Who Wrote the Bible?

People wrote the Bible, and Christians confess that God spoke through them. The books name Moses, prophets, apostles, and their companions. Who wrote Genesis, who wrote Matthew, Mark, and Luke, who wrote John, who wrote Acts, and who wrote Revelation take those writers one by one.

Key points

• 2 Timothy 3:16CloseAll scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:2 Timothy 3:16 · King James VersionOpen source (1) says all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and 2 Peter 1:21CloseFor the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.2 Peter 1:21 · King James VersionOpen source (2) says holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
• Luke 24:44CloseAnd he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.Luke 24:44 · King James VersionOpen source (3) has Jesus name the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms as writings about him.
• Genesis through Deuteronomy are the Torah. Jesus treats Moses as their writer in John 5:46CloseFor had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.John 5:46 · King James VersionOpen source. That case is Who Wrote Genesis in the Bible?.
• Paul’s letters open with his name. Romans 1:1ClosePaul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,Romans 1:1 · King James VersionOpen source (4) is “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ.” Hebrews does not name Paul.
• Irenaeus names Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as the four Gospel writers. The sentences are on Who Wrote Matthew, Mark, and Luke? and Who Wrote the Gospel of John?.
• Which books the churches receive is How Was the Bible Canon Decided, and What Is the Apocrypha?. Whether the books tell the truth is Is the Bible True?.

Did God write the Bible, or did people?

Both. The Christian claim is that God inspired human writers. 2 Timothy 3:16CloseAll scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:2 Timothy 3:16 · King James VersionOpen source, King James Version, says:

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

2 Timothy 3:16 · King James Version

2 Peter 1:21CloseFor the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.2 Peter 1:21 · King James VersionOpen source says the prophecy came not by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Inspiration is the claim. The pages of the books still have human styles, human names, and human occasions. A letter of Paul sounds like a letter. A psalm sounds like a song. A genealogy sounds like a list. God speaking does not flatten those differences.

Luke 24:44CloseAnd he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.Luke 24:44 · King James VersionOpen source has the risen Jesus say that what was written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled concerning him. He treats that library as already written, and as about himself. Is Jesus God? is who that speaker is.

Who wrote the Old Testament?

The Hebrew Bible is the law, the prophets, and the writings. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy are the law. The books say Moses wrote the law, and they also include his death. Who Wrote Genesis in the Bible? sets that claim beside the documentary hypothesis and beside the Talmud’s assignment of the closing verses.

The prophets are books such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and the shorter prophetic books. Many of them name the prophet in the opening line. The writings include Psalms, Proverbs, and Job. Psalm headings name David, Asaph, and others. A heading is the book’s own label. It is a claim to check, the same way a Gospel title is a claim to check.

Josephus, in Against Apion 1.8, counts twenty-two books and says five of them belong to Moses. The sentence is quoted on the Genesis page. A round number of “about forty authors” is something people repeat. This page has not totaled the named writers into that figure, and it does not treat forty as a fact.

Who wrote the New Testament?

The New Testament is the four Gospels, Acts, the letters, and Revelation.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not open with “I, Matthew, wrote this,” the way Romans opens with Paul. The names come with the books in writers of the second century. Papias, preserved by Eusebius, says Mark wrote what he remembered from Peter, and that Matthew wrote the oracles in the Hebrew language. Irenaeus names all four. The Muratorian fragment names Luke and John. Those quotations are on Who Wrote Matthew, Mark, and Luke? and Who Wrote the Gospel of John?.

Acts shares its addressee, Theophilus, with Luke’s Gospel, and it slips into “we” when the narrator travels with Paul. Who Wrote the Book of Acts? is that case.

Revelation names its writer John, a brother on Patmos. Justin and Irenaeus take him to be the apostle. Dionysius of Alexandria, quoted by Eusebius, accepts a holy man named John and hesitates to say it was the son of Zebedee. Who Wrote the Book of Revelation? quotes both sides.

Did Paul write the Bible?

Paul wrote letters, not the whole Bible. Romans 1:1ClosePaul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,Romans 1:1 · King James VersionOpen source, 1 Corinthians 1:1ClosePaul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,1 Corinthians 1:1 · King James VersionOpen source, Galatians 1:1ClosePaul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)Galatians 1:1 · King James VersionOpen source, and the other letters that bear his name open with Paul. Philemon 1:1ClosePaul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer,Philemon 1:1 · King James VersionOpen source does the same. Hebrews has no such opening. This page does not assign Hebrews to Paul on the strength of a later guess.

Did Paul invent Christianity? is the claim that his message replaced Jesus. The Gospels are not his letters. Was Jesus a Real Person? is the man those books describe.

How did the churches recognize the books?

The books were written first. Lists came after readers had already been using them. Irenaeus argues from four Gospels. The Muratorian fragment receives Luke, John, Acts, Paul’s letters, and the Apocalypse of John, and it rejects other writings. Later councils and confessions print lists. How Was the Bible Canon Decided, and What Is the Apocrypha? quotes Trent, the Catechism, Westminster, and the Anglican article. The Council of Nicaea’s canons do not list the books. What Happened at the Council of Nicaea? quotes the 325 creed.

Codex Sinaiticus, a fourth-century manuscript, contains the earliest complete copy of the Christian New Testament. What the copies show about the text is Is the Bible True?. Which English rendering to read is Which Bible Translation Is Most Accurate?.

If God is not real, who wrote the Bible?

Human authors would remain. Moses, Isaiah, Paul, and the Gospel writers would still be the people attached to these books by the books themselves and by the earliest Christian writers. What would drop is the claim that God moved them. Does God exist? is that question. Is the Bible True? is whether the books report what happened and whether Jesus rose.

A reader who is Muslim meets a different claim: that the earlier books were changed. Was the Bible corrupted? quotes the Qur’an on that point. How was the Qur’an compiled? is the collection of the Qur’an. Those pages do not replace the names inside Genesis or John.

Frequently asked questions

Who wrote the Bible according to the Bible?

2 Timothy 3:16CloseAll scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:2 Timothy 3:16 · King James VersionOpen source and 2 Peter 1:21CloseFor the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.2 Peter 1:21 · King James VersionOpen source answer with God and with holy men moved by the Holy Ghost. Individual books add human names: Moses in the law, prophets in the prophetic books, Paul in his letters, and John in Revelation.

How many people wrote the Bible?

Many, across the law, the prophets, the writings, the Gospels, Acts, the letters, and Revelation. A slogan that the total is forty is a summary this page has not audited book by book. The named writers above are the ones the argument actually uses.

Who wrote the first books?

Genesis stands first in the Christian Old Testament. The claim that Moses wrote it, and the critical claim that later sources were woven together, are Who Wrote Genesis in the Bible?. The oldest surviving copies are later than the writing. Scroll dates are copies, which Is the Bible True? explains.

Which Bible did the authors use?

They wrote Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. An English Bible is a translation of those languages. Which Bible Translation Is Most Accurate? is that choice. The King James text on this site is one English form of it, at the Bible.

Keep reading

• Who Wrote Genesis in the Bible?
• Who Wrote Matthew, Mark, and Luke?
• Who Wrote the Gospel of John?
• Who Wrote the Book of Acts?
• Who Wrote the Book of Revelation?
• Is the Bible True?
• Which Bible Translation Is Most Accurate?
• How Was the Bible Canon Decided, and What Is the Apocrypha?
• Was Jesus a Real Person?
• Does God exist?