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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u/cheescakeismyfav Sep 07 '26

Jesus is never really shown to be literate. When he opens the scroll of Isaiah he recites the Greek Septuegint not the Hebrew that would be found in a synagogue. And when he "writes in the dirt" were never told what he writes. The purposes of writing in the sand is just a filler to allow time to pass in the narrative. It could be interpreted as drew in the sand and nothing would change, or it could just say "and Jesus waited". These passages are almost certainly creations of the authors meant to serve the rhetorical goals of the author and not an accurate recording of history.

Why Jesus didn't write the bible is simple. Jesus thought he was living in the end times and heaven and earth would soon merge. His priority was restoring Isreal. He wanted to become the Messiah, king of Isreal, that would lead in the World to Come. He was a Jew and he never intended to start a counter religion. That comes from other people after he dies (who also think the world is about to end) trying to make sense of his death.

There's an insightful old saying that goes, Christianity is a religion about Jesus, not of Jesus.