Who wrote most of the New Testament?
Ask most readers who wrote the New Testament and one name comes up first — Paul — but the answer depends on whether you count books, chapters, or verses. Behind the counting sits a larger question: why did God entrust so much of the Christian faith to one man, and who is the real Author standing behind every pen?
The Count of the Letters
Paul's share is easiest to see in the letters. One writer works through the numbers three ways, and each way points the same direction:
A. J. PollockOf these twenty-seven epistles the Apostle Paul wrote fourteen (if we include the Epistle to the Hebrews), and the rest of the writers wrote thirteen. It will be seen that Paul wrote the larger portion of the inspired epistles. When we look into the matter more closely, the proportion seems even greater. There are one hundred chapters in the Pauline epistles, whereas in the rest of the epistles there are but twenty-one chapters. The Pauline epistles contain 2312 verses, whereas in the remaining epistles there are 431 verses.
Paul's presence is not limited to what he signed. His life fills the history book of the early church as well:
A. J. PollockThe account of the labours of this servant of Christ occupies more than half of the Acts of the Apostles… Paul has a dominating place in the Holy Scriptures.
Luke's Two Volumes
That book of Acts, however, came from a different hand. Its opening lines tie it to the third Gospel, so one man wrote both:
Arno C. GaebeleinThe writer in the third Gospel says: "It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus"… The Acts of the Apostles begin: "The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach." The former treatise known to Theophilus is the third Gospel, called the Gospel of Luke. The writer of that Gospel must therefore be the penman of the Book of Acts.
Luke is also singled out in another way — the one non-Jewish writer of the New Testament, called "the beloved physician," who stayed with Paul to the end.
Eight Men in All
The whole New Testament came through a small group. One writer counts them and sees design in the number:
Frederick W. GrantIt is not, surely, without significance that there are just eight writers of the New Testament books; nor yet that there are just four for the seven catholic epistles.
Being an apostle was not the qualification. Commentators note that the Spirit chose His instruments freely:
William KellyMany of the apostles never wrote any inspired writing, and some that were not apostles wrote both Gospels and Epistles. It is a question of inspiration, a question of a particular work of God, of which vessel the Holy Ghost would use. Out of the four who wrote the Gospels, two were apostles, and two were not apostles.
The One Disputed Book
Paul's total of fourteen depends on Hebrews, and that letter carries no signature. Commentators differ on who wrote it. Some hold to Paul:
Morrish Bible DictionaryThis is the only Epistle attributed to Paul that does not bear his name… Most of the early writers attribute it to Paul, though with some there were doubts respecting it. 2 Peter 3:15-16 seems to confirm the authorship of Paul, besides the internal evidences of it. The question as to who the writer was does not touch its inspiration: of this there can be no legitimate doubt.
Others leave the question open, and see the silence as deliberate:
Arend RemmersAs a matter of fact the author of the epistle remains unknown. The Holy Spirit who inspired this epistle deliberately wanted to introduce the Lord Jesus only as apostle and high priest of our profession (Heb. 3:1).
Why So Much Through Paul
Paul wrote most because he was given most. Truths not revealed before were handed to him directly:
J. G. BellettPaul was the depositary of this mystery, and he got it by revelation… Where does Paul date his apostleship? From Christ in the flesh? No; from Christ in glory. Where the other apostles? From Christ in the flesh — the Lord walking down here. But Paul never knew Christ in the flesh. So specific was his calling, and so specific the truth committed to him.
And the man himself refused the credit. His own explanation was grace:
A. PridhamNot numbered with the twelve, he is, by sovereign grace, entrusted with a work which, in its nature and effects, is to excel what God had wrought by them… he has become, in a fuller sense than any of his brethren, a perpetual nourisher of that Church which he had once sought to destroy… Yet it was not he who so excelled the rest, but "the grace of God" which was with him.
The Author Behind the Writers
Naming the human writer never settles the matter of authorship:
F. B. Hole"Holy men of God" spake and wrote "moved by" or "borne along by" the Holy Ghost. They put their pens to paper under His power, hence He is the real Author of what they thus wrote.
Summary
- Paul — fourteen letters of twenty-seven, a hundred chapters against twenty-one, and more than half of Acts telling his story.
- Luke — the other large share; the third Gospel and Acts came from one hand, both addressed to Theophilus.
- Eight — the total number of New Testament writers; some were apostles, some were not, since the choice rested on inspiration, not office.
- Hebrews — the one unsigned book, and the one that decides Paul's count; commentators differ, but its inspiration is not in question.
- Grace — Paul wrote most because most was revealed to him, and he credited none of it to himself.