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Hard questions · The Bible

Who wrote the New Testament?

HistoryScripture

Answered on video by Dr. Brant Pitre · Full answer page

A church in uproar, a letter from Rome, and a line that shows Christians were already reading Paul aloud.

The short answer

Members of the Church: apostles and men associated with them, writing inside a Church that was already preaching, baptizing and breaking bread.12

Start reading
The Apostle Paul, by Rembrandt: an old man with a white beard beside an open book.

Rembrandt, The Apostle Paul, c. 1657. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Public domain, source.

Rome to Corinth, around the year 96

Around the year 96, the church in Corinth is in uproar: a few people the letter calls “rash and self-confident persons” have kindled a revolt.3

From Rome, St. Clement writes to them, and at one point he simply tells them to go and fetch a letter: “Take up the epistle of the blessed Apostle Paul.”3

He doesn’t have to explain which letter, or where to find it. They already have it. Keep that in mind.

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

“to which he called you through our Good News, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

2 Thessalonians 2:14 [Douay 2:13]6

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?”

St. Clement of Rome, Letter to the Corinthians 473

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’s 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.

Careful with the facts

  • The New Testament books were written in the first century, but which writings belonged in the Bible was discerned by the Church over the following centuries.1112

Christian to Christian

Every Christian who loves the New Testament has received a gift handed on by the early Church. That’s common ground worth celebrating together.

Watch

Who Really Wrote the Gospels? | Dr. Brant PitreDr. Brant Pitre · Catholic Productions · Feb 20, 2019 · 12 minYouTube

The Case for Jesus: Are the Gospels Reliable? | Dr. Brant PitreDr. Brant Pitre · Catholic Productions · May 24, 2016 · 5 minYouTube

From the official channels of the teachers named. Links checked 10 October 2026; each film was matched to this topic by its title and channel, so treat it as a starting point. Scripture and the Catechism cited on this page are the authority. All videos by topic.

Only one thing to do

Your one next step

Read 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, the quarrel Clement was talking about. It takes two minutes. Then you have read the same letter the Corinthians took up in the year 96.

Read 1 Corinthians 1

Keep going

Who decided which books are in the Bible?Next: Who carries the apostles’ authority today?

Notes

How we know · 12 sources for this page
  1. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 76. vatican.va
  2. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 126. vatican.va
  3. St. Clement of Rome, Letter to the Corinthians (c. 96). Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 1 (1885), trans. Roberts and Donaldson. newadvent.org
  4. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 422. vatican.va
  5. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 858. vatican.va
  6. 2 Thessalonians 2:14 [Douay 2:13], World English Bible. read the chapter
  7. 1 Timothy 3:15, World English Bible. read the chapter
  8. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 105. vatican.va
  9. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 106. vatican.va
  10. 1 Corinthians 1:12, World English Bible. read the chapter
  11. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 120. vatican.va
  12. Bruce M. Metzger, The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origin, Development, and Significance (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987). scholarly study

Translations of the Fathers and councils are public-domain 19th-century editions. Catechism links open vatican.va. Scripture: World English Bible, Catholic edition, modern verse numbers (Douay-Rheims numbers in brackets where they differ). Stone & Incense restates Church teaching and history in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an errorCorrections.