Jesus was a rabbi

JESUS WAS A RABBI
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
John 1:49 49ThenNathanaeldeclared, "Rabbi, you
are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel."
Question:"Was Jesus a rabbi?"
Answer: It is clearfrom the gospels that Jesus had a reputation as a Jewish
rabbi (Mark 14:45;John 1:38). Peter(in Mark 9:5) and Mary Magdalene (in
John 20:16) both referred to Jesus as “Rabbi.” Moreover, the Jewishruler
Nicodemus thought that this title was appropriate for Jesus:“Rabbi, we know
that you are a teacherwho has come from God. For no one could perform the
signs you are doing if God were not with him” (John 3:2). Elsewhere, we see
Jesus referredto as “Teacher” (Mark 5:35). According to John 1:38, Rabbi
and Teacherare synonymous titles.
A rabbi (literally, “my master”)is a member of the clergy in the religion of
Judaism. Rabbis often function as leaders of synagogueswhere they provide
instruction in the Hebrew Scriptures and Jewishtraditions. Rabbis preach
sermons, interpret the Old Testament, and perform other functions similar to
those of Christian pastors. While Jesus was neverpart of the officialtemple
leadership, He was still considereda rabbi because of His ministry of
teaching. Even the Babylonian Talmud describes Jesus as a teacherwho had
students (Sanhedrin 43a).

During the first century AD, the word rabbi was used in a more informal
sense than today. In Jesus’day, the title “Rabbi” merely signified that a
person had a reputation as a wise teacheror sage. Gamalielthe Elder, who
taught Saul of Tarsus and who is mentioned in Acts 5:34–40, is referred to in
the Mishna as a rabbi: “Since Rabban [Rabbi] Gamalielthe Elder died, there
has been no more reverence for the law, and purity and piety died out at the
same time” (Sotah 15:18). We learn from John’s gospelthat John the Baptist
was also addressedby this title: “They came to John and said to him, ‘Rabbi,
that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you
testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him’” (John
3:26).
So it seems undeniable that Jesus was considereda wise teacherand thus
could be properly categorizedas a rabbi, as the term was used in Jesus’time.
It wasn't until after the destruction of the temple in AD 70 that the title of
“Rabbi” took on a more formal meaning for those who were ordained in the
rabbinic movement. As time went on, the definition of rabbi continued to
evolve. So, yes, Jesus was a rabbi, as defined in the first century, but today He
would not hold the same title, as defined in modern-day Judaism.
https://www.gotquestions.org/was-Jesus-a-rabbi.html
Study Shows Jesus as Rabbi
By Roy B. Blizzard and David Bivin
It is very difficult for us, almost2,000 years removedfrom Jesus’day, to
project ourselves back acrossthe centuries of time to a culture and language
so totally foreignto the westernmind of today. And yet, before we caneven
begin to understand the magnificent and thrilling words of Jesus, thatis
exactly what we must do.

The first thing that one must realize is that Jesus was a Jew. This fact should
be obvious; however, it is surprising how many Christians are shockedto
learn that Jesus was a Jew. And, not just any ordinary Jew. He was a rabbi, a
teacher, one learned in the Scriptures and the religious literature of His day,
which was considerable.
There is a generalconsensusin Christian circles that Jesus was unlearned or
unschooled. His knowledge was divine and God-given. It is said, even by some
scholars, that because Jesus was unschooled, the people of His day were
amazed that he had some knowledge ofthe Scriptures. This misunderstanding
is due in part to a statement made in reference to His home, Nazareth: Can
there be anything goodfrom Nazareth? (John 1:46) and to certain statements
made about Jesus’disciples:
And they were amazed and marveled, saying one to another ‘Behold, are not
all these which speak Galileans?(Acts 2:7)’
Now when they saw the boldness of Peterand John, and they perceived that
they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled, and took knowledge of
them, that they had been with Jesus (Acts 42:13).
From the above passages the idea has arisen that Jesus, like His disciples, was
basicallyignorant and uneducated because He was from Galilee. The
implication is that Galilee was “sticksville,”orthe “boondocks,”and that the
people who lived there were basicallyignorant.
This line of thinking is fundamentally in error. The level of learning and
educationin Galilee exceededthatof Judea in Jesus’day. Galilee surpassed
even Judea in its schools oflearning, and most of the famous rabbis of Jesus’
day were from Galilee (Johnananben Zakkai, Hanina ben Doda, Abba Yose
Holikufri, Zadok, Halaphta, Hananian ben Teradyon.)According to Professor
Shmuel Safrai, Hebrew University ProfessorofJewishHistory of the period
of the Mishnah and Talmud, not only did the number of 1st century Galilean
rabbis knownfrom rabbinic literature exceedthe number of Judean rabbis,
but even the moral and ethical quality of their teaching excelledthat of their
Judean counterparts (private communication).

In the New Testament, a greatdeal of space is given to Jesus’birth; but then,
until His appearance in the Temple at age 12, almostnothing; and from age 12
until He beganHis public ministry at about the age of 30, again, nothing.
What was Jesus doing in His early childhood and in His adolescence? We have
a very strong indication from a tractate, or chapter, in the Mishnah, the
Jewish“OralLaw.” The passageis as interesting as it is pertinent.
At five years of age, one is ready for the study of the Scripture, at ten years of
age one is fit for the study of the Mishnah, at the age ofthirteen for bar
mitzvah, at the age of fifteen for the study of Talmud, at the age of eighteen
for marriage, at the age of twenty for pursuing a vocation, at the age of thirty
for entering into one’s full vigor…(Avot 5:2l).
Although this statement cannotbe dated with certainty and may come from
70 to 150 years afterthe time of Jesus, it does, nevertheless, reflect whatthe
Jewishboy in Jesus’day would have been doing in eachstage ofhis growth
and development.
MostChristians know that the synagogue is the Jewishhouse of prayer and
worship. Few Christians are aware that eachsynagogue usuallyhad its own
elementary school, orbet-sefer, and its own school, or bet-midrash. As we
think of institutions within the framework of Judaism, it is natural to assume
that the synagogue, orhouse of prayer and worship, would be considered
most sacred. However, suchis not the case. In Judaism, even to this day the
bet-midrash is given more prominence and is consideredmore sacredthan the
synagogue.
However, there is one fact that is of the utmost importance for our
understanding of the subjectat hand, and that is: although scrolls, orbooks
for reading and study, were used, and although the practice of writing was
highly developed, writing materials were costlyand scarce,and all
manuscripts had to be written by hand by scribes trained in this profession.
Therefore, learning usually meant memorization by constantrepetition.
ProfessorShmuel Safrai, in his article, “Educationand the Study of the
Torah,” 945-970 in Volume Two of The JewishPeople ofthe First Century,
relates:

Individual and group study of the Bible, repetition of the passages,etc., were
often done by chanting them aloud. There is the frequent expression“the
chirping of children,” which was heard by people passing close by a
synagogue as the children were reciting a verse. Adults too, in individual and
in group study, often read aloud; for it was frequently advised not to learn in
a whisper, but aloud. This was the only way to overcome the dangerof
forgetting.
In the eyes of the rabbis, repetition was the keyto learning. One who repeats
his lessona hundred times is not like him who repeats it a hundred and one
times (Chaggigah9b).
All kinds of methods were devised to assistthe student in memorization. One
passagein the Talmud, too lengthy to quote here, tells how even infants were
taught to memorize the Hebrew alphabet (Shabbath 104x). In elementary
schools the children were instructed in the Hebrew language and in Torah, the
Law of Moses.
Lessons took place onall the days of the week including the sabbath when
they would, however, read no new material, but repeat earlierlessons. We
even find the children going over their lessons onFriday evenings in the
synagogue (Safrai:954).
From these written sources we cansay with greatcertainty what Jesus was
doing in His early childhood and adolescence. He was studying, committing
vast quantities of material to memory – Scripture, Mishnah (the Oral Law),
midrash (commentary on Scripture). halachah (rabbinic legalrulings) – all
the available sacredliterature of His day. It is important to emphasize that
this was exactlywhat most of the other children of His day were doing. To
such an extent that most of the people in Jesus’day had large portions of this
literature firmly committed to memory, and at the very least, almostall the
Old Testament. It is only when we understand this that we can understand the
peculiar way in which the rabbis of Jesus’day taught.
As we have already said, Jesus was not only a Jew, He was a rabbi. He had
had a thorough education, and when he appears on the scene, He appeared as

a rabbi, recognizedas such by his peers. There are many passagesin the New
Testamentwhich illustrate this recognition. Here are a few:
And Jesus answeredand said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you,”
and he said, “Rabbi, speak” (Luke 7:40).
And, behold, a certain lawyerstoodup, and tempted him, saying, “Rabbi,
what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25 - Matthew 23:36).
And one of the company said unto him, “Rabbi, speak to my brother, that he
divide the inheritance with me” (Luke 12:13).
And behold, a man came up to him and said, “Rabbi, what must I do to
inherit eternallife?” (Matthew 19:16 - Luke 18:18).
And some of the Pharisees inthe crowd saidto him, “Rabbi, rebuke your
disciples” (Luke 19:39).
And they askedhim, saying, “Rabbi, we know that you speak and teach
rightly, and show no partiality, but teachthe way of God truly…” (Luke 20:21
- Matthew 22:16).
Then there came to him some of the Sadducees…andthey askedhim, saying,
“Rabbi…” (Luke 20:27 - Matthew 22:23-24).
In the above passages,note the diversity of those who recognize and address
Jesus as Rabbi: private individuals, lawyers, the rich young ruler, the
Pharisees,the Sadducees – a broad cross sectionof the people of His day.
But, why is it important to understand that Jesus was a rabbi? Because, in
Jesus’day the rabbis were accustomedto using methods of instruction that
are quite foreignto the westernmind of today. The term “rabbi” is derived
from the Hebrew word rav, which in biblical Hebrew means “great.” The
word rav is not a title in biblical Hebrew. By the time of Jesus rav had come to
refer to a master, as opposedto a slave, or as opposed to a disciple. The word
“rabbi” (pronounced ra-bee), means literally, “my master.” It was used as a
form of address when speaking to a learned teacher, orsage. It was not yet a
formal title. The rabbi in Jesus’day was quite different from the present day
rabbi. In Jesus’day, the rabbi almostalways had an occupationfrom which

he derived his livelihood. He had not yet become the synagogalfunctionary
that he became in a later period. He was, rather, an itinerant or peripatetic
preacherfunctioning in much the same way as the prophet of the Old
Testament. In an age in which there were no highly developed and
sophisticatedmethods of mass communication as we have today, the rabbi
had to travel from place to place if he wanted to communicate to the masses
his teachings and interpretations of Scripture.
According to ProfessorSafrai, the itinerating rabbi was the norm, rather than
the exception. There were hundreds and perhaps thousands of such rabbis
circulating in the land of Israelin Jesus’day. These rabbis did not hesitate to
travel to the smallestof the villages or the most remote parts of the land. They
would often conduct their classesin the village square or out under a tree
(Safrai, ibid, 965). In some instances, classes wouldbe conducted in someone’s
home. Often these classeswere small. The rabbis did not hesitate to teach as
few as four or five students. According to custom, one could not charge for
teaching the Scriptures, so the itinerant rabbi was dependent upon the
hospitality and generosityofthe community. Many rabbis carried their food
with them – a pouch of meal and a few olives. From such they subsisted, not
wanting to be a burden to their host. The rabbi’s stay in the community might
last from only a few days to weeks, oreven months. However, for the long
term student (“disciple”), learning from a rabbi meant traveling, since the
rabbi was always moving from place to place. If one wantedto learn from a
rabbi, one had to “follow afterhim.”
Implied is the further exhortation to open one’s home to rabbis and their
disciples. The rabbi (and his disciples) would naturally need to eatand sleep
near where he was teaching. In Rabbinic literature there are many passages
which call on the people to show hospitality to the sages. Itis now easyfor us
to see the reason. If the people had not been hospitable, opening their homes
for teaching and providing food and lodging for the rabbis and their disciples,
it would have been impossible for the rabbis to teachand for the students to
learn. Upon the backgroundthat canbe drawn from Jewishsources, a clear
picture of Jesus as a rabbi emerges from our Gospels. Whenwe see Him at the
beginning of His ministry, He is walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee
and enlisting disciples with the call, “Come, follow me” (Matthew 4:19).

“Follow me,” lechaharai (literally, “walk afterme”), was a technicalterm in
Hebrew for becoming a disciple. The call to discipleship sometimes
necessitatedheartrending decisions. It was, more often than not, a callto leave
home. (Note that this was a temporary absence, althoughit might involve
months of study.) We recallthe words of the man in Luke 9:61 who said to
Jesus, “Iwill follow you, Lord, but first let me go say goodbye to my family.”
The callto discipleship often meant leaving mother, father, wife, children,
relatives, friends and traveling the country under adverse and austere
conditions. It meant leaving all. We can see this reflectedover and over again
in the Gospels. To the rich young man in Luke 18:22ff, the call to follow Jesus
meant selling all that he had, giving it to the poor, and lech aharai, “walk after
me.” Peterreminds Jesus (verse 28)that he and the other disciples are not like
the rich man: “We have left “ours” (i.e., home) and followedyou.” Jesus
responded, “Amen, (You have, and that is commendable) I say to you, there is
no one who has left house (i.e., home, family)…for the sake ofthe kingdom of
God who will not receive much more in this life, and in the age to come eternal
life.” Note that the Beatitudes, too, are 1) a call to discipleship, but also 2) a
promise of life everlasting.
If married, with his wife’s permission, a man could leave home for a period of
time in order to study with a rabbi. Sometimes it was the wife who encouraged
the husband to leave home to study (See Safrai, Comp. II p. 965). Forsome,
this callto be Jesus’disciple was too demanding, the price too high to pay, as
exemplified by the rich young man, and as demonstrated in the parable of
Jesus recordedin Luke 14:16-24.
Perhaps the most beautiful example of hospitality afforded to Jesus and His
disciples is that pictured for us in the story of Mary and Martha recordedin
Luke 10:38-42 (See Understanding The Difficult Words Of Jesus, 98-103).
Mary and Martha had openedtheir home for both physical and spiritual
nourishment – hospitality in the truest sense of the word. Another important
point is seenin this story when it is relatedthat Mary was…sitting at the feet
of Jesus:This rabbinic expressionis a technicalterm for becoming a disciple.
Notice againthe clearpicture of Jesus the rabbi that emerges from our
Gospels. He itinerates from place to place. He depends upon the hospitality of

the people. He teaches in homes or in the open air. He has disciples. His
disciples follow Him from place to place. It is the picture of a 1stcentury
rabbi.
How did the rabbis in the time of Jesus teach? Whatwere their methods of
teaching? What were they teaching?
It is correctto state that the focus of all the rabbis teaching was the Law. For
the rabbis, the “Law” consistednot only of the Written Law, but of the Oral
Law as well. The Written Law was the Torah, or the five books of Moses
(Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), that Godgave to Israel
at Sinai. In addition to this written revelation, Moses also received, according
to the rabbis, additional commandments or instructions that were
communicated orally. These additional commandments were designatedby
the rabbis as the Oral Law.
The Oral Law is divided into two catagories:halachahand haggadah.
Halachahis from the Hebrew root halach, meaning “to walk,” or“to go.” In
other words, halachah is that path or way in which one is to walk. Halachah is
the term used to refer to the whole legalsystem in Judaism. It includes the 613
written commandments of the Torahand all of the legalrulings and decisions
of the rabbis found in the Oral Law.
Haggadah, from the Hebrew root nagad(“to draw out; to narrate or tell”), is
everything that is not halachic; the non-legalportion of the Oral Law; that
part which does not deal with religious laws or regulations. According to the
JerusalemTalmud (Horavot 3:8. 48c), the purpose of the haggadah, unlike the
purpose of the halachah, is not to state what is “forbidden” or “permitted”
nor to declare what is “pure” or “impure.” Haggadahincludes history,
narrative, story, legends, fables, poetry, dirges, prayers, parables, proverbs,
allegories,metaphors, hyperboles, analogies,and more. The haggadahis not
written as a legaltextbook, nor a digestof legalprecedents. It is moral and
ethical instruction about personalfaith and the ways of God. It strives to
teachman how to live in harmony with God and in harmony with his fellow
man. Its fundamental purpose is to reachout and touch the heart of man that

he might “know the Creatorof the world and adhere to His ways” (Sifre,
Deuteronomy 49).
The common man loved haggadah. He was strengthenedand encouragedby
it. It was the spiritual food that nourished the soul. The sermons for the
common people were mainly haggadah. More technicaldiscussions were
reservedfor advanceddisciples. The itinerating rabbi-preacher loved
haggadahas well. It caught the people’s earand drew the people to God. And,
the rabbi that could do that – draw the people closerto God that they might
know His presence and feel His power – was highly esteemed. Greatcrowds
would throng to hear his words and disciples would eagerlyfollow after him.
In Jesus’day, the stress was stillupon haggadahrather than halachah. In
their teaching and preaching the rabbis still focusedprimarily on
contemporary problems and the application of biblical principles in everyday
life, rather than on theoreticaldiscussions ofthe legal aspects ofthe Law.
As surprising as it may seem, we have a recordof more of the sayings and the
deeds of Jesus than any other 1stcentury rabbi. Thus, the even greater
importance of the Gospels as a witness to rabbinic, haggadic style in the 1st
century. In Jesus, we find the classicexample of the peripatetic rabbi. His
teaching abounds in inspirational instruction that lifts man to God. It abounds
in parables, moral and ethical maxims, exhortations, words of comfort and
reproof, etc. To quote the greatJewishhistorian, JosephKlausner, for many
years professorat the Hebrew University in Jerusalem:
In his [Jesus]ethicalcode there is a sublimity, distinctiveness, and originality
in form unparalleled in any other Hebrew ethicalcode; neither is there any
parallel to the remarkable art of his parables. The shrewdness andsharpness
of his proverbs and his forceful epigrams serve in an exceptionaldegree, to
make ethical ideas a popular possession(JesusofNazareth; His Life, Times,
and Teaching, 414).
Due to exciting breakthroughs in synoptic studies by the late Dr. Robert
Lindsey, working togetherin Jerusalemwith the late ProfessorDavid Flusser,
it is now possible to reconstructmany of the discourses ofJesus and recover
their original contexts. This breakthroughhas made it possible to better

understand not only the teaching methods and style of Jesus, but also His
teaching format, the way in which He organizedHis discourses. These
discoveries have far reaching implications for better understanding the
method and style of the haggadic preacherof the 1stcentury.
In general, it can now be seenthat Jesus’format was as follows:
Jesus would see an incident and it would be affirmed by him with the use of
the Hebrew word amen,
Jesus would then comment on the incident in the form of instruction to His
disciples,
His instruction was then followedby two parables…for…outof the mouth of
two witnessesis a thing established.
The Gospelrecords of the teaching of Jesus are also a prime source of
information for understanding haggadic methods of scriptural interpretation.
A wide variety of methods were used. One list of 32 haggadic hermeneutical
principles is found in the Baraita of the Thirty-Two Rules, which is attributed
to Eliezar ben Yose, the Galilean, CE 150. This Baraita is inserted in some
printed editions of the Talmud after the tractate Berachot. It is also found in
the preface to the Midrash Ha-Gadol on Genesis, and at the beginning of
Mirash Mishnat Rabbi Eliezer. In the Gospels we cansee the application of
these rules of interpretation in the teaching of Jesus.
Of the haggadic methods of interpretation, the most frequently used by Jesus
is remez. Remez, or hinting, is a very rabbinic way of making a statement or
declarationabout something or someone by alluding to an Old Testament
verse or passage ofScripture. Jesus hints at a biblical verse or passage justby
mentioning one keyword or phrase in the passage. His listeners, knowing the
Bible by heart, much in the same wayhear a key phrase and canrecallthe
whole passage.Often, the point being taught is found in the biblical passage
immediately before or just after the “hint” from that passage. However, itwas
unnecessary, in fact a waste oftime, to quote a long passage fromthe Bible
which the listeners all knew from memory. The moment the “hint” was given,
the whole passagehinted at immediately burst into the mind of eachlistener.

John the Baptistuses this method when he asks Jesus:“Are you he who is to
come?” (Matthew 11:3). In other words, "Are you the Messiah?”Johnalludes
to “The Coming One” of Malachi3:1 and Zachariah 9:9. Jesus uses this same
method in answering John: “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk,
lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are brought back to life, and the
poor have the goodnews preachedto them.” In other words, “Yes, I am the
Messiah.”Jesus alludes to Isaiah 29:18, 35:5-6, 42:7, and 61-1, and John
understood exactly what Jesus was saying. The allusions by John and by Jesus
to Old TestamentScriptures are not only their wayof communicating with
eachother in a highly rabbinic and abbreviated way, a kind of oral shorthand,
but these allusions are also their haggadic interpretations of the Scriptures
alluded to. Eachis declaring that he understands these Scriptures to be
messianic Scriptures, references to the promised Messiah.
Jesus was a Jewishrabbi. That this is so difficult for large segments of the
Christian community to see, only illustrates how dim is the recollectionof
their Jewishorigins and to what extent they have assimilatedinto the pagan
culture that surrounds us. We wonder what kind of dynamic organism the
Church might have been throughout the ages hadshe clung more closelyto
her Hebraic roots rather than embracing and becoming amalgamatedwith
the paganHellenistic oriental philosophy that persists in the Church even to
this day.
We, quite frankly, are extremely concernedby the presentday situation in
Christendom. We see little hope for organizedChristianity extricating itself
from the quagmire of 19 centuries of pagan influence unless there is a
concertedand intelligent endeavorto return to the historic foundations of
biblical faith which are firmly establishedin the Land of Israel and the
Judaism of Jesus’day. It would seemthat Christianity’s only hope is to see
Jesus as He really is – an observantJew, a Jewishrabbi, a JewishMessiah.
The “Gentile” Church must become more Jewish, and purge itself of the
paganinfluences of the last19 centuries. May those who are not of Jewish
parentage quickly rid themselves of the arrogance ofwhich Paul warnedthe
Roman Christians:

Do not boastover the branches. If you do boast, remember it is not you that
supports the root, but the rootthat supports you. So do not become proud, but
stand in awe. Note…God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in His
kindness (Romans 11:18, 20,22).
Do not forgetthat non-Jews are spokenof as wild olive shoots grafted in
among the natural shoots to share the nourishment of the olive tree (Romans
11:17)adopted, to use another of Paul’s metaphors (Galatians 4:5), into a
Jewishfamily.
https://www.biblescholars.org/2013/05/study-shows-jesus-as-rabbi.html
Jesus as Rabbi
ScholarJaroslavPelikanexamines the changing perceptions of Jesus'role as a
Jewishrabbi and teacher.
JaroslavPelikan, The Illustrated Jesus Through the Centuries,
(Yale University Press 1997)pp. 9-23
The Rabbi
The study of the place of Jesus in the history of human culture must begin
with the New Testament, onwhich all subsequent representations have been
based. But the presentation of Jesus in the New Testamentis itself a
representation, resembling a set of paintings more than a photograph.
In the decades betweenthe time of the ministry of Jesus and the composition
of the various Gospels the memory of what Jesus had said and done circulated
in the form of an oral tradition. The apostle Paul, writing to the congregation
at Corinth in about A.D. 55 (twenty years or so after the life of Jesus),
reminded them that during his visit a few years before, probably in the early
fifties, he had orally "delivered to you as of first importance what I also

received" still earlier, thus perhaps in the forties, concerning the death and
resurrectionof Jesus (1 Cor. 15:1-7) and the institution of the Lord's Supper
(1 Cor. 11:23-26). Chronologicallyand even logically, therefore, there was a
tradition of the church before there was a New Testament, or any book of the
New Testament. By the time the materials of the oral tradition found their
way into written form, they had passedthrough the life and experience of the
church, which laid claim to the presence ofthe Holy Spirit of God. It was to
the actionof that Spirit that Christians would attribute the compositionof the
books of the "New Testament," as theybegan to call it, and before that of the
"Old Testament," as they beganto describe the Hebrew Bible.
It is obvious--and yet, to judge by the tragedies of later history, not at all
obvious-- that Jesus was a Jew, so that the first attempts to understand his
messagetook place within the context of Judaism. The New Testamentwas
written in Greek, but the language Jesus and his disciples usually spoke seems
to have been Aramaic, a Semitic tongue relatedto Hebrew but not identical
with it. Aramaic words and phrases are scatteredthroughout the Gospels and
other early Christian books, reflecting the language in which various sayings
and liturgical formulas had been repeatedbefore the transition to Greek
became complete. These include such familiar words as Hosanna, as well as
the cry of dereliction of Jesus on the cross, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?
(Mark 15:34)--"MyGod, my God, why hast thou forsakenme?" (which in the
Hebrew of Psalm 22 was Eli, Eli, lama azavtani?). Alongside Immanuel, "God
with us"--the Hebrew title given to the child in the prophecy of Isaiah (7:14)
and applied by Matthew (1:23) to Jesus, but not used to address him exceptin
such apostrophes as the medieval antiphon Veni, Veni, Immanuel that forms
the epigraph to this chapter--four Aramaic words appear as titles for Jesus:
Rabbi, or teacher;Amen, or prophet; Messias, orChrist; and Mar, or Lord.
The most neutral and leastcontroversialof these words is probably Rabbi,
along with the relatedRabbouni. Exceptfor two passages, the Gospels apply
the Aramaic word only to Jesus;and if we conclude that the title "teacher" or
"master" (didaskalos in Greek)was intended as a translation of that Aramaic
name, it seems safe to say that it was as Rabbi that Jesus was knownand
addressed. Yet the Gospels seemto accentuate the differences, rather than the
similarities, betweenJesus and the other rabbis. As the scholarly study of the

Judaism of his time has progressed, however, both the similarities and the
differences have become clearer.
Luke tells us (4:16-30) that after his baptism and temptation by the devil, he
"came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the
synagogue, as his custom was, on the sabbath day. And he stoodup to read."
Following the customary rabbinical pattern, he took up a scrollof the Hebrew
Bible, read it, presumably provided an Aramaic translation-paraphrase of the
text, and then commented on it. The words he read were from Isaiah61:1-2:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach
goodnews to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and
recovering of sight to the blind, to setat liberty those who are oppressed, to
proclaim the acceptable yearof the Lord." But instead of doing what a rabbi
would normally do, apply the text to the hearers by comparing and
contrasting earlierinterpretations, he declared: "Todaythis scripture has
been fulfilled in your hearing." Although the initial reactionto this audacious
declarationwas said to be wonderment "at the gracious words which
proceededout of his mouth," his further explanation produced the opposite
reaction, and everyone was "filled with wrath."
Behind the confrontations betweenJesus as Rabbi and the representatives of
the rabbinical tradition, the affinities are nevertheless clearlydiscernible in
the forms in which his teachings appearin the Gospels. One of the most
familiar is the question and answer, with the question often phrased as a
teaser. A woman had sevenhusbands (in series, notin parallel): whose wife
will she be in the life to come (Matt. 22:23-33)? Is it lawful for a devout Jew to
pay taxes to the Romanauthorities (Matt. 22:15-22)? Whatmust I do to
inherit eternallife (Mark 10:17-22)? Who is the greatestin the kingdom of
heaven (Matt. 18:1-6)? The one who puts the question acts as a straight man,
setting up the opportunity for Rabbi Jesus to drive home the point, often by
standing the question on its head.
To the writers of the New Testament, however, the most typical form of the
teachings of Jesus was the parable: "He said nothing to them without a
parable" (Matt. 13:34). But the Greek wordparabole was taken from the
Septuagint, the Jewishtranslationof their Bible into Greek. Thus here, too,

the evangelists'accounts ofJesus as a teller of parables make sense only in the
setting of his Jewishbackground. Interpreting his parables on the basis of that
setting alters conventionalexplanations of his comparisons betweenthe
kingdom of God and incidents from human life. Thus the point of the parable
of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), bettercalled the parable of the elder
brother, is in the closing words of the father to the elder brother, who stands
for the people of Israel:"Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is
yours. It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was
dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found." The historic covenant between
God and Israelwas permanent, and it was into this covenant that other
peoples, too, were now being introduced.
The oscillationbetweendescribing the role of Jesus as Rabbi and attributing
to him a new and unique authority made additional titles necessary. One such
was Prophet, as in the acclamationon Palm Sunday (Matt. 21:11),''This is the
prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee." Probablythe most intriguing
version of it is once againin Aramaic (Rev. 3:14): "The words of the Amen,
the faithful and true witness." The word Amen was the formula of affirmation
to end a prayer, as in the farewellcharge of Moses to the people of Israel,
where eachverse concludes (Deut. 27:l4-26):"And all the people shall say,
'Amen.'" In the New Testamentan extensionof the meaning of Amen
becomes evident in the Sermon on the Mount: Amen lego hymin, "Truly, I say
to you." Some seventy-five times throughout the four Gospels Amen
introduces an authoritative pronouncement by Jesus. As the one who had the
authority to make such pronouncements, Jesus was the Prophet. The word
prophet here means chiefly not one who foretells, although the sayings of
Jesus do containmany predictions, but one who is authorized to speak on
behalf of Another and to tell forth. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is
quoted as asserting (Matt. 5:17-18):"Think not that I have come to abolish
the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them.
For truly [amen], I say to you, till heavenand earth pass away, not an iota, not
a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished." Thataffirmation of the
permanent validity of the law of Moses is followedby a series of specific
quotations from the law, eachintroduced with the formula "You have heard
that it was said to the men of old"; eachsuch quotation is then followedby a

commentary opening with the magisterialformula "But I sayto you" (Matt.
5:21-48). The commentary is an intensification of the commandment, to
include not only its outward observance but the inward spirit and motivation
of the heart. All these commentaries are an elaborationof the warning that
the righteousnessofthe followers ofJesus must exceedthat of those who
followedother doctors of the law (Matt. 5:20).
The conclusionof the Sermon on the Mount confirms the specialstatus of
Jesus as not only Rabbi but Prophet (Matt. 7:28-8:1): "And when Jesus
finished these sayings, the crowds were astonishedat his teaching, for he
taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes. When he came
down from the mountain, greatcrowds followedhim." Then there come
severalmiracle stories. The New Testamentdoes not attribute the power of
performing miracles only to Jesus and his followers (Matt. 12:27), but it does
cite the miracles as substantiationof his standing as Rabbi-Prophet. That
identification of Jesus was a means both of affirming his continuity with the
prophets of Israel and of asserting his superiority to them as the Prophet
whose coming they had predicted and to whose authority they had been
prepared to yield. In Deut. 18:15-22, Godtells Moses,and through him the
people, that he "will raise up for them a prophet like me from among you," to
whom the people are to pay heed. In its biblical context, this is the
authorization of Joshua as the legitimate successorofMoses, but in the New
Testamentand in later Christian writers, the prophet to come is takento be
Jesus-Joshua.He is portrayed as the one Prophet in whom the teaching of
Moses was fulfilled and yet superseded, the one Rabbi who both satisfiedthe
law of Moses andtranscendedit; for "the law was given through Moses;grace
and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). To describe such a
revelation of grace and truth, the categoriesofRabbi and Prophet were
necessarybut not sufficient. Therefore lateranti-Muslim Christian apologists
would find Islam's identification of Jesus as a greatprophet and forerunner to
Muhammad to be inadequate and hence inaccurate, so that the potential of
the figure of Jesus the Prophet as a meeting ground betweenChristians and
Muslims has never been fully realized.
For Rabbi and Prophet yielded to two other categories,eachofthem likewise
expressedin an Aramaic word and then in its Greek translation:Messias, the

Aramaic form of "Messiah,"translatedinto Greek as ho Christos, "Christ,"
the Anointed One (John 1:41, 4:25); and Marana, "our Lord," in the
liturgical formula Maranatha, "Our Lord, come!" translatedinto Greek as ho
Kyrios (1 Cor. 16:22). The future belongedto these titles and to the
identification of him as the Son of God and secondpersonof the Trinity. But
in the process ofestablishing themselves, Christ and Lord, as well as even
Rabbi and Prophet, often lost much of their Semitic content. To the Christian
disciples of the first century the conceptionof Jesus as Rabbi was self-evident,
to the Christian disciples of the secondcentury it was embarrassing, to the
Christian disciples of the third century and beyond it was obscure.
The beginnings of this de-Judaization of Christianity are visible already
within the New Testament. With Paul's decisionto "turn to the Gentiles"
(Acts 13:46) after having begun his preaching in the synagogues, andthen
with the destructionof the temple in A.D. 70, the Christian movement
increasinglybecame Gentile rather than Jewishin its constituency and
outlook. In that setting the Jewishelements of the life of Jesus had to be
explained to Gentile readers (for example, John 2:6). The Acts of the Apostles
can be read as a tale of two cities:its first chapter, with Jesus and his disciples
after the resurrection, is setin Jerusalem;but its last chapter reaches its
climax with the final voyage of the apostle Paul, in the simple but pulse-
quickening sentence "And so we came to Rome."
Recently, scholars have not only put the picture of Jesus back into the setting
of first century Judaism; they have also rediscoveredthe Jewishnessofthe
New Testament, and particularly of Paul. His epistle to the Romans (9-11)is
the descriptionof his struggle over the relation betweenchurch and
synagogue, concluding with the prediction and the promise: "And so all Israel
will be saved"--not, it should be noted, convertedto Christianity, but saved,
because, in Paul's words, "as regards electionthey are beloved for the sake of
their forefathers. Forthe gifts and the call of God are irrevocable" (Rom.
11:26-29). This reading of the mind of Paul in Romans gives special
significance to his many references to the name of Jesus Christ there: from
"descendedfrom David according to the flesh... Jesus Christ our Lord" in the
first chapter, to "the preaching of Jesus Christ," which "is now disclosedand
through the prophetic writings is made known to all nations" in the final

sentence. Here Jesus Christ is, as Paul says of himself elsewhere, "ofthe
people of Israel..., a Hebrew born of Hebrews" (Phil. 3:5). The very issue of
universality, supposedly the distinction betweenPaul and Judaism, was, for
Paul, what made it necessarythat Jesus be a Jew. Foronly through the
JewishnessofJesus could the covenantof God with Israel, the gracious gifts of
God, and his irrevocable calling become available to all people in the whole
world, also to the Gentiles, who "were graftedin their place to share the
richness of the olive tree"--namely, the people of Israel(Rom. 11:17).
No one can considerthe topic of Jesus as Rabbi and ignore the subsequent
history of the relation betweenthe people to whom Jesus belongedand the
people who belong to Jesus. Thatrelation runs like a red line through much of
the history of culture, and after the events of the twentieth century we have a
unique responsibility to be aware ofit as we study the history of the images of
Jesus through the centuries. The question is easierto ask than it is to answer,
and it is easierto avoid than it is to ask at all. But ask it we must: Would there
have been such anti-Semitism, would there have been so many pogroms,
would there have been an Auschwitz, if every Christian church and every
Christian home had focusedits devotion on images of Mary not only as
Mother of God and Queenof Heavenbut also as the Jewishmaiden and the
New Miriam, and on icons of Christ not only as the Cosmic Christ but also as
Rabbi Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of David, come to ransom a captive Israel
and a captive humanity?
from The Illustrated Jesus Throughthe Centuries by JaroslavPelikan
Was Jesus a JewishRabbi?
Answer:
Yes. Two genealogiesofJesus Christ are found in the Bible, one in Matthew 1
and the other in Luke 3. Bothgenealogies trace Jesus ancestryback to David.
From David the genealogygoeslike this: David sonof Jessesonof Obed son of
Boazson of Salmon son of Naasonsonof Aminadab son of Aram son of

Esrom sonof Phares son of Judas (Judah) son of Jacobsonof Isaac sonof
Abraham.
Was Christ a rabbi?
[This article continues after a messagefrom the authors]
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Yes again. This is a Jewishtitle for teachergiven to Christ. See Matthew
26:25, Mark 9:5, 11:21, John 1:38, and more.
Jesus Christ
How about the Apostles?
According to the Biblical Timeline ten of the original twelve tribes of Israel
were lost during the various sacking andcaptivities from 735 BC to 720 BC.
The tribe of Judah had remained loyal to Solomon’s sonRehoboamwhen the
nation split after Solomon’s death. They occupiedJerusalem, the city of
David. (I Kings 12:20) Other verses suggestthat Benjamin also remained. (I
Kings 12: 23)

From this, we can safelyconclude that not only was Christ a Jew but so were
all the apostles. In fact, we have not only the Bible (both the New and Old
Testament)but Christianity itself thanks to the Jewishpeople who wrote and
preservedthese records and were the original members of Christ’s church.
They are still God’s chosenpeople, and He will redeemthem. (Isaiah 11:111,
44:23, 51:11, 66:13 Romans 11:26 and other prophecies too numerous to
mention.)
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9 thoughts on “Was Jesusa JewishRabbi?”
Eugene
August 18, 2017
Was Christ a rabbi? – I wish to point out something that has never been
talkedabout .. In the Jewishsociety, In the Temple Society, one could not be
calleda Rabbi, unless he was a married Man. and if a young man was not
married by the time he became 20 years of ages, he was there upon forbidden
to step foot within the Temple mount, until he could prove that he was a
married man. Therefore for anyone to address Christ as a Rabbi, meant that
they knew he was a married man. Yes, Christ had a wife at one time or
another some where. But this facthas never been brought forth. The only clue
that we have that he was a married Man was the factthat he was calleda
Rabbi. Paul Himself taught that for a man to be a Rabbi, he had to ”have a
wife” .. I know that no one wants to acceptthis, but I think its time to change
our view on this. Christ came to live as a man among us, thus, It only stands to
reason, that he would also be a married man, just as the First Adam was a
married man with a wife. Christ therefore to be calledthe Secondadam,
meant that he had to follow in the footsteps ofthe first adam and to have a
wife. Remember, Christ told his mother Mary, know ye not that I must be
about My Father’s Business ? Meaning, he was to become a Rabbi. He could
teachthe Temple Court, unless he was known to be a Married Rabbi .. I know
many will rejectthis, but I believe it is the truth. If you wish to discuss this
with me .. then do so with a open mind, not a close mind .. thank-you ..
Reply

LeeAnn Laorenza
February 5, 2018
God purposely left these things out to keepJesus’s bloodline hidden to
protect him. Jesus was here to live as a man. A commoner… This means he
was allowedto be human, and although he was specialfrom the get-go, I do
believe that he had to discoverwho he was around the time that he became the
Rabbi, or began his public Ministry. God made Adam in Perfection, then look
down on him and said you know it’s no goodfor you to be alone, I will create
you a mate. That is the whole point: LOVE and procreation. Life is made out
of love to give and receive love. Jesus was probably married, but that is not as
important as what he taught, and that is to love. I believe we spend so much
time rebuking eachother that we do not getthe truth, because Godinfused his
wisdom into all living things, therefore we have to string the truths together,
to find the whole. No body is wrong, everybody is right, the trick is to find the
truth in all the confusion… MayGod’s grace and piece be upon you all.
Reply
Ken
March 1, 2018
That, I believe, is a most excellentanswerand I totally agree with you! Most
Christians, even the serious ones and many theologians have no clue
concerning Jewishculture in the first century. If Jesus followedand filled
(kept it perfectly) then he was married at the age of 18. At the age of 30 he had
to be baptized so he could begin his own ministry, once againfulfilling the
law. Jesus was not only a rabbi but a high ranking rabbi who was given
“authority” to deliver interpretations of the Torah. I find it unfortunate that
the majority of Christians that I know do not seemto care about this
important aspectofJesus’life. He was much more than a simple carpenter in
every way.
Reply

Raymond
March 30, 2018
His wedding was at Cana. It was hostedby his mother in the Jewishtradition.
His miracle of changing waterto wine was done as the grooms family is
responsible for food and wine. The bride was Mary Magdalene anapostle who
was always with him and he kissedupon the lips. The other apostles ask her
why he didn’t confide some mysteries to her but not to them.
Reply
Ilawole Oluwaseun
November 10, 2017
If He had a wife, how come not a single child? Isaiah 53:8
“He was takenfrom and from judgement: AND WHO SHALL DECLARE
HIS GENERATION? forHe was cut off out of the land of the living”.
SecondlyJesus wasn’tborn of the seedof a man, He was the Spirit of God in
body, so how do you expect the Spirit of God to copulate with flesh?
Thirdly if you supposedJesus because as the SecondAdam had to go the way
of the first Adam by marrying; of what goodwas Adam’s marriage to a
woman to his life?. That means He should have also fallen the way the first
Adam did.
Fourtly if Jesus had a wife, she would picture in the scene atthe cross where
Jesus told His mother to behold her son. He would have as well spokenabout
Mary taking care of her daughter-inlaw
Fiftly, everything you have just written here is heretic
Reply

Robert Constantine
December4, 2017
Yes .. I also think Jesus nevermarried . It is clearfrom the Bible that Jesus is
the biologicalsonof God ( Josephwas not connectedwith His ancestry, and
was his step father ) , so given that that fact is so important in Scripture, had
there been a wife , and in the days before contraceptives, undoubtedly
children also, the Bible would have had to address the question of grandsons
and granddaughters of God . Significantly though, in spite of the fundamental
importance of the Son of God, there is no mention whatsoeverofgrand-
children of God.
Reply
Emma
December4, 2017
Such a bunch of baloney Isaiah53:8 how do solely equate ‘who shall declare
his generation?’To ‘he doesn’t have a child’? It could mean a number of
things most likely to do with the hope someone stands up and defends him
before death.
It’s a stretchto sayit’s about not having kids 2) with his penis. You think he
would have fit in in society, especiallyback then without one? No, he would
have been a freak and probably killed in infancy 3) what’s all this Adam shit?
He was a Rabbi preaching in a Temple, as such he neededto be married as
were the ways of the era. It’s not mentioned in the bible because it is
insignificant to the sexistauthors to mention. 4) that’s entirely speculative,
you can’t put words in a dead persons mouth and tell us what he would have
said.
Reply
Harry

February 5, 2018
I too, believe that Jesus was married, as that was the stipulated requirement
to being a rabbi, as was the directive to produce children. As well, Mary
Magdalene was his wife and recognizedby the other twelve disciples as
Jesus’s favorite. A single woman would not have been allowedto live, literally,
in the company of men travelling around Judea at that time. Mary Magdalene
was not a prostitute, but came from a significant family. Mary, the woman
with the alabasterbox of oils, to anoint those guests to her father’s home. She
did washJesus’s feetand anointed him with certain oils that only the wealthy
could afford.
Pointedly, Isaiah 53:8, ‘… and who shall declare his generation?’This
statementcan mean many things, but in contextto his being the Son of God, it
would very likely have been intended to mean “… and who shall declare me
the Sonof God?” Every followerof Christ shall declare him to be the Son of
God!
Reply
James W
October12, 2018
To my understanding one had to be married to be a member of the
Sandhedrian / the jewishlegislative body but to be a Rabbi I am not sure that
it was manditory. At 12 years old he was in discussion with the elders / temple
priests probably before his bitzah. So much spectulationit is not clear.
Was Jesus a Rabbi?
David N. Bivin 1988Jun01 Articles 2 Comments

By the time Jesus beganhis public ministry, he had not only receivedthe
thorough religious training typical of the average Jew ofhis day, he had
probably spent years studying with an outstanding sage (or sages)in the
Galilee. Jesus thus appeared on the scene as a respectedsage himself. He was
recognizedas such by his contemporaries, as passages inthe New Testament
illustrate.
Revised:28-Oct-2016
T
o understand the full significance ofJesus being addressed“teacher,”one
must know what a Jewishteacherof the first century was and how he
functioned in society.
Origin of “Rabbi”
The term “rabbi” is derived from the Hebrew word ‫ר‬ ַ‫ב‬ (rav), which in biblical
Hebrew meant “much,” “many,” “numerous” and “great.” The wordalso was
sometimes used to refer to high government officials or army officers (see, for
example, Jer. 39:3, 13).
In Jesus’day, ‫ר‬ ַ‫ב‬ (rav) was used to refer to the master of a slave or of a
disciple. Thus, ‫ר‬ ַ‫ב‬ ַ‫ב‬ (rabi) literally meant “my master” (a form of address like
“sir” in English), and was a term of respectused by slaves in addressing their
owners and by disciples in addressing their teachers.
It was only after 70 A.D. that ‫ר‬ ַ‫ב‬ ַ‫ב‬ (rabi) became a formal title for a teacher(see
Emil Schürer, The History of the JewishPeople in the Age of Jesus Christ
[175 B.C.-A.D. 135][ed. Geza Vermes, Fergus Millar and Matthew Black;
Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1979], 2:325-26), andthus cannot correctlybe
applied to Jesus. Nonetheless, the designation“rabbi” may still be more
helpful than any other in conveying a correctimage of Jesus to the average
Christian reader. If this designation suggests thatJesus was recognizedas a
teacherin his day and that he was famous enough to draw students to himself,
then “rabbi,” although anachronistic, perhaps serves a useful purpose.

https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/2182/
by Stephanie SanHamel
In 1960, NormanCousins, former editor of the Saturday Review wrote,
“There is every reasonfor Judaism to lose its reluctance towardJesus. His
own towering spiritual presence is a projection of Judaism, not a repudiation
of it.”[1] But decades later, Jesus stillremains an enigma to many Jewish
people – was he a rabbi, a rebel, a false prophet?
First-century Judaism
To help answerthis question, we need to understand Yeshua (Jesus)in the
context of first-century Judaism. If you think modern Judaism is complicated,
during the SecondTemple period Judaism took on a variety of forms, many of
which are not comparable to today’s expressions, culturally or otherwise.
Severalof the first-century Jewishsects are spokenofin the New Testament,
as well as in other historicalsources. There were the Essenes,Zealots,
Sadducees andPharisees. According to the New Testament, the sectwith
which Jesus interactedthe most was the Pharisees.
The Pharisees
The Pharisees were the guardians of the oral law and traditions of Israel.
Although generally depicted as extremists who insistedon dotting all the i’s
and crossing allthe t’s of Judaism, many were the moderates of their day,
attempting to create a middle path that all of Israelcould follow. Author Alan
F. Segalrefers to the Pharisees as “looseconstructionists ofthe Torah,”
contrasting them with the Sadducees,who he terms “strict
constructionists.”[2]
Jesus had many conversations with the Pharisees (e.g., Matthew 19:3–9, Mark
12:28–34,Luke 19:39), answering their questions, often pointedly, to challenge
their thinking. But he was included as a relevant voice worthy of their
engagement. The Phariseesthemselves acknowledgehim as a peer, calling him

“Rabbi” (Luke 19:39). The Talmud is full of conversations betweenrabbis
much like those Yeshua is recordedas having had with them in the New
Testament.
Inthe first century, only teachers among the Pharisaicalsectwere calledrabbi
(though rabbinical ordination as we know it did not begin until later). Until
that time, there had been no such specialdistinction in Judaism.[3] Jesus’
status among the Phariseesis most poignant in John 3:2, where a leading
Pharisee (Nicodemus)calls him Rabbi.
Here is part of that fascinating conversation:
Now there was a man of the Phariseesnamed Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you
are a teachercome from God, for no one cando these signs that you do unless
God is with him.” Jesus answeredhim, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one
is born againhe cannotsee the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him,
“How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a secondtime into his
mother’s womb and be born?” (John 3:1–4)
After a bit more back and forth, Jesus makes this rather audacious statement:
Nicodemus said to him, “How canthese things be?” Jesus answeredhim, “Are
you the teacherof Israel and yet you do not understand these things?” (John
3:9–10)
Jesus as a rabbi
So, Jesus was considereda rabbi in his day by the only sectthat used the term.
But exactlywhat kind of rabbi was he? Where did he agree and differ with
the theologyof other rabbis? [4]
Free will
The tension betweenthe sovereigntyof God and human freedom is still highly
debated today. On this point, the Phariseeswere middle-of-the-road. Rabbi
Akiva, one of the most important religious leaders of the secondcentury A.D.,
said, “All is foreseenbut freedom of choice is given”[5](Avot 3:16). Israel’s
Outside Literature, known today as the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, also

took this position: “Forman . . . cannot add to, so as to enlarge, what has been
prescribed by Thee” (Psalms of Solomon5:6).[6]
Yeshua agreed, as shownby his statement:
“But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. Forthe
Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he
is betrayed!” (Luke 22:21–22)
The phrase, “as it has been determined,” regarding the death of Yeshua,
indicates that God had decreedit from the beginning. At the same time, we
see woe to the person (Judas Iscariot)who betrays the Messiah. The Pharisees
did not try to solve the problem of the seeminglymutually exclusive free will
of man versus God’s pre-ordained decrees.Instead, they put them side by side
as factors to be consideredin many of life’s situations. Jesus did the same.
Resurrection
Yeshua and the Pharisees also agreedaboutresurrection. The Sadducees
accusedthe Pharisees ofinventing this doctrine, claiming it could not be
proven from Torah. The Phariseessaidit could be. Rabbi Jacobstated:“This
world is like a vestibule before the world to come:prepare thyself in the
vestibule that thou mayest enter into the banquet hall” (Avot 4:16).[7]
Yeshua also engagedwith the Sadducees regarding the resurrection. They
tried to ensnare him with a hypothetical question about a womanwho is
widowedand marries the brother of her late husband. When they askedJesus
who her husband would be in the world to come, he replied:
“Forwhen they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in
marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the dead being raised, have
you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage aboutthe bush, how God
spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the Godof Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and
the Godof Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite
wrong.” (Mark 12:25–27)
Core of the Torah

Regarding the essentialteachings ofthe Torah, the Pharisees andJesus were
on the same page. The Talmud records Hillel, the foremostteacherin Judaism
in the first century B.C., as saying, “Thatwhich is hateful to you do not do to
another; that is the entire Torah, and the rest is its interpretation” (Shabbat
31a). Or, in Yeshua’s words, “So whateveryou wish that others would do to
you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12).
The New Testamentcontains a remarkable conversationbetweena scribe
(scribes were of the sectof the Pharisees)that happened immediately after
Jesus and the Sadducees hadbeen debating the doctrine of resurrection:
And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another,
and seeing that he answeredthem well, askedhim, “Which commandment is
the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The mostimportant is, ‘Hear, O
Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your souland with all your mind and
with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.’ There is no other commandment greaterthan these.” And the scribe
said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and
there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all
the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as
oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And
when Jesus saw that he answeredwisely, he said to him, “You are not far
from the kingdom of God.” (Mark 12:28–34)
Jesus saw eye-to-eye withthe scribe about the greatestcommandments.
Materialwealth
Neither the Pharisees norJesus were interestedin amassing material goods.
Hillel, who presided over the Sanhedrin from 30 B.C. to A.D. 10., once said:
“The more flesh the more worms; the more possessions the more care” (Avot
2:7).[8]
The Pharisees taughtunselfishness:“What is mine is thine, and what is thine
is thine own” (Avot 5:10).[9]So did Yeshua: “No one can serve two masters,
for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the

one and despise the other. You cannotserve God and money” (Matthew 6:24).
He said that true spirituality is found in serving others. He taught his disciples
to live simply and care for the poor.
The balancedlife
The Pharisees couldenjoy both eating and dancing, and yet gave themselves
to fasting and somberness whenappropriate. Hillel summed up this balance
betweenregard for self and the regard for others: “If I am not for myself, who
is for me? And being for mine own self what am I?” (Avot 1:14).[10]
Yeshua exemplified balance. He enjoyed eating and drinking with Pharisees
(Luke 7:37–50), but he also taught sacrifice:“And calling the crowd to him
with his disciples, he saidto them, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him
deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoeverwould save his
life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake andthe gospel’s will save
it’” (Mark 8:34–35).
Women
Hillel, known for his moderation on many issues, once said:“The more
women the more witchcrafts” (Avot 2:7).[11]Ben Sirach declared:“From a
woman sin had its beginning, and because of her we all die. Allow no outlet to
water, and no boldness of speechin an evil wife. If she does not go as you
direct, separate her from yourself.”[12]
Yeshua held a far different position. The Gospelof Luke, in particular, shows
his high regard for womenin that he spent significant time in their company.
Jesus emphasizedthat women had worth. He even came to the defense of a
woman caughtin the act of adultery, telling her accusersto casttheir stones
only if they themselves were without sin (John 8:7). Women were also among
Jesus’disciples (Mark 15:40–41;Luke 8:1–3;10:42; John 4:7–27).
The common people
The am ha-ares (literally, “the people of the land” or common people) and the
Pharisees were atodds. One rule of the Pharisees was:“A Pharisee may not
eat with an am ha-ares.” (Berakot43b).[13]

Yeshua challengedthis attitude. Levi (Matthew) became a followerof Yeshua
and gave a banquet. He invited his former “coworkers” – tax collectorswho
were consideredthe dregs of society. Yeshua attended because these were the
people who needed him the most. His compassiongave rise to this accusatory
question by some of the religious leaders:“Why do you eat and drink with tax
collectors andsinners?” (Luke 5:30).
The main bone of contention
Then Jesus saidto the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the
Pharisees siton Moses’seat, so do and observe whateverthey tell you, but not
the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. Theytie up heavy
burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they
themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their
deeds to be seenby others.” (Matthew 23:1–5).
Not all Pharisaicalteaching was burdensome, and within his ownlifestyle,
Yeshua participated in some extra-biblical traditions. But in declaring that
the Pharisees“do all their deeds to be seenby others,” Jesus was saying that
rather than observing the Torahand traditions to serve God, they were doing
so to serve themselves and their egos.
Jesus criticized the Pharisees fornot being true shepherds of the people.
Yeshua instructed the people to do as the Pharisees taught, but not to live as
they lived and pointed out how some placed burdens on others that they were
not able to carry themselves. In their preoccupationwith man-made
traditions, Yeshua said, they were missing the heart of the Torah. The irony is
that to this day, the tradition is meant to protectthe Torah—orthe Jewish
person from the possibility of breaking the Torah.
What happened to the Pharisees?
When Jerusalemwas destroyedin A.D. 70, some leading Pharisees
approachedtheir conquerors and askedto be allowedto live in the north of
Israel. There they codified the oral traditions, and, eventually, the Rabbinic
age was born. The descendants ofthe Pharisees are the Orthodox and

Conservative Jews oftoday (Reform Judaism arose as an alternative to
traditional Judaism).
Yeshua’s disciples called him Rabbi
Some of the disciples of John the Baptist, the Jewishprophet who saidhe had
come that “he [the Messiah]might be revealedto Israel,” (John1:31), became
disciples of Jesus:
The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked
at Jesus as he walkedby and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two
disciples heard him say this, and they followedJesus. Jesus turned and saw
them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?”And they said to
him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He saidto
them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying,
and they stayedwith him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. (John
1:35–39)
The New Testamentrecords severalotherinstances in which Jesus’disciples
calledhim rabbi, as in this passage:“Meanwhile the disciples were urging
him, saying, “Rabbi, eat” (John 4:31).
The common people called him Rabbi
When Jesus was leaving Jericho one day, a blind beggarnamed Bartimaeus
cried out to him. They had this conversation:
And Jesus saidto him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind
man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recovermy sight.” (Mark 10:51)
On anotheroccasion, a greatnumber of people crossedthe Sea ofGalilee and
went to Capernaum, looking for Jesus. The New Testamenttells us: “When
they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did
you come here?’” (John 6:25).
More than a rabbi
Yes, Jesus – Yeshua – was a rabbi, a teacherof Judaism in the first century
A.D.

But was he more than a rabbi?
Following Jesus’death, Peterand severalof Jesus’otherfollowers were
brought before the Sanhedrin (or council, the religious supreme court of
Israel) because theyhad disobeyed an order to not tell other Jewishpeople
about Jesus. When Peterreplied, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts
5:29), the council was ready to sentence them to death. However, the Pharisee
Gamalielintervened. Here’s what he said:
Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. For before
these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men,
about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followedhim were
dispersedand came to nothing. After him Judas the Galileanrose up in the
days of the census and drew awaysome of the people after him. He too
perished, and all who followedhim were scattered. So in the present case I tell
you, keepaway from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this
undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to
overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God! (Acts 5:35–39)
The Sanhedrin took Gamaliel’s advice and let them go.
Now, almost2,000 years later, not only have the teachings ofJesus spreadto
all nations, but there has always been a remnant of Jewishpeople who have
believed in him. In our day, more and more Jewishpeople are open to
considering Jesus as not only a historicalfigure, but as a rabbi of note.
If Jesus came to earth today, where could he be found? Probably in dialogue
with the Orthodox, the Conservative, the Reform, the secular, the boomers
and the millennials on the streets, online and in the synagogues.He would
teach, he would listen, and he would ask the same question he askedhis
disciples:“Who do you saythat I am?”
[1] “The Jewishness ofJesus,”AmericanJudaism 10:1 (1960), 36.
[2] Alan F. Segal, “Societyin the Time of Jesus.” Rebecca’sChildren:
Judaism and Christianity in the Roman World, BelknapHarvard, 53.
[3] http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/rabbi

[4] I am indebted to the late Dr. Louis Goldberg for much of this theological
material. You canread his article on this topic, “The Pharisees:Bad Guys or .
. .” at j4j.co/issuesv6n3pharisees.
[5] The Mishnah, H. Danby, ed., (London: Oxford, 1933), 452.
[6] The Pseudepigrapha, Vol 2., R H. Charles, ed. (London: Oxford, 1913),
637, 639.
[7] The Mishnah, 454.
[8] Ibid., 448.
[9] Ibid., 457.
[10] Ibid., 447.
[11] Ibid., 448.
[12] Ecclesiasticus 25:24–26.
[13] Zeraim, Babylonian Talmud. (London: Soncino, 1948), 266, 267.
PastorDavid B. Curtis
HOME | STUDY INDEX
Jesus the Rabbi
Mark 9:5
Delivered10/8/2006
Last week in our study of Mark we lookedat the Transfiguration, and in that
text Petercalls Jesus "Rabbi." This morning I want us to look at that idea:

Mark 9:5 (NASB) And Peteransweredand said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good
for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles, one for You, and one for
Moses,and one for Elijah."
Petercalls Jesus "Rabbi" because He was a JewishRabbi. Many Christians
don't understand this. Have you ever seenthe bumper sticker, "Myboss is a
JewishCarpenter"? How accurate is that?
Mark 6:3 (NASB) "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of
James, and Joses, and Judas, and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?"
And they took offense at Him.
The word "carpenter" is the Greek wordtekton, which actually means: "a
craftsman who builds." Given that Israel's buildings were constructedof
stones and rocks, Jesus likelyworkedas a stonemasonratherthan a
carpenter. He probably spent hours helping His father shape and cut stones.
Knowing that Jesus is a stonemason, lookatwhat Peter has to say:
1 Peter2:5 (NASB) you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual
house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
through Jesus Christ.
Petertells his readers that they are living stones being shapedby the master
stonemason, JesusChrist.
So Jesus was not a carpenter, but He did work with His father as a
stonemason. Butwhat I want us to understand is that Jesus was a Jewish
Rabbi. He didn't spend His adult life building houses but building kingdom
citizens. Jesus functioned in first century Israel as a man who was a Jewish
Rabbi. If you want to understand Jesus and His teaching, you need to
understand something of the JewishRabbis.
Let me back up a minute. Before we look at Jesus the Rabbi, I want you to
understand that Jesus ofNazareth was Godmade man. In theological
language, this is calledthe doctrine of the Hypostatic Union, which is the
doctrine of the personalunion of the two natures, the divine and the human,
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is 100% Godand 100% man. This is
where we getthe theologicalterm "theanthropic," which comes from theos,

which means: "Godand anthropos," which means: "man." Jesus Christ is the
God-Man. He is One personwith two natures.
If you have trouble understanding the doctrine of the Hypostatic Union,
you're not alone. Daniel Webster, the 19th-century statesman, once dined in
Bostonwith severaleminent literary figures. Soon the conversationturned to
Christianity. Webster, a convincedChristian, confessedhis belief in Christ
and His atoning work. A Unitarian minister at the table responded, "Mr.
Webster, canyou comprehend how Jesus Christ could be both God and
Man?"
"No, sir, I cannotunderstand it," replied Webster, "and I would be ashamed
to acknowledgeChristas my Saviour if I could comprehend it. He could be no
greaterthan myself, and such is my conviction of accountability to God, my
sense ofsinfulness before Him, and my knowledge ofmy own incapacityto
recovermyself, that I feelI need a superhuman Saviour."
There is plenty of scriptural evidence that Jesus is God. The Old Testament
taught that the Messiahwouldbe God:
Micah5:2 (NASB) "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be
among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in
Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, Fromthe days of eternity."
This One who is to be born in Bethlehemis eternal. The only personthat is
eternal is God. Jesus Christ is eternal God. The New Testamentalso affirms
this:
John 1:1-3 (NASB) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things
came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that
has come into being.
"The beginning" is before all beginnings, prior to the beginning of Genesis
1:1. The phrase could be rendered "from all eternity." John, in this verse,
establishes the preexistence of Christ in eternity past. He already "was" when
the beginning took place. Notice whatJesus said to the Jews of His day:

John 8:58 (NASB) Jesus saidto them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before
Abraham was born, I am."
Jesus made this staggering statementusing the "Tetragramatin," whichis the
Old Testamentsacredname for God. Jesus is saying that He, a man, pre-
existed the patriarch Abraham, who lived 2,000 years earlier.
Exodus 3:14 (NASB) And God saidto Moses, "IAM WHO I AM"; and He
said, "Thus you shall sayto the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"
This is referring to absolute existence. Bydoing so, Jesus Christ claimed an
existence that was timeless. There never was a time when Jesus Christ was
not. He knows no past nor future. The Jews atthe feastwell knew that Jesus
claimed to be eternal God, look at their response:
John 8:59 (NASB) Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus
hid Himself, and went out of the temple.
His enemies knew that He claimed to be God. There are many today who
claim to be Christians who don't even know what Jesus's enemies knew--He
claimed to be God.
Jesus, who is eternal God, became a man. We call this the incarnation, which
comes from two Latin words, "in" plus "cargo,"meaning:"infleshment, the
act of assuming flesh." God chose to become united to true humanity. Paul
teaches this in:
Philippians 2:5-6 (NASB) Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in
Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existedin the form of God, did not regard
equality with God a thing to be grasped,
Verse 6 teaches us that Jesus Christ is God. This is where the incarnation
begins, this is the point from which He descends, Godbecomes man. The word
"form" is morphe. It has nothing to do with shape or size. Multin and
Millagansay that "morphe" is a form which truly and fully expresses the
being which under lies it. Morphe is the essentialcharacterofsomething.
Jesus Christ pre-existed in the essenceofGod.

Verse 6 says that Christ, "did not regardequality with God a thing to be
grasped," The word "grasped" is from the Greek word harpogmos, which
means: "to take by force, to seize." It is used only here in the Scriptures. The
noun refers to: "taking an attitude of seizing something." Our Lord did not
considerthe expressionof His Divine essencesucha treasure that it should be
retained at all costs. He was willing to wave His rights to the expressionof His
Deity.
Let me give you a Curtis paraphrase of verse 6: "Who always being the exact
essenceofthe eternalGod, did not considerequality with God as something
that must be demonstrated."
The word "equality" is isos, and it means: "exactlythe same, in size, quality,
quantity, characterand number." We use it this way in English, for example:
Isomer-- is a chemicalmolecule having a slightly different structure from
another molecule but being identical with it in terms of its chemical elements
and weight. Its schema may be different, but its morphe is the same. Isomorph
-- is having the same form. Isometric -- is equal in number. Isosceles triangle -
- is one with two equal sides .
Paul is saying that Jesus Christ is exactly equal with God. Is God omniscient?
Then so is Jesus Christ. Is God omnipresent? Then so is Jesus Christ. Is God
omnipotent? Then so is Jesus Christ. Is Godthe creator? Thenso is Jesus
Christ. Is God the beginning and end? Then so is Jesus Christ. But He did not
considerHis equality with God as a prize that had to be hung on to. He is
equal with God in every way, but while he walkedthe earth, He didn't look
equal to God, He lookedjust like a man.
Jesus Christ didn't graspor clutch or cling to His rights but:
Philippians 2:7 (NASB)but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-
servant, and being made in the likeness ofmen.
The word "but" here is a contrastive--"notthis but this." The word
"emptied" is the Greek word kenoo, it means: "to make empty." Figuratively,
it means: "to abase, naturalize, to make of none effect, of no reputation."

This is what theologians callthe Doctrine of the Kenosis --the self emptying of
Jesus Christ. What did Jesus empty Himself of?
John 17:5 (NASB) "And now, glorify Thou Me togetherwith Thyself, Father,
with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.
He is asking to have His glory restored, because His glory was put aside when
He became man. The Greek noun for "glory" here is doxa. At first the verb
meant: "to appear" or "to seem," and then in time the noun doxa, that came
from it, then meant: "an opinion." In time the noun was used only for having
a goodopinion about some person, and the verb came to mean: "the praise"
or "honor" due to one of whom a goodopinion was held.
If a man had a right opinion about God, this meant that he was able to form a
correctopinion of God's attributes. The orthodox Jew knew God as all-
powerful, all-knowing, ever-present, merciful, faithful, holy, just, loving, and
so on with all His other perfections. When he acknowledgedthis, he was said
to give glory to God. God's glory consistedofHis intrinsic worth embedded in
His character, andall that could be known of God was merely an expression
of it.
Our word "worth" is somewhatequal to the word "glory." The worth refers
to intrinsic character. The worth of a man is his character. Have you ever
heard someone say, "Thatperson is worthless." Bythis they mean he has no
character. The worth of God is God's glory. When we praise God, we are
acknowledging His worth-ship. We shorten that word and we getworship.
That is what worship is, folks, it's acknowledging God's worth.
There is anotherand entirely different meaning of the word "glory," which is:
"light or splendor." In Hebrew thought, an outward manifestation of God's
presence involved a display of light. This brilliant outward manifestation of
God's presence was describedby the word shekinah, and in the Greek Old
Testamentthe word "doxa" is often used to translate it.
Put these two meanings of the word glory togetherand you have a clear
picture of Christ's oneness with God and of the humbling of Himself that went
with the kenosis.WhenHe became a man, He laid aside the brilliant

manifestation of His glory. Secondly, he veiled his glory in the sense that He
did not demonstrate His attributes. He did not walk this earth in the powerof
deity, He walkedthis earth in the powerof the Holy Spirit, in total
dependence.
From His own will, Jesus Christ did not use His attributes to benefit Himself.
They were not surrendered, but voluntarily restricted in keeping with the
Father's plan. Christ gave up any independent exercise ofcertaindivine
attributes in living among men with their human limitations that He might
become truly man. dependence is a necessarycharacteristic orreal humanity.
Christ lived in dependence upon the Holy Spirit in all that He did while He
walkedthis earth.
In Matthew 4, the temptations of Christ were relatedto His deity and the
kenosis. His humanity longedfor what His deity could have provided. He did
not exercise the prerogatives of His deity but was dependant upon the Father.
Jesus was the God/man, but He lived and functioned as a man. We must
understand that He lived and functioned as a man in first century Israel. If we
are going to understand this, we must get involved in Isagogics.Isagogics is a
word that has all but disappearedfrom English-language dictionaries. It is
from the Greek eis, "into," and ago, "to lead." In English, an "isagoge"is an
introduction. "Isogogic," Is defined in the 1955 Oxford English Dictionary as
"introductory studies, especiallythat part of theology which is introductory to
exegesis."
lsagogics is the study of the historicaland cultural backgroundof Biblical
passages. The Bible must be interpreted in light of the time in which it was
written. All Scripture was written for every believer (2 Tim. 3:16) but not all
Scripture was written to every believer. If our goalis to understand what the
writer wanted his readers to understand, then we have to know something
about history.
Jesus the JewishRabbi
From accounts found in Jewishsources,one can form a reasonablyaccurate
picture of what Jesus was doing in His childhood and adolescence. He was

studying, committing to memory large amounts of material -- Scripture and
commentary on Scripture -- all the available sacredliterature of the day.
This was exactlywhat most of the other Jewishboys of Jesus'day were doing.
The memorization of written and oral Torah was sucha large part of Jewish
educationthat most contemporaries of Jesus had large portions of this
material -- at the leastalmost all of the Scriptures -- firmly committed to
memory.
Professorand Rabbi Shmuel Safrai, who was professoremeritus of Jewish
History of the Mishnaic and Talmudic Period at the Hebrew University,
writes this:
The Scriptures were known almost by heart by everyone. From quite early in
the SecondTemple period, one could hardly find a little boy in the streetwho
didn't know the Scriptures. According to Jerome (342-420 A.D.)who lived in
Bethlehem and learnedHebrew from localJewishresidents in order to
translate the Scriptures into Latin [producing the Vulgate Bible]: "There
doesn't exist any Jewishchild who doesn't know by heart the history from
Adam to Zerubbabel [i.e., from the beginning to the end of the Bible]."
Perhaps this was a bit of an exaggerationonJerome's part, but in most cases
his reports have proved reliable. ("Safrai," lecture on June 5, 1985)
Jesus was born, grew up, and spent His ministry among people who knew the
Scripture by memory, who debated its application with enthusiasm, and who
loved God with all their hearts, all their souls, and all their might (Deut. 6:5).
God prepared this environment carefully so that Jesus wouldhave exactly the
context He needed to present His messageof"the kingdom of heaven." He fit
his world perfectly. Understanding this helps to understand the great faith
and courage ofHis followers who left Galilee and went to the whole world to
bring the goodnews. Their courage, their message, the methods they used,
and their complete devotion to God and his Word were born in the religious
communities in Galilee.
Capernaum was a small village of about 2,500 people. We might think of it as
just some small hick town. This would be wrong. It was, in its day, Harvard or
Yale. If you take the Mishnah - the recordof Jewishthinking from A.D. 0 -

100 - there are more quotes from Rabbis of Capernaum than all the rest of the
Rabbis of the world put together. The Synagogue schoolfound in Capernaum
is four times larger than any other Synagogue schoolfound until the 1500's.
This is the world where Jesus ministered. A world highly educatedin the
Word of God.
By the time Jesus beganhis public ministry, He had not only receivedthe
thorough religious training typical of the average Jewishman of His day, He
had probably spent years studying with one of the outstanding rabbis in the
Galilee. Jesus thus appeared on the scene as a respectedRabbi Himself.
The term "rabbi" is derived from the Hebrew word rav, which in biblical
Hebrew meant "much, many, numerous, great." It also was sometimes usedto
refer to high government officials or army officers (e.g., Jeremiah39:3,13).
In Jesus'day, rav was used to refer to the masterof a slave or of a disciple.
Thus rabi literally meant "my master" and was a term of respectused by
slaves in addressing their owners and by disciples in addressing their teachers.
The term rabbi in the time of Jesus did not necessarilyreferto a specific office
or occupation. That would be true only after the Temple in Jerusalemwas
destroyed(A.D. 70 ). Rather, it was a word meaning: "greatone; or my
master," which was applied to many kinds of people in everyday speech. It
clearly was usedas a term of respectfor one's teacheras well, even though the
formal position of rabbi would come later. Calling Jesus "Rabbi" by the
people of His day is a measure of their greatrespectfor Him as a person and
as a teacherand not just a reference to the activity of teaching He was
engagedin.
Many people in Jesus'day referred to Him as Rabbi. His disciples;
John 4:31 (NASB) In the meanwhile the disciples were requesting Him,
saying, "Rabbi, eat."
The Pharisees calledHim Rabbi:
John 3:1-2 (NASB) Now there was a man of the Pharisees,namedNicodemus,
a ruler of the Jews;2 this man came to Him by night, and said to Him,

"Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher;for no one can
do these signs that You do unless God is with him."
A Sadducee calledHim Rabbi:
Luke 20:27-28 (NASB)Now there came to Him some of the Sadducees (who
say that there is no resurrection), 28 and they questioned Him, saying,
"Teacher, Moseswrote forus that IF A MAN'S BROTHER DIES, having a
wife, AND HE IS CHILDLESS, HIS BROTHER SHOULD TAKE THE
WIFE AND RAISE UP OFFSPRING TO HIS BROTHER.
A lawyer calledHim Rabbi:
Matthew 22:35-36 (NASB)And one of them, a lawyer, askedHim a question,
testing Him, 36 "Teacher, whichis the greatcommandment in the Law?"
The crowds calledHim Rabbi:
John 6:25 (NASB) And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they
said to Him, "Rabbi, when did You gethere?"
Note the diversity of those who addressedJesus as Rabbi: a lawyer, a rich
man, Pharisees, Sadducees,and ordinary people. Clearly, there was a wide
range of Jesus'contemporarieswho saw Him as a rabbi.
What was it like to be a first century Rabbi?
From the Gospelaccounts, Jesus clearlyappears as a typical first-century
Rabbi, or Jewishteacher. He traveled from place to place; He depended upon
the hospitality of the people; He taught outdoors, in homes, in villages, in
synagoguesand in the Temple; He had disciples who followedHim as He
traveled. This is the very image of a Jewishteacherin the land of Israel at that
time.
Perhaps the most convincing proof that Jesus was a Rabbi was His style of
teaching, for He used the same methods of scripture interpretation and
instruction as other Jewishteachers of His day. A simple example of this is
Jesus'use of parables to conveyHis teachings. Parablessuchas Jesus used

were extremely prevalent among ancientJewishsagesand over 4,000 ofthem
have survived in rabbinic literature.
In Jesus day there were two types of rabbis. The first were called Torah
teachers. The word Torahis used to speak ofthe first five books of the Bible.
Torahteachers were people who were consideredto be masters of the Torah,
which meant they knew the first five books of the Bible by memory. Secondly,
they were master teachers, theycould use parables and alliteration. They were
recognizedby the community as teachers ofGod's Word. A Torahteacher
could only teachwhat the community believed was right. They could not come
up with new teachings. A Torah teacherwould teachin three parts like this:
1. It is written - he would quote the text by memory.
2. And that means - he would explain using parables or stories.
3. According to - and then he would quote one of their Rabbis as authority to
the meaning he had given for the text.
These men were brilliant teachers but were limited by the authority of others.
In Jesus world there was also a small group of what are calledRabbis with
semikhah. We know of about a dozen of them by name that lived from 30 B.C
to A.D. 70. They were not common, and they didn't exist in Judea.
What is a Rabbi with semikhah? They were masters of the Torah and the
Haftorah. Haftorah is a Hebrew word that simply means: "the rest." They
were masters of the whole Old Testament. The Jews callit the Tanakh, which
is an acronym that identifies the Hebrew Bible. The acronym is based on the
initial Hebrew letters of eachof the text's three parts: 1.Torah, meaning
"Instruction"- "The five books ofMoses,"also calledthe "Pentateuch".2.
Nevi'im, meaning "Prophets." 3. Ketuvim, meaning "Writings" or
"Hagiographa".
These Rabbis knew the entire Tanakhby memory. How many verses could
you recite right now by memory from the Old Testament? Think of the time
commitment to memorize the entire Tanakh.

They were also master teachers who were recognizedby the community, and
many of them were healers. Mostmiracles that Jesus did exceptfor raising
the dead, these Rabbis with semikhah did. They castout demons, healed the
blind and lepers, fed people, causedstorms. So most of the miracles Jesus did
were done by the Rabbis of His day who had semikhah. The Mishnah records
150-180miracles done by other Rabbis with semikhah.
Becauseoftheir unique ability to teachTorahand heal, they receivedwhat
was know as semikhah. Semikhah means: "authority." They had the
authority to teachnew ideas. They were so close to God that He had given
them new insight into His Word. Hillell, Shammai, Gamliel were all Rabbi's
that had semikhah. This was their teaching method:
1. It was written
2. You have heard that that means this.
3. But I tell you it means this.
Do you recognize that form of teaching? This is how Jesus taught.
Matthew 5:27-28 (NASB) "You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL
NOT COMMIT ADULTERY'; 28 but I sayto you, that everyone who looks
on a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his
heart.
Notice what the people said of Jesus'teaching:
Mark 1:22 (NASB) And they were amazed at His teaching;for He was
teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Jesus was one of this selectgroupthat were consideredteachers with
authority to make new teaching.
How do you get semikhah? You had to have the Tanakhmemorized, as well as
the Mishnah, and be a gifted teacher. You also had to have two other Rabbis
with semikhahwho publically put their hands on your head and declare from
God that you had God's authority. When that happened, you were considered
a Rabbi who could make new teachings. Overand over in the New Testament

people come to Jesus and ask Him where did You get the authority to say
that?
Matthew 21:23 (NASB) And when He had come into the temple, the chief
priests and the elders of the people came to Him as He was teaching, and said,
"By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this
authority?"
What they are saying is: Who gave you semikhah? Who were your two
Rabbis?
There is a JewishRabbinic technic, that is commonly used to this day, where
they would begin a debate or dialogue with a question. And the response from
the group comes in the form of a question. The question that comes is first of
all an answerto the first question, and it also extends it to a deeperlevel.
Luke 2:46-47 (NASB) And it came about that after three days they found Him
in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them, and
asking them questions. 47 And all who heard Him were amazedat His
understanding and His answers.
Jesus was asking questions, andthey were amazed at His questions. We see
many times in Jesus'teaching ministry that He will respond to a question with
a question. And in His question is the answer.
Luke 20:1-2 (NASB) And it came about on one of the days while He was
teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, that the chief
priests and the scribes with the elders confronted Him, 2 and they spoke,
saying to Him, "Tell us by what authority You are doing these things, or who
is the one who gave You this authority?"
To this Jesus responds in the typical Rabbinic fashion with a question:
Luke 20:3-4 (NASB) And He answeredand said to them, "I shall also ask you
a question, and you tell Me: 4 "Was the baptism of John from heaven or from
men?"
He is asking, Did John gethis authority, his semikhah, from God or man?
Now remember His question answers theirs. Their question was where did

you getsemikhah? And His question to them was, where did John get
semikhah? What did He just tell them? I gotsemikhah from John. When did
John declare God's authority being in Jesus?
John 1:29-30 (NASB) The next day he saw Jesus coming to him, and said,
"Behold, the Lamb of God who takes awaythe sin of the world! 30 "This is
He on behalf of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who has a higher rank
than I, for He existedbefore me.'
Who is the secondone to declare God's authority on Jesus?
Mark 1:10-11 (NASB) And immediately coming up out of the water, He saw
the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; 11 and
a voice came out of the heavens:"Thouart My belovedSon, in Thee I am
well-pleased."
Jesus is the only Rabbi in history who got his semikhah directly from God
Himself.
These Rabbis with semikhah had talmid or disciples. Torahteachers did not
have disciples, only Rabbis with semikhah had talmidim. Jesus was notthe
only Rabbi who had talmidim. What made Jesus standout was His age. He
was only in His early thirties. Apart from Jesus, the youngestRabbi that we
know of with semikhah was Akiba and he was sixty. Hillell got his when he
was 70, Shammai, when he was 85. How could Jesus have semikhahat 30?
That is part of what blew them away. How could Jesus know the Tanakhso
well in only 30 years?
Eachof these Rabbis with semikhah had their own way of coming up with
new teaching. And that method of interpretation was calledtheir "yoke." The
yoke of Torah is the way you take the burden of keeping Torah on your
shoulder. You do it according to their method. Every Rabbi had a different
yoke. Torahteachers would teachthe acceptedinterpretations, or yoke, of
their community.
If you wanted to know what a Rabbi with semikhah's yoke, was you would
simply ask him, "Whatis the greatestcommandment?" The greatest
commandment will tell you what his yoke is. What was Jesus'yoke?

Matthew 22:36-40 (NASB)"Teacher, whichis the great commandment in the
Law?" 37 And He said to him, "'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR
GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND
WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' 38 "This is the greatand foremost
commandment. 39 "The secondis like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR
NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'40 "Onthese two commandments depend the
whole Law and the Prophets."
This was Jesus'yoke. Otherrabbi's had other yokes. So the talmid would test
the various Rabbi's to find out what their yoke was. We see this happening
often to Jesus in the Bible. Various people came to Him to test His yoke. They
wanted to know if His interpretation fit the Torah. Now picture that you have
these different Rabbi's with their different yokes all really trying to
understand the Torah. Then along comes Jesus and says:
Matthew 11:28-30 (NASB)"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden,
and I will give you rest. 29 "Take Myyoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I
am gentle and humble in heart; and YOU SHALL FIND REST FOR YOUR
SOULS. 30 "ForMy yoke is easy, and My load is light."
Jesus is saying: Does your yoke tire you out? Come and take my yoke. He was
probably not speaking to unsaved people burdened with sin but people unsure
of the many interpretations they heard in the dynamic religious debate in
Galilee. What is Jesus'yoke? Love God with everything in you, and love your
neighbor as yourself. Is that an easyyoke? Easyto understand, not necessarily
to do. Yoke gives you the picture of an animal with a yoke pulling a burden.
The burden is keeping the will of God, which is going to take hard work. Do
you think it is easyto obey God? No, it's difficult and in order to do it, you
must have a yoke. Your yoke is your way of interpreting the Torah.
In Jesus'day the greatteachers useda technique today calledremez or hint,
in which they used part of a Scripture passagein discussion, assuming their
audience's knowledge ofthe Bible would allow them to deduce for themselves
fuller meaning. Apparently, Jesus usedthis method often.
An example of this is Jesus'comments to Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10). Jesus
said:

Luke 19:10 (NASB) "Forthe Son of Man has come to seek and to save that
which was lost."
The backgroundto this statementis probably Ezekiel 34. God, angry with the
leaders of Israelfor scattering and harming his flock (the people of Israel)
states the He Himself will become the Shepherd and will seek the lostones and
deliver (save)them. Basedon this, the people of Jesus'day understood that
the Messiahto come would "seek andsave" the lost. By using this phrase,
knowing the people knew the Scripture, Jesus saidseveralthings. To the
people He said, "I am the Messiahand God no less." To the leaders (whose
influence kept Zacchaeus out of the crowd) he said "You have scatteredand
harmed God's flock." To Zacchaeus He said, "You are one of God's lost
sheep, He still loves you."
This technique indicated a brilliant understanding of Scripture and incredible
teaching skills on Jesus'part. It also demonstrates the backgroundknowledge
of Scripture the common people had.
Believer, do you want to understand the words of Jesus? Understand that He
was a JewishRabbi, He taught using the methods and techniques of a Rabbi.
He taught to people who knew the word. So if you really want to understand
the teaching of Jesus, learnthe scripture! The more you know the Bible, the
more you will understand the words of Jesus. Readit, and re-read, and re-
read it until it comes out of you in all your speechand actions.
As Jesus was a rabbi, and in his day that meant he had to be married to be
one, why is this never mentioned?

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4 Answers
Tim O'Neill, Head Inquisitor againstbad history.
Updated Dec 18, 2016 · Author has 665 answers and 8.8manswerviews

Jesus was a rabbi

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