I tell & encourage people to have a learning mindset on day to day basis. Is this correct?

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 Based on the bible, yes, Jesus is depicted as having a learning mindset.

While the bible portrays Jesus as possessing divine authority and profound, supernatural insight, it simultaneously portrays him -- particularly in his human nature -- as someone who actively learned, observed, asked questions, and grew in understanding. 

Here is how a "learning mindset" is demonstrated in the Bible regarding Jesus:

1. He actively engaged in the learning process as a youth

The most direct description of Jesus as a learner occurs in Luke 2, during the account of Jesus as a twelve-year-old boy in the temple courts. 

  • He listened and asked questions: Luke 2:46 says they found him "sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions." A core component of a learning mindset is the humility to listen and the curiosity to ask questions.
  • He developed over time: Luke 2:52 explicitly states, "And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." The text does not present him as being born with exhaustive human knowledge; rather, he experienced a process of intellectual and spiritual development.

2. He took the posture of a student toward God the Father

Throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus repeatedly describes himself as a learner or an apprentice to God the Father. A learning mindset requires submitting to a teacher, and Jesus frequently stated that his knowledge and actions were derived from observing and being taught by the Father.

  • Observation and Imitation: In John 5:19, Jesus says, "the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing..." 
  • Receiving Instruction: In John 8:28, he states, "...I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me." He viewed himself as a recipient of ongoing instruction.

3. He was deeply observant of the world around him

A learning mindset involves observing one's environment and extracting lessons from it. Jesus’ teaching method—parables—demonstrates that he was a profound observer of nature and human behavior. 

  • He noticed how farmers sowed seed (Matthew 13), how yeast works in dough (Matthew 13:33), how shepherds care for sheep (Luke 15), and how weather patterns form (Matthew 16:2-3). This suggests a mind that was constantly processing the surrounding world to synthesize new ways of explaining complex truths.

4. He acknowledged the limits of his own knowledge

A crucial element of a learning mindset is recognizing what you do not know. In the Bible, Jesus explicitly states that there are limits to his knowledge during his earthly ministry.

  • Regarding the end of the age, Jesus says in Mark 13:32: "But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." 

5. He learned through experience and suffering

The book of Hebrews provides a theological commentary on Jesus’ life, explicitly using the word "learned" in the context of his human experiences.

  • Hebrews 5:8 states: "Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered." 

The Bible presents Jesus as learning not just intellectually, but experientially. He had to go through the physical and emotional reality of suffering to fully experience and "learn" what human obedience to God entailed.

6. He asked questions to gather information

While the Bible sometimes notes that Jesus asked questions to test people (like asking Philip where to buy bread in John 6), there are other times where the text reads as though Jesus is asking genuine questions to gather information he did not possess in his human consciousness.

  • In Mark 5:30, when power goes out from him in a crowd, he asks, "Who touched my clothes?"
  • In Mark 9:21, before healing a demon-possessed boy, Jesus asks the boy’s father, "How long has he been like this?"

7. He allowed others to impact his actions

  • In Matthew 15 and Mark 7, Jesus interacts with a Canaanite (Syrophoenician) woman who asks him to heal her daughter. Initially, Jesus declines, stating he was sent only to the "lost sheep of Israel" and that it is not right to toss the children's bread to the dogs. 
  • The woman debates him, saying, "Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table." Jesus praises her incredible faith and immediately grants her request. The text depicts a Jesus who is willing to engage in a dialectic (a dialogue of ideas) and allows the profound, faith-filled reasoning of another person to shape the outcome of the interaction.

Conclusion

Based on the reading of the Bible, Jesus did not walk the earth with a closed mind. While he is presented as the ultimate Teacher ("Rabbi"), the text balances this by showing that his teaching was the result of a profound learning mindset. He listened, he asked questions, he observed his environment, he acknowledged limits to his human knowledge, he subjected himself to the teaching of the Father, and he experientialy "learned" through the life he lived.

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