Was Peter literate ... could he read Scripture?

[ncgolf]

There have been a lot of threads about Sola Scripture, Sacred Tradition etc.

This got me to thinking … was Peter literate … could he have read and understood OT scripture or was his instruction oral only, from Christ himself? Did Peter write himself or were Peter’s words dictated to one who was able to write?

What about some of the other apostles? I ask this because I wonder if this makes a difference in the whole argument of Scripture only?

Thoughts??

 

[Tantum_ergo]

Well, some say Peter was ‘just a fisherman’ and that the majority of people of the day were not literate. . .but then again, we just don’t know. Many people in the Jewish tradition were literate for at least one language (Hebrew as opposed to spoken Aramaic or Koine Greek or even Latin perhaps), and of course those who could read were encouraged to read to others.

Jesus was “just a carpenter” but we know for a fact that He was literate as we have evidence from Scripture that He “opened up the scroll and read”. I can’t recall any direct evidence that Peter read–but then again, that doesn’t mean he didn’t or couldn’t to some degree.

Matthew as a tax collector would have almost certainly been literate. The tradition that the apostle John was literate (as author of Revelation among others) is strong; his brother James is credited with a letter (and with literacy assumed) as well.

 

[Reformed1]

I ask this because I wonder if this makes a difference in the whole argument of Scripture only?

Thoughts??

No, it would make no difference.

 

[puzzleannie]

all the apostles went through intensive instruction in the scripture (what we now call the OT) during the 3 years they accompanied Jesus on his ministry, and especially after the Resurrection, when he explained and opened up all scripture to them so they understood completely how his coming and salvific actions were foretold. that includes those apostles who as sons of observant Jewish families received instruction in Hebrew and scripture from the rabbis as children, and those who perhaps by family circumstance, poverty, work etc. were prevented from receiving that education.

He engraved the Word on their hearts by his own hand, as God wrote the law on stone tablets for Moses with his own figure (the meaning of that type, by the way).

The apostles learned the meaning and interpretation of scripture from Jesus Himself, who IS the Word of God, ?They were and are protected by the Holy Spirit from deviating from that understanding, which is why the Church, through its charism of being apostolic, cannot err in handing on, teaching and interpreting scripture.

 

[Hastrman]

Many Jews were literate–Muslims don’t call them People of the Book for nothing. I believe the Bar Mitzvah practice of reading from Torah before the assembled was already starting to be established.

But I think most Jews were only literate in Hebrew–which was the norm for almost two thousand more years, that’s why Yiddish is written in Hebrew letters despite being a dialect of Plattdeutsch (German).

I think the Hebrew alphabet (or rather abjad) had to be adapted by brute force to write an Indo-European language.

 

[vern_humphrey]

Many Jews were literate–Muslims don’t call them People of the Book for nothing. I believe the Bar Mitzvah practice of reading from Torah before the assembled was already starting to be established.

But I think most Jews were only literate in Hebrew–which was the norm for almost two thousand more years, that’s why Yiddish is written in Hebrew letters despite being a dialect of Plattdeutsch (German).

I think the Hebrew alphabet (or rather abjad) had to be adapted by brute force to write an Indo-European language.

Actually, most Jews of Jesus’ time who were literate were literate in Greek (the Koine). One of the reasons the Jewish leaders of Alexandria were under such pressure to translate the Bible into Greek was that Jews around the Mediterranian world could read Greek, but few could read Hebrew.

Even in Judah, most relied on either Greek or Aramaic Targums (paraphrases) of the Bible. Most of the Old Testament quotes in the New Testament are from the Septaugent (the Greek version), not the Hebrew.

 

[Spirithound]

I think the Hebrew alphabet (or rather abjad) had to be adapted by brute force to write an Indo-European language.

Au contraire, the Hebrew abjad would lend itself quite nicely to a Hebrew-influence German dialect.

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

Any Jewish man in his time was expected to be literate. In the Temple service the priest would at the door pick several people to take turns reading a passage of scripture. When Jesus read the Isaiah scroll it was his turn to read that day.

afixed to tha cross was an insription in three languages. Since there was a limitation on books, most learning must have been oral back then. We know for example that Paul owned scrolls. But, we do not know if the other apostles owned their own scrolls. Scrolls were expensive.