A little while back a young friend asked me what I thought about the books and writings about Jesus that didn't make it into the Bible and, by extension, the ideas found in books like The Da Vinci Code.
Here's what I wrote to him:

Dear . . . ,

Before answering your question I think a little background on the Bible may be in order.

1.       The Bible contains 66 books or letters, 39 Old Testament and 27 New Testament.

2.       These 66 books are considered to be the inspired Word of God by the Protestant Church. There are also several books called the Apocrypha that are also accepted as Old Testament Scripture by Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox and a few others. The Apocrypha is respected by most Protestant churches and valuable for wisdom and training but not considered inspired by God. 

3.       Why are these 66 book considered inspired by God and not others?

a.       The Gospels, the book of Acts and the Epistles (letters) were all written between about 45-50 A.D. and 110-120 A.D.

b.      The early Church had only the Old Testament to work from.

c.       The 39 books of the Old Testament were regarded by the Apostles as the Word of God mainly because they were Jewish and had long been accepted by the Jewish leaders as such. (the books of the Apocrypha were respected by the Jews but not considered inspired – which is why most Protestant Churches consider them as they do)

d.      As the Apostles and others began to travel, teach and plant churches they would write letters to those churches for instruction and correction. Also, wherever they went they told the story of Jesus, His life, death and resurrection.

e.      The oral history as told by the original 12 apostles eventually was written down and these histories, along with the letters would be read in the churches, copied and distributed to other churches.

f.        As the Church grew and matured – A.D. 100 – A.D 300 – the early fathers began to realize the serious need to canonize, or standardize and compile these histories and letters. The 27 writings we use now were not the only writings being distributed in the churches. There were many, many others. Some of the writings were genuine but many were fake. Much like today, there were people who either misunderstood or willfully twisted the truth of the Apostles and would write or edit the writings for their own purpose. These were the Arians, Gnostics and outright charlatans.

g.       Over the first 300-400 years  there were several councils consisting of the leaders and theologians of the Church. Their job was to establish what was and what was not true Christianity. It was vitally important for them to address the many heresies that were attacking the Church.

h.      Over the course of many years, through many councils and much prayer and heated debates the 27 writings were recognized and accepted as the inspired Word of God by the Church.

4.       So, to answer your question:

a.       Although extra-biblical writings can be interesting, they are nothing new. The Church Fathers read and considered more of them than archaeologists will ever discover.

b.      Most of them are, either by design or by error, a distraction from the Truth.

c.       We have the very Word of God. Why would we settle for anything less?

Blessings,
R.B.