The Strand Study Bible

LUKE

LUKE

1657

Apocrypha , New Testament , is: A substantial collection of works that were published under the names of apostolic writers during the second and subsequent centuries. For the most part they were deliberate fabrications and never had any serious claim to canonicity. In this connection the word apocrypha is used to mean untrue or spurious. 14 NOTE - The Gospel of Thomas was found in 1945 in Southern Egypt. It contains 114 sayings of Jesus without any narrative. Some parts echo what we find in the canonical Gospels. Others are a complete Gnostic reworking of Jesus’ original sayings. Note the 114th saying as an example: Simon Peter said to them, “Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life.” Jesus said, “I myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.” Three problems associated with the Gnostic Gospels 1. They were lost for over 1500 years, only to be rediscovered within the last century Hint! God doesn’t lose things, especially when it comes to His Word. 2. They were deliberate fabrications, published under the names of apostolic writers 3. Most of them were incomplete, as well as unscriptural -In total contradiction to John 2:11, where it states that Jesus performed His first miracle in Cana at the age of thirty, the Gospel of Thomas claims that Jesus turned clay birds into life, raised a playmate to life, blinded a man who had criticized his father Joseph, and lengthened a board his father had cut wrongly, all before the age of twelve. The book also alleges that Jesus was a brat as a child. -In total contradiction to Luke 1:46-47, where Mary admits that she is a sinner in need of a Savior, the Protevangelium of James claims that Mary’s birth was as miraculous and immaculate as Jesus’. The book not only promotes Mary’s perpetual virginity, which contradicts Matthew 1:24-25 & 12:46 and Mark 6:3, but it promotes her as being sinless as well. -In total contradiction to John 14:1-3, where Jesus states that Heaven is where the Father is, the Gospel of Nicodemus claims that Heaven and Hell are here on earth. Joy Davidman, wife of C.S. Lewis, in Smoke on the Mountain notes: One of the first tasks of the Early Church was to separate the true Gospels from the multitudinous invented “eyewitness” accounts in which the faithful lied their heads off for the supposed good of the Church. Fabulous miracles ascribed to the boy Jesus – and more suitable to an infant devil; romantic adventures of Paul with the holy virgin Thecla; forged donations of Constantine, false Isidorian decretals, profound treatises on metaphysics attributed to a Dionysius the Areopagite who never wrote them but was sainted for them – the list is endless. 1 *Compare the Bible to that of the Koran ( Gen 16:10 ), which also came to us from just “one man” (Mohammed), and was compiled within just a “few years” of his death by Othman, the third caliph, c. AD 657. *Compare the Bible to that of the Books of Mormonism ( Psa 82:6 ), which also came to us from just “one man” (Joseph Smith) during the mid 1800s, and was compiled in just “three months.” 12:1 Hypocrisy is the covering up of what is truly on the inside by an outward appearance. Nothing cloaked in hypocrisy ( For there is nothing covered – vs 2) will stay hidden ( that shall not be revealed ). Just ask King David (II Sam 12:1-12).

1 Davidman, Joy. Smoke on the Mountain , Philadelphia, PA, The Westminister Press, 1953. Print. 2 Prologue to the book of Sirach by Jesus (grandson of Jesus, son of Sirach) 3 Soggin, J. Alberto. Introduction to the Old Testament , Louisville, KY, Westminster John Knox Press, 1976. Print. 4 McEleney, Neil J. The Jerome Biblical Commentary (vol. 1), Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Preutice-Hall, 1968. Print. 5 Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie Study Bible, Chicago, ILL, Moody Press, 1978. Print. 6 Harrington, Daniel J. Invitation to the Apocrypha , Grand Rapids, MI, WM. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1999. Print. 7 Thomas, W.H. Griffith. How We Got Our Bible . Dallas, TX: Moody Publishers. 1984. Print. 8 Hobbs, Herschel H. Fundamentals Of Our Faith , Nashville, TN, Broadman Press, 1960. Print. 9 Mcdonald, James. God wrote a Book . Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books. 2002. Print. 10 Rimmer, Harry. Seven Wonders of the Wonderful Word . Grand Rapids, MI: WM. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. 1943. Print. 11 Hawking, Stephen. A Brief History of Time , New York, NY, Bantam Books, 1988. Print. 12 Collett, Sidney. All About the Bible , Grand Rapids, MI, Fleming H. Revell, 1934. Print. 13 McDowell, Josh. Evidence that Demands a Verdict , Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson. 1999. Print. 14 Evangelical Dictionary of Theology . Grand Rapids, MI, Baker Academic, 1984, 2001. Print.