What Is The Apocrypha, or Deuterocanonical Books?
Which books should be in the Bible? Why are some of the books called canonical, and others are called Apocrypha, or Deuterocanonical?
“Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms”—Luke 24:44 NIV
Jesus referred to the Hebrew scripture Bible canon, by referring to the three sections that the Jews divided it into. These sections comprise the 39 book Old Testament, from Genesis through Malachi.
As the early church developed, Gentile believers needed to be taught “sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1). Although Jesus, Paul and the apostles exclusively used the Old Testament (referred to in Luke 24:44) as their canonical Bible, Gentiles also encountered many other Jewish religious texts among the Greek scrolls of the Scriptures. Over time some Gentile believers began to embrace these books as authoritative, and debate over their place in the churches has raged ever since.