Previous Questions and Answers
Why was the Apocrypha once included in the Bible?
I'm glad you are a King James proponent. I
am too. But please explain to me why the Apocrypha was included in the original 1611
version and was not removed for many years after. If the KJV is God's Bible in English as
I believe it is, how could the 1611 committee have made this grave mistake and included
these uninspired writings that contain errors as part of Holy Scripture?
It was included, at first, like maps or a
concordance is often included in the Bible — as a reference, not as part of
Scripture. Corrupt manuscripts included it right in the text, as if it was Scripture; but
not so in the King James Bible. Including it as a reference in a separate section was a
decision that was later reversed, and it was removed totally. Sometimes things are done
based upon tradition, and not actually in the best interest of people, spiritually
speaking. Such was the case with including the Apocrypha in the Bible at all. Its
historical value is rendered of no value at all, when considering the spiritual detriment
that it is to the people reading it (like the false teachings of purgatory, prayers for
the dead, etc.). Remember, it is not the King James translators that were inspired, but
the Scripture itself. God used the translators to bring His perfect, preserved Word into
English, but that does not make the translators themselves perfect—no more than us
holding to the King James Bible as God’s perfect, preserved Word makes everything
that we do perfect. We are sinners saved by grace, and we sometimes do not make the wisest
decisions, but that is where growth comes into our lives. We believe that God has
preserved His Word perfect, because He promised to do so. Psalm 12:6,7 says, “The
words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth,
purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this
generation for ever.” God did give us His perfect, preserved Word in the English
language, and as men read it, they saw that it was in error to include things for
historical value, when they were well known to include many false statements and
teachings, so the Apocrypha was removed totally from the Bible.
