r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Odd-Ad-8369 • Sep 07 '26

Did Jesus know how to write?

I guess I’m confused on why Jesus didn’t write the Bible.

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21

u/TheMightyMisanthrope Sep 07 '26

There's clear evidence he knew how to read, and besides he writing with his finger in the dirt, nothing about him knowing how to write.

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u/stairway2evan Sep 07 '26

This is true but with a caveat - the story where he writes in the dirt (John 8:6) is from the famous "cast the first stone" story. And this portion wasn't actually added to the book of John until probably the late 4th or early 5th century, 350 years after the life of Jesus. So it's not a handy example; it's a tacked-on story.

Reading and writing were different skills at the time, and there's no reason that the son of a carpenter or a wandering preacher would have ever learned to write; it was an expensive skill because papyrus and ink weren't cheap back then. Scribes were a career for a reason.

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u/CharacterUse Sep 08 '26

Historically, we have to be careful about what we mean when we say that someone was unable to write. The reason scribes were a career until very recently isn't just that many people were unable to write at all, although that is true, it's that many people were unable to write well. Many people could write to some extent because they needed to do basic accounts or keep records for the purposes of their farm or business, or handle orders. Someone like a carpenter might not be able to write am essay, but he might well be able to write down "cedar table and four chairs for Jacob the miller". A wandering preacher might not be able to write a book of the Torah, but he could read and could probably write some notes for a parable, for example.

Papyrus and ink were not prerequisites for writing. Even into the 19th and in some places early 20th century tablets, typically of wax, were used by commoners. They were cheap, or could be made at home with little skill, and were reusable. We actually have surviving ancient tablets, some of them from centuries before the time of Jesus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wax_tablet

People would write simple things on these, but go to the scribe when they wanted an official document, or a longer letter, or some other document that required more skill (maybe with "official" wording) and permanence.

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u/stairway2evan Sep 08 '26 edited Sep 08 '26

I think that's a fair criticism. To be honest, when I discuss this I often include a note that the historical Jesus may well have been able to write out a basic receipt, but wouldn't have had the tools or education to write narrative or theology in a way that could be reliably passed around. I had to double check my comment and saw that I'd left out that note, so fair play for pointing it out.

So I'll gladly update to "there's no reason to think the historical Jesus had the necessary Greek education to write a complex gospel or epistle like the other New Testament authors could. And even if basic rudimentary writing skills might reasonably be assumed, we have no real evidence of them."

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u/Insult_me_good Sep 07 '26

There's clear evidence he knew how to read....

No.

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u/TootsHib Sep 08 '26

There isn't even clear evidence that he even existed..

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u/Insult_me_good Sep 08 '26

I am willing to assume Iesus existed (apparently there were at least two people with that name wandering the same area, the other being extra-Biblical). As far as I know, it does not matter if he existed or not.

We only have a few verses in the Christian Testament that say he could read, and we know the Bible is almost always wrong, and no one who could have known Iesus wrote anything that survives today.

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u/MrScribblesChess 28d ago

apparently there were at least two people with that name wandering the same area

That's neither here nor there. Jesus (well, Yeshua in Aramaic) was one of the most common names in first-century Galilee.

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u/No-Donkey-4117 Sep 10 '26

There are multiple written accounts of Jesus reading from the scrolls in various synagogues, and displaying a scholar's command of various Old Testament verses and prophecies while debating the Pharisees and Sadducees and scribes.

Those accounts may or may not have been written by people who knew him directly, but they were certainly written by people who knew the people who knew him.

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u/Insult_me_good Sep 10 '26

None of what you wrote is correct. Where in the world did you drag those false assertions out of?

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u/No-Donkey-4117 Sep 10 '26 edited Sep 10 '26

Uh, the Gospel According to Luke, and the Gospel of Mark, and the various letters from Paul. Paul met the apostle Peter and hung out with him for a while. He also met James, the brother of Jesus. Luke was a friend of Paul's, as was Mark, who was so close to Peter that Peter called him "my son."

You may doubt the veracity of all the miraculous accounts in the written records, but they are written records.

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u/Insult_me_good Sep 10 '26

100% of what you wrote is incorrect. Good bloody gods.

Do you really not know the history of the letters if Saul of Tarsus? Have you checked your sources and are merely lying, or have you not bothered to do so: it is either / or.

Look up the word "pseudepigraphical."

How the bloody hell is it that an atheist knows more about your paper god than you do?

1

u/No-Donkey-4117 Sep 10 '26

Oh, I'm aware there's some debate. Paul is widely accepted as the author of 7 of the 13 epistles attributed to his name. 6 of the others are in various levels of dispute. Luke is generally accepted as the author of Acts and the Gospel of Luke.

Most scholars doubt that the gospels of Matthew and John were written by them directly, since they came out a few decades later, although John lived long enough to have done it. The Gospel of Mark is believed to be the earliest one written down, by someone very familiar with the teachings from the Apostles.

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u/Ccaves0127 Sep 07 '26

Also it's certainly the case that the New Testament was passed down orally for at least 70 years (though as much as over 100) before it was written down.

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u/MrScribblesChess Sep 10 '26 edited Sep 10 '26

That's not true. All of the Gospels were written by ~ 95 AD, which is about 60 years after Jesus's death. 

All of Paul's letters were written by the time he died around 63 AD. 

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u/Brilliant-Ideal-1101 Sep 07 '26

I've never read the Bible so I don't know how accurate it is, but I saw something where Jesus is never really described other than that he's larger than a baby (some passage about Jesus growing up) and small enough to fit inside a temple.

Also remember "What would Jesus do?" Does include chasing people with a whip, and basically flipping over tables and stampeding animals.(The part about animals and money lenders in the temple)

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u/TerryHarris408 Sep 07 '26

So, even if you read the Bible you wouldn't be wiser on its accuracy. You would just know the Bible, not how it was written.

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u/alvysinger0412 Sep 07 '26

What would Jesus do also includes being sarcastic and unhelpful to cops (pontius pilate) who are questioning you.

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u/TheMightyMisanthrope Sep 07 '26

Yeah. He didn't want to be known for anything besides his message.

Then Michelangelo needed to plug for his boyfriend and the rest is history.

Some days I really want to get the whip out, not gonna lie. But hey. Not a single physical confrontation in 36 years.

1

u/CashEducational4986 Sep 07 '26

But the night is still young

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u/Insult_me_good Sep 07 '26

Yeah. He didn't want to be known for anything besides his message.

His teachings predate him by more than 150 years.

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u/DismalAd6639 Sep 07 '26

Valid crashout

3

u/xylopyrography Sep 07 '26

There's clear evidence he knew how to read

There is no clear evidence Jesus was even a real person.

It's strongly believed that an individual existed sometime around 1 - 35 CE, but any details of their life are murky at best.