Q: I really want to know why does the Catholic Bible have extra books in it? Where did they come from and what do you think about them?

A: In regards to the Apocrypha, it is a great collection of inter-testamental and historical literature but it is very doubtful that it was regarded as Scripture by the vast majority of Jewish scribes and/or first-century Christians. The reason that they as well as protestants today, do not consider it a part of the bible is because it doesn't meet certain qualifiers. To be considered divinely inspired Scripture, a book had to meet the following:

1. It had to have been written by a God-ordained prophet (OT), leader, or Apostle (NT). In the Old Testament, these people were God-appointed and not self-appointed spokesmen or leaders for God's people. This office is not one to which anyone would aspire because a prophet was expected to be completely accurate in his prophetic utterances, and if such accuracy were lacking it was grounds for execution of the prophet. In the NT, each of its authors were personally called by Jesus Christ to be a follower. (Paul meets this qualifier because of his Damascus Road experience). Thus in addition to being contemporaries of Jesus Christ, they were also personally selected by him. In addition to this qualifier, they were also eyewitnesses to the risen Lord.

2. It was confirmed internally. The Bible, therefore, had been confirmed and in circulation long before the Council of Trent. This is confirmed internally by the New Testament itself (see, for example, Peter referring to Paul's work as Scripture, 2 Pet. 3:15,16) and also by the early 2nd century writings of Church leaders in which they refer to the books of the New Testament as Scripture (e.g., Clement of Rome).

3. It had to be congruent with the rest of Scripture. Books that were not included in the canon of Scripture were those that were in direct contradiction to (1) the theology of the Old Testament prophets and (2) the apostolic teachings. The apocrypha fails to meet these qualifiers and thus is not considered Scripture.

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