Expert: Rev. Robert Woods - 1/30/2010

Question
It has been brought to my attention that the Catholic Bible has seven books in the old testament that the Bible we use does not have.  Tobit, Judith, 1&2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, and Baruch. I am currently researching these books however I would like a to hear from someone with a greater understanding of why and when these seven books were taken out or never added to our Bible.  I thank you very much for your time and appreciate the answer you will give.

Answer
Blessings and thank you for your question.

Each of the 66 books of the Bible has been recognized as inspired revelation from God, as teaching with normative authority, and therefore as canonical.  Canonicity presupposes revelation, inspiration, and authority.  The books of the Bible were inspired when they were written.  When they were received as inspired, they became part of the canon, the collection of inspired writings.  The term canon is from the Greek kanon, which in turn is from the Hebrew ganeh, meaning a measuring rod or rule.  It signifies that which measures or that which is measured by the rule or nom.  In the 4th century the Greek Christians gave it a religious meaning and applied it to the Bible, especially to the Jewish books.  The canon, then, is the list of biblical books regarded as inspired and accepted as authoritative for all Christians.
R. Laird Harris has said that, “The evidence clearly indicates that a fully developed canon existed in the second century B.C.  That this canon was accepted and approved by Christ and the apostles in the New Testament is clear from the New Testament statements.  There should be no difference of opinion among those who honor Christ and the Gospel as to what books belong in the Old Testament.  There remains, however, the interesting and important question as to the principles used in antiquity, for placing certain books in the canon and excluding others.”
There were 5 tests usually applied to a book to determine whether or not it should be accepted in the canon. First, and most important, was the test of divine authorship. This is a question of inspirations.  Books which were held to be inspired were revered and received, and were collected into the canon.  When the question of inspiration was answered, so was the question of canonicity.  The test of inspiration was wrapped up in other tests.
Second was the test of human authorship.  Here the question was, “Is the book written, edited, or endorsed by a prophet or a spokesman from God?” Prophetic authorship was the key criterion of canonicity.   Evidence is obviously not complete for all the OT books.  But evidence is clear from the principles of their acceptance.  Those written by prophets were accepted, and kings and priests were also sometimes prophets.  Any man to whom God revealed His Word was a prophet.  Thus David and Solomon were prophets as truly as Joshua and Daniel.  There are, of course, some books whose authorship is now not know.  Therese were, however, classified by the Jews and by Christ as among the Prophets, and in the absence of the slightest evidence to the contrary, they may be thus accepted.  God gave the Jews No test of an inspired book or list of canonical books.  But He did give them very obvious and practical tests of a prophet, and it is clear that they accepted the writings of these prophets equally with their spoken words.
Third, it was asked whether the book could be traced back to the time and writer from which it professed to come.  Was it genuine?
Fourth, the question was asked, “Is this a record of actual facts? Is it authentic?” This question related to the contents of the book This question related to the contents of the book and its won claims as being from God.
A Fifth test concerned the testimony of the Jews and later the early church councils and the ancient versions of the Bible.  In other words, How was the book received?
Between the time of the writing of Malachi and that of the first New Testament book, both revelation and therefore inspiration were inoperative.  This period of some four hundred years is often called the 400 silent years..   It was a silent period because God did not speak as he had before.  Though we do not believe any inspired documents were written during this time, other books were.  A collection of a number of these came to be called the Apocrypha.
The word apocrypha denotes things hidden, and it was so used in classical language.  The word came to mean obscure and still later was used in the sense of mysterious.  Finally, the word was used of that which was spurious or not genuine.  The Reformers used the term to describe the books that were not canonical.
Evangelical Protestantism acknowledges the value of the Apocryphal books from a political and literary point of view and for their reflection of the religious life of Israel between the testaments (for instance the origins or story of the Jewish Festival of Hanukah).  But it rejects the Apocrypha from the canon.  None of these books claims to be inspired.  None is quoted in the New Testament.  None was in the canon which Christ accepted.  These books contain historical, geographical, and chronological errors, and they sometimes contradict the canonical books.  Except for 1 and 2 Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh, the Apocryphal books were officially acknowledged only by the Church of Rome at the Council of Trent, which was centuries after everyone else had agreed the canon was closed.  In other words, the Catholic church ADDED these books after the canon was already considered closed.  So during the reformation, protestant leaders rejected these books because they were added and not considered part of the canon.