Back to: How We Got The Bible
In light of the previous lesson on Jerome’s Latin Vulgate, it’s impossible to discuss the Apocrypha, as accepted into the Roman Catholic Canon of Scriptures, without discussing Martin Luther and the start of Protestantism and The Reformation.
Luther’s 95 Theses
At the heart of Luther’s indignation and ‘protest’ against the Roman Catholic Church elites, was its use of so-called scripture to justify ‘Sacraments’ being used to financially fleece the commoners and enrich the clergy.
The selling of ‘indulgences’ was the one particular doctrine that really rubbed him wrong and prompted his writing down of 95 clergical abuses regarding this practice.
Whether or not he actually nailed these to the door of Wittenberg is a matter of debate for historians.
Apocrypha Controversy
In debates with Luther, particularly at the Diet of Worms, the Roman Catholics quoted Maccabees in support of prayer for the dead (see 2 Macc. 12:44–45).
Luther, and other Protestants following him, challenged the canonicity of that book, citing the New Testament, the early church fathers, and Jewish teachers for support.
The Council of Trent responded to Luther by canonizing the Apocrypha, although the books of 1 and 2 Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh were rejected. The rejection of 2 Esdras was particularly suspect since it contains a strong verse against praying for the dead (2 Esdras 7:45).
In fact, some medieval scribe had cut this section out of the Latin manuscripts of 2 Esdras, and it was known by Arabic manuscripts until found again in Latin by Robert L. Bently in 1874 at a library in Amiens, France.
The decision at Trent did not reflect either a universal or indisputable consent within the Catholic church.
For example, Cardinal Thommas de Vio Cajetan, who opposed Luther at Augsburg in 1518, published a Commentary on All the Authentic Historical Books of the Old Testament (1532), which omitted the Apocrypha.
Prior to this, Cardinal Francisco de Cisneros Ximénes distinguished between the Apocrypha and the Old Testament canon in his Complutensian Polyglot (1514–1517).
With this data in view, Trent shows how fallible a supposed infallible pronouncement of the Roman Catholic Church can be.
– Source: Geisler, Norman L; Nix, William E.. From God To Us Revised and Expanded: How We Got Our Bible (pp. 126-127). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.
The Council of Trent
At Trent, for the first time in church history, the Apocrypha—a set of Jewish books written in Greek and dating from the intertestamental period—was declared to be part of the biblical canon. Trent also affirmed that the final authority for the church rested not in Scripture alone, as the Reformers heralded, but in Scripture and tradition, as embodied by the teachings of the pope and his bishops. And also, Trent prohibited the printing or owning of an unauthorized version of Scripture. And at that point, the only authorized version of Scripture was the Latin Vulgate. What this ruling meant was that you could not have the Bible in your own language.
-Stephen Nichols
More Resources on The Reformation
A secular look at the global impact of The Reformation
Rick Steve provides an interesting perspective in featuring the locales and visuals of Luther’s life, while providing commentary from a non-religious point of view.
(caution: there are some brief scenes of renaissance art that depict nudes like Michelangelo’s statue of ‘David’)
Everyone a priest
One of Luther’s motivational initiatives was to get the Bible into the hands and language of the everyday individuals. He was passionate about enabling each and every person to read the scriptures for themselves and thereby, become unshackled from the oppressive tyranny of Rome’s legalism.
Indeed, it was his illegal translation of the Bible from Latin into German that further stoked the fires of vitriol towards him from the Roman papacy and religious elite.