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Is there any evidence that suggest Jesus was literate?

11 Answers

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  • 7 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    Yes.

    "And [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written..." (Luke 4:16-17)

    "They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground." (John 8:6)

    Actually it would have been more surprising if Jesus were illiterate. Regardless of how reliable one thinks the Gospels are, it makes sense within the religious context of those times that Jesus would have been literate. The Judaism of the first century A.D. was already a textual religion (based on the Torah and other books of the Hebrew Bible). So Jewish parents placed a great emphasis on literacy so that their sons could read the sacred texts of their religion. As a result, first century Judaism had one of the best educational systems in the world at that time for teaching literacy to children.

    Source(s): Not a Christian, but I do read history.
  • 7 years ago

    In order to become a "Man" a Hebrew boy had to be able to do math and read as well as write. There is the passage that says Jesus stood up to read.

    So there is no reason to suppose Jesus was not literate except that of ignorance.

  • 7 years ago

    Literacy is mans ways of testing an IQ, but Jesus with such dominion and power over all thing how do one measure such IQ?.

  • Anonymous
    7 years ago

    There is no evidence that Jesus even was, never mind literate.

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  • Anonymous
    7 years ago

    He wrote in the sand. And he could read, so I'm assuming he was literate.

  • 7 years ago

    No. It's unfortunate that he didn't write a simple, clear and concise set of rules for his believers to follow.

    ...Then again, most of what he apparently said comes down to "Don't be an asshole".

  • CRR
    Lv 7
    7 years ago

    Yes. He read in the synagog, he wrote in the sand.

    Literacy was actually quite common in his time and place.

    Source(s): CR YEC
  • Roger
    Lv 6
    7 years ago

    he was writing in the sand when they brought the adulteress woman to Him...many believe He was writing the sins of the accusers!

  • 7 years ago

    Of course!

    Mat 4:7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

    How could he quote word for word something he could not read for himself.

    Blessings,

    Michael

    Source(s): Precisebible.com
  • 7 years ago

    Yes, it is recorded in the Bible that he could read and write.

    Source(s): Watchtower Library
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