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Is there any biblical evidence that suggests Jesus read or wrote anything, and was he literate?

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John 7:15 Then the Jewish leaders were astonished and said, “How does this man know so much when he has never had formal instruction?” 7:16 So Jesus replied, “My teaching is not from me, but from the one who sent me. This implies: He was "all knowing" just because what He is. – jayyeshu Mar 6 at 8:16
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Interestingly enough, He is attributed the title of "The Word". – Narnian Mar 6 at 13:15
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Literacy appears to be fairly common, as Peter, Paul, John, Levi (Matthew), Mark, Luke, James (the Lord's brother), and Jude all penned books of the New Testament, and Peter and John were fishermen, described as unschooled, ordinary men. – Narnian Mar 6 at 14:57
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@Narnian Exactly. With that, the question whether Jesus was literate or not, does not arise and the answers could have been in that line. Hope we don’t get another question asking whether God was literate or not and could understand what Moses wrote in Bible when He instructed Moses to do so. – jayyeshu Mar 7 at 4:29
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2 Answers

up vote 19 down vote

Jesus read Isaiah 61 in a synagogue:

Luke 4:16-22 (ESV)
16  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17  And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, ... 20  And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21  And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22  And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph's son?”

Jesus wrote on the ground:

John 8:6-8 (ESV)
6  This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7  And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8  And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground.

In addition to the direct implications of these, we have less direct but still strong evidence in events such as his delivery of the Sermon on the Mount. (Matthew 5-7). Also, if you are a Christian, you believe he co-authored the entire Bible (Hebrews 1:1-2).

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Your last sentence isn't right. Just because God has "spoken to us through his Son" doesn't mean that he didn't have an amanuensis (or several of them) to write down what was spoken. The sentence appears flippant, which is a pity. – Andrew Leach Mar 7 at 7:16
@AndrewLeach So you're acknowledging that Jesus is the almighty God who created the universe, but you're questioning whether he can write a freshman term paper? – parap Mar 7 at 20:21
No, I'm not. I am saying that he did not write much of the Bible himself. What he said was written down by others. – Andrew Leach Mar 7 at 20:36
I'm just saying if he can out of nothing create people who can write. Surely he could pick up a pen and paper. – parap Mar 8 at 3:34
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Of course he could. There is ample evidence in the Bible of general literacy. But he didn't "co-author the entire Bible" based on Hebrews 1:1-2. All that says is that God spoke to us through his Son, not about who wrote God's sayings down. I don't disagree with Jesus' literacy: I do disagree with your interpretation of those two verses. – Andrew Leach Mar 8 at 7:26
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Times change, and the exact measure that defines "literacy" changes with them. The concept of an "essay" would have been unknown in Jesus' day, but it is quite clear from the record of we have of his interaction with other learned men that he was treated as if he was educated. As we learn from the verses quoted in parap's answer he was clearly able to read the Tanakh scrolls. These two factors are enough for us to label him as being literate. Living and ministering in a primarily oral culture, it is not surprising that Jesus chose not to sit and write books but rather preached with parables to the public and by reasoning from the Scriptures with those educated in them.

Matthew 13:54 (ESV)
54  and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?

The verse here says that Jesus astonish them learned men of his day with his wisdom and he taught them. This is not the work of an unlearned man. Teaching from, reasoning from and accurately quoting the OT Scriptures (dozens of times) are clear signs of solid education and literacy skills.

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If anyone's wondering why this is only at 0 now, I don't know either, because it is a solid and clear answer. I don't see why this was downvoted to begin with, even in its terse original form. The "oral culture" point about what would have been expected in those times is especially informative. – Alypius Apr 13 at 17:34
@Alypius I wasn't wondering. The first version was pretty weak sauce -- a very poor argument made for something that could have been a strong clear cut case instead but missed the important facts leaving the argument hinging on speculation quite unnecessarily. The next set of revisions introduced factual errors that made it actually plain wrong. I hope the issues are fixed now, but although I finally think it is a passable answer, it's late to the party and doesn't really add that much. It deserved the early reception it got which is why I was here fixing it. – Caleb♦ Apr 13 at 22:28

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