Why is the book of Maccabees only in the Catholic Bible?

Answer 1

The 'canonical' books of The Bible (ie those that have been accepted into the Bible) were only included after a great deal of research, discussion - and prayer. Therefore the books that are accepted by all denominations (like the Pentateuch, history books, the prophets, psalms, etc of the Old Testament, and the Gospels, Acts and letters of the New Testament) as being worthy of scripture were chosen by very strict rules. In fact, Revelation, the last bok of the Bible, caused some controversy and was only iincluded after a great deal of discussion and prayer, after which it just 'scraped in'. There were many other books that did not meet the requirements to be included in scripture. Among these were books that could immediately rejected because they did not agree with the known records, or were biassed, or which were written a very long time aft the events they described. Also, there were other books that were in a 'grey area' that were not authoritative enough to include in scripture, but were not necessarily the low standard of the rejected books. These books were included in some editions of the Bible, and not others. However, in most Bibles, especially those used by the Protestant Churches, these books were not included in the Old and New Testaments, but instead were included as a separate section between the two testaments. This section is called the Apocrypha (which means 'those that have been hidden away') and is avaiable either as part of some Protestant Bibles or sometimes as a collection of books in its own right. In the Anglican Church the 39 Articles of Faith (the doctrine as set down by the church in 1571 - hence the archaic language) state of the Apocrypha (in the 7th Article): "Of the Names and Number of the Canonical Books.

Genesis, The First Book of Samuel, The Book of Esther,

Exodus, The Second Book of Samuel, The Book of Job,

Leviticus, The First Book of Kings, The Psalms,

Numbers, The Second Book of Kings, The Proverbs,

Deuteronomy, The First Book of Chronicles, Ecclesiastes or Preacher,

Joshua, The Second Book of Chronicles, Cantica, or Songs of Solomon,

Judges, The First Book of Esdras, Four Prophets the greater,

Ruth, The Second Book of Esdras, Twelve Prophets the less. And the other Books (as Hierome saith) the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine; such are these following: The Third Book of Esdras, The rest of the Book of Esther,

The Fourth Book of Esdras, The Book of Wisdom,

The Book of Tobias, Jesus the Son of Sirach,

The Book of Judith, Baruch the Prophet,

The Song of the Three Children, The Prayer of Manasses,

The Story of Susanna, The First Book of Maccabees,

Of Bel and the Dragon, The Second Book of Maccabees. All the Books of the New Testament, as they are commonly received, we do receive, and account them Canonical."

So the Protestant churches do not simply leave out the apocryphal books - they can use them, but do not regard them as scripture on which doctrine is based.

Answer 2

First and Second Maccabees are two of the seven Deuterocanonical books which Martin Luther removed from his version of the Bible as they supported specific Christian teachings with which he disagreed. The Bible, as used in the Catholic Church uses the same Old Testament that Our Blessed Lord, Jesus Christ, used, which was the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament made in the fourth century B.C.