Who wrote the Bible?

"All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right." —2 Timothy 3:16 (NLT)

The Bible is a collection of books, poetry, and letters that is for all people throughout all time. But where did these pages come from? Scripture identifies itself as being authored by God. Over 400 times in the Bible, we read the words "this is what the Lord says."

We also find dozens of instances when Scripture refers to itself as the Word of God (e.g., Psalm 119; Proverbs 30:5; Isaiah 40:8; 55:11; Jeremiah 23:29; John 17:17; Romans 10:17; Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12). Quoting from Scripture, Jesus said, "People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4; Deuteronomy 8:3).

Where the Words Came From

The words of the Bible came from God Himself. Through He didn't take a quill and lay ink on the page, He divinely inspired human writers, who wrote down precisely what He told them to over the course of about 1500 years.

So it's accurate to say that God is the author, and He inspired men of God to write down His words.

God Preserves the Writers' Styles

Because God spoke through these writers, the individual writing styles and "voice" of each writer was preserved in every page they were inspired to write, yet God's words and message could be conveyed uniquely and for His purposes.

For example, Jesus' disciple Matthew finally sat down to record his experiences and the events of Jesus' ministry around AD 55-65. This was only about 30 years after Jesus' death and resurrection, so Matthew relied on his firsthand memories—with help from the Holy Spirit (John 14:26). His New Testament gospel was written for Jews at the time, which meant that he focused on Jesus' fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies—something the Jews would be very familiar with.

Matthew was a former tax collector, which lent to a very organized writing style plus a very distinctive vocabulary and grammar. Even though he had his own way of writing and conveying God's words, it was still 100% God's message. Nothing was included that God didn't intend, and nothing was omitted that should have been there.

How does divine inspiration work?

"You must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet's own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God." —2 Peter 1:20-21 (NLT)

How incredible must it have been to have God's own words directly sent to one's mind? Would it be exhilarating? Confusing? Frightening? One of the books of the Old Testament was written by the prophet Jeremiah, and he recorded an intense and beautiful but a bit terrifying scene of what it was like to be divinely commanded to write. He cries out that his family and friends are grieved by what seems to be his obsession to write and that they even mocked his efforts (Jeremiah 20:7-11).

"But if I say I'll never mention the Lord or speak in his name, his word burns in my heart like a fire. It's like a fire in my bones! I am worn out trying to hold it in! I can't do it!" —Jeremiah 20:9

The writers of the Bible could not escape God's calling or His words. God wanted to communicate with humanity, and so His writers had no choice but to write.

Who were all the writers?

Many books of the Bible do specify the authors, and their names can be easily discerned in the text. But some books, like Hebrews, don't give an indication of who was responsible for writing down God's Word. For many biblical documents, there's just no way to be completely certain of who the human writer was. But that doesn't change who the ultimate author is—God Himself.

Lots of authors throughout history have used secretaries or ghostwriters to put their words and ideas down. The poet John Milton had lost his eyesight by his mid-40s. Yet he still wrote 10,550 lines of poetry for his epic Paradise Lost, dictated to friends, relatives, or anyone who would scribble for him. Even though Milton did not personally put pen to paper, no one questions that Paradise Lost is his original work.

God may not have "dictated" His Word to His human authors like Milton did, but the principle is same. God the Father, the Ultimate Author of the Bible, used human agents as His transcribers, and the result was the divinely inspired Word of God.

"We also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers." —1 Thessalonians 2:13

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TL;DR

The words of the Bible came from God Himself (2 Timothy 3:16). Through He didn't take a quill and lay ink on the page, He divinely inspired human writers, who wrote down precisely what He told them to. So it's accurate to say that God is the author, and He inspired men of God to write down His words (1 Thessalonians 2:13).

Writer/Editor: Catiana (Cat)

Cat is the web producer and editor of 412teens.org. She is known as "412teens" on the 412teens Discord. She loves audiobooks, feeding the people she cares about, and using Christmas lights to illuminate a room. When Cat is not cooking, gardening, or practicing creativity, she enjoys spending time with her two adult kids, six socially-awkward cats, and her amazing friend-amily.

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