Who wrote the Bible: God or people?

It's the biggest selling book of all time, but do we know the author?

If you’re a Christian, you probably look at the Bible differently than any other book.

When we look at that leather-bound collection of stories, poetry, and letters there is just something about it that makes it feel special to us. We can tell that it is set apart when we hold it, hear it read, and study it. Of the approximately 130 million different books that have ever been published, this book stands on its own in the libraries of history.

The quick way to describe this is to say that the Bible is sacred.

Why is the Bible so important?

Any honest person would agree that the Bible is the most important and influential book ever written. However, maybe the more perplexing question is why it is the most important book.

Just what about the Bible makes it sacred?

Is it the thousands of years of human history which it has touched and shaped?
Is it the fact that it tells the most powerful story of self-sacrifice we could ever imagine?
Is it because it really does “read us” by convicting us of sin and stirring our hearts to love God?

Yes, all of these are good reasons for believing the Bible is important.

Still, the most basic reason it is sacred is not simply how the message impacts us, but from whom the message came! The origin of the Bible is exactly what gives it its authority. So, who wrote the Bible?

Yes, people wrote the Bible…

The first time you read it, you may not have realized that all 66 books were not written by one person.

These “books” are not written like a novel with 66 chapters. Instead, the Bible is a collection of different types of literature from different time periods written by many different people for a variety of reasons.

What’s more is that some books are themselves a collection of works from different authors. For instance, while the Gospel of Matthew was written by only one person (Matthew), the 150 individual psalms in the book of Psalms were written by King David, Moses, Asaph, Ethan the Ezrahite, and others. The Psalms were later assembled into just one book of the Bible just like all 66 books were also assembled into the collection we have today.

Suprising Bible facts

So it is absolutely true that people wrote the books of the Bible. Just for fun, here are some interesting facts about some of them:

•   Paul wrote the most number of books in the New Testament.
•   Luke wrote the most pages of the New Testament.
•   There are about 40 different human authors.
•   Job did not write the book of Job; Moses did.
•   The books of the Bible were written over a 1,500 year period.
•   Authors had a variety of occupations including: tentmaker, fisherman, prince, priest, prophet, shepherd, cupbearer, tax collector, doctor, and builder.

…but God is the ultimate author

God inspired the Bible and is therefore the author as well! 2 Timothy 3:16 teaches us that every word of Scripture is inspired by God. This means that God used the human authors to write down His message to us.

How did that happen? Check out this article to find out.