Have you ever seen a “family Bible?” You know the one: sitting on a shelf in your grandparent’s home, covered in dust and heavy enough to harm a small child. If you were to crack it open, once you made it past the seemingly endless pages of family records — certificates of birth, baptism, marriage, and death — you’d likely stumble upon a table of contents that would raise an eyebrow or two. Proverbs and the Wisdom of Solomon? Ecclesiastes and Ecclesiasticus? Bel and…the Dragon?
For many, this may be the closest you’ve ever come to reading or exploring a collection of books known as the Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical books, written in Greek by Jews from roughly 250 B.C. to A.D. 200. In fact, apocrypha literally means “hidden away,” and that is likely a fair summary of your experience of these books! Maybe you’ve read a bit here or there, but on the whole, they’ve either been passively neglected or actively resisted.
One of the gifts of the Apocrypha is the way these books invite us into a bigger understanding of the family of God, and to stick with our opening image, the family Bible. While most Protestants do not accept these books as a part of the Old Testament canon, choosing instead to see them as works of historical and cultural significance, it is helpful to remember that they were read as Scripture by early Christians, and are still read as such by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox Churches.
In a time of heightened division and polarization in virtually every area of life, Christians should remember that what unites us is far greater than what separates us, and we can choose daily to approach one another in a posture of mutual respect and humility. This is a guiding principle for us at Dwell, and is the spirit in which we now make the Apocrypha available on Dwell.
If you belong to a Christian tradition that reads these books regularly, we are thrilled for you to do so on Dwell. You’re now able to listen to them on-demand, in a lectionary-based Daily Listen plan, or add them to a playlist of your choice.
At the same time, if you’ve never read these books and continue to view them as separate from the official canon of Scripture, we would still encourage you to give them a listen! These books have animated the imaginations of Christians for centuries, and are a historical and cultural treasure chest, bridging the 400-year gap between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New. And if history isn’t your cup of tea, you’ll also find poetry, wisdom literature, angelic intervention, and demonic expulsion, not to mention stories of deception, seduction, and assassination!
Wild as these stories may be, within them, we are reminded of a central truth that lies at the heart of the gospel, namely that we, as the family of God, are a people who place our hope in a God who rescues, redeems, and is faithful to his promises. The Deuterocanonical books point to this truth, and this is indeed good news that the whole family can celebrate.
This point is emphasized from an unlikely source. John Bunyan, the 17th-century Puritan author best remembered for The Pilgrim’s Progress, tells a story of searching for over a year for a well-loved verse that had many times brought him comfort, reminding him of God’s grace and love, only to be shocked and slightly scandalized by the realization that it was an apocryphal passage!
“This at the first did somewhat daunt me; but because by this time I had got more experience of the love and kindness of God, it troubled me the less, especially when I considered that though it was not in those texts that we call holy and canonical, yet, forasmuch as this sentence was the sum and substance of many of the promises (of God), it was my duty to take the comfort of it; and I bless God for that word, for it was of good to me: that word doth still ofttimes shine before my face.”
The "word" that shone before his face?
“Consider the generations of old and see: has anyone trusted in the Lord and been disappointed? Or has anyone persevered in the fear of the Lord and been forsaken? Or has anyone called upon him and been neglected?” (Sirach 2:10 NRSV)
To each of these questions, Christians from every part of the family, in every generation, offer their heartfelt and faith-filled response: “No, never!”
The Apocrypha is now available on Dwell in two translations, KJV (Christopher & Catherine) and NRSV (Briony). These books can also be easily added or removed by adjusting your preferences on the Settings screen within the Dwell app.
About the author
Tripp Prince
Tripp Prince is the Head of Formation at Dwell. He lives with his wife and three children in the countryside of north Georgia.