If you’ve ever compared a Catholic Bible with a Protestant one, you might have noticed a significant difference. The Catholic version is thicker because it contains books and additions absent from Protestant editions. Christians know these writings as the Apocrypha or deuterocanonical books. They are a source of frequent curiosity and debate. This observation leads many to ask the central question: Why were the Apocryphal books removed from the Bible?

The answer isn’t a simple committee decision. In fact, framing it as a “removal” is itself a point of view. The story of these texts is a fascinating historical inquiry that stretches back more than two millennia. This history involves different ancient versions of the Old Testament and the practices of early Christians. It also includes the seismic theological shifts of the Protestant Reformation. Understanding this history is key to grasping why Christian traditions have different Bibles today.

What Exactly Are the Apocryphal Books?

Before we explore their debated status, let’s clarify what these books are. The Apocrypha consists of a collection of writings. Authors mostly composed them in the period between the Old and New Testaments (roughly 400 BC to the first century AD). The term “Apocrypha” itself means “hidden things,” a label reflecting the Protestant perspective on their non-canonical status. In contrast, Catholic and Orthodox traditions refer to them as “deuterocanonical.” This term means “second canon,” distinguishing them from the “protocanonical” books that all traditions accept.

The primary deuterocanonical books include:

• Tobit
• Judith in the Apocrypha
• The Wisdom of Solomon
• Sirach (also called Ecclesiasticus)
• Baruch
• 1 and 2 Maccabees
• Additions to the books of Esther and Daniel

These texts contain a rich variety of genres, from history in 1 Maccabees to wisdom in Sirach. The core debate is not about their spiritual value but about their authority as inspired Scripture. To understand the different stances, we must examine the Apocrypha Bible Meaning in its historical context.

The Ancient Roots of the Disagreement: Two Old Testaments

The controversy’s origin lies in a simple fact. In the time of Jesus and the early Church, there was no single, universally recognized collection of Old Testament books. Instead, two major versions circulated, and they differed in their contents.

The Septuagint (LXX)

The Septuagint is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. Scholars produced it in the last few centuries BC for Greek-speaking Jews living outside of Palestine. This Greek version was the Old Testament used by most early Christians. When New Testament authors quoted the Old Testament, they most often quoted the Septuagint. Crucially, the manuscripts of the Septuagint included the deuterocanonical books, interspersed among the others.

The Hebrew (or Palestinian) Canon

Meanwhile, Hebrew-speaking Jews in Palestine were shaping a different canon. After the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 AD, Jewish scholars worked to formally define their sacred writings. They established criteria for canonicity. For example, a book had to be written primarily in Hebrew and before the time of the prophet Ezra. The deuterocanonical books generally did not meet these criteria. This resulted in the Hebrew canon, which is identical to the Protestant Old Testament today.

This created a foundational tension. Early Christians primarily used a Greek collection of scriptures (the Septuagint) that was larger than the canon that Rabbinic Judaism later finalized.

The Early Church and a Developing Consensus

For the first few centuries, the Church had no officially declared, universal Christian canon. Early Church Fathers like Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria widely read and cited the deuterocanonical books. They saw these writings as part of the scriptural tradition they had inherited.

However, some scholars were aware of the discrepancy with the Hebrew canon. The most significant was St. Jerome (c. 347–420 AD), the brilliant scholar who translated the Bible into Latin. His version, the Vulgate, became the standard Bible of the Western Church for over a millennium.

Jerome strongly advocated for what he called the Hebraica veritas (“the Hebrew truth”). He believed the Hebrew canon was more authoritative and was the first to explicitly label the other books as “Apocrypha.” Jerome argued they were useful for edification but did not carry the same weight as canonical scripture. Despite his reservations, Pope Damasus I insisted that he include these books. Jerome complied, but the scholarly debate he highlighted would resurface with explosive force later. You can learn more about this process from external resources like the Encyclopedia Britannica’s entry on the Biblical canon.

The Protestant Reformation: The Great Divide

The question of why were the Apocryphal books removed from the Bible finds its most direct answer in the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. The Reformation’s principle of Sola Scriptura—the Bible alone as the ultimate authority—made the precise contents of the Bible a critical issue. The Protestant Reformers, led by figures like Martin Luther, re-examined the canon.

Key Objections from the Reformers

The Reformers raised several objections to the deuterocanonical books:

1. Absence from the Hebrew Canon: They emphasized a return to the original sources. They argued the Christian church should accept the same Old Testament canon that ancient Judaism had established.
2. Lack of Quotation in the New Testament: They noted that Jesus and the Apostles never quoted these books as Scripture. While the New Testament may allude to them, it never uses authoritative phrases like “it is written,” unlike with books such as Isaiah or the Psalms.
3. Contradictory Doctrines: This was a major point of contention. For example, a passage in 2 Maccabees 12:46 supports praying for the dead. The Catholic Church uses this passage to support the doctrine of Purgatory. The Reformers rejected Purgatory and thus rejected the authority of the book that supported it.

As a result, Martin Luther, in his German Bible translation (1534), moved these books. He took them out of the Old Testament and placed them in a separate section between the Testaments. He titled this section “Apocrypha” and noted they were “books that are not considered equal to the Holy Scriptures, but are useful and good to read.”

Over time, this separation led to outright omission. In the 19th century, Bible societies wanted to distribute Bibles widely and affordably. Therefore, they decided to print Bibles without the Apocrypha. This helped cut costs and avoid controversy. This practice cemented the 66-book canon as the Protestant standard.

The Catholic and Orthodox Response

The Protestant Reformation prompted the Catholic Church to issue a definitive declaration. At the Council of Trent in 1546, the Church officially affirmed the canonicity of the deuterocanonical books. It declared all the books in the Latin Vulgate inspired by the Holy Spirit. This decree settled the matter for the Catholic Church.

The Eastern Orthodox Churches have a slightly larger canon than the Catholic one. They accept books like 3 Maccabees and Psalm 151. Their acceptance of these texts developed more organically. They have always considered them part of their scriptural heritage from the Septuagint. A review of the Apocryphal Books Timeline shows this divergent path.

A Story of Inclusion and Exclusion

So, were the apocryphal books “removed”? From a Protestant perspective, the Reformers judged that they did not meet the criteria for canonicity. From a Catholic and Orthodox perspective, the books were never removed. They were part of the scriptural tradition from the beginning. The Church simply reaffirmed this status in the face of debate.

The history of the Apocrypha shows that the Bible did not fall from the sky fully formed. It was the product of a long and complex process. This involved writing, translating, debating, and recognizing which texts the community held as divinely inspired. Understanding this journey helps explain why different Bibles exist today. It also provides a richer appreciation for the shared yet distinct heritage of the world’s Christian traditions.

Check out the author’s book here: The Apocrypha.