Why Protestants Removed the Book of Maccabees: Praying for the Dead

Quote:

𝗪𝗛𝗬 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗧𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗡𝗧𝗦 𝗥𝗘𝗠𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗞 𝗢𝗙 𝗠𝗔𝗖𝗖𝗔𝗕𝗘𝗘𝗦?

Among the most revealing moments in the early years of the Protestant revolt is the Leipzig Debate of 1519 between Martin Luther and the Catholic theologian Johann Eck. This decisive debate exposed a deep weakness in Luther’s new theology: it did not agree with the historic biblical canon used by the Apostles and preserved by the Church.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐢𝐩𝐳𝐢𝐠 𝐃𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐋𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐚𝐬 𝐃𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐒𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞

During the debate, Johann Eck defended the Catholic doctrines of purgatory and prayers for the dead. To support his argument, he appealed directly to Scripture—specifically 2 Maccabees 12:43–46, which explicitly describes prayers and sacrifices offered for the souls of the dead so they may be purified from sin.

Luther was instantly trapped.

If Maccabees is Scripture, then prayer for the dead and purgatory are biblical.

If he wanted to deny purgatory, he had to deny Maccabees.

Instead of accepting Scripture, Luther declared that Maccabees was not part of the Bible—right there in the debate—simply because it contradicted his new teachings. Eck immediately pointed out that Luther was rejecting 1,500 years of Christian tradition, the canon affirmed by the early Church, and the Bible as used since apostolic times.

The debate made it clear:

Eck stood on the universal Christian canon. Luther stood only on himself.

𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙈𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙖𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙨 𝙃𝙖𝙨 𝘼𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝘽𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙎𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙥𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚

Ancient Jews accepted Maccabees as historical and sacred tradition

While later rabbinic Judaism narrowed its canon in the late 1st century, earlier Jewish communities:

used Maccabees,

transmitted Maccabean texts,

and celebrated the feasts recorded in it, especially Hanukkah.

Maccabees is found in the Septuagint (LXX)—the Bible of Jesus and the Apostles

The Septuagint was the Scripture used by:

Jesus,

the Apostles,

early Christians,

and Greek-speaking Jews.

And the Septuagint contains 1 and 2 Maccabees.

Over 300 New Testament quotations match the Septuagint, not the Hebrew Masoretic text adopted later by Protestants.

Rejecting the Septuagint canon means rejecting the canon used by the first Christians.

Maccabees appears in the oldest Christian manuscripts — Sinaiticus and Vaticanus

Two of the most ancient complete biblical manuscripts contain Maccabees:

Codex Sinaiticus (4th century) – includes 1 Maccabees and even 4 Maccabees.

Codex Vaticanus (4th century) – includes both 1 and 2 Maccabees.

These manuscripts are more than a millennium older than the Protestant Reformation and prove that the early universal Church accepted Maccabees.

Maccabean texts are found in Hebrew among the Dead Sea Scrolls (Qumran)

Fragments related to the Maccabean period were preserved at Qumran, proving that ancient Judaism transmitted these traditions in Hebrew before Christianity.

St. Jerome included Maccabees in the Latin Vulgate

Despite his own academic reservations, Jerome obeyed the Church and included Maccabees in the first official Christian Bible. The Vulgate became the standard Bible for more than 1,000 years.

If Maccabees is in:

the Septuagint,

the Vulgate,

Codex Sinaiticus,

Codex Vaticanus,

the Dead Sea Scrolls,

then Luther had no historical or theological basis to remove it.

𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐤𝐤𝐚𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐌𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐬 — 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐁𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞

This is a powerful point Protestants cannot answer.

Hanukkah (Feast of Dedication)

The origin of Hanukkah is recorded only in Maccabees, not in the Masoretic Hebrew canon used by Protestants.

1 Maccabees 4:36–59

2 Maccabees 10:1–8

Jesus Himself keeps this feast in John 10:22, yet Protestants rely on a canon that removed the only biblical record of Hanukkah’s origin.

Pentecost (Feast of Weeks)

The word Pentecost appears in:

2 Maccabees 12:32

But it does not appear in the Masoretic text.

Yet Protestants preach Pentecost Sunday from a feast whose biblical background comes from a book they removed.

This alone proves that the Protestant canon is historically incomplete.

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐋𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐬 (𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐎𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬)

Luther did not stop with Maccabees. He also wanted to remove:

James – which contradicted “faith alone.”

Jude – which quotes the deuterocanonical Book of Enoch.

Hebrews – which teaches sacrifice after Christ.

Revelation – which he found “neither apostolic nor prophetic.”

Luther’s guiding principle was not tradition or scholarship—it was agreement with his theology.

Maccabees explicitly teaches:

prayers for the dead (2 Macc 12:44)

atonement after death (2 Macc 12:45)

the resurrection of the body (2 Macc 7)

intercession of saints (2 Macc 15:12–16)

Thus Luther’s removal was theological, not historical.

𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙇𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙒𝙖𝙨 𝙒𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝘼𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙈𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙖𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙨

1. He had no authority to change the canon.

The biblical canon was affirmed by the Councils of Rome (382), Hippo (393), and Carthage (397).

2. He rejected the Bible used by Jesus and the Apostles.

The Apostles used the Septuagint, not the Masoretic text.

3. He contradicted the earliest Christian manuscripts.

Sinaiticus and Vaticanus include Maccabees.

4. He removed books because they contradicted his doctrines.

5. He accepted the late Jewish canon, which rejected books Christians had always held as Scripture.

The Protestant Deletion of Maccabees Was Doctrinal — Not Historical

Why was Maccabees removed?

Because it supports Catholic teachings Protestants reject.

Purgatory

Prayers for the dead

Intercession of saints

The resurrection

Sacred tradition

Apostolic Scripture

The Septuagint canon

Feasts like Hanukkah and Pentecost

Removing the books was the only way to defend the new Protestant doctrines.

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐌𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡

Maccabees testifies to:

Apostolic tradition

Jewish history

Early Christian Scripture

Catholic doctrines

The canon used by Christ and His Apostles

The Leipzig Debate exposed the truth clearly:

> When Maccabees speaks, Catholic doctrine stands unshaken. When Luther rejects it, he stands alone.

Maccabees belongs to the Bible because Christ’s Church preserved it— and Protestants removed it only to deny Catholic truth.