The Lost Scriptures – books that did not make it into the New Testament.

In our last devotion, there was a mention of the group of writings known as the Pseudepigrapha. The word comes from the Greek “Pseudopigraphos” — the Greek pseudo, meaning “false,” and epigraphein, meaning “to inscribe,” thus, “to write falsely” or “with false title”. The writings known as Pseudepigraphical are books that attempt to imitate Scripture but that were written under false names written anywhere from 200 BC to AD 300. They are spurious works written by unknown authors who attempted to gain a readership by tacking on the name of a famous biblical character. Obviously, a book called the “Testament of Abraham” has a better chance of being read than the “Counterfeit Testament of an Unknown Author.” 

While the pseudepigrapha may be of interest to students of history and ancient religious thought, but they are not part of the scripture’s canon. Reasons to reject the pseudepigrapha are 1) they were written under false names. Any pretense or falsehood in a book naturally negates its claim of truthfulness. 2) They contain anachronisms and historical errors. For example, in the Apocalypse of Baruch, the fall of Jerusalem occurs “in the 25th year of Jeconiah, king of Judah.” The problem is that Jeconiah was 18 years old when he began to reign, and he only reigned 3 months (as stated in 2 Kings 24:8). There is no way to reconcile the “25th year” statement with the biblical account. 3) They contain outright heresy. In the pseudepigraphal book the “Acts of John”, for example, Jesus is presented as a spirit or ghost who left no footprints when He walked; who could not be touched; and who did not really die on the cross.

There were practices in the first century where students of a teacher would write under their name – just like several of the epistles in the New Testament are attributed to Paul, but it has widely been accepted that he did not write those epistles. Of the thirteen Epistles, only seven or eight have been fully accepted as written by Paul’s hand. Those writings are not considered as Pseudepigraphical because they adhere to the teachings and theology of Paul and the early church at large.

Today we have many contemporary writings that are considered important to our Christian teachings – for example Lutherans look to the writings of Martin Luther, Philipp Melanchthon, and even church Fathers like Jerome and Clement and St. Augustine who helped to work out our Lutheran and Christian understanding of faith in Jesus Christ. We must always be discerning when we read anything that claims to be authoritative when they concern Jesus, his teachings, and his words.

Pastor Dave