The Bible contains nothing written by Jesus. The Gospel writer Luke reports (Luke 4:16) that Jesus read in the synagogue. At times Jesus quoted from the Hebrew Bible, but he never documented his sayings. However, Jesus was frequently quoted in the Gospels. But, from where did the writers get his sayings?
Although three of the disciples of Jesus were credited among New Testament writers, most of the New Testament was not written by disciples. Non-disciples Luke and Paul wrote more than 50% of the New Testament. In some of his writings, Luke mentioned that he was present in some of the reports he provided. In other words, he was providing first hand reports.
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul contended that he did not make-up the message of the Gospel. He actually said, “I did not receive (the gospel) from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:12). However, in 1 Corinthians 15:3, Paul said, “… for what I received I passed on to you…”. The verbs he uses are technical terms for receiving and transmitting tradition.
Interestingly, Paul was writing this before any of the Gospels was written. In other words, what Paul was saying had a history, other than, and preceding the writing of the Gospels. Luke also alluded to this pre-Gospel history. He investigated what was “… handed down by those who from the first were eyewitnesses…” (Luke 1:1-2).
However, in view of the fact that the earliest conveyors of this information were all Jews, we would naturally expect them to treat the teachings of their master with as much respect as did the disciples of other Jewish teachers. This is all the more likely because of the tragic circumstances under which Jesus died. His death made the need to remember, preserve and defend Jesus against false charges more acute.
We must not forget that disciples in early Jewish settings were learners and reciters and memorizers. That was the way Jewish educational processes worked. Actually, it was the staple of all ancient education – those who passed on the tradition would not have seen themselves as creators, but as preservers and editors.
Because of today’s technology, we often forget that oral recall was far more important in ancient societies than our own. In the absence of today’s technology, ancient societies used a variety of methods to ensure memorization. My studies confirm that there is a growing confidence in the accuracy of oral transmission among ancient societies. This confidence is becoming more apparent within sacred literature.
The Gospels describe Jesus as a teacher 45 times and the term ‘rabbi’ is used of him 14 times. Like rabbis in his time, Jesus proclaimed divine law, gathered disciples, debated with religious authorities, was asked to settle disputes and supported his teaching with Scripture. Jesus also used devices to facilitate memorization. He used parables, exaggerations, puns, metaphors, proverbs and riddles to aid his disciples and audience to retain his teachings.
In his volume, Cynic, Sage, or Son of God, Gregory Boyd emphasized Jesus’ role as a “Rabbinic-like teacher”. As such, “Jesus would have ensured a common Rabbinic practice of word-for-word memorization”. Boyd cites Rainer Riesner as someone who has done a thorough study, both of educational practices with first-century Judaism, as well as the evidence within the Gospels’ tradition related to Jesus and his teaching methods. Riesner concluded “that memory of sacred teachings and traditions was a vital part of both Jewish life in general and Jesus’ teaching program in particular”.
In preparing for this blog, I was reminded that the relationship between Jesus and his disciples was similar to the type of school known as “disciple circle”, and would have used the standard teaching techniques of the ancient world. In the disciple circle, a handful of disciples would gather around a master. The disciples were apprentices who learned by constant attendance. The disciples watched his every action and listened to every word. The disciple circle existed as long as the master remained active and upon his death or retirement, the school died with him. Disciple circles were the normal pattern for higher education in both Jewish and Greco-Roman antiquity.
Contemporary psycholinguistic studies have served to confirm that the techniques that characterized Jesus’ oral teaching methods would have made for “very accurate communication between Jesus and his followers” and would have “ensured excellent semantic recall” (J. Bradshaw, “Oral Transmission and Human Memory,” Expository Times).
Today we handle the Bible with a level of confidence, knowing that we are reading the Word of God. But that confidence is based both in the content and in the process of transmission from oral to written form. We must not trivialise this legacy of the reliable transmission of Scripture. We should heed Paul’s injunction to young Timothy – “Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you” (1 Timothy 1:14 NLT).
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