One of those, which had a significant impact in England, concerned the authority and religious value of a group of writings traditionally considered as part of the Old Testament. As we have seen the collection of Latin translations known as the Vulgate had considerable importance within medieval Christianity. Translation errors discovered in this Latin translation constituted one major contributing factor to the pressure for reform. For medieval Christian writers, the word “Scripture” or “the Bible” meant something like “those works that are included in the Vulgate.”
The Protestant reformers, however, felt able to call this judgment into question. While all the New Testament works were accepted as canonical (that is, belonging to the Bible), doubts were raised by Protestant biblical scholars concerning the canonicity of a group of works traditionally treated as part of the Old Testament. A comparison of the contents of the Old Testament in the Hebrew Bible on the one hand, and the Greek and Latin versions (such as the Vulgate) on the other, shows that the latter contain a number of works not found in the former.
Following the lead of the great patristic writer and scholar Jerome, the reformers argued that the only Old Testament writings that could be regarded as belonging to the canon of Scripture were those originally included in the Hebrew Bible. A distinction was thus drawn between the “Old Testament” and “Apocrypha”: the former consisted of works found in the Bible that were originally written in Hebrew (or Hebrew and Aramaic), while the latter consisted of works found in the Greek and Latin Bibles (such as the Vulgate), but not in the Hebrew Bible. While some reformers allowed that the apocryphal works were edifying reading, there was general agreement that these works could not be used as the basis of doctrine. Medieval theologians, however, to be followed by the Council of Trent in 1546, defined the “Old Testament” as “those Old Testament works contained in the Greek and Latin Bibles,” thus eliminating any distinction between “Old Testament” and “Apocrypha.”
A fundamental distinction thus developed between Roman Catholic and Protestant understandings of what the term “Scripture” actually meant. This distinction persists to the present day. One outcome of this debate was the production and circulation of authorized lists of books that were to be regarded as “scriptural.” The fourth session of the Council of Trent (1546) produced a detailed list, which included some of the works of the Apocrypha as authentically scriptural, while the Protestant congregations in Switzerland, France, and elsewhere produced lists that deliberately omitted reference to these works, or else indicated that they were of no importance in matters of doctrine.
In England, this debate was regarded as of importance. An integral element of the Elizabethan Settlement of Religion was the compilation of the “Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion,” a set of short statements that defined the distinctive position of the Church of England. These articles were agreed on in 1562, and were of considerable importance in shaping English attitudes to the translation of the Bible throughout the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I. The sixth of those articles, which we reproduce in full below, sets out the Anglican position on the canonical books of the Old Testament: