Did Jesus' Disciples write the Bible?

Answer 1

Not all of it.(or any of it)

The Old Testament (from the books of Genesis to Malachi) was written long before the time of Jesus, by many different people, but like the New Testament, was inspired by God.

The New Testament can be divided into three sections:

1. The 4 accounts of Jesus' life (the 'Gospels') and the story of the early Church

Two of these were written by Matthew and John, two of Jesus' disciples. A third was written by Mark - probably one of an 'outer circle' of disciples (the '72') but not one of the closest 12. The fourth account of Jesus' life, and also an account of the early church, were both written by Luke - who knew Peter, the disciples' leader, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Paul (see below).(Scholars believe that none of the disciples took part in writing any gospels in the new testament and The Epistles of James, Peter, John and Jude are clearly pseudonymous and were written by church leaders who had no personal acquaintance with Jesus or his disciples.)

2. The Letters

These were mostly written by Paul letters of encouragement to the churches scattered across the Mediterranean area, and to individuals. Paul was a disciple of Jesus who was converted after he had a divine experience on a road to Damascus. He was not one of the original 12, but did a great deal to further the church and to evangelise to others. Some letters were written by others including Peter, John (the disciples), Jude (another disciple) and James (the brother of Jesus)

3. The Revelation

The story of a vision of the end of the world and Jesus' return was written by John, the disciple whom Jesus loved most.(Scholars have concluded that john the disciple and john of patmos were two different people, so the book of revelation was not written by john the disciple.)

So a lot of the new testament was written by the disciples - as eye witesses - but all of it, Christians believe, was inspired by God.