There are some references to Jesus' early life up until his appearance to the nation, most notably Matthew chapter two and Luke chapter two. There are some other scattered references to those days during His ministry. However, the Gospels are not really a biography. They are more like portraits.
This is consistent with the records of the lives of the great Old Testament prophets: There is much obscurity about their lives. The life of Moses contains many details as well as large gaps. Abraham, the same. Elijah appears suddenly in the Old Testament without any personal details offered. Same for his replacement, Elisha.
Like these great prophets of the Old Testament, Jesus' life and ministry follow the same treatment by the Gospel writers.
Those 18 years of obscurity are lived in subjection to his parents, as Luke 2:51 says. His life was apparently conventional, for later in His ministry, the people of Nazareth are surprised that miraculous things are being reported about him, for they said in Matthew 13:55-57 "Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? And they were offended in him. . ."
No wife is mentioned by these Nazareth citizens who knew him from those 18 years, nor is any morally questionable aspect of his life during those years intimated by them in their remarks. |
