The contents of the 3rd part Ketubim (Writings) remained somewhat fluid in Judaism until after the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in AD 70. By the end of the 1st century AD the rabbis in Palestine had established the final list.

CHRISTIAN CANON
This canon arose first as a translation of the Hebrew canon into Greek for Greek speaking Jews in the Diaspora. The process began in the 3rd century BC outside of Palestine because Jewish communities outside Palestine, to be precise in Egypt and else where needed the scriptures in the language of their culture since they couldn’t speak and read the Hebrew language. During the process of translation, books which were already written in Greek and considered sacred and inspired by God were added. These additional books includes: Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1st and 2nd Maccabees, Esther 10:4 – 16:24, Daniel 3:24 – 90; 13 – 14. These are known as deuterocanonical books.

The last major step in the history of the Christian canon which has contributed to a reduction of the number of books from 46 to 39 took place during the Protestant reformation. When Martin Luther translated the Bible into German, he rediscovered what others – notably St. Jerome, the fourth century biblical scholar – had known: that the Old Testament had originated from Hebrew.

He thus removed from his Old Testament the books that were not in the Bible of Judaism or the Jewish canon. The deuterocanonical books were therefore removed from his translation of the bible. These he termed as Apocryphal Books.

This therefore accounts for the 46 books and sometimes 39 books in the Old Testament of the Christian Canon. Catholics use the canon with the 46 books while the protestant use the canon with the 39 books in the Old Testament. It should however been noted that having come to appreciate the inspirational nature of these books, some protestant versions have added them to their Old Testament as appendix.

CONCLUSION
From the above, it becomes very clear that the church has not in any way added to the bible against any biblical injunction but it is rather our protestant brothers and sisters who have reduced the number of books with the hope of returning to the books written in Hebrew. Thank God they have realized their mistake and are going back for these books (the deuterocanonical books).