Catholicism - Canon of Scripture

Canon of Scripture

Deuterocanonical books represent a portion of the apocryphal books of the intertestamental period, the centuries between the close of the Old Testament canon and the opening of the New Testament canon.

The historical evidence is overwhelming that the Jewish canon did not include these intertestamental books.

If ten books were placed in front of you and you were directed to separate the books into two piles, fallible and infallible, you would likely not get it exactly right.  Why?  Because we are fallible.  If we were infallible, we would get it right every time.

None of us are infallible but Yeshua.

However, Rome claims infallibility for its historical selection and collection of the books of Scripture.  Which of course, is impossible.  Rome is no more infallible than any of us.  So, the historical question of whether the Jewish canon contained certain books is ultimately irrelevant to Rome.

Yeshua and the New Testament writers quoted the Old Testament hundreds of times.  They quoted from every section of the Hebrew canon (Law, Prophets, and Writings).  However, not once did Yeshua, Paul, Peter, James, or any New Testament writer quote from Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, or 1–2 Maccabees as authoritative Scripture.  This silence is significant, especially since they quoted from the Hebrew canon extensively.

[Luk 24:44 LSB]  Now He [Yeshua] said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that ALL THINGS which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

Yeshua speaks of the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. This spans from the first book (Genesis) to the last book (2 Chronicles) in the Hebrew order — again showing He recognized the Hebrew canon, which excludes the Deuterocanonical books.
[Mat 23:35 LSB]  so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.
The Jewish people (to whom the Old Testament was given — Romans 3:2) never accepted the Deuterocanonical books as inspired Scripture.  The Jewish canon was fixed well before the time of Christ and did not include these books.  Even Jerome (the translator of the Latin Vulgate) strongly argued against including the Apocrypha as canonical Scripture.
The catholic church does not have the authority to add books to the canon that were never recognized by the Jewish people or quoted by Jesus and the apostles. The canon is determined by the inherent inspiration of the books themselves, not by later church councils.