Apocrypha

From approximately 435 B.C., the prophets of Israel ceased to appear among the people, the divinely authoritative words from God had ceased. There were no further additions to the Old Testament, and God was silent for a period of 400 years, before He spoke again at the onset of the New Testament era. 

When we turn to Jewish literature or Rabbinic teaching we find that no additional words or books have been added. The history of Israel and the Jews continued to be documented but none of these writings were considered to be part of the canon of scripture, as their origins were from among men, and not from God.

The word Apocrypha means 'things that are hidden', no one knows why this word was chosen to represent the books contained within. The Apocrypha includes the following writings:

1 & 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, the Rest of Esther, the Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch (including the Epistle of Jeremiah), the Song of the Three Holy Children, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, the Prayer of Manasseh, and 1 & 2 Maccabees.

There is no reference to any of these books, in the teachings or writings, of the Old or New Testament. There was no reference to the books of the Apocrypha in the Old Testament until the Hebraic text were translated into the Greek, and then the Apocrypha was added in what became know as the Septuagint.

Neither the Jews, or the early Christians, nor the Protestant / Reformed Christians, have accepted these books as part of the canon of Scripture. On the other hand, the Roman Catholic church declared them to be part of the canon of Scripture, in their version of the Scriptures, in 1546.

Romanism justified their inclusion as scripture on the basis that these books were included in the Latin Vulgate translation of the Septuagint, by Jerome. In doing so they chose to ignore his statement that these books were not 'books of the canon', but merely 'books of the church' that were helpful and useful for believers to read.

Roman Catholicism would hold that the church has the authority to constitute literary work as 'Scripture', whilst Christians have held that the church cannot make something to be Scripture, but only recognise what God has already caused to be written as His own words.

In one analogy, counterfeit money cannot be recognised as genuine, nor can any number of people declare counterfeit money  to be genuine, only the official treasury of a nation can declare or make that which is genuine; likewise, only God can make words to be His very words and worthy of inclusion in Scripture.