Intro
I haven't done much in terms of New Testament Apocrypha that appear in other churches, except Laodiceans (which appears in the Wycliffe Bible). Here's another New Testament work which has been accepted by some churches into mediaeval times and beyond.
As with the better known and more accepted Pauline Epistles, there are references to various figures and also a certain amount of padding.
The letter appears to have been written in response to certain Gnostic and heretical claims. It is adamant that Christ was born of Mary in the flesh (so not a spirit etc), and that he was conceived by God. Both of these became major debating points in the centuries before Constantine. It also brings up the matter of our own resurrection in the future.
There are a few obvious Bible references in it, such as the story of Jonah and he refers to the "generation of vipers" towards rhe end:
Like Laodiceans, there is nothing that really jumps out at me as being particularly unusual. If you think otherwise, please feel free to reply below. And as with Laodiceans, its origins are similarly murky.Matthew 12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
Name
This book is normally called 3 Corinthians, III Corinthians or the Third Epistle to the Corinthians.
Canonicity
3 Corinthians is attributed to St. Paul, but most scholars and almost all churches today dispute that. However it does seem to be fairly well attested (Wikipedia):
The Roman Catholic church dates it to around 160-170 AD when the gnostic movement was in full swing.The earliest extant copy is Papyrus Bodmer X, dating to the third century. Originally written in Koine Greek, the letter survives in Greek, Coptic, Latin, and Armenian manuscripts.
So far in my Apocrypha series, I've dealt with books that Roman Catholics use (Tobit, 2 Maccabees etc) and most Protestants don't, that Eastern Orthodox use but most RCs don't (Odes, Psalm 151) and books used by the Ethiopians and almost no one else (Jubilees, Covenants).
3 Corinthians seems to have been one of those books which have hovered around the New Testament canon. There are those which barely made it in (Revelation, Hebrews), and those which narrowly missed out (the Shepherd of Hermas). 3 Corinthians falls into the third camp, since like Laodiceans it has appeared in some Bibles and then disappeared... but at the same time it doesn't feel like something way outside the modern canon like the Gospel of Thomas or the various gnostic Pseudepigrapha.
3 Corinthians has had a very marginal existence in any canon. It has been treated by some Armenian churches as canon or at least deuterocanonical (of secondary relevance), but not even by all of them! It was used anciently (and then rejected) by some Eastern Orthodox and Syriac churches (although it never made it into the Syriac Peshitta which is their main canon.)
3 Corinthians made it into the Middle Ages in limited ecclesiastical use and even the modern age, as according to Wikipedia it appears in:
In some manuscripts and books, 3 Corinthians was incorporated into the Acts of Paul, much like the Prayer of Manasseh and Epistle of Jeremiah also found themselves joined to other works.the Oskan Armenian Bible of 1666, [and] it was in an Appendix to the Zohrab Armenian Bible of 1805 which follows the Vulgate canon, and it is not currently considered part of the Armenian Orthodox New Testament. It was not part of the canon list of Anania Shirakatsi in the 7th century but is part of the canon lists of Hovhannes Imastaser (11th century), Mekhitar of Ayrivank (13th century) and Gregory of Tatev (14th century).
I will quote the full text in the replies section and maybe examine some of it in greater detail
Audiobook link... not the best sound but given that it is just under seven minutes long, and there seems to be little other choice, I'm not complaining.
--
This is part of my ongoing series on Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical works:
1 Esdras inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?p=1343974
2 Esdras (the most relevant book in the Apocrypha?) inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?p=1344302
1 Maccabees
viewtopic.php?t=69454
2 Maccabees
viewtopic.php?t=69468
3 Maccabees
viewtopic.php?t=69496
4 Maccabees
viewtopic.php?t=69515
Book of Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremy/Jeremiah
viewtopic.php?t=69433
Book of Tobit inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?p=1341501
Apocryphal additions to Esther inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?p=1343414
Bel and the Dragon (quoted in full, KJV; inc audiobook link)
viewtopic.php?t=69261
Prayer of Azarias and Hymn of the Three Children (quoted in full KJV, inc. audiobook link)
viewtopic.php?p=1341611
Book of Judith and the Book of Mormon, inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?t=69402
Book of Susanna inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?t=69386
Wisdom of Solomon
viewtopic.php?t=69469
Book of Sirach or Ecclesiasticus
viewtopic.php?t=69412
Prayer of Mannases (aka Mannaseh; quoted in full KJV, inc. audiobook link)
viewtopic.php?t=69263
Psalm 151 (quoted in full, NRSV)
viewtopic.php?t=63875
Epistle to the Laodiceans (NT, quoted in full Wycliffe's translation, )
viewtopic.php?t=64025
The Book of Odes - this is an Eastern Orthodox work of limited interest, but included for the sake of completeness.
viewtopic.php?t=69470
Outside the Western and Eastern Orthodox Canon...
The Ethiopian canon. This includes brief info on the books of Sinodos, Ethiopian Clement, Ethiopian Covenant, and Didascalia as well as a list of other works in the canon.
viewtopic.php?t=69540
The Book of Enoch
viewtopic.php?t=69577
The Book of Jubilees, also known as Leptogenesis or Little Genesis
viewtopic.php?t=69548
The Shepherd of Hermas
viewtopic.php?p=1352230#p1352230
And also
Antilegomena: the books which barely made it into the Bible - Revelation, the Song of Solomon, Jude, Esther etc.
viewtopic.php?t=69609