Was Jesus a Rabbi?

How to cite this article: David N. Bivin, “Was Jesus a Rabbi?” Jerusalem Perspective 9 (1988): 1-2 [https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/2182/].

Revised: 15 June 2023

To understand the full significance of Jesus being addressed “teacher,” one must know what a Jewish teacher of the first century was and how he functioned in society.

Origin of “Rabbi”

The term “rabbi” is derived from the Hebrew word רַב (rav), which in biblical Hebrew meant “much,” “many,” “numerous” and “great.” The word also was sometimes used to refer to high government officials or army officers (see, for example, Jer. 39:3, 13).

In Jesus’ day, רַב (rav) was used to refer to the master of a slave or of a disciple. Thus, רַבִּי (ra⋅BĪ) literally meant “my master” (a form of address like “sir” in English), and was a term of respect used by slaves in addressing their owners and by disciples in addressing their teachers.

It was only after 70 A.D. that רַבִּי (ra⋅BĪ) became a formal title for a teacher,^[1] and thus cannot correctly be applied to Jesus. Nonetheless, the designation “rabbi” may still be more helpful than any other in conveying a correct image of Jesus to the average Christian reader. If this designation suggests that Jesus was recognized as a teacher in his day and that he was famous enough to draw students to himself, then “rabbi,” although anachronistic, perhaps serves a useful purpose.

Jesus’ Preparation to Become a Teacher

By the time Jesus began his public ministry, he had not only received the thorough religious training typical of the average Jew of his day, he had probably spent years studying with an outstanding sage (or sages) in the Galilee. Jesus thus appeared on the scene as a respected sage himself. He was recognized as such by his contemporaries, as passages in the New Testament illustrate:

• And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “What is it, Teacher?” (Luke 7:40; RSV)
• And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, to test him: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” (Matt. 22:35-36; RSV)
• And behold, one came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?” (Matt. 19:16; RSV)
• One of the multitude said to him, “Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me.” (Luke 12:13; RSV)
• And some of the Pharisees in the multitude said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” (Luke 19:39; RSV)
• There came to him some Sadducees…and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher….” (Luke 20:27-28; RSV)

Note the diversity of those who addressed Jesus as teacher (διδάσκαλε, Teacher!): a lawyer, a rich man, Pharisees, Sadducees and ordinary people. Clearly, there was a wide range of contemporaries who viewed Jesus as a sage.

Typical First-century Jewish Teacher

From the Gospel accounts, Jesus clearly appears as a typical first-century Jewish teacher. He traveled from place to place; he depended upon the hospitality of the people; he taught outdoors, in homes, in villages, in synagogues and in the Temple; he had disciples who followed him as he traveled. This is the very image of a Jewish teacher in the land of Israel at that time.

Perhaps the most convincing proof that Jesus was a Jewish sage was his style of teaching, for he used the same methods of scripture interpretation and instruction as other Jewish sages of his day. A simple example of this is Jesus’ use of parables to convey his teachings. Parables such as Jesus used were extremely prevalent among ancient Jewish sages and over 4,000 of them have survived in rabbinic literature.^[2] 

[*] Music in the Audio JP files is excerpted from the Hebrew song Moshe written by Immanuel Zamir in a recording sung by Yaffa Yarkoni obtained from Wikimedia Commons.

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Notes

1. See Emil Schürer, The History of the Jewish People 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. ↩
2. For 456 of the earliest rabbinic parables, see R. Steven Notley and Ze’ev Safrai, Parables of the Sages: Jewish Wisdom from Jesus to Rav Ashi (Jerusalem: Carta, 2011). ↩