"Jesus answered and said unto them; Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God."
Matthew 22:29
Today: Ignorance of the Bible Does Not Detract from Its Truthfulness
“Jesus answered, ‘You are so wrong! You don’t know what the Scriptures say. And you don’t know anything about God’s power’” (Matthew 22:19, HSB[1]).
When Jesus said this, who was He talking to, and what compelled Him to say that?
In Jesus’ day, a group of people tried to discredit the Word of God by asking silly and off-the-wall questions. In this way, they were pretty much like some people today who are trying to smear God and even disprove His existence. These men were known as Sadducees.
“The Sadducees were not many in number; but they were the wealthy, the aristocratic, and the governing class”[2] (Barclay).
These were the religious liberals of their day. They claimed to believe in God, but the only Scriptures they accepted were Moses’ five books. They completely denied anything supernatural or miraculous. One day, they brought up their pet question to Jesus. Trying to disprove the resurrection, they told Jesus hypothetically of a woman who married 1 of 7 brothers. Unfortunately for the young husband, he did not live long enough to have a child. According to the Old Testament law, it was the duty of the next brother to marry and impregnate the widow, to raise up a child in his brother’s name (Deuteronomy 25:5-10). This was known as levirate marriage[3], or brother-in-law marriage.
As the story goes, unfortunately for the second brother, he died before producing a child in his brother’s name. So the grieving widow married the next brother. And so it went for all seven brothers. None of them produced a child, but the widow had been married to all seven. I believe today, this lady would be known as a “black widow.”? The crux of the Sadducees’ story led to this question, “whose wife will she be in the resurrection?”
“Jesus answered and said unto them.”
Jesus didn’t hesitate, and He wasn’t shy about answering these willingly ignorant men.
“Ye do err.”
“You are mistaken.”
These men had settled on a scripture passage in the law of God to try to trip up our Lord. That was a mistake, of course. As they told their story, they showed their ignorance of the Scriptures.
“The Sadducees connected their thoughts to a Biblical passage but did not think through the passage correctly. These highly-trained men were mistaken in their basic understanding of Biblical truth”[4] (EWC).
These men thought they understood what the Bible was talking about here. Still, Jesus told them they were mistaken in their interpretation of the Scriptures.
“Not knowing the scriptures.”
“You do not know the Word of God.”
“not knowing. Note the negative, implying their unwillingness to know, not stating the mere fact. … All are sure to err who do not know the Scriptures”[5] (Bullinger).
“Not knowing the Scriptures. ‘In that, ye do not understand the Scriptures,’… the Old Testament, which they professed to hold free from tradition. That Scripture plainly implies the resurrection”[6] (PNT).
The Sadducees read God’s Word and perhaps even studied it, but their conclusions were wrong, showing a fundamental misunderstanding of what they had learned. This ought to remind us how important it is not just to read the Scriptures but to be careful about who teaches us God’s Word so that we can understand it “rightly.”
One day, the Holy Spirit told Philip, the evangelist, to go into the desert and meet up with a chariot to teach the Word to a man from Ethiopia.
“And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him” (Acts 8:30-31).
The man was very educated and could read the Word for himself, which is essential. He freely admitted though he did not understand what he was reading. He needed someone to guide him through the Scriptures. This is what Philip did. He gladly taught the man the Word of God, which brought him to new life in Christ that day.
Today, we need godly men and women who can teach the Word of God to us. Paul told Timothy –
“Thou, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:1-2).
Believing friends, we need to be discipled in Christ, learning how to “rightly divide the Word of Truth.” And then we need to become disciplers of others, teaching them God’s truth.
The Sadducees were worldly-wise men, but still, they missed God’s truth as they studied His Word. One of the things the Sadducees had missed in their study is the truth of the coming resurrection. They didn’t know the Word of God.
“Nor the power of God.”
“You do not know the power of God.”
It is God’s power that will bring everyone out of their graves at the end of time!
“Nor the power of God. His power to raise the dead. Modern Sadducism usually knows the meaning of the Scriptures, but denies ‘the power of God,’ in this as in many other things”[7] (PNT).
Sadducees show us that it is possible to be very intelligent but still miss the truth about God and His Word. They may have been worldly-wise men, but they were ignorant of what is most important, God and His truth.
Let’s take a moment to look at the simple truth about God and His power.
“Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed, I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son” (Genesis 18:14).
“Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee” (Jeremiah 32:17).
“For with God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1:37).
“Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?” (Acts 26:8).
“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Philippians 3:20-21).
Amen.
Quote: “Few people seem to realize that the resurrection of Jesus is the cornerstone to a worldview that provides the perspective to all of life”[8] (Josh McDowell).
[1] HSB is the Harvest Study Bible from Harvest Ministries in Guam.
[2] EWC, Barclay’s quote was borrowed from the Enduring Word Commentary, the electronic version in eSword. Matthew 22:23-28.
[3] EWC. See France’s quote in the Enduring Word Commentary, ibid. Reading through the Deuteronomy passage, you will see that a brother could refuse this “opportunity.”
[4] EWC, David Guzik, the Enduring Word Commentary, ibid. Matthew 22:29.
[5] E.W. Bullinger, The Companion Bible, the electronic version in eSword. Matthew 22:29.
[6] PNT, Popular New Testament, A Popular Commentary on the New Testament, the electronic version in eSword. Matthew 22:29. The emphasis is theirs.
[7] PNT, Popular New Testament, ibid. Matthew 22:29. The emphasis is theirs. This emphasis is mine.
[8] McDowell’s quote was Downloaded: Thursday, November 19, 2020. From: https://www.communicatejesus.com/40-quotes-life-changing-power-resurrection/.