Anonymous writes…

Hello, I wanted to know more about the Catholic books of the bible. Are they also part of the Bible that we as Christians should read?

Beloved By Him replies…

Dear Evel,

Hi, this is Beloved by Him in for His Precious Gift today. It’s my understanding that the Catholic bible contains books from the Apocrypha, or “hidden” books, which were declared as sacred by the Roman Catholic Church in the 1500’s. Evangelical Christians, however, do not accept those extra-biblical texts as the divinely inspired and true word of God. This does not mean that the books are all bad or all wrong; it means that there are assertions in them that contradict some foundational truths of Christianity.

One of the biggest fallacies found in the Apocrypha is the concept of salvation by works and not faith. Christians today place their faith in Christ, and Christ alone, for salvation. We accept His sacrifice on the cross as payment for our sins, and we know that nothing we can do will ever earn our way into heaven apart from Him. Some scriptures that affirm this are:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

Romans has many key scriptures about salvation by faith; read in particular this passage in Rom. 3:24-31,

“But now God has shown us a way to be made right with Him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses, and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding His blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when He held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for He was looking ahead and including them in what He would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate His righteousness, for He himself is fair and just, and He declares sinners to be right in His sight when they believe in Jesus. Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.” (NLT)

Anything, or anyone, that claims God’s eternal salvation can be attained in any way besides through faith in Christ Jesus is not of God. The Apocryphal books also contain doctrines regarding purgatory and prayers for the dead, facets of the Catholic religion that contradict the Christian bible. Again, this is not to say that there is not valuable history and insight to be found in these books. However, they should not be considered as any type of infallible spiritual authority.

Sister, I cannot tell you to not read these books. What I will say is to make sure that if you choose to read them, that you seek the Lord’s wisdom and discernment; pray first, and ask the Holy Spirit to give you the understanding and revelation you need to be able to perceive anything that would go against the Holy Word of God. Remember, Jesus is the Word of God, and His Holy Spirit of truth lives inside you. The Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth (John 16:13), and He will be your best Teacher. “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things…. But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.” (I John 2:20, 27) My prayer to the Lord Jesus for you is that you will continue to abide in Him, to have His Spirit of peace rest upon you, and that you will abound in wisdom as you commit your way to Him, in Jesus’ precious name, Amen.

If you would like to learn more on this topic, I suggest that you visit the Christian Research Institute’s website, http://www.equip.org/. The organization is presided over by Hank Hanegraaff, one of the great apologetics teachers of our day. There is an extensive Q&A database on the site where you can search a multitude of topics.

Much love,

Beloved by Him

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