Father Daniel Toof

      DEUTEROCANONICAL BOOKS        

     Our first reading comes from the Book of Wisdom.  This book is not in Protestant Bibles, unless it is labeled "Apocrypha". Apocrypha means “hidden”; R. Catholics and Orthodox Christians (the ancient Churches) accept these books; up to the last century they were included in English Protestant Bibles. These books are not found in the final Jewish Palestinian canon of Scripture.

     Why does our Bible have 7 more books in its Old Testament than the Protestant Bible? The answer lies in the fact that before the coming of Jesus Christ, the Jews had two Canons of Scripture: the Old Jewish (written in Hebrew) and the Septuagint (written in Greek).  Centuries before the coming of Christ the Septuagint was diligently used in Jewish synagogues and by Jewish writers (Philo & Josephus), and remained an unchallenged translation of Scripture until the beginning of the second century. The difference between the Septuagint and the Old Jewish Canon was not only in the language in which they were written, but also that the Septuagint had 7 extra books: Tobias, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, 1 & 2 Maccabees, and parts of Esther and Daniel).

       For Catholics, it is important to know the following facts about the Septuagint: 1. The Apostles and New Testament writers principally quoted the Septuagint. (300 of the 350 Old Testament quotations found in the New Testament are taken directly from the Septuagint).  2. The Jews, after universally accepting the Septuagint for centuries, became alienated from it after the Christian Church used this version to point out the Messianic passages, which were more clearly presented in the Greek Septuagint than in the Hebrew version.  3. Some New Testament writers made use of the additional books contained in the Septuagint, particularly the Book of Wisdom, which seems to be a familiar theme in St. Paul’s Epistles. The Epistle of St. James shows an acquaintance with the Book of Ecclesiasticus. Thus, the Apostles and New Testament writers made reference to these additional books in their preaching and writing, and thereby gave them their approval. 4. The Greek Septuagint was the only Bible text of the Old Testament that was universally read in the ancient Church both East and West. The additional books were accepted in the early Christian Church from the beginning. The Epistle of Pope Clement, written before the end of the first century, makes use of Ecclesiasticus and Wisdom, gives an analysis of the book of Judith, and quotes from the additional sections of the book of Esther (also true of other early Christian writers). 5. The oldest Christian Bibles in existence today (Codex Vaticanus, dating from before

 

350 A.D.; Codex Sinaiticus, dating from the fourth century, Codex Alexandrinus, from the 400s, and the Codex Ephraemi, also belonging to the fifth century) contain all the books of the Old and New Testaments, just as we find them in our Catholic Bibles today.

        Catholic Bibles have the same books as the oldest biblical manuscripts in existence because the Church founded by Christ is inspired (as He promised) and with her God-given authority determined the canon of Sacred Scripture (the books that were to be included and those books that were not to be included).  Pope Damasus in the year 382 A.D. confirmed the authentic books of Sacred Scripture, and the Council of Carthage reiterated this Canon of Sacred Scripture in 397 A.D.   

                          Christ’s peace, Fr. Dan Toof

PS: In next week’s column I will address the key reason why Protestant Reformers removed these seven Books!

 

St. Anna’s Catholic Church

836 East Spring Street

Monroe Ga. 30655

Phone : 770-267-7637

To contact us:

June 28, 2009

13th  Sunday in Ordinary Time