When we ask the question “Who wrote the Bible?”, we are looking at an extraordinary reality. The Bible is a collection of 66 books, written by more than 40 authors on three continents over a period of well over 1,300 years. It is a diverse library that includes historical narrative, prophetic writing, and eyewitness testimony.
But how do we understand its true authorship? How can the scriptures be both the words of men and the Word of God?
To answer this major question, we have to look closely at the central claim of 2 Timothy 3:16, which tells us that all scripture is God-breathed. When we look at how the Bible came to be, “we’re talking about this book being a kind of awesome divine human collaboration”.
Here is exactly how I define it:
“There’s this idea at the heart of the Christian scriptures that the Bible is this beautiful collaboration between human beings and the divine. On one level it’s 100% human, it’s written by human beings as letters, eyewitness testimony, or historical narrative within their own cultural context, but it’s also 100% God-breathed, it’s 100% divine”.
It is deeply human, filled with the raw emotions and historical contexts of the writers, and yet it is seamlessly inspired by the Holy Spirit.
A really helpful analogy for understanding this divine-human collaboration can be seen in architecture.
My college in Oxford, Christchurch, was founded by Cardinal Wolsey, who had a great vision and planned the buildings in 1532. About 150 years later, the famous architect Sir Christopher Wren designed Tom Tower, one of the most iconic images of Oxford. Both Wolsey and Wren were the architects of Christchurch, but actually, neither of them really laid a single stone. Stonemasons and ordinary builders were the ones who actually built it.
That is a very useful analogy for how we view the Bible. “Scripture is inspired by the divine architect, but it’s written down by ordinary people like you and me”.
The human authors were the stonemasons. We have people like King David or King Solomon, who had great power and authority, alongside someone like Amos, who did the dirtiest job in the culture dressing sycamore fig trees. These uniquely different people laid the stones, but the breathtaking design came directly from the Divine Architect.
Ultimately, this divine-human collaboration speaks to something at the very heart of the Christian faith.
The Christian faith is fundamentally about connection and communication between the human and the divine. It shows us a God who made us, loves us, and wants us to know Him in a meaningful way that we can actually recognise and experience.
Because of this wondrous collaboration, millions of people around the world continue to believe and experience God actually speaking to them through this text today. The Bible is written by human authors, but it is undeniably inspired by the living God.
If you are looking to take these truths from your head to your heart—especially as we navigate the heavy realities of pain, trauma, and trying to live faithfully in a broken world—I want to invite you to explore my book, Forgiveness. Together, we look closely at one of the most challenging yet profoundly restorative commands of Jesus, discovering how it is possible to find healing and hope even when it feels impossible.
