Go to the Source

Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.

Our modern world is filled with people ready to explain to Christians what the Bible says, how they ought to behave, and why God is no longer relevant. That most of these explanations are based on hearsay rather than study or experience is of little consequence to anyone except those seeking to justify themselves.

To briefly put Jesus’ comment into context, a question was posed to Him from the Law of Moses by men who did not believe in life beyond this one. The law said that if a man died, his brother was to raise up children with the widow. They offered a scenario in which a woman was the widow of each of seven brothers. They pretended they wanted to know whose wife she would be in heaven.

Jesus told them that there were two problems with their question. They did not know the scriptures quite as well as they thought. The second was their underestimation of God’s power. As Solomon said, “there is nothing new under the sun”. Modern critics still have not overcome the errors encountered by the Sadducees when framing questions about God.

Peter, who once had the audacity to tell Jesus that He was wrong, later warned Christians that no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation. That is, we are not the final authority as to what the scriptures mean. The scripture is God’s revelation of Himself—an autobiography, if you will. I’ve had professors tell me what an author meant by including certain scenes. When I became a writer, I realized no one knows what the author meant like the author does.

The Sadducees were on the right course. Their great error was in believing the professors rather than the author. If we wish to understand the scriptures, the very best way is to ask the author, He’s not hiding from us. In fact, He is more willing to share His views with us than we are to hear.

Underestimating the power of God is a type of willing blindness. I don’t have space here to write out Romans 1:18-22. You may read it for yourself or settle for my paraphrased summary here. I recommend the former. It goes like this; the power of God and His existence is not only declared by His creation but is understood by everything He created—people included. By refusing to acknowledge Him as God, we willingly subject ourselves to His condemnation.

If the power displayed in creation of the cosmos, is insufficient or irrelevant, God says, ask, seek, knock. Personal experience can be had for free.

Maranatha