Why Did Martin Luther Remove Books from the Bible? A Catholic Response

Introduction

In the sixteenth century, Martin Luther ignited one of the most consequential ruptures in Christian history. Among his most far-reaching decisions were two that the Catholic Church has never accepted: the removal of seven books from the Old Testament and the reduction of the Seven Sacraments to only two. From the Catholic perspective, these were not reforms — they were subtractions from the deposit of faith that Christ entrusted to His Church.

This post examines why Luther made these changes, and why the Catholic Church holds that he had no authority to do so.

The Seven Books Luther Removed

Luther removed the following books from the Old Testament, relegating them to an appendix he called the "Apocrypha":

• Tobit
• Judith
• 1 Maccabees
• 2 Maccabees
• Wisdom (of Solomon)
• Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)
• Baruch

Catholics call these books the Deuterocanonical books — meaning "second canon" — not because they are secondary in authority, but because their canonical status was formally defined later. They have been part of the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament, abbreviated LXX) since approximately the 3rd–2nd century BC, and were the version of Scripture most widely used by Jesus, the Apostles, and the early Church.

Why Did Luther Remove Them?

Luther's motivations were largely theological and polemical:

1. They Supported Doctrines He Rejected

The most direct reason was that these books contained passages that contradicted his emerging theology. Most notably, 2 Maccabees 12:46 explicitly supports prayer for the dead:

"It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins."

Luther had already rejected Purgatory. Keeping 2 Maccabees in the canon would have undermined his position. Rather than reinterpret the passage, he removed the book.

Similarly, the Book of Wisdom contains passages that early Christians and Church Fathers read as prophetic of Christ's Passion (Wisdom 2:12–20), and Sirach affirms the value of works alongside faith — a direct challenge to Luther's doctrine of sola fide (faith alone).

2. He Adopted the Rabbinic Canon

Luther chose to align the Old Testament with the Hebrew canon as defined by Jewish rabbis — a canon that excluded the Deuterocanonical books because they were preserved primarily in Greek, not Hebrew. However, the Catholic Church notes several problems with this reasoning:

• The rabbis who defined this narrower canon did so at Jamnia (c. AD 90) — after the time of Christ and the Apostles, and partly in reaction against Christianity.
• The New Testament authors quote the Septuagint (the broader Greek canon) far more frequently than the Hebrew text. Scholars have identified over 300 NT quotations from the LXX.
• The early Church universally used the Septuagint and treated the Deuterocanonical books as Scripture.

3. He Also Questioned New Testament Books

It is worth noting that Luther's canonical skepticism extended to the New Testament as well. He famously called the Epistle of James an "epistle of straw" because its emphasis on works (James 2:24 — "a man is justified by works and not by faith alone") contradicted his theology. He also expressed doubts about Hebrews, Jude, and Revelation. He ultimately retained these books under pressure, but his willingness to judge Scripture by his theology — rather than submit his theology to Scripture — is precisely what the Catholic Church identifies as the fatal flaw of the Reformation principle of sola scriptura.

The Catholic Church's Response

The Catholic Church formally defined the canon of Scripture at the Council of Trent (1546), reaffirming the same 73-book canon that had been recognized at the regional Councils of Hippo (393 AD) and Carthage (397 AD and 419 AD) — over a thousand years before Luther was born.

The Church's position is clear: no individual, however learned or sincere, has the authority to determine which books belong in the Bible. That authority belongs to the Church, which Christ promised would be guided by the Holy Spirit into all truth (John 16:13). As St. Augustine wrote: "I would not believe the Gospel, if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me."

Luther and the Sacraments

The Catholic Church recognizes Seven Sacraments, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church:

1. Baptism
2. Eucharist (Holy Communion)
3. Confirmation
4. Penance (Reconciliation)
5. Anointing of the Sick
6. Holy Orders (Ordination)
7. Matrimony

Luther reduced these to two — Baptism and the Lord's Supper — and later some Protestant traditions reduced them further to mere "ordinances" with no sacramental grace at all.

Why Did Luther Reject Five Sacraments?

Luther's criterion was that a true Sacrament must be: (1) explicitly instituted by Christ in the Gospels, and (2) accompanied by a visible, physical sign. Applying this standard, he dismissed Confirmation, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony.

The Catholic Church responds on several grounds:

1. Penance — John 20:22–23

"Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

Christ explicitly grants the Apostles the authority to forgive or retain sins — a power that requires knowing what sins have been committed, i.e., confession. The Greek verb used is ἀφίετε (aphiete) — a present active imperative meaning "you are forgiving" — indicating an ongoing, active ministry of absolution, not a one-time event.

2. Anointing of the Sick — James 5:14–15

"Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven."

This passage describes a formal, ecclesial rite of anointing with oil by Church elders (πρεσβυτέρους, presbyterous) that results in both physical healing and forgiveness of sins — the precise definition of a Sacrament.

3. Holy Orders — Luke 22:19 and 2 Timothy 1:6

At the Last Supper, Christ commands the Apostles: "Do this in remembrance of me" — τοῦτο ποιεῖτε (touto poieite) — a present active imperative commissioning them as priests to perpetuate the Eucharist. St. Paul speaks of the "gift of God" Timothy received through the laying on of hands (2 Tim 1:6), which the Church has always understood as ordination.

4. Confirmation — Acts 8:14–17

The Apostles Peter and John travel to Samaria specifically to lay hands on the baptized so they might receive the Holy Spirit — a distinct, post-baptismal rite that the Church recognizes as Confirmation.

5. Matrimony — Ephesians 5:31–32

St. Paul calls marriage a μυστήριον (mysterion) — the Greek word translated into Latin as sacramentum. He explicitly connects it to the union of Christ and the Church, giving it a sacred, covenantal character that transcends a civil contract.

The Deeper Issue: Authority

From the Catholic perspective, Luther's reforms share a common root: the rejection of the Church's teaching authority, or Magisterium. When Luther declared at the Diet of Worms (1521) that he would not recant unless "convinced by Scripture and plain reason," he placed his own judgment above that of councils, popes, and 1,500 years of Christian tradition.

The Catholic Church holds that Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium form an inseparable unity. To remove books from the Bible or Sacraments from the life of the Church is not to purify Christianity — it is to diminish it. As the Catechism states: "The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God... has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone." (CCC 85)

Conclusion

Martin Luther was a man of genuine faith and moral courage, and the Catholic Church acknowledges the real abuses he protested. But the Church maintains that his solutions — removing Scripture, reducing the Sacraments, and elevating private judgment above apostolic authority — created wounds in the Body of Christ that are still being healed today.

The Deuterocanonical books remain in the Catholic Bible not out of stubbornness, but because they were there from the beginning. The Seven Sacraments remain because Christ instituted them, the Apostles practiced them, and the Church has faithfully transmitted them for two thousand years.

Truth, the Church teaches, is not determined by majority vote or individual conviction — it is received, guarded, and handed on.