Over a two-thousand-year period, several authors from various cultures wrote the Bible in [three separate languages] (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek). The various books of the Bible are entirely internally consistent, even with the wide range of human authors. This demonstrates that although though the Bible is a work of human authorship, God Himself monitored its writing to ensure that it is reliable as the flawless and infallible Word of God (John 14:26, 1 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:19-21, Hebrews 4:12).
Human authorship
In the end, we can conclude that God penned the Bible because it is His revelation to us and that He has kept it intact so that we would be aware of the truth (2 Peter 1:3). Regarding human authorship, the writers of most of the books are identified. For instance, the Bible’s first five books were written by Moses (Deuteronomy 31:24–26), Isaiah (Isaiah 1:1), and the apostle Paul (Romans 1:1, 1 Corinthians 1:1, 2 Corinthians 1:1, Ephesians 1:1) among others.
The gospel of John
While the author of some Bible books is not identified explicitly, one can infer their identity from the evidence found in those books as well as from other passages in the Bible. In John 13:23–21:20, for instance, the author of the Gospel of John describes himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. The accounts of the other gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) and the Gospel of John tell us that the three disciples who Jesus was closest to were Peter, James, and John. We can be positive that the Apostle John composed the Gospel of John based on this information as well as comparisons between the Gospel and [John’s letters] and the book of Revelation.
The book of Hebrews
For other books of the Bible, it is uncertain who wrote them. Various Bible scholars have theories about who wrote the book of Hebrews, for example, but there is no hard evidence that identifies a particular author. However, both for books with clearly identified authors and those without them, we have the testimony of God’s church from ancient times that the 66 books that we have today are certainly part of the Bible, and have always been part of the Scriptures (namely, the Bible) that God has given to His church. Therefore, we can believe with confidence that the Bible is God’s Word even when we don’t know the author of a particular book because God has affirmed through His church that this is His Word for us.
