Who Wrote The Bible? (and why that question matters)
This article was originally posted on: https://rethinknow.org/
Who wrote the Bible?
That’s a good question. And the implications of how you answer that question are enormous. How you answer that question will play a large role in how you read, interpret, and apply the Bible. So no pressure.
Back to the question. Who wrote the Bible? The answer depends on who you ask, the two more common beliefs are:
- God wrote the Bible
- Humans wrote the Bible
Most likely you have an inclining towards one. And at first glance, it would seem like it’s an easy answer. God wrote the Bible… right?
Yeah… Kina. But it’s more complicated than that.
I would argue the correct answer is somewhere in-between. I don’t think this question is as simple as some make it out to be. There’s a little more grey, a little mystery, and a lot of collaboration.
So let’s look at who wrote the Bible.
Who Wrote the Bible God or Humans?
When you first hear this question it seems like an easy answer. God wrote the Bible. If you grew up in church that’s probably what you learned. God wrote the Bible for you.
Which is true… Partially. ( No. The Bible is not written to you)
God didn’t actually pen the words that you and I read. Humans did that part. So who wrote the Bible God or humans? Well, both.
The Bible is was written by both God and man. But probably not as you are thinking. It was not written as a collaboration in which God and man sat down to discuss what to write. Nor did God dictate exactly what words should be penned. Man did not pen the words on his own that later became divine. Nor is it a book of religious insights by enlightened people.
The short description: Human Written, God Inspired.
The longer description: The inspiration and influence goes beyond just the writing process. The authors of the Bible were providentially prepared by God. They were motivated and guided by the Spirit of God as they wrote. At the same time, they wrote according to their own unique personalities and from their unique perspectives. It was God’s supernatural guidance through their life and their writing that enabled them to communicate God’s word.
The Bible is divinely inspired. The writings themselves are God-breathed. It is not the authors or the process that is inspired, rather the writings. God had his hand in the process from the beginning. But He didn’t write the words, humans did. The people that penned the words played more of a role than just dictating the words that were given.
That’s what Peter is getting at in 2 Peter 1:19–21. God uses people to carry out his will. Peter is talking about the prophets, but the same principle is true in the writing of the Bible. The authorship of the Bible never had its origin in human will, rather was directed by God.
But that doesn’t mean we can discount the authors, we need to know who they were.
How Many Authors Wrote the Bible? Who Were They?
Let’s look at the people behind the books of the Bible.
There are about 40 people that wrote the Bible. Most of the authors we know, or have a high probability guess, but there are several books we don’t know who wrote.
If you want the exhaustive list here’s a really good article about the authors: Authors of the Bible
Here’s a quick, and I mean quick, rundown of who wrote the Bible.
- Tradition holds that Moses wrote the first 5 books of the Bible (the Pentateuch)
- Many of the books of history and prophecy were written by the name on the book
- Psalms is a collective of several authors (David being the most notable)
- Ecclesiastes/Song of Songs was written by Solomon (along with most of Proverbs)
- The Gospels were written by eyewitnesses
- Acts was written by Luke
- The letters were written by Paul
- Hebrews is anyone’s guess
- The last few books are written by the name on the book
- John wrote Revelation
That’s the highlights. I share that not to give you an all-inclusive list. Rather show who wrote the book you are reading matters. And it matters greatly.
How This Impacts Our Reading
Here’s what I’m driving at in two statements…
Statement 1: Because God is orchestrating the writing of the Bible there is no part of the bible that’s not true… Not equal, but all true.
Statement 2: Because man wrote the Bible we need to understand their unique situation before we can apply it to ourselves.
We need to understand who wrote the Bible before we can really understand the message of the Bible. Since the Bible is written by 40+ people this is something we need to do each time we pick up the Bible.
If we don’t we will likely end up with a skewed, or incorrect view of scripture. We have to understand the author and the God orchestrated circumstances that surrounded them when they penned the words that are now part of the Bible.
For more and extra resources check out the original article at the link below.
Originally published at https://rethinknow.org on October 10, 2019.
