Like most questions about Scripture, the answer to “who wrote the Bible” is complex and multifaceted. There’s much disagreement even among Christians about many of the details.
- The Bible was written over hundreds of years by many different hands in a variety of genres and in several different languages.
- Each of these writers was inspired by God through the Holy Spirit to deliver their testimony — whether it was worship poetry, history, prophecy, biography, or another format.
To dig deeper into the question of who wrote the Bible, this post will look at the concept of “inspiration” and the different ways Christians interpret it.
We’ll then look at the broad-stroke differences between traditional viewpoints and modern scholarship on Biblical authorship, followed by a survey of traditional and academic viewpoints on who wrote each book of the Bible.
Did God Write the Bible, or Inspire It?
Most Christians across time, place, and denomination believe that the Bible was written by humans who were inspired by God to gradually reveal his story and plan for creation — first through the Israelite people in the Old Testament, and then through Jesus Christ and the apostles in the New Testament.
In other words, God may have “dictated” the Bible in some form (see below), but most Christians do not believe that he himself wrote it.
The precise meaning of “inspiration” can vary quite a bit, though, depending on who you ask. Here’s how — and why.
Inspired: Breathing God’s Spirit
Take a look at the word “inspired” — in/spir/ed. It comes from the same Latin word as “spirit” — spirare, which originally meant “breath.” And, since the Hebrew word for “breath” also means “wind,” it also connects the Holy Spirit to God’s “breath” or “wind” across the water in Genesis 1.
(Theology nerd side note: In the Middle Ages, the association of God’s Word with both the Bible and the creative act in Genesis — based on passages such as Romans 1:20 — gave rise to the idea of God’s “Book of Scripture” and “Book of Nature” as both attesting equally to Jesus as God’s Word in John 1.)
So “inspired” means God “breathed into” the recipients of his Word. Or, to put it another way, the Spirit was in them (cf. 2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:21).
Now, because the words of Scripture were inspired by God, it follows that they are fundamentally true — or infallible. Where the disagreement sometimes arises is how they are true.
Infallible: Three (or So) Views on God’s Truth in Scripture
When it comes to God’s Word being “inspired and infallible,” some Christians believe each word was given directly by God and written down verbatim, while others believe that the Bible’s writers were guided by God’s spirit to compose their works.
These two positions result in different approaches to how believers interpret and engage with the Bible.
Neither Added nor Subtracted (Deut. 4:2, Rev. 22:18-19)
Today, many American Christians use the word “inerrant” to describe the Bible — that is, it is completely free from error, in whole and in part, and was received and written exactly as God intended by the people he chose, while preserving their individual personalities and styles. This is often called verbal plenary inspiration.
A variant is verbal dictation, in which God directly spoke each word of the Bible and people simply wrote them down as-is. However, this is a minority viewpoint.
(In fact, this is why Christianity has traditionally been much more friendly to translation of Scripture than most other religions such as Islam, which often insist that the language in which their scriptures were “revealed” is the only genuine way to read them.)
The Spirit, Not the Letter (2 Cor. 3:4-6)
Other Christians believe that, while the Bible is absolutely true, there may be elements in it that are not entirely accurate.
This may be because, while the ideas, themes, and narratives of Scripture were inspired in the writers by God, he allowed them to write the words themselves — a position known as dynamic inspiration.
Or, it could be that parts of the Bible (i.e., matters of faith and morality) were directly inspired, while other parts (such as history and science) were left up to the writers, based on their own personal and cultural understandings — aka, partial inspiration.
Finally, there are some Christians who believe the Bible was written simply by wise human writers, and “inspiration” is just symbolic language reflecting their wisdom, which was ultimately received from God. This is sometimes known as intuition theory. But, like the verbal dictation theory above, it is a minority viewpoint.
Upon This Rock (Matt. 16:18-19)
It should be noted that this conversation is largely a concern of Protestantism (whether evangelical or mainline), and especially American Protestants, as a result of the doctrine of sola scriptura — i.e., that the Bible is the sole source of divine revelation.
Catholic and Orthodox churches agree that the Bible is inspired and infallible. However, since they also assert the Spirit’s continued activity in the church through apostolic succession (that is, the authority invested in Peter by Jesus in Matt. 16:18-19 and passed down through the generations), their concerns are more about interpreting the Bible in alignment and concordance with church teachings and tradition, rather than how it ought to be understood on its own terms.
For Catholics, what is known as the “Magisterium” — the church’s divine authority to rule on all matters of faith — has the final say in Biblical interpretation. For Orthodox, interpretation is based on the traditions established by the councils, particularly the Seven Ecumenical Councils of the 4th through 8th centuries AD.
Traditional and Modern Views on Biblical Authorship
So, barring views such as verbal dictation and intuition theory, by far most Christians believe that the Bible was written by human beings inspired one way or another by God.
But which human beings?
For most books of the Bible, there is a traditional popular view of who the author or authors were, and for many of them, there is a somewhat different guess based on modern (or ancient) research.
- Traditional authorship is typically based either on a self-ascription in the text (e.g., Song of Songs 1:1), or a cross-reference from another Biblical text (e.g., Lamentations and 2 Chronicles 35:25), or extra-Biblical teachings (typically from the Jewish writings called the Talmud — e.g., Moses writing the Pentateuch).
- Modern scholarship attempts to establish Biblical authorship by taking a step back from the traditional understanding, conducting a very close read of various versions of each book (e.g., Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, etc.), and comparing it to other contemporary works both in and outside of the Bible.
Modern scholarship doesn’t always identify a different author than tradition. Often they simply leave it as “anonymous.” Establishing authorship from an academic perspective is complicated by the tendency of ancient authors to:
- edit and combine texts together,
- write under someone else’s name as a way to honor them (sort of how we use “dedications” today), and
- put down in writing things that had been transmitted orally for generations or even centuries.
These issues are especially challenging in the prophets. In many cases it’s difficult to tell how much of the text is from the original prophet and how much, if any, was added later.
Regardless, it’s important to understand that none of these habits were seen as suspicious in the ancient world the way we might view them today, and none suggest on their own that those authors and editors could not all have been divinely inspired — as was indeed the traditional view. (See the section on traditional scholarship below.)
Either way, it’s ultimately up to the individual reader and believer to read, study, talk to their pastors, and decide which story seems the most convincing. (Or, on the other hand, allow the anonymity of the Biblical writers to speak for itself.)
What About Traditional Scholarship?
It’s sometimes supposed that it took modern secular scholars to finally point out inconsistencies in Scripture that had somehow been missed for nearly two millennia. But as early as the second century AD, Christian theologians were grappling with such passages (after all, these guys often had the entire Bible memorized front to back — often in its original languages).
For example, the Epistle to the Hebrews was ascribed to Paul by many in the early church — but as early as the 3rd and 4th centuries century AD, authorities such as Origen and Eusebius were already noting how little its style resembled Paul’s. Today, the epistle is most often considered to be from one of Paul’s close associates or students, but probably not from the Apostle himself.
Who Wrote Each Book of the Bible? (Traditional and Modern Views)
With all of that in mind, here is a list of each book of the Bible, with the traditional and modern views of their authorship.
Old Testament
Torah/Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)
- Traditional author: Moses (Talmud)
- Modern theories: Probably a combination of multiple oral sources (one of whom may have been Moses)
Joshua
- Traditional: Joshua (Talmud)
- Modern: Calvin rejected Joshua as the author; consensus today is an anonymous Deuteronomistic historian during the time of Josiah or later
Judges
- Traditional: Anonymous
- Modern: Deuteronomistic historian compiling written and oral sources
Ruth
- Traditional: Samuel (Talmud)
- Modern: Anonymous
1 & 2 Samuel
- Traditional: Samuel, Nathan, and Gad (1 Chron. 29:29-30)
- Modern: Deuteronomistic historian compiling of written oral sources
1 & 2 Kings
- Traditional: Jeremiah (Talmud)
- Modern: Anonymous historian compiling written and oral sources
1 & 2 Chronicles
- Traditional: Ezra/Nehemiah (Talmud)
- Modern: Levite priests probably writing (or compiling) post-exile
Ezra/Nehemiah
- Traditional: Ezra
- Modern: Ezra and/or a later compiler
Esther
- Traditional: Mordecai and a later editor (Talmud)
- Modern: Anonymous writer
Job
- Traditional: Moses? (Talmud)
- Modern: Anonymous writer
Psalms
- Traditional: Various composers including David, Solomon, Asaph, and more
- Modern: Various composers possibly including the above
Proverbs
- Traditional: Solomon (Prov. 1:1, 10:1, 25:1) and other sages (Prov. 22:17, 24:23, 30:1, 31:1)
- Modern: Solomon and/or other unknown sages and compilers
Ecclesiastes
- Traditional: Solomon (Eccl. 1:1, 1:12; cf. 1 Kings 3:7-12)
- Modern: Anonymous author or compiler working much later
Song of Songs
- Traditional: Solomon (Song 1:1)
- Modern: Anonymous writer or compiler
Isaiah
- Traditional: Isaiah (Is. 1:1)
- Modern: Isaiah and possibly other prophets (disciples?) prophesying under his name, and/or writing down and compiling his and others’ verbal prophecies long after his death
Jeremiah
- Traditional: Jeremiah (Jer. 1:1-3)
- Modern: Jeremiah and possibly others writing down and/or compiling various material sometime after his death
Lamentations
- Traditional: Jeremiah (2 Chron. 35:25; Lam. 1:1 in Septuagint)
- Modern: Anonymous, maybe but probably not Jeremiah
Ezekiel
- Traditional: Ezekiel (Ez. 1:3)
- Modern: Ezekiel, possibly compiled by his disciples
Daniel
- Traditional: Daniel and anonymous narrator
- Modern: Various authors over time, possibly including Daniel (Dn. 2-6) and other scribes (Dn. 1, 7-12)
Hosea
- Traditional: Hosea (Hos. 1:1)
- Modern: Hosea and maybe others
Joel
- Traditional: Joel (Jl. 1:1)
- Modern: Joel and maybe others
Amos
- Traditional: Amos (Am. 1:1)
- Modern: Amos and maybe others
Obadiah
- Traditional: Obadiah (Ob. 1:1)
- Modern: Obadiah
Jonah
- Traditional: Anonymous narrator
- Modern: Anonymous narrator probably satirizing prophetic behavior
Micah
- Traditional: Micah (Mic. 1:1)
- Modern: Micah and probably others
Nahum
- Traditional: Nahum (Na. 1:1)
- Modern: Nahum and maybe others
Habakkuk
- Traditional: Habakkuk (Hab. 1:1)
- Modern: Nahum and maybe others
Zephaniah
- Traditional: Zephaniah (Zeph. 1:1)
- Modern: Zephaniah and maybe others
Haggai
- Traditional: Haggai (Hag. 1:1)
- Modern: Haggai
Zechariah
- Traditional: Zechariah (Zech. 1:1)
- Modern: Zechariah (Zech. 1-8) and maybe others (Zech. 9-14)
Malachi
- Traditional: Malachi (Mal. 1:1)
- Modern: Malachi
New Testament
Matthew
- Traditional: Matthew
- Modern: Matthew or another (second-generation?) follower of Jesus
Mark
- Traditional: Mark
- Modern: Mark
Luke
- Traditional: Luke the “beloved physician” (Col. 4:14)
- Modern: Luke (probably)
John
- Traditional: John the son of Zebedee (identified with the “Beloved Disciple” by Irenaeus in 2nd century AD; cf. John 13:23–26, etc.)
- Modern: Probably John the son of Zebedee, but the “Beloved Disciple” could be John the Elder, Lazarus, or someone else
Acts of the Apostles
- Traditional: Luke
- Modern: Luke
Romans
- Traditional: Paul
- Modern: Paul
1 & 2 Corinthians
- Traditional: Paul
- Modern: Paul
Galatians
- Traditional: Paul
- Modern: Paul
Ephesians
- Traditional: Paul
- Modern: Paul or a Pauline disciple
Philippians
- Traditional: Paul
- Modern: Paul
Colossians
- Traditional: Paul
- Modern: Paul
1 & 2 Thessalonians
- Traditional: Paul
- Modern: Paul (or maybe a Pauline disciple for 2 Thess.)
1 & 2 Timothy
- Traditional: Paul
- Modern: Paul or a later Pauline disciple
Titus
- Traditional: Paul
- Modern: Paul or a later Pauline disciple
Philemon
- Traditional: Paul
- Modern: Paul
Hebrews
- Traditional: Unknown — guesses included Paul, Barnabas, Stephen, Apollos, and Priscilla
- Modern: Unknown — probably not Paul, but maybe Silas or Apollos
James
- Traditional: James the Just, brother of Jesus
- Modern: James the brother of Jesus, or another James
1 & 2 Peter
- Traditional: Peter
- Modern: Peter or a later disciple
1, 2 & 3 John
- Traditional: John the son of Zebedee (the “beloved disciple” and author of John’s gospel)
- Modern: John the son of Zebedee, a later disciple, or another John
Jude
- Traditional: Jude, brother of James and Jesus
- Modern: Jude (probably)
Revelation
- Traditional: John the son of Zebedee (now aka John of Patmos due to his exile)
- Modern: John of Patmos, but there’s some debate about whether he was the same John as the author of the Gospel and Letters of John
Conclusion: Who Wrote the Bible
The Bible is the inspired and infallible Word of God, written by many people over hundreds of years from more than 1,000 years before Christ’s birth to about 70 years after his death.
That’s the simple version. As to what “inspired” and “infallible” mean, and who each of those people were — I hope this article has given you the tools to better understand the issues at stake. Through prayerful research and discussions with your pastor and/or study group, you can reach your own conclusions.
