Who wrote the New Testament?

01The order

Preached first, then written

The Catechism teaches that the Gospel was handed on in two ways: by the apostles’ preaching, and in writing “by those apostles and other men associated with the apostles.”¹

The Gospels took shape in stages: the life and teaching of Jesus, then the apostles’ preaching, then the written books.²

Paul himself pointed to both ways of handing it on.

02The letters

Paul points to both

“Therefore, brethren, stand fast: and hold the traditions, which you have learned, whether by word or by our epistle.”

He called the Church “the pillar and ground of the truth.”⁷

So who is the author: the apostles, or God?

03The author

God is the author too

The Church teaches that God is the author of Sacred Scripture.⁸ The human writers, inspired by the Holy Spirit, made full use of their own powers and were true authors.⁹

Back in Corinth, the letter from Rome is being read out.

04The payoff

Read in church before any list

“Take up the epistle of the blessed Apostle Paul. What did he write to you at the time when the gospel first began to be preached?”

Clement reminds them that Paul wrote to them about “himself, and Cephas, and Apollos, because even then parties had been formed among you.”³ That is the quarrel in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.¹⁰

The letter came out of the Church, and the Church kept reading it. It still does, every Sunday.