Did St Paul Quote the Deuterocanon in His First Letter to the Corinthians?

It's a long story, but yes.

One of the main arguments that Protestants make for claiming that the seven Deuterocanonical books are not inspired Scripture, and thus should not belong in the Bible, is that these seven books are not cited by Jesus, the Apostles or the New Testament books. This is not a small matter. Martin Luther, claiming authority which he never possessed, declared that these seven books were not inspired Scripture and should be removed from the Bible. He tried to remove these books because they explicitly contradict his personal theology and doctrines. (Luther also tried, unsuccessfully, to remove 4 New Testament books as well because they also contradict his theology. Apparently his infallibility and authority was very limited!) The rejection and usurpation of the authority of the Church Jesus built is the foundation of the Protestant Revolt.

For a movement, especially one that claims to be founded upon the doctrine of Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone), if they were found to have removed inspired books of Scripture from the Bible, then the entire foundation for their movement is destroyed. So if St Paul, in one of his letters, actually cited from one of the books of the Deuterocanon (Protestants call these books the Apocrypha), then this entire reason and justification for rejecting the seven Deuterocanon books evaporates.

Well let’s take a look at 1 Corinthians 2, specifically verse 9 from the Protestant NIV and KJV translations:

(NIV) 9 However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him—

(KJV) 9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

Did you notice the sleight of hand that the NIV translation did? They moved the quotation mark from the word “him” to the word “conceived”. They are trying to pretend that “the things God has prepared for those who love him” was not part of the citation of Scripture that St Paul is using. They want to pretend that this part of the citation is St. Paul’s addition to the OT citation instead of St. Paul’s continued citation. And we shall see why very shortly.

One of the things the Apostles and authors of the NT books often do is to take two verses from different books of the OT and splice them together into one saying of Scripture. For example, in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 1, Mark takes a sentence from Malachi 3:1 and joins it to Isaiah 40:3 into one citation from Scripture and says the citation is from Isaiah (attributing only one source is common of writing at the time).

Mark 1:2 as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way” — 3 “a voice of one calling in the wilderness, Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him

Malachi 3:1 “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

Isaiah 40: 3 A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

This is by far not the only time this is done but is very common in the New Testament. So when St Paul cites from the OT, it appears that he is splicing two different OT passages together, because the first part of his citation is pretty universally agreed upon that it comes from Isaiah 64:

(NIV) 4 Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

(KJV) 4 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.

But where does his citation of “the things God has prepared for those who love him” come from? Well the NIV attempts to answer this question by ignoring the question and pretending that this is not part of St Paul’s citation, when it very clearly is part of it. What’s funny is that the KJV translators, in spite of many claims to the contrary, borrowed from the (Catholic) Douay-Rheims translation in using the word “prepared” instead of the more accurate “acts” or “working” that other translations use. (There are other examples of the KJV translators very clearly borrowing directly from the D-R translation, such as their use of the word “lucifer” which comes from the Latin instead of the Greek.) They very clearly borrowed this translation so they didn’t have to explain where the second half of this citation came from.

So where does it come from?

Some Protestants try to say that it is just a slight change of the second half of the verse, but this doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. It just doesn’t fit the wording used in Isaiah 64, and some try to claim it is a tangential takeoff of Isaiah 65:16-17, but as you’ll see, this is just not credidble in any way. They simply don’t line up at all.

(KJV) 16 That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes. 17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

(NIV) 16 Whoever invokes a blessing in the land will do so by the one true God; whoever takes an oath in the land will swear by the one true God. For the past troubles will be forgotten and hidden from my eyes. 17 “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.

The answer for where it comes from is from the Deuterocanonical book Sirach. It comes specifically from chapter 1, verse 10 (verse 9 is included to give the entire sentence):

Sirach 1:9 It is he who created her; he saw her and took her measure; he poured her out upon all his works, 10 upon all the living according to his gift; he lavished her upon those who love him.

Combining this with Isaiah 64, we have:

…no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you,…he lavished her upon those who love him.

And let’s compare that to St. Paul’s citation:

What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him

While not word for word, the entire thought is complete and whole with this combination of citations from Isaiah and Sirach.

So if St. Paul did actually cite Sirach, one of the Deuterocanon books, then the entire foundation of the principle doctrines of Protestantism completely crumbles.