When you pick up a Bible, you aren't just holding a single book. You're holding a library. It’s a messy, beautiful, sometimes confusing collection of 66 different works (in the Protestant tradition, anyway) written over the span of about 1,500 years. If you’re asking who wrote most of the books in the Bible, you’re probably looking for a name to pin to the scoreboard. Most people expect it to be Moses or maybe Jesus—though Jesus actually wrote nothing down that survived.
The reality is a bit of a tug-of-war between two specific men: Moses and Paul. If we’re counting by the number of individual books, Paul of Tarsus wins by a landslide. If we’re counting by word count, Moses—or at least the tradition attributed to him—takes the crown. It’s a weird distinction. It’s the difference between writing thirteen short letters to your friends and writing five massive textbooks.
The Case for Paul: The Volume King
Let’s look at the New Testament first. If you crack it open, you’ll find a massive chunk of it is essentially someone else's mail. Paul, a former bounty hunter of Christians turned radical missionary, is credited with 13 of the 27 books in the New Testament. That’s nearly half.
The list is long. Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. Some scholars even used to argue he wrote Hebrews, though most modern experts like Dr. Bart Ehrman or those at the Harvard Divinity School suggest the writing style is way too different to be his.
Paul’s influence is hard to overstate. He basically shaped how the Western world thinks about morality, grace, and even law. But here’s the kicker: his books are short. Some, like Philemon, are just a few hundred words. They were specific notes to specific people dealing with specific drama. It’s high-volume, but low-density compared to the giants of the Old Testament.
The Heavyweight Champion: Moses and the Torah
If we shift the focus from "how many" to "how much," the conversation changes immediately. The first five books of the Bible—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy—are known as the Pentateuch or the Torah. Tradition says Moses wrote them.
If Moses did indeed write these five, he is technically the person who wrote most of the books in the Bible by sheer volume. These five books alone contain over 150,000 words. To put that in perspective, Paul’s 13 books combined barely scratch 32,000 words. Moses is the marathon runner; Paul is the sprinter.
Now, we have to be honest here. Modern biblical scholarship, specifically something called the Documentary Hypothesis, suggests that Moses might not have sat down with a pen and wrote every word. Scholars like Julius Wellhausen argued in the 19th century that these books were actually woven together from several different sources (labeled J, E, D, and P) long after Moses would have lived. They point to things like Moses’ own death being recorded in Deuteronomy. It’s kinda hard to write about your own funeral in the past tense.
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Regardless of whether he physically wrote every "the" and "and," the Hebrew tradition attributes the core authority to him. In the eyes of history and tradition, he’s the heavyweight.
The Ghostwriters and Anonymous Authors
The Bible is full of people who didn't sign their work. It’s actually kinda frustrating for historians. Take the Four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Did you know the original manuscripts don't actually have those names on them? They were added later by the early church to establish who the "authority" behind the story was.
Luke is an interesting character. He wrote the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. Combined, these two books actually make up a larger percentage of the New Testament than all of Paul’s letters combined. If you want to get technical, a doctor named Luke wrote more of the New Testament's "real estate" than the apostles did.
Then you have the Old Testament historians. Who wrote Judges? Who wrote 1 and 2 Samuel? We usually say "Samuel," but he dies halfway through the first book. The rest was likely compiled by prophets or scribes whose names are lost to time. These "editors" are the unsung heroes of the Bible. They took centuries of oral tradition, poems, and war records and stitched them into a narrative.
Why Does This Matter Anyway?
You might wonder why we obsess over who held the pen. It’s about "E-E-A-T"—Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust. For ancient readers, knowing a book came from Paul or Moses gave it "Canon" status. It meant it was legit.
For us today, it shows the diversity of the text. You have:
- David, a king and a poet, who wrote many of the Psalms.
- Solomon, a wealthy philosopher, credited with Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.
- Amos, a literal shepherd and fruit picker, who wrote one of the most stinging social justice books in history.
- Peter, a fisherman who probably struggled with literacy, using a "secretary" (called an amanuensis) to write his letters.
It’s a collection of voices from every social class. That’s why the writing style jumps around so much. Paul is frantic and run-on. Moses (or the Priestly authors) is meticulous and obsessed with measurements and laws. John is mystical and poetic.
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Comparing the "Big Three"
If you're keeping score at home, here is the breakdown of the major contributors:
Paul of Tarsus
He wrote 13 books. He focused on the "Why" of Christianity. His writing is heavy on theology and "how-to" guides for messy churches. He’s the most frequent author.
Moses
He is credited with 5 books. He focused on the "Foundations." His word count is massive. He’s the most voluminous author.
Luke
He wrote 2 books. He was a historian. Because his books are so long, he actually wrote about 27% of the New Testament. He’s the "sneaky" winner of the word count in the back half of the Bible.
The Mystery of the "Unknowns"
We can't talk about biblical authorship without mentioning the Book of Hebrews. For centuries, people just assumed Paul wrote it because it was smart and long. But the Greek is different. The way the author quotes the Old Testament is different. It’s a total mystery. Some people think it was Apollos, a silver-tongued orator mentioned in Acts. Others think it was Priscilla, a female leader in the early church, and her name was left off because... well, 1st-century gender politics.
The same goes for Job. Nobody knows who wrote Job. It might be the oldest book in the Bible, and it reads like a play. It’s a masterpiece of world literature, and the author is a ghost.
Honestly, that’s part of the Bible’s charm. It’s not a corporate manual written by a committee in a boardroom. It’s a sprawling, multi-generational epic.
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Actionable Steps for Exploring Authorship
If you want to dive deeper into this without getting a PhD in Theology, there are a few things you can do right now to see these differences for yourself.
Compare the Opening Lines
Read the first chapter of Galatians (Paul) and then the first chapter of Luke. You’ll see the difference immediately. Paul sounds like he’s shouting in a crowded room because he’s so passionate. Luke sounds like a college professor giving a lecture. Recognizing these "voices" makes the Bible feel less like a monolith and more like a conversation.
Get a Study Bible with "Introductions"
Most people skip the two-page intro at the start of each book. Don't. A good Study Bible (like the ESV Study Bible or the NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible) will tell you exactly who scholars think wrote the book and—more importantly—who disagrees and why.
Track the Themes
Notice how Moses focuses on the "Community" and the "Law," while Paul focuses on the "Individual" and "Faith." Seeing how the authors "most responsible" for the Bible emphasize different things helps you understand the tension within the text itself.
Look at the "Scribe" Mentions
Check out the end of the book of Romans (Chapter 16). You’ll see a guy named Tertius pop up and say, "I, Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord." Wait, what? Paul was dictating, and Tertius was the actual guy with the ink on his hands. Exploring the role of "amanuenses" or scribes changes how you view "authorship" in the ancient world. It was often a team effort.
At the end of the day, the answer to who wrote most of the books in the Bible depends on how you measure. If you want the most titles, it's Paul. If you want the most words, it's Moses. And if you want the most historical narrative in the New Testament, it's Luke. Each brought a totally different flavor to the table, which is probably why the book has stuck around for two thousand years.