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Deutero-canonical Texts

Introduction

Definition: deutero-canonical texts (hereafter DCTs) are those writings (scripture) which are traditionally included in Christian bibles but are neither part of the Hebrew bible nor part of the New Testament. (The Hebrew bible is the collection of scripture that is considered sacred to most Jewish sects.)

Why is this important? Well, many modern bibles omit all DCTs, and there is strong disagreement about whether or not these scriptures should be considered sacred (inspired by God). The important question is: should your bible include these texts, or not? First, let’s cover some background (briefly) that will help you determine if your bible should include them. (Jump ahead to the fact summary.)

The Masoretic Text

The Masoretic text (hereafter MT) is the oldest exisiting complete Hebrew bible written in Hebrew. This is important for two reasons. First, the original language of most scripture outside of the New Testament is Hebrew. Second, translators logically assume that the older a text is, the fewer times it has been copied and therefore the closer it is to the original (very first) text. (Each time a text is copied, there is a chance that the copier will make mistakes that will be retained when the new copy is copied.) Therefore, it is logical to assume that the oldest MT is the least copied, the least error-prone, and because it is in Hebrew, has never lost any accuracy because of translation.

The MT used most often by modern translators is Biblica Hebraica Stuttgartensia, a copy of the 11^th century Leningrad Codex. (The Leningrad Codex itself has become available since the collapse of the Soviet Union.) An older MT, the 10^th century Aleppo Codex, is incomplete, though it seems most likely that the missing portion still exists and is hidden. Since Jewish sects do not consider DCTs to be sacred, they are omitted from the Hebrew bible (including the MT).

The Septuagint

The Septuagint (hereafter LXX) is the oldest complete collection of Old Testament scriptures contained in a single document in any language. It is written in Greek, and contains DCTs in addition to the scriptures of the Hebrew bible. The oldest existing text containing the complete contents of the Hebrew bible is from the 4^th century. Since the LXX contains a Greek translation of texts originally written in Hebrew, there are several consistent variations from the MT. From this, scholars have determined that New Testament writers frequently quoted from the LXX rather than the MT!

Facts Summary

Here’s a summary of what has already been discussed:

No errors generated from translation
11^th century text copied over and over for about 1000 years since the destruction of the second temple
Scriptures limited to those of the Hebrew bible

LXX

Differences from original due to translation
4^th century text copied over and over for about 300 years since the destruction of the second temple
Scriptures include DCTs
Quoted in the New Testament

Now you can begin to see why there is disagreement. Although the MT remains in the original language, the exisiting LXX texts are considerably older and the LXX was used by writers of the New Testament! In addition, the Dead Sea Scrolls, dating from no later than the first century, contain fragments of six DCTs (Ecclesiasticus, Tobit, Baruch, Psalm 151, Judith and 2 Esdras).

The final item I feel worthy of consideration is the first collection of books normally called bible: the Latin Vulgate. This was translated primarily by Jerome in the 4^th century and includes most LXX DCTs. All bibles from this until 1599 included some DCTs. At this time some editions of the Geneva Bible omitted these scriptures, and this practice has increased over time.1

Reasons for Exclusion

There are two primary reasons why these texts have been omitted after over a thousand years of inclusion. First, some of the material in these books did not coincide with the teachings of Luther and Calvin (Luther taught that they were not sacred). Second, these books are not part of the Hebrew bible, which contains only those scriptures considered sacred by Jewish sects.

Are these sufficient reasons for excluding DCTs? Of course, if you adhere to a teaching which claims that these scriptures are somehow unacceptable, then there is no reason that they should be included in your bible. However, the omission of these books from the Hebrew bible is not sufficient reason to exclude them. After all, the Hebrew bible also omits the entire New Testament!

Nearly all versions of the bible still have editions which include DCTs (although most also offer editions without them). The ancestor of most modern translations, the King James Version of 1611, included them (though it is so rare to find an edition which includes them today that many KJV devotees will not believe it).

So, unless you have specific religious instruction to avoid DCTs, I believe that you should always try to get an edition of your favorite bible which includes them. It is clearly a sectarian bias to omit these scriptures from a translation, and this should be taken into account when deciding which version to buy. The availability of DCTs in each version is included in my bible version comparison chart. — JEP

Footnotes

Information about DCTs first being omitted from the Geneva Bible was taken from pg. 41 of the HarperCollins Bible Dictionary, copyright © 1985, 1996 by The Society of Biblical Literature under the entry Apocrypha, Old Testament, subheading The Reformation and the Apocrypha.