8. The Apocryphal books. “After the third century, Jewish Bibles did not include these books, so the Reformers decided, in the sixteenth century, to reject them as well.”¹²

This is another very deceptive statement leading the reader to believe that the apocryphal books were a part of the Jewish canon until they were removed in the third century. Note the following.

            “Between 285 and 247 B.C., the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek at Alexandria for use in the Greek speaking world, and to them were added a number of apocryphal books written after the completion of the Old Testament canon. These the Palestinian Jews refused to acknowledge as part of the Scriptures. Both the Hebrew and Septuagint Greek Scriptures were in current use during the time of our Lord and His disciples. He and His disciples in their writings quoted from the Old Testament some 350 times. About 300 of these quotations are from the Septuagint, but there is not a single quotation taken from the apocryphal books...”¹³

            When Jerome translated the Bible into Latin between A.D. 382 and 404, he did not translate the Apocryphal, and in common with many others of his own and later times, refused to acknowledge its canonicity. The translation of these books into Latin was the work of others, and Jerome was in no way responsible for their inclusion in the Vulgate version of the Bible. Though some references to the apocryphal writings are found in early church literature, it was not until the Councils of Laodicea and Carthage in 363 and 397 that we find them listed as an actual part of the Old Testament. But even this did not signify anything like universal acceptance, and the controversy continued. In the sixteenth century the Reformers rejected them, and the Council of Trent, which was especially called to stop the Reformation movement, reaffirmed their canonicity...”¹⁵

Jerome's own list of the canonical books of the Old Testament does not include the apocryphal books, whose divine inspiration he refused to accept.¹⁵

Note this quotation from the preface to 1Machabees in the Roman Catholic Confraternity Version of the Bible:

“Although both Jews and Protestants do not regard these books as Sacred Scripture, they have always been so regarded by The [Roman Catholic] Church who has authoritatively and infallibly declared that they belong to the canon of inspired writings.”

¹²Karl Keating, Catholics, Fundamentalists, and the Bible, (Los Angeles, Franciscan Communications), p.11

¹³F.C.H. Dreyer and E. Weller, Roman Catholicism In the Light of Scripture, (Chicago, Illinois, Moody Press), p. 25

¹⁴Dreyer and Weller, p.26

¹⁵Dreyer and Weller, p.30-31