The Bible is a collection of books that was put to writing over the course of about 1,600 years. Many individual writers have contributed to the Bible. Yet the Bible has maintained a consistent, integrated message of God's plan and purpose for humanity. This is because each person who has contributed to the larger whole has been guided by the Spirit of God.

To get a complete picture of what God has to say, you need to read and understand the Bible as a whole rather than focusing primarily on Paul.

The great Creator God is the author of the Bible, working through individuals whom He called and chose for the task. Many of these people we know by name. Each of them brought to the task their own sense of style, phrasing, choice of words and points of emphasis.

The most recent portion of Scripture is generally referred to as the New Testament, written between 40 A.D. and 90 A.D. It is common to hear people speak of the apostle Paul as being the primary contributor of New Testament writings. However, when measured by the total number of words written, rather than the number of books written, the results might surprise you.

Using a word count, the author who contributed most to the New Testament is... Luke!

Yes, Luke the physician and historian contributed 37,932 words to the New Testament. Paul comes in second at 32,408. Here is a chart showing the breakdown by author:

Author	Words	Percent
Luke	37,932	27.48%
Paul	32,408	23.48%
John	28,091	20.35%
Matthew	18,346	13.29%
Mark	11,304	8.19%
Unknown	4,953	3.59%
Peter	2,783	2.02%
James	1,742	1.26%
Jude	461	0.33%
NT Total	138,020

 

The author of the book of Hebrews is unknown. All word counts are derived from the original language: Greek.

Why does Paul get most of our attention?

Even though Paul is not the top contributor of New Testament writings, he is probably the most quoted. Sometimes it seems like the majority of scripture quotations in the average Christian sermon come from Paul’s writings.

This may be because his writings stir up the most controversy. Paul addressed fundamental doctrines in a way that was profound, succinct and easily quotable. Sadly, his words are also easily distorted. Such confusion and controversy regarding Paul’s writings has been the case since the very beginning!

Consider what the apostle Peter said about his fellow apostle Paul:

"Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by Him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability" (2 Peter 3:14-17, English Standard Version, emphasis added).

How are Paul’s words distorted?

The most common way Paul’s writing are twisted and misused is to make the claim that the law and commandments of God have been done away with. These claims take Paul’s writings in a direction never intended by the author. Notice that when Peter talks about how Paul’s words are misused he specifically warns about not being carried away with the error of lawless people.

If you are reading in a King James version you will see the word “wicked” used instead of lawless. However, most modern translations more accurately translate the Greek word athesmos as "lawless." A quick word study shows that the Greek word athesmos means “against law and custom.” For the King James translators to use the word wicked is an unnecessary obscuring of what Peter was warning against.

The only other use of the word athesmos is found in 2 Peter 2:6-8. It is used in verse 7 to describe the men of Sodom... who were lawless.

Scripture itself warns against misusing Paul’s writings

Paul’s words have been misused to teach against the laws and commandments from the very beginning. This is why the apostle Peter had to come forward to say “don’t listen to people who teach like that and don’t be fooled by their lawless misinterpretations.” This warning about misusing Paul’s writings is written right into scripture itself.

Through Peter, God’s own Word warns us that anyone who uses Paul’s writing to teach against God’s laws and commandments is committing a grave error, which will result in their own undoing. Peter characterizes them as ignorant and unstable.

Paul’s writings form a significant portion of Scripture and contain many important explanations of doctrine and church life. However, to get a complete picture of what God has to say, you need to read and understand the Bible as a whole rather than focusing primarily on Paul.

If you are looking for more information about discovering the Bible as a unified whole, take a look at the free Bible study guide How to Understand the Bible.

Data Used For Summary

Here is a list of the book titles, word count per book, and the name of the author.  This is the data used for the summary provided above:

Book Name	Words	Percentage	Author
Luke	19,482	14.12%	Luke
Acts	18,450	13.37%	Luke
Matthew	18,346	13.29%	Matthew
John	15,635	11.33%	John
Mark	11,304	8.19%	Mark
Revelation	9,851	7.14%	John
Romans	7,111	5.15%	Paul
1 Corinthians	6,830	4.95%	Paul
Hebrews	4,953	3.59%	Unknown
2 Corinthians	4,477	3.24%	Paul
Ephesians	2,422	1.75%	Paul
Galatians	2,230	1.62%	Paul
1 John	2,141	1.55%	John
James	1,742	1.26%	James
1 Peter	1,684	1.22%	Peter
Philippians	1,629	1.18%	Paul
1 Timothy	1,591	1.15%	Paul
Colossians	1,582	1.15%	Paul
1 Thessalonians	1,481	1.07%	Paul
2 Timothy	1,238	0.90%	Paul
2 Peter	1,099	0.80%	Peter
2 Thessalonians	823	0.60%	Paul
Titus	659	0.48%	Paul
Jude	461	0.33%	Jude
Philemon	335	0.24%	Paul
2 John	245	0.18%	John
3 John	219	0.16%	John
Total	138,020	100.00%