Why do Protestants Reject the Apocrypha?

There is a significant difference between Protestant Bibles and Roman Catholic Bibles.  The Roman Catholic Bible contains fourteen extra books.  Protestants call these books the Apocrypha (meaning hidden, or concealed), while Roman Catholics call them deuterocanonical (meaning "second canon").  These books were written during the intertestamental period in the 450 years between Malachi and the birth of Christ about the Jews living during that era.  

Why do Protestant Bibles omit these books?  The short answer is that while the Roman Catholic church considers these books to be inspired Scripture, Protestants do not.  But why the disagreement?  There are several reasons why Protestants reject the Apocrypha?

1) The Jewish scholars in the first century rejected the Apocrypha as Scripture.  Meeting at the Council of Jamnia in 90 AD, they did not include the Apocrypha in their Bible.

2) They are filled with historical and geographical errors.  

3) They teach doctrines that contradict the rest of Scripture, such as praying for the dead, purgatory, and justification by works.

4) They do not claim to be inspired by God.

5) They were not written by a prophet or apostle.

6) They contain no predictive prophecy, which would be helpful to verify their inspired status.

7) While the NT writers quoted heavily from the OT (e.g., Matthew contains approximately 130 citations of the Old Testament), they never quoted from the Apocrypha.

8) Many church fathers (early Christian leaders after the apostles) denied the Apocrypha, such as Origin, Jerome, Athanasius, and Cyril of Jerusalem.  In fact, when Jerome (340-420 AD) translated his famous copy of the Bible known as the Latin Vulgate, which became the official Bible of the Roman Catholic church for centuries, he rejected the Apocrypha as Scripture.  Jerome was the first to label these books apocryphal, and he said that while the church can utilize these books "for example of life and instruction of manners," it should not use them to "establish any doctrine."  Initially he even refused to translate the Apocrypha into Latin, but later he made a hurried translation of some of them.   

9) None of the earliest lists of Scriptural books include the Apocrypha.  For example, Melito, the Bishop of Sardis, wrote down one of the earliest lists of Old Testament books in 170 AD, and it omits the Apocrypha.  As well, in 367 AD Athanasius wrote a list of all the books in the Bible, and he included every book in the Protestant Bible except Esther, while omitting all of the apocryphal books.

10) Early Jewish writers rejected the Apocrypha.  Josephus, a first century Jewish historian, rejected the Apocrypha.  Philo, a Jewish philosopher from the first century, quoted from virtually every book in the Old Testament, but never quoted the Apocrypha.  

It is important to note that the Roman Catholic Church did not officially declare the Apocrypha to be Scripture until the Council of Trent (1545-1563 AD), and did so in reaction to the Protestant Reformation.  The Reformers complained that the Roman Catholic Church taught several doctrines that were unbiblical, such as praying for the dead, purgatory, and justification by works.  Because these doctrines were supported by the Apocrypha, the Roman Catholic Church officially declared the Apocrypha to be Scripture, and said that anyone who rejects the Apocrypha is accursed.  In other words, the Roman Catholic Church did not officially recognize the Apocrypha as Scripture until 1,500 years after they were written.  

Sources:

• Josh McDowell, Evidence for Christianity
• Josh McDowell, Answers to Tough Questions Skeptics Ask About the Christian Faith
• Ron Rhodes, Reasoning from the Scriptures With Catholics
• Doug Powell, Ultimate Guide to Defend Your Faith