Short answer
Christians have never agreed on which books God (﷾) inspired. The Protestant Old Testament has 39 books. The Catholic one has 46, and the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible has more still. In 1546 the Catholic Council of Trent named books such as Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus as scripture. In 1870 the Catholic Church cursed anyone who does not accept them. In 1646 the Protestant Westminster Confession said the same books were not inspired at all. Yet the first King James Bible of 1611 printed them between the Testaments. Books such as Hebrews and Revelation were disputed for centuries. The first surviving list of exactly the 27 New Testament books dates from 367. So a Christian must first choose which Bible he holds before he can argue from a verse in it. The Qur'an has the same 114 surahs in every copy in the world.
Full explanation
Three churches, three lists
The churches still hold different Old Testaments. Protestants keep the books of the Hebrew Bible. The Catholic Church adds seven more, among them Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus. Protestants call these extra books the Apocrypha. Catholics call them the deuterocanonical (second-list) books. The Orthodox churches add others. The Ethiopian church also keeps ancient Jewish writings such as 1 Enoch and Jubilees. The Catholic, Protestant and Greek Orthodox Bibles all leave these two out.
A history of how the Jewish and Christian canons formed. The churches still hold different Old Testaments: Protestants keep the books of the Hebrew Bible; the Catholic Church adds Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Baruch and 1-2 Maccabees; the Orthodox churches add further books; and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church has a wider canon still, including 1 Enoch and Jubilees.
One church curses, another denies
In 1546 the Council of Trent, a meeting of Catholic bishops, listed Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus as sacred. It pronounced anathema (a curse) on anyone who rejects them and knowingly despises the Church's traditions. In 1870 the First Vatican Council cursed anyone who does not accept Trent's list, with no condition added. A century after Trent, the Protestant Westminster Confession, a statement of belief, ruled the opposite. It said the Apocrypha is not of divine inspiration and no part of the canon (the accepted list of books). The Church of England took a middle path: read the books, but build no doctrine on them. The King James Bible of 1611 printed them.
The Catholic council lists the books of the Old Testament, including Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch and the two books of Maccabees, and the twenty-seven of the New. It ends: if anyone does not receive these books, entire and with all their parts, as sacred and canonical, "and knowingly and deliberately contemn the traditions aforesaid; let him be anathema" (cursed and cut off).
The Catholic council pronounces anathema on anyone who does not receive as sacred and canonical the complete books of Scripture, with all their parts, as the Council of Trent listed them, or who denies that they are divinely inspired. No condition about the traditions is attached.
The Protestant confession rules that the books commonly called the Apocrypha are not of divine inspiration and no part of the canon of Scripture. They have no authority in the Church and may be used only as other human writings.
The Church of England reads the other books (Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Maccabees and the rest) for examples of life and good conduct, as Jerome advised, but does not use them to establish any doctrine.
The first edition of the King James Bible printed the Apocrypha, including Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus, as a section of its own between the Old Testament and the New.
The New Testament list came late
The New Testament was gathered slowly. Books such as Hebrews, James and Revelation were disputed for centuries. Some churches read other books as scripture. The earliest surviving list of exactly the twenty-seven books is the letter of Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, in 367.
Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, lists the books he counts as scripture. His New Testament list is the twenty-seven books of today's New Testament, the earliest surviving list of exactly these books and no others.
Traces how the churches came to agree on the New Testament. For three centuries books such as Hebrews, James and Revelation were disputed, and some read the Shepherd of Hermas as scripture. Athanasius' letter of 367 is the first surviving list of exactly the twenty-seven books; councils at Hippo (393) and Carthage (397) confirmed it; the Syrian churches long used a shorter set.
- 367
The New Testament list
Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, writes the earliest surviving list of exactly today's 27 New Testament books. Books such as Hebrews, James and Revelation were disputed for centuries.
- 1546
Trent: the extra books are scripture
The Catholic Council of Trent lists Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus as sacred. It declares anathema (cursed and cut off) anyone who rejects them and knowingly despises the Church's traditions.
- 1611
The King James Bible prints them
The first King James Bible prints these books in a section of their own, between the Old and New Testaments.
- 1646
Westminster: not inspired
The Protestant Westminster Confession rules that these books, the Apocrypha, are not inspired by God (﷾) and are no part of the list of scripture.
- 1870
A curse with no condition
The First Vatican Council curses anyone who does not accept Trent's list as sacred, with no condition added.
- Today
Still different lists
The Protestant Old Testament has 39 books, the Catholic one 46, and the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible more still.
What hangs on the list
These churches cannot all be right about which books God (﷾) wrote, and the choice is not a small one. Ecclesiasticus 22:3 is scripture in the Catholic Bible. In the Catholic New Jerusalem Bible it reads that the birth of any daughter is a loss. The Qur'an, which confirms the scripture that came before it (5:48), condemns exactly that grief at the birth of a girl. It calls evil the choice such fathers made about her. The Prophet (ﷺ) promised that whoever raises two daughters well will be close beside him on the Day of Resurrection.
Ben Sira says that a badly brought-up son is a disgrace to his father, and that a daughter is born to his loss. The Catholic New Jerusalem Bible renders the second line as saying that the birth of any daughter is a loss.
“To thee We sent the Scripture in truth, confirming the scripture that came before it, and guarding it in safety: so judge between them by what Allah hath revealed, and follow not their vain desires, diverging from the Truth that hath come to thee. To each among you have we prescribed a law and an open way. If Allah had so willed, He would have made you a single people, but (His plan is) to test you in what He hath given you: so strive as in a race in all virtues. The goal of you all is to Allah; it is He that will show you the truth of the matters in which ye dispute;”
“When news is brought to one of them, of (the birth of) a female (child), his face darkens, and he is filled with inward grief! With shame does he hide himself from his people, because of the bad news he has had! Shall he retain it on (sufferance and) contempt, or bury it in the dust? Ah! what an evil (choice) they decide on?”
Anas ibn Malik reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: whoever raises two girls until they come of age will come on the Day of Resurrection with me like this, and he held his fingers together.
One Book, one list
The Qur'an promises that Allah (﷾) Himself will guard it. It was written down in the Prophet's (ﷺ) lifetime by scribes whose names are known. One of them, Zayd ibn Thabit, gathered it into one volume soon after the Prophet's (ﷺ) death. The Prophet (ﷺ) went over the Qur'an with the angel Gabriel every year, and twice in his last year. So what belongs in it was known before anyone gathered it. Every copy today has the same 114 surahs.
“We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption).”
Zayd ibn Thabit reports that after many who knew the Qur'an by heart were killed at Yamama, Abu Bakr asked him to gather the Qur'an into one volume, reminding him that he used to write down the revelation for the Messenger of Allah. Zayd collected it from written pieces and from the memories of men, and the finished copy passed from Abu Bakr to Umar and then to Hafsa.
Abu Hurayra reports that Gabriel went over the Qur'an with the Prophet (ﷺ) once every year, and twice in the year he died.
The Christian reply, and the answer
Council of Trent, Session IV (8 April 1546) — Decree concerning the Canonical Scriptures
The Catholic council lists the books of the Old Testament, including Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch and the two books of Maccabees, and the twenty-seven of the New. It ends: if anyone does not receive these books, entire and with all their parts, as sacred and canonical, "and knowingly and deliberately contemn the traditions aforesaid; let him be anathema" (cursed and cut off).
Cited for
Christians say the Holy Spirit guided the Church to recognise the right books, so the list is God's work and not man's.
The response
If the same Spirit guided them, it led the Catholic Church to curse those who reject Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus. It led the Protestant churches to call those books merely human. Both cannot be the Spirit's guidance. The churches still disagree.
Where it lands — The churches still disagree about which books God (﷾) inspired, so the Spirit cannot have guided both.
Perspectives
Catholic
The Church received these books with the Greek Old Testament that the first Christians used, and it has the authority to define the canon. Church councils at Hippo (393) and Carthage (397) listed them. The Council of Florence confirmed them in 1442, and the Council of Trent made the list binding in 1546.
The Council of Trent listed Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus and the other deuterocanonical books as sacred and canonical. The First Vatican Council declared anathema anyone who does not accept that list.
Rebuttal
Granted, the Catholic Church says this. But Protestant churches reject the same books as human writings (Westminster, 1646). So the decree settles nothing for other Christians. The Qur'an needs no decree: every copy has the same 114 surahs, as Allah (﷾) promised (15:9).
These books are inspired scripture because the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, has received them as such.
Rebuttal
Granted, that is what Catholics believe. But Islam judges a book by what it says, and the Qur'an confirms the scripture that came before it and guards it in safety (5:48). Ecclesiasticus 22:3 counts a daughter's birth a loss, the very grief the Qur'an condemns (16:58-59).
Protestant
Only the books of the Hebrew Bible belong in the Old Testament. The Apocrypha may be read with profit, but it is not the word of God.
The Westminster Confession, a Protestant statement of faith, rules that the Apocrypha were not inspired by God. It gives them no more authority than other human writings.
Rebuttal
Granted, the Protestant churches reject these books. But the first King James Bible of 1611 printed them, and the Church of England still reads them. Even Protestants have not agreed.
The Church of England reads these books for example of life but builds no doctrine on them.
Rebuttal
Granted, this is a middle way. But it gives three answers to one question: scripture (Catholic), human writing (Westminster), and read but not used for doctrine (England). Three answers show the question is still open.
The Islamic perspective
The Bible's list of books was fixed over centuries, and the churches still disagree about it. The Qur'an was kept as one Book from the time of the Prophet (ﷺ), under Allah's (﷾) own promise.
Protestant, Catholic and Ethiopian Orthodox Bibles contain different numbers of books to this day.
One church declared these books scripture and cursed anyone who rejects them. Another ruled them out. And the 1611 King James Bible printed them.
The first surviving list of exactly the twenty-seven New Testament books dates from 367.
Allah (﷾) has promised to guard the Qur'an. It was written down by named scribes of the Prophet (ﷺ) and gathered into one volume soon after his death. The Prophet (ﷺ) went over it with Gabriel every year, and twice in his last year.