Authorship of the Bible

Authorship Recorded in Scripture

The Protestant Bible consists of the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament. Some of these books name their authors in the text, while others do not. The Pauline epistles generally give the name of Paul at the outset (Romans 1:1). The Book of Revelation likewise identifies its writer as John (Revelation 1:1). By contrast, the Gospels and the Epistle to the Hebrews do not name their authors in the text.

Alongside its human authors, the Bible presents God as its ultimate source. 2 Timothy 3:16 states, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God." 2 Peter 1:20–21 says that prophecy did not come by the will of man, but that people spoke what they received from God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Background

The Greek word theopneustos, rendered "given by inspiration of God," literally means "God-breathed." The Bible is a collection of books written by many people over a long period of time. Church tradition has held that Moses wrote the Pentateuch. It has also attributed many of the Psalms to David, and Proverbs and other books to Solomon. The names of the Gospel authors—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—come from the tradition of the early church.

Significance Within Scripture as a Whole

When the New Testament quotes the Old Testament, it refers to both the human author and the Holy Spirit. Mark 7:10 introduces a quotation with "For Moses said…," and Mark 12:36 records, "For David himself said by the Holy Ghost." For this reason, many churches understand the Bible to be at once the Word of God and the writing of human beings.

Interpretations and Issues

• The mode of inspiration: Reformed and evangelical denominations generally speak of "organic inspiration," the view that God inspired the whole of the writing while making full use of each author's personality and style. This view is distinguished from "mechanical inspiration," in which the authors merely took dictation. It is often held together with biblical inerrancy. By contrast, liberal theology and progressive theology tend to regard the Bible as the record of a community of faith's experience of and witness to God.
• Questions of authorship: Historical-critical scholarship has proposed differing views. Representative examples include the "documentary hypothesis," which holds that the Pentateuch was compiled from several sources, and the view that the book of Isaiah comes from authors writing in different periods. Some scholars also question Paul's authorship of certain Pauline epistles. Conservative theologians either defend traditional authorship or treat the question of authorship separately from the question of biblical authority.
• Distinguishing text from tradition: The belief that Moses wrote the entire Pentateuch is a traditional understanding rather than a claim of the text itself. The text states that Moses wrote the law (Deuteronomy 31:9). Even within traditional interpretation, some have held that Deuteronomy 34, which recounts Moses' death, was added later. Likewise, the view that Paul wrote Hebrews is a tradition not found in the text, and the view that its author is unknown dates back to early times.

In the Korean Church

Among Korean Presbyterians, whether to accept biblical criticism became a major controversy. The dispute over Kim Jae-jun's view of Scripture formed the background to the 1953 split that produced the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (see Korean Presbyterian schisms). Today, the way seminaries teach questions of authorship, and the emphasis they place on them, still varies by denomination.