Theological Glossary
Six Christian traditions define Apocrypha below — each in its own words, paraphrased from its official documents. These are attributed positions, not assertions of fact.
The Catholic Church does not use the term 'Apocrypha' for these books; it calls them deuterocanonical and receives them as fully inspired Scripture — Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1–2 Maccabees, and additions to Esther and Daniel. It holds that their canonicity was definitively affirmed at Trent.
Source: CCC 120 ↗
The Orthodox Church receives these books as 'anagignoskomena' — 'worthy to be read' — using them in worship and doctrine from the Septuagint tradition. It holds them in high honor, though with less dogmatic precision about their exact status than the Latin West developed.
Lutherans teach that the Apocrypha is useful and good for reading but not equal to Holy Scripture and not authoritative for establishing doctrine. Luther placed these books in a separate section of his Bible with the note that they are profitable yet not canonical.
Source: Luther's Apocrypha preface (1534), Luther's Works 35:337 — via LCMS ↗
The Reformed tradition teaches that the Apocrypha is not of divine inspiration, is no part of the canon of Scripture, and therefore is of no authority in the Church of God. It holds that these books may be read for historical information but not as the Word of God.
Source: Westminster Confession 1.3 ↗
Baptists do not receive the Apocrypha as Scripture, holding to the 66-book canon alone as God's inspired Word. They teach that these writings may have historical interest but carry no divine authority for faith or practice.
Methodists hold the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments alone as Scripture, and do not receive the Apocrypha as canonical.
Source: Articles of Religion, Art. V ↗
See how the traditions compare on related topics: