Who wrote the Bible and why is it called ‘the Word of God’?

1. The Bible was 100% written by people. The Bible was written by about 37 different authors with very diverse backgrounds. Some of these authors were Moses, Jeremiah, Daniel, Luke, John and Paul, to name just a few. Some of these writers were kings, some were shepherds, some priests and some prophets. One was a doctor and one was a tent maker. Most of these people lived in Israel but some had spent time living in other places like Egypt, Greece, Arabia and Babylon. Their writings spanned approximately 1600 years—so the production of the Bible was very much a process over a long period of time.
2. The Bible was 100% written by God. The Bible makes the extraordinary claim—over 3000 times!—that it is the actual words of God himself. For example, phrases like “the LORD said to me” (Jeremiah 1:7), “the word of the LORD came to me” (Jeremiah 2:1) and “this is what the LORD says” (Jeremiah 2:5) are found repeatedly throughout the Bible. What this means is that, although certain people wrote the Bible, God also wrote the Bible. It was written 100% by people—and at the same time—100% by God! Quite a claim!
3. The Bible claims that God ‘breathed out’ its words. The Bible calls itself “God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16)—a rather vivid expression meaning that God ‘breathed out’ all the words of the Bible!

How does the Bible explain how this could happen? In 2 Peter 1:21, it says, “For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit”. Now, what could this possibly mean?

Here’s an illustration that might help. A sailing ship is carried along as the wind blows into its sails. So, what’s driving the boat—the wind or the sailors? The answer is both. The wind is powering the boat but, unless the sailors raise the sails and steer the boat, it won’t be going anywhere. Both the wind and the sailors are necessary for the boat to sail. This is a picture of what the Bible means when it says God ‘breathed out’ its words—men were “carried along” by God, meaning that God guided the writers of the Bible so they would write exactly what God wanted them to write (2 Peter 1:21).

Each author used their own style of writing when they wrote their part of the Bible so that, at the same time, the words in the Bible are both 100% the human authors’ words and 100 God’s words. Like we said, an incredible claim!