Who was Jesus from thirteen (13) to twenty-nine (29) ?

And how did this effect his growth into the man he became?

Any citations of the bible is welcome; but citations are not only restricted to the bible.


As far as biblical references go, I know of nothing other than Luke 2:52:


Or, in Mark 6:3, early in his ministry, they say:

Isn’t this the carpenter?

In Luke's gospel they say "Isn’t this the carpenter's son?" but here he is identified not just as being the son of the carpenter but of being a carpenter himself and also that they recognise him - he is not an unknown stranger to them.

Of course, if you turn to extra-biblical sources there are theories in abundance, these include Jesus visiting India, or learning from the druids at Glastonbury.

There are also various non-canonical writings such as the Infancy Gospel of Thomas which tell of him as a child performing various miracles. This, however, is at odds with John 2:11 which says that turning water into wine at the wedding at Cana was "the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory" which seems to rule out childhood miracles.


There is actually no answer to this question -- at least factually speaking. This part of Jesus' life, known as the early years, has either been removed from the gospels or were never there since Jesus was not present for anyone to know what he did during those years. If Jesus was in a different place during this time, the logical question would be "what was he doing?". If he was learning and preparing for his 3 year ministry, this would give the idea that he was not God since God would know everything and not need to learn anything.

On the other hand, if he were there all those years it would only make sense that he was doing something other than just doing carpentry. In any case, there should be something written about those years, especially since he was supposed to be the most important man in all of mankind's history. It is very strange indeed that the information of some of the most important years of his life is simply not there!
