How was the Bible canon decided, and what is the Apocrypha?

The churches do not share one Old Testament list, and they do not share one account of who closed it. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 120 (1) says the Church discerned the canon “by the apostolic Tradition” and counts 46 Old Testament books, including Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and 1 and 2 Maccabees. The Council of Trent (2) receives those books and anathematizes a knowing refusal. The Westminster Confession, 1.3 (4) says the books commonly called Apocrypha “are no part of the canon of the Scripture.” This page quotes those decisions. It does not decide.

Key points

• Catechism 120 (1) calls the list the canon and counts “46 books for the Old Testament (45 if we count Jeremiah and Lamentations as one) and 27 for the New.”
• Trent, in the Waterworth translation hosted by Hanover College, says that anyone who does not receive “the said books entire with all their parts” and knowingly contemns the traditions “let him be anathema.”
• Dei Verbum 10 (3) says Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture “form one sacred deposit of the word of God,” and that the teaching office “is not above the word of God, but serves it.”
• Westminster 1.3 (4) says the Apocrypha are “of no authority in the church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved, or made use of, than other human writings.”
• The Belgic Confession, Article 6 (5) says the church may read those books “as far as they agree with the canonical books,” and that they cannot confirm a point of faith.
• Article VI (6) says the other books are read “for example of life and instruction of manners,” and “it doth not apply them to establish any doctrine.”
• Jude 1:14And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,King James Version (8) says Enoch prophesied. Enoch is not named in the Catechism’s list, in Westminster’s Old Testament list, or in the Belgic and Anglican lists of other books.

Two names for one set of books

Catholic writers call Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and 1 and 2 Maccabees the deuterocanon, books received in a second step of the Church’s list. Westminster calls “the books commonly called Apocrypha” a class that is not Scripture. The word on this page follows the confession being quoted. What Bible do Catholics use? prints both full lists.

Catechism 120 (1):

It was by the apostolic Tradition that the Church discerned which writings are to be included in the list of the sacred books.

The same page: “This complete list is called the canon of Scripture. It includes 46 books for the Old Testament (45 if we count Jeremiah and Lamentations as one) and 27 for the New.” The Old Testament names on that page include Tobit, Judith, Esther, 1 and 2 Maccabees, the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), and Baruch. The Catechism spells the prophet Zachariah. This site’s King James text has no page for Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, or Maccabees.

Writers also use “pseudepigrapha” for ancient books written under someone else’s name, such as Enoch. None of the fetched confessions uses that word. The fetched lists simply do not name Enoch.

What Trent received

The Council of Trent, Session IV (2), 8 April 1546, in the Waterworth English hosted by Hanover College, lists the Old Testament books it receives. The Waterworth spellings include Tobias, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch with Jeremias, and “two books of the Machabees, the first and the second.” The decree then says:

But if any one receive not, as sacred and canonical, the said books entire with all their parts, as they have been used to be read in the Catholic Church, and as they are contained in the old Latin vulgate edition; and knowingly and deliberately contemn the traditions aforesaid; let him be anathema.

“All their parts” and “the old Latin vulgate edition” are the decree’s own phrases for how those books are to be received. The Anglican and Belgic lists, below, name additions to Esther and Daniel as separate titles. The Catechism’s printed list names Esther and Daniel and does not spell out Susanna or Bel and the Dragon on that page.

What the Reformation confessions excluded

Westminster 1.2 (4) lists the Old Testament from Genesis through Malachi and does not name Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, or Maccabees. Westminster 1.3 (4):

The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon of the Scripture, and therefore are of no authority in the church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved, or made use of, than other human writings.

Westminster 1.6 (4) says the whole counsel of God “is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men.” Westminster 1.10 (4) says the supreme judge of religious controversies is “the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.”

The Belgic Confession, Article 5 (5) says, “We receive all these books and these only as holy and canonical.” Article 6 names the apocryphal books:

We distinguish between these holy books and the apocryphal ones, which are the third and fourth books of Esdras; the books of Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Jesus Sirach, Baruch; what was added to the Story of Esther; the Song of the Three Children in the Furnace; the Story of Susannah; the Story of Bel and the Dragon; the Prayer of Manasseh; and the two books of Maccabees.

The same article: “The church may certainly read these books and learn from them as far as they agree with the canonical books. But they do not have such power and virtue that one could confirm from their testimony any point of faith or of the Christian religion.”

Article VI (6):

Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.

The article then says, “And the other Books (as Hierome saith) the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine.” The other books it names are the Third and Fourth of Esdras, Tobias, Judith, the rest of Esther, Wisdom, Jesus the Son of Sirach, Baruch, the Song of the Three Children, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, the Prayer of Manasses, and the First and Second of Maccabees. Hierome is Jerome. This page did not fetch Jerome’s own prologue. The article’s phrase is what was fetched.

A sentence of Luther’s Bible preface was not fetched. A Jewish council’s vote, and Josephus on the number of Jewish books, were not fetched. This page does not supply those sentences.

Scripture and Tradition

Dei Verbum 10 (3):

Sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture form one sacred deposit of the word of God, committed to the Church.

The same paragraph: “This teaching office is not above the word of God, but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on, listening to it devoutly, guarding it scrupulously and explaining it faithfully.” Catechism 82 is quoted on What do Catholics believe?: the Church “does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone.”

2 Timothy 3:16All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:King James Version (13): “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” Both sides claim that sentence for the books they count. Revelation 22:18For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:King James Version (9) warns against adding to “the words of the prophecy of this book.” The verse names that book. It does not list the Old Testament.

Did Jesus quote these books?

This page did not fetch a sentence in the Gospels in which Jesus names Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, or Maccabees. Jude 1:14And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,King James Version (8), King James Version:

And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints.

Jude 1:15To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.King James Version continues, “To execute judgment upon all.” Enoch is not in the Catechism’s book list, not in Westminster’s Old Testament list, and not in the Belgic or Anglican lists of other books. A quotation inside a book both sides receive is not, by itself, those confessions receiving Enoch as Scripture.

An Orthodox Church in America clergy answer (7) quotes a sentence it marks as Wisdom 1:13: “God did not make death, and takes no pleasure in the destruction of any living thing; He created all things that they might have being.” That page is a question-and-answer, not a synod. Wisdom is in the Catechism’s list. The Belgic Confession names Wisdom among the apocryphal books. This site has no King James page for Wisdom.

Enoch, Baruch, and books the Bible names but does not include

The Book of Enoch is the book Jude 1:14And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,King James Version (8) cites. The fetched Catholic and Protestant lists do not receive it.

The fetched lists do name Baruch. Trent says “Jeremias, with Baruch.” The Catechism’s list names Baruch after Lamentations. The Belgic Confession and Article VI name Baruch among the books they will not use to establish doctrine. None of those fetched lists names a second book of Baruch.

Other writings are named inside books both lists share, and are not themselves entries on either list. Joshua 10:13And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.King James Version (10): “Is not this written in the book of Jasher?” Numbers 21:14Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the LORD, What he did in the Red sea, and in the brooks of Arnon,King James Version (11): “Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the LORD.” 1 Chronicles 29:29Now the acts of David the king, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Samuel the seer, and in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer,King James Version (12) names “the book of Samuel the seer, and in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer.” Those sentences are in the King James text. They are not a third canon.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Apocrypha?

In the Westminster Confession, the Belgic Confession, and Article VI, it is the class of books those texts refuse as the rule of doctrine: Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, the books of Maccabees, and, in the Belgic and Anglican lists, additions and the books they call the third and fourth of Esdras. In Catholic use the seven books in the Catechism’s list and not in Westminster’s are the deuterocanon, and Trent receives them as sacred and canonical.

Why do Catholic Bibles have more books?

Because the Catechism’s Old Testament list, and Trent’s decree, include books Westminster 1.3 excludes. What Bible do Catholics use? prints both lists. The New Testament count in the Catechism is 27, the same count Westminster’s New Testament list has.

Is the Book of Enoch Scripture?

Jude 1:14And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,King James Version (8) quotes Enoch. The Catechism’s canon list and the Protestant lists fetched here do not name Enoch as a book of Scripture.

What are the lost books?

Joshua 10:13And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.King James Version (10), Numbers 21:14Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the LORD, What he did in the Red sea, and in the brooks of Arnon,King James Version (11), and 1 Chronicles 29:29Now the acts of David the king, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Samuel the seer, and in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer,King James Version (12) name writings that are not separate books in the Catechism’s list or in Westminster’s list. This page did not fetch those writings.

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