Teaching with authority

When Jesus finished that day, those who had listened recognized that He taught with authority. This contrasted with the way their educated men taught, who carefully followed the traditional interpretations.

"The result was that when Jesus had finished these words, the multitudes were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes." Matthew 7:28-29

Jesus taught what no one else had taught; He did not lean on the religious traditions in what He taught. he even used those traditions as a contrast to what He taught.

Yet Jesus did not set aside the Scriptures; He clearly made the point that the Scriptures will not pass away while the earth endures. But Jesus looked at the Scriptures in a very different way than their teachers had approached them. Their teachers looked at Scriptures as something to build around; the Jewish traditions were built to keep men from breaking the Law. They stated that they were building a fence around the law; they assumed that they could keep the Law if they worked at it diligently.

But Jesus sought to fulfill the Law and the Prophets, not just keep a distance from them. Jesus saw that the Law and the Prophets were meant to build something; they were not just rules. Jesus taught what the Scriptures were meant to accomplish not what men had built around them.

Jesus looked for something in the Law and the prophets. The traditional teachers had only built around the Law and the Prophets.

• The Law commanded that one should not boil a lamb in its mother's milk. The traditional teaching built a fence around this by requiring two sets of cookware, one for meat and one for milk, to try to keep from possibly breaking this law unknowingly. But the Law did not require two sets of cookware; this was not the intent.This commandment was to know where the meat and milk cam from, in order to not act with disregard for the feelings of the ewe.

This commandment pictured what is meant for the people of God; we are to be careful in what we do in life, taking into account the feelings of others. The commandment was meant to build a life of compassion; the traditional interpretation had the opposite result. If one ad two sets of dishes, then there was no need to be concerned with the feelings of the ewe. The Law mean to bring compassion; the traditions brought elaborate rules without compassion.

Jesus looked for the intention of the Law and the Prophets; the Scriptures were intended to accomplish something.

"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth,
And making it bear and sprout,
And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
So shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to me empty,
Without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it."
Isaiah 55:11

Jesus looked intently at Scripture, seeking to find what was intended by God. He looked at the same Scriptures as the rabbis, and found the good news of the kingdom of God. Jesus was looking for the intent of the Person in Scripture; He taught what He found. The rabbis had only looked for the outward requirement of the Scripture; they taught what they thought could keep the requirement.

Jesus taught with authority not because he had set aside the authority of Scripture, but because He was fulfilling the intention of Scripture. He looked intently at Scripture, seeking to find something in it. He taught what He found.

In the same way, we are to look intently at Scripture, seeking to find something in it.

"But the one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does." James 1:25

The Greek work rendered "looks intently" here means to stoop down to look. It is used when Mary stooped down to look in the tomb for the body of Jesus; she was looking to find Someone, not just looking to see. It is the same word used when Peter and John looked in the tomb. The only other time this word is used is when it described angels seeking to understand what God is doing.

We are to stoop down to find something in Scripture; we are to look intently seeking to find what God intends. If we only look at Scripture like a man looking in a mirror, we will see ourselves, but if we do not intend to do anything about what we see, we will quickly forget what we saw. Scripture has intention. We are to be doers of the Word.

The consequence of looking intently is seen in the teaching that comes from Scripture. The Scriptures are intended to build love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. When this intention is found, teaching has authority because it is expressing the kingdom of God.

Excerpt from "The Foundation of Discipleship" by Greg Whitten, angiken@gmail.com] or Basic Christianity