27 books written in the first century AD — what they are, who wrote them, and how they fit together.
The New Testament is the second, shorter part of the Christian Bible — 27 books written in Greek during the first century AD, within a few decades to about a century after Jesus's death. Unlike the Old Testament's roughly 1,500-year span, the entire New Testament was written within a single lifetime of the events it describes.
The 27 books fall into four sections. The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) are four separate accounts of Jesus's life, teaching, death, and resurrection, each written for a different audience and emphasis. Acts is a single book continuing directly from Luke's Gospel, tracing the spread of the early church from Jerusalem outward. The Letters (Epistles) are 21 letters, most written by Paul, to specific early churches or individuals, addressing real problems, questions, and theology. Revelation is a single book of prophetic visions given to John, written in a highly symbolic style, addressing seven churches and looking toward the end of history.
Traditional authorship credits about nine different writers: Paul (13 letters), Luke (Luke and Acts), the apostle John (the Gospel of John, three letters, and Revelation), Matthew, Mark, Peter, James, and Jude. Paul alone is credited with roughly half the books in the New Testament, though he never met Jesus in person before the crucifixion — his letters describe a personal encounter with the risen Jesus that redirected his life.
Most scholars date the New Testament's composition between roughly AD 45 and AD 95–100, meaning it was largely written while eyewitnesses to Jesus were still alive.
While most New Testament books were widely accepted early on, official church councils confirmed the 27-book list as it's known today by the late 4th century AD.
Unlike the Old Testament's Hebrew (with some Aramaic), the New Testament was written in Koine Greek, the common trade language of the eastern Roman Empire.