Who wrote the Bible?

The Bible is not one book written in one sitting. It is a library of 66 books, written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek by around forty people over more than a thousand years. Its writers include a shepherd who became king, prophets and priests, a tax collector, a doctor, fishermen and a man who once persecuted the church.

Yet the Bible does not present itself as human opinions about God. It claims to be God’s own message, given through human writers. So the question “Who wrote the Bible?” has two answers: the people who held the pen, and the God who spoke through them.

God is the true Author

Writing to Timothy, Paul explains where Scripture comes from:

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

2 Tim 3:16 · King James Version (1769)

Albert Barnes notes that Paul uses here a single Greek word, theopneustos, found nowhere else in the New Testament, which means “God-breathed.” Scripture did not begin as a human idea that God later approved. It comes from Him, and that is why it has the authority to teach, correct and train. Commentators differ on how far Paul’s words reach here. Barnes limits them to the Old Testament, the Bible Timothy had known from childhood, while John Gill includes the New Testament books that had already been written.

Peter describes how this happened:

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For 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 Pet 1:20–21 · King James Version (1769)

The Greek word Peter uses for the Spirit’s work means “carried along.” Barnes compares the prophets to a ship driven by the wind: they did not speak from their own suggestion but as the Spirit moved them. Still, this was not dictation to a machine. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown put it this way: “They were passive, yet not mere mechanical instruments.” The words are truly the words of each writer, and at the same time God stands behind every one of them.

David said the same about his songs at the end of his life:

The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me, and his word was in my tongue.

2 Sam 23:2 · King James Version (1769)

The people who held the pen

Many books of the Bible name their writers, while others are anonymous. Here are some of the main human authors.

• Moses. The Bible says Moses wrote down the words of the Lord (Exodus 24:4), and Jewish and Christian tradition credits him with the first five books, known as the Law. The account of his death at the end of Deuteronomy was written by someone else: John Gill mentions the Jewish view that Joshua added it, while others suggested Samuel or Ezra (Deuteronomy 34:5–12).
• David and other psalmists. The titles of the Psalms name David for many of them, and also Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon and Moses (Psalm 90).
• Solomon heads the book of Proverbs (Proverbs 1:1), which also contains the sayings of others, such as Agur and Lemuel (Proverbs 30:1; Proverbs 31:1).
• The prophets. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and the twelve shorter prophetic books carry the names of the prophets whose messages they record. Jeremiah dictated his words to his scribe Baruch (Jeremiah 36:4).
• The Gospel writers. Matthew and John were among the twelve apostles. Matthew Henry records the early testimony that Mark, Peter’s companion, wrote down what Peter had preached (1 Peter 5:13). Luke, the author of the third Gospel and Acts, was a doctor who traveled with Paul (Colossians 4:14).
• The apostles’ letters. Paul wrote thirteen letters. As Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note, he usually dictated them to a helper such as Tertius (Romans 16:22) and added a greeting in his own hand (2 Thessalonians 3:17). Peter, James, John and Jude also wrote letters, and John recorded the visions of Revelation (Revelation 1:1).

Luke explains how he went about his work:

Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,

Luke 1:1–3 · King James Version (1769)

Luke does not claim to be an eyewitness. He relied on those who had been with Jesus from the beginning, checked everything carefully and wrote an orderly account. Inspiration did not replace careful work; the Holy Spirit guided that work too.

Some books, such as Judges, Kings, Job and Hebrews, do not name their authors. There the honest answer is that we do not know for certain who held the pen. What Scripture makes clear is the one source behind all of them.