Jesus replied, "Your mistake is that you don't know the Scriptures, and you don't know the power of God."
Mat 22:23 That same day Jesus was approached by some Sadducees—religious leaders who say there is no resurrection from the dead. They posed this question:
Mat 22:24 “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies without children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on the brother’s name.’
Mat 22:25 Well, suppose there were seven brothers. The oldest one married and then died without children, so his brother married the widow.
Mat 22:26 But the second brother also died, and the third brother married her. This continued with all seven of them.
Mat 22:27 Last of all, the woman also died.
Mat 22:28 So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her.”
Mat 22:29 Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God.
Mat 22:30 For when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the angels in heaven.
Mat 22:31 “But now, as to whether there will be a resurrection of the dead—haven’t you ever read about this in the Scriptures? Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, God said,
Mat 22:32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ So He is the God of the living, not the dead.”
Mat 22:33 When the crowds heard Him, they were astounded at His teaching. [NLT]
You Don’t Know the Scriptures…
Here we see Jesus facing another group of religious leaders – the Sadducees – in a “battle of wits”, a battle instigated by them. Before we go on it might be helpful to have a little background understanding of who the Sadducees were.
The Sadducees are supposed to have taken their name from Sadok, who flourished about 260 years before the Christian era. He was a pupil of Antigonus Sochaeus, president of the sanhedrin, or great council of the nation. He had taught the duty of serving God disinterestedly, without the hope of reward or the fear of punishment. Sadok, not properly understanding the doctrine of his master, drew the inference that there was no future state of rewards or punishments, and on this belief he founded the sect. The other notions which they held, all to be traced to this leading doctrine, were:
- That there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit Mat_22:23; Act_23:8; and that the soul of man perishes with the body.
- They rejected the doctrine of fate or decrees.
- They rejected all traditions, and professed to receive only the books of the Old Testament. They were far less numerous than the Pharisees, but their want of numbers was compensated, in some degree, by their wealth and standing in society. Though they did not generally seek office, yet several of them were advanced to the high priesthood. [Albert Barnes Notes on the Bible]
So, the subject they bring up is one of their favorites. Their belief in no resurrection plays a huge part in who they are. Undoubtedly they have created many false beliefs (based on interpretations of the law of Moses) that lead them to these false notions. There attack on Jesus is based completely off the interpretation (presumptive interpretation) of a single law of Moses. Deut 25:5-6
Jesus starts off His response pointing to the heart of the problem; “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures…” and then the resulting state of mind from not knowing the scriptures, “…and you don’t know the power of God.” From this we can surmise the problem the Sadducees had was not enough information. They were taking the scriptures lightly and not studying them to “know the power of God”. They had reached their conclusions based on the teachings of Sadok, a man, and had not considered ALL the scriptures to know the will of the Father.
Do we make the mistake of not knowing the scriptures today?
So many Christians today allow themselves to be led by men. A single man, with a little charisma and charm, can come into their lives, tell them anything he wants as long as it plays on their feelings or emotions, claim it is in the scriptures (which somehow gives him some level of authority), and they will follow him.
It is easy to tell others what they want to hear. A self deceived and/or openly deceptive person need only to understand a little bit of how sinful humanity works, and they can create false doctrine that will have men (not grounded in the scriptures) eating from their hands.
How can I know if a teaching is true or false?
There are many things we should do and can do to help us decipher whether a teaching is true or false. The following list are just some of the reasons how and why we should read the bible and seek truth.
- Be your own person - God made us all different and individual. He made us with the capacity to think for ourselves. If something doesn’t quite seem right to you then don’t blow it off, study it for yourself in the Word of God and find truth on your own. Don’t neglect study with others, we can learn a lot from each other, but also don’t blindly accept everything you are taught…especially if it is coming from just one man.
- Trust the Word of God - If someone says something that doesn’t quite make sense or align itself with the Bible, then check it out. Do a word study on the subject and read as much as you can from the WHOLE bible on the subject. God’s Word does not contradict itself. If it seems to then we have a problem, not the bible. Continuing to strive and humbly ask for the Holy Spirit to lead you to truth on the subject will make all the difference in the world.
- Trust in God to teach you – Many people today are too timid and unsure when it comes to reading the bible. They may think they need some special education to understand what the Bible has to say. They may think that only a pastor can make sense of the scriptures so they give over their trust to the pastor. During the dark ages this was the main ploy of the Catholic church. They kept the scriptures written only in Latin and the common people were not allowed to read it. We have put ourselves into our own dark ages by thinking that we cannot possibly understand what God has to say in His word. This is a lack of faith in God. He has said that He will guide you to “all understanding and truth.” Ask Him for help. Ask for the Holy Spirit every time you open your bible and if you have a sincere seeking heart, God will lead you to true understanding.
- The state of your heart is key – One of the key aspects to understanding the Word of God is the state of your heart. If you go into the word out of some feeling of “I have to” or obligation then you may be going for the wrong reason. If you go to find answers so that you can win an argument, then you may be there for the wrong reason. Go because you trust and know in your heart that God has something to say to YOU today. Go to learn about your Savior. Go to learn His thoughts and His desires. Go seeking the answers to your own internal struggles.
- Let the whole bible be your guide – Many people today find ways to ignore portions of the bible that they don’t understand or that they think “no longer apply”. This is a trap. God created the bible. It is His Word. You believe that He has the power to call into existence stars and planets and life itself with a single word; yet you will not believe that He can protect His word? Trust in the whole bible, but not in yourself. Humbly ask for the Holy Spirit to guide you to truth and He will. If a man tries to tell you that he is a follower of a just a certain portion of the Word, this should be a big red flag. Be careful!
- Context is important – When studying the Word, be careful that you or the person you are listening to is using a scripture in context. Read before the single scripture and go back far enough that you get the start of the thought being laid out, then also read after the single scripture to be sure that you have the full conclusion. I’ve seen scriptures so misused and out of context that the teacher actually made them say the complete opposite of what the author was trying to portray.
- Principle is important - Sometimes when we are trying to teach something we get so caught up in the process that we lose the principle of the teaching. If you are a parent you can understand this concept easily. For example; I have told my children before to “Go make your bed and tidy up.” They are in their room for 5 minutes and then come out and start playing. I ask, “Is your room clean?” and they say, “Yes”. So I go in the room and the bed is kinda made but the rest of the room is trashed. There are clothes and toys on the dirty unswept floor. I call them in and say, “You call this clean? There are toys everywhere and your clothes are all over the dirty floor.” What is their response? “You didn’t tell me to sweep”. “You didn’t tell me to pick up my clothes.” “You didn’t tell me to pick up my toys.” So, what is the problem? They ignored the principle of my request for a clean room out of a selfish desire to do their own thing, and instead “interpreted” my words in the way that made the least work or pain for them. The principle of having a clean room was lost in their desire to have it easy. We can do this with the Word of God. We ignore the principle because we want what is easy or simple or fun.
- Intellectual honesty - Sometimes a truth is not what we want it to be. God may tell us something and we know in our heart of hearts what He really wants, but because it is hard for us, we ignore it in ways that can be so sinister to our salvation. We will twist, reshape, adjust and manipulate the Word of God to make sure that it doesn’t conflict with our own desires. I call this intellectual dishonesty…and it is something that we can see in ourselves. Self deception might be another way of putting it. Purposeful self deception. Check your heart and be sure your being honest with yourself…be honest with God. It makes all the difference.
Are you being honest with God? He knows your heart and you cannot lie to Him. Do you think that He can be fooled? God wants true sincerity, true humbleness, true meekness…true you. Seek not only to know Him, but seek to share yourself with Him. Today, stop for a moment in a place you can be alone and ask God to hear your heart.
Prayer:
Father in Heaven,
You know my heart. You know my thoughts. There are no secrets that can be kept from You. Why do I struggle so hard to hide myself from You? Today, I put my trust in You. Today I ask for the Holy Spirit to search and change my heart. Today I want to know You more and I want You to know me more.
Please use me today in some way. Thank You for all that You have given me. Thank you for all that You have shown me. Guide me into the ways that will honor You. Protect my children. Forgive their sins and cover them in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Help my unbelief. Humble my heart. Amen.
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