In matters of religion today, telling someone, "You are wrong" is not
simply rude; it is an outmoded way of thinking. The goal today is not
to find more tactful and diplomatic approaches to affirming one
religious belief as superior to another. The modern attitude is that
there is no religious belief superior to another. Debate has been
replaced with dialogue. Truth has been personalized into "My Truth" and
"Your Truth." Understanding each other has supplanted the quest for
knowledge of divine matters. As the New Testament record shows,
however, nothing could be further from the religion of Jesus.
Jesus constantly found himself in the midst of religious controversy.
Often, the controversy surrounded his understanding of his own identify
and mission. At other times, he stood alone as he challenged his own
people who seemed to have strayed so for from the original intent of
being God's chosen people. There were also times when he found himself
in the middle of an on-going debate and dared to take a side.
In the Gospel of Matthew (22:23-33), there is a dispute between the
Pharisees and the Sadducees. It was on the doctrine of the
resurrection. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the
dead at the end of time. They did not believe in an afterlife. They did
not believe in a Final Judgment. They did not believe in angels and
demons. They did not believe in miracles. They did not believe that the
Hebrew Scriptures--other than the first Five Books of Moses--were
authoritative. While we are tempted to think that religious skepticism
is a modern phenomenon, the Sadducees show us that unbelief--even by
those who claim to be part of the community of faith--is as ancient and
primitive a mindset as any religious system. For once, Jesus
sides with the Pharisees. This matter of the resurrection is no trifle.
It is the final Great Act of God's dealings in human history. And Jesus
dares to say to the Sadducees, "You are wrong." But Jesus is not being
arrogant. He is not simply exalting his truth over their truth. Jesus
explains his verdict. He says, "You are wrong, for you know neither the
scriptures nor the power of God" (v. 29, ESV). Because of these two
spiritual maladies--ignorance of the scriptures and ignorance of the
power of God--the Sadducees walked apart from the religion of Jesus.
They did not know the scriptures. This does not mean that they did not
read the scriptures. It does not mean that they did not study the
scriptures. But no matter how much they may have read, heard, studied,
and discussed the scriptures, they, according to Jesus, did not know the scriptures. There is an intimacy and a resignation implied in knowing the
scriptures. "I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your
ways" (Psalm 119:15, ESV). To know the scriptures is to follow the
scriptures, thus being formed by the scriptures. They did not
know the power of God. The Sadducees, in spite of their litany of
unbelief, were not atheists. They were quite devout in what they did
believe. But their devotion, according to Jesus, lacked knowledge of
the power of God. So while they acknowledged belief in God, and that
God was to be followed (as they understood it), they really did not
believe that God was the kind of God who really could do something like
raise the dead or perform other miracles. To know the power of God is
to believe in a God who acts, who makes a difference. "Be not wise in
your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from
evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones"
(Proverbs 3:7, 8). To know the power of God is to encounter the power
of God, thus being formed by the power of God. Those who follow
Jesus as Lord today must also know the scriptures. They make us "wise
for salvation," are "breathed out by God," and make us "competent,
equipped for every good work" (II Timothy 3:15-17); they do not "come
from someone's own interpretation" but from those "who spoke from God
as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (II Peter 1:20, 21), and
"the ignorant and unstable" twist them "to their own destruction" (II
Peter 3:16). Those who follow Jesus as Lord today must also know the power of God.The Virgin Birth was possible only because "the power of the Most High" overshadowed Mary (Luke 1:34, 35). Christ "was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God" (II Corinthians 13:14).
As Paul writes, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the
power of God for salvation to everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16); our
faith should "not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God" (I
Corinthians 2:5). "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are
perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (I
Corinthians 1:18). Do we, today, know the scriptures and the power of God?