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Heavenlywarrior In general use, the word
apocrypha has come to mean"false, spurious, bad, or heretical". Biblical apocrypha are a set of texts included in the Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, but not in the Hebrew Bible.
They are deemed theologically suspicious and even heretical by many. Jewish and Protestant circles flat out reject these writings as authoritative for the faith and practice of the church. Roman Catholics accept most of these texts as canonical.
All of these books fall under different categories of genre: historiography (1 Esdras, 1–3 Maccabees), wisdom (Ben Sira, Wisdom of Solomon, Baruch), historical romance (Tobit, Judith, Additions to Esther and Daniel), and liturgical pieces (Psalm 151, Prayer of Manasseh, Prayer of Azariah, Song of the Three Young Men in the Addition to Daniel).
Westminster Confession of Faith (1647) 1.3: “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.”
The Roman Catholic Church appeals to this text in support of its belief in purgatory, a place where sinners who have died can be purified of their sins before entering heaven. They claim prayer on behalf of these dead sinners, is vital to their success. But there are significant problems with this doctrine and practice. It not only introduces the erroneous idea that human effort can merit the forgiveness of sins before and even after death, but it also plainly contradicts Scripture. “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).The decision to accept Jesus as Savior, He said, can only be made before we die. After we cross over, there's no changing our minds or repenting. Scripture makes that very clear.
