Why isn't there a Book of Jesus?

Question

Why isn't there a book of Jesus in the bible? Surely he could have written something in his own hand to pass on to future generations.

I don't know about you, but if I was Jesus, I would have written something for the religion I was talking about.

Council of Nicaea is the actually spelling. But yeah, I am familiar with that, atleast in passing.

Constantine, a Mithra follower before he converted (whether that was on his death bed or not remains in question I think), set up the Council of Nicaea to bring together all the random religious books that were being taught in Constantinople(sp?) at the time.

To ease strains between rival christian factions, the council was set up to canonize a compilation of religious books into one widely accepted book.....henceforth, the Bible as we know it.

Assuming Jesus was literate, which in that time might be assuming too much, he was still human and humans tend to want to put their thoughts down from time to time.

And writing down your beliefs is not tooting your own horn, so to speak. Its giving clear evidence to your followers on what you proclaim to teach. On account of other people perverting oral teachings to their own ends. Perhaps Jesus had more faith in his followers...

And Jesus probably did write down, or dictated to someone to write down, his thoughts. But because his own writing showed him to be more human than divine, the Council disregarded it. But that's only a theory I just came up with.

Answer 1

It is possible that he did and it just didn't make the cut at Nicene. 100's of Christian scripture was left out if it disagreed with the prevailing thought at Nicene in 325

Answer 2

He didn't come to write things down....He came to serve as an example for our lives and to become the ultimate sacrifice for our sins.

"One Solitary Life
Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.

He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself...

While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth – His coat. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen long centuries have come and gone, and today He is a centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress.

I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life."


This essay was adapted from a sermon by Dr James Allan Francis in “The Real Jesus and Other Sermons” © 1926 by the Judson Press of Philadelphia (pp 123-124 titled “Arise Sir Knight!”). If you are interested, you can read the original version . Graham Pockett

Answer 3

The whole Bible - from beginning to end - is about Jesus.

He said to them, “How unwise and slow you are to believe in your hearts all that the prophets have spoken! Didn’t the Messiah have to suffer these things and enter into His glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted for them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
Luke 24:25-27

Answer 4

Because the bible is a collection of writings from a bunch of random "prophets" I use the term loosely. For Jesus to have written a book, he would have to have existed. He didn't, at least not in the biblical sense. He was just a man who told people he was the "son of God" same as David Koresh. People were just naive enough to believe him.

Answer 5

Because most of the books of the bible are named after the person that wrote them. And none of the things Jesus wrote were included in the Bible. (Perhaps you are familiar with the Council of Nicea [if it wasn't the council of nicea it may have been King James] who decided which books to include in the Bible... there are many that weren't because they felt they didn't cooperate the story that they wanted to portray.) Some say that the Dead Sea Scrolls were Jesus' own writing, but I couldn't tell where to find a copy of them to read.

Answer 6

Let's compare it to the president of a company. He tells those subordinant to him what the company's goal, directives, objectives, protocol etc are. They then implement it by Pollcy and Procedure manuals, memos to staff, letters to customers etc. He might not directly write any of those, but they come from him as the leader of the company. We don't discount a memo from a VP just because the Pres didn't write it.

So, carrying that paralell to the Bible, Jesus spoke, set up the Christian way of life, his disciples (staff, VP's, secretaries etc in effect) took what he directed them as a policy and procedure, wrote letters (which is what the NT is, letters from the apostles) to the "companies" or the congregations. They directly quoted from their "president" ..those are the words written in red. So in effect, we the subordinants in this Christian "company" are receiving information and directives from subordinant of the president (Jesus) in their writings that they took for him.

Hope this helps.

Answer 7

Right. Except tooting one's own horn, and hogging all the glory for yourself is a very clear sign that you are not a messenger of God. Jesus was exactly who He said He was. God in the flesh. What He is not is a showboat or self-promoter.

Answer 8

There was a book of Jesus but it was cut from the canon because it mainly talked about how good (or otherwise) that day's peyote was and how much he wanted to nail Mary Magdalene.

Answer 9

And We caused Jesus, son of Mary, to follow in their footsteps, fulfilling that which was revealed before him in the Torah; and We gave him the Gospel which contained guidance and light, fulfilling that which was revealed before him in the Torah; and a guidance and an admonition for the God-fearing.

Answer 10

There were more books supposedly written by Jesus, but the roman Catholic Church decided to leave them out of the Bible, probably because it said something about not having to give all of your money to the Church. Roman catholic Church was/is all about money.