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A Quick Look at the Word "Apocrypha"

Sunday, January 21, 2007

When dealing with the word "Apocrypha" many Protestants insist that it can only mean  "spurious and of  doubtful authenticity or authorship" they insist that the term in it self discredits these books.

The above scan is of Colossians 2: 3, from the  Alfred Marshall  interlinear. 

It is useful to have these critics read Colossians 2:3:

"That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; In whom are HID all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Colossians 2:2-3)

After they have read the text point out to them that the Greek term used for hid in these verse is "apo'kry'phos" (in the Romanized Greek), so we see that St Paul was calling the wisdom and knowledge of God, and of the Father, and of Christ as "Apocrypha". 

Was St. Paul calling God's wisdom and knowledge "spurious and of  doubtful authenticity" ? The answer is NO, for in the first century A.D. the term was applied to those thing that were for a select group and to special to before the general public, hence "concealed" from others.

Posted by mustardseedcapiz at 7:32 pm | permalink

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