Did Paul Write 90% of the New Testament?
To answer that question, we need to explore the authors of New Testament first:
There are 27 chapters in the new testament with a total of 12 authors including the unknown one for Hebrews.
Although St. Paul was not one of the original 12 Apostles of Jesus and may not have the word count that Moses has, he was one of the most prolific contributors to the New Testament. Of the 27 books in the New Testament, 13 or 14 are traditionally attributed to Paul. Almost 50%. So the answer is no. But he is definitely most quoted.
Note: Only 7 of these Pauline epistles are accepted as being entirely authentic and dictated by St. Paul himself. The authorship of the others is debated, and they are commonly thought to have come from contemporary or later followers writing in Paul’s name. These authors likely used material from his surviving letters and may have even had access to letters written by him that no longer survive.
When we first meet Paul, he’s not leading the church: he’s leading the charge against it. Paul (also called Saul) kidnaps Christians from the regions around Judea and brings them to Jerusalem to suffer the punishment for blasphemy. That punishment was often prison or death (Ac 8:3; 9:1–2).
But when Jesus stops Paul on the road to Damascus, Paul is forever changed. He becomes an apostle, the face of the church to the non-Jews around the Roman empire (Ep 3:1, 8). He travels across the world planting churches and spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Worth to make a note here about ‘forever changed’. This happens to all the stories I heard about individuals who experienced Jesus. A dear friend of mine, Evangelist Dr. Desiree Evans, is forever changed after she experienced Jesus and went from alcoholic to never touch alcohol again and to a evangelist and a doctor. True story.
Back to Paul. Paul’s letters to the Christians spread across the world make up his contribution to the Bible. Some of these letters were written to churches he had planted, others were to churches he hoped to visit someday. Paul also wrote to specific leaders in the local churches, like Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.
Let’s also look at this 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
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!
About the other authors:
Luke is a physician who accompanies Paul through thick and thin (Co 4:14; 2 Ti 4:11). His skills probably come in handy, because Paul takes a lot of beatings (2 Co 24ff).
But Luke’s greatest legacy is his contribution to the New Testament. Luke write more of the NT than anyone else (yes, even more than Paul). Luke’s a meticulous journalist who sets out to record the life and ministry of Jesus in consecutive order (Lk 1:1–4), and later records the history of the early church (Ac 1:1–2). He composes these accounts on behalf of a mysterious Christian named Theophilus, who wants to learn more about his Christian faith.
John is another member of the 12 apostles, a former fisherman from Galilee who follows Jesus (Mk 1:19–20). The Lord gives John and his brother James the nickname “Sons of Thunder” (Mk 3:17). The Bible doesn’t say how he earned this nickname, but John does seem to have a stormy personality at times (Lk 9:51–56).
After the resurrection, John becomes a pillar of the early church (Ga 2:9). He writes a persuasive account of Jesus’ earthly ministry, death, and resurrection, and then writes four letters (the last one, Revelation, includes many apocalyptic visions). According to tradition, John becomes an elder at the church at Ephesus. He is eventually exiled to the Isle of Patmos (Rev 1:9).
Fun fact: of all the epistles in the New Testament, John writes the longest (Revelation) and the shortest (3 John). In fact, 3 John is the shortest book of the Bible.
James the Just is the younger brother of Jesus (Mt 13:55; Mk 6:3), the son of Mary and Joseph. James doesn’t believe in Jesus while the Lord is going about his earthly ministry (Jn 7:5). But that all changes after Jesus rises from the dead. Jesus specifically appears to James (1 Co 15:7), and afterward James becomes one of the main leaders in the early church.
James is especially savvy when it comes to balancing freedom in Christ with respect for God’s holiness. When the church is undecided on how Gentiles should treat the Law of Moses, James settles the matter with a few pointers (Ac 15:13–21).
Later, James writes a letter to the Christian Jews scattered across the world, encouraging them to keep working out their faith. We call this letter the book of James.
BTW, James is my personal favorites. When you get James down, you get life down. It covers so many aspect of Christian life principles and life principles in general. Some of my favorite quotes from James:
Quick to listen; Slow to speak; Slow to anger.
Consider it pure joy when you face trials of all kinds because you know the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
Be the doers of the word, and not hearers only.
Show no favoritism.
Faith without deeds is dead.
Mercy triumphs over judgement.
The tongue is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. If anyone thinks s/he is religions but does not keep a tight rein on their tongue deceives oneself, this person’s religion is worthless.
Bitter jealousy and selfish ambition is not the wisdom that come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual and demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every evil practice.
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, considerate, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
Peacemakers who sow in peace will reap a harvest of righteousness.
What causes quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but do not get, so you quarrel and fight.
You do not have because you do not ask God.
God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.
Submit yourself before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God. He will draw near to you.
Humble yourself before God, and he will exalt you.
Do not speak evil against one another.
Do not grumble against one another so that you may not be judged.
The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
You all know Peter. He’s the leader of the 12 apostles (Mt 10:2) and a pillar in the early church (Ga 2:9). Just as Paul is entrusted with bringing the gospel to the Gentiles, Peter is the face of the gospel to the Jews (Ga 2:7).
This guy is pretty hardcore. He walks on water (Mt 14:29), he cuts off some guy’s ear to protect Jesus (Mk 14:29, 31; Jn 18:10), and boldly declares that Jesus is the anointed one, the Christ (Mt 16:16). Yes, he’s also the one who denies Jesus three times at the Lord’s trial (Jn 18:15–16), but the resurrection totally transforms him. When the Holy Spirit comes to the church, Peter openly preaches the gospel of Jesus in the city.
Peter wrote two books of the Bible, and both are named after him. The first explains how Christians should live as aliens in this world: even though we’ll suffer, it’s nothing compared to the glory to come. The second letter urges Christians to remember what Peter has taught them even after he dies (2 Pe 1:13–14).
Jude is Jesus’ and James’ younger brother (Jude 1). Like James, he didn’t believe in Jesus during Jesus’ ministry on earth (Jn 7:5), but after the resurrection, he became a Christian. Jude writes one book of the Bible: a letter urging believers to “contend for the faith” (Jude 3–4).
Credit: Jeffrey Kranz https://www.britannica.com/ https://www.ucg.org/
