Resources on the Deuterocanonical Books of the Bible - 4

The early acceptance of the deuterocanonicals was carried down through Church history. The Protestant patristics scholar J. N. D. Kelly writes: "It should be observed that the Old Testament thus admitted as authoritative in the Church was somewhat bulkier and more comprehensive than the [Protestant Old Testament] . . . It always included, though with varying degrees of recognition, the so-called Apocrypha or deuterocanonical books. The reason for this is that the Old Testament which passed in the first instance into the hands of Christians was . . . the Greek translation known as the Septuagint. . . . most of the Scriptural quotations found in the New Testament are based upon it rather than the Hebrew.. . . In the first two centuries . . . the Church seems to have accept all, or most of, these additional books as inspired and to have treated them without question as Scripture.
Quotations from Wisdom, for example, occur in 1 Clement and Barnabas. . . Polycarp cites Tobit, and the Didache [cites] Ecclesiasticus. Irenaeus refers to Wisdom, the History of Susannah, Bel and the Dragon [i.e., the deuterocanonical portions of Daniel], and Baruch. The use made of the Apocrypha by Tertullian, Hippolytus, Cyprian and Clement of Alexandria is too frequent for detailed references to be necessary" (Early Christian Doctrines, 53-54).

Quoted from

DEFENDING THE DEUTEROCANONICALS

James Akin This article by Akin is an amazing defense of the Deuterocanonical books of the Bible. It is well worth the time to read. Protestants have accepted without question the narrative that has been promoted since the time of the Reformation. The above quote is significant, since it is from a Protestant source. He is an authority on the the subject of the patristic period of Christianity. (100 A.D. - 450 A.D.) During this time period, what are called the early Church Fathers lived, taught, and wrote. Many of them were disciples of the original Apostles. Others were disciples of those disciples, and so forth. That is, these men were direct spiritual descendants of those who lived in the 1st Century, knew Jesus in the flesh, wrote New Testament books, and had  even heard Jesus speak. Their faith and practice shows what the early Church was really like. If those Fathers quoted from the Deuterocanonical books in the same way they quoted from other Scripture, then that helps to show they accepted those books as inspired. The answer is, yes, they did quote from those books in their writings. They did consider them to be inspired Scripture. Their practice contradicts the Protestant narrative. If you have time, and this subject interests you, then read the article. Consider the evidence. What if Protestants have been wrong about the canon of Scripture? Protestants love God’s Word. They believe it to be, as many say, God’s love letter to His children. It is worth checking out the claim that Jesus, the apostles, and the early Church all loved and quoted from the Deuterocanonical books as God’s very Word. If that is true, don’t you want to know?