Teaching With Authority

When Jesus taught, "The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law" (Mk 1:22).  

That is an interesting revelation as the teachers of the law sat in Moses' seat and were vested with authority,  they were the religious leaders of their day and respected as ones with authority. Those who sat at their feet accepted their authority. 

But when Jesus taught, the authority with which he spoke revealed their teaching to be empty of true authority. What was that?  Was it because only the Christ had true authority?  No, because as Jesus sent out his disciples, he would "send them out with authority" (Mt 10:1).  God has always vested authority in his people. 

The teachers of the law had the authority to teach but they did not use it.  Instead,  being void of the Spirit of God, "They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules" (Mk 7:7).  The difference so readily seen between Jesus and the teachers of the law was the authority of the Spirit. 

Paul shines this light on the authority-based, teaching of the apostles, "This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words" (1 Cor 2:13).

The teachers of the law, taught from the law as filtered through their own human thinking and desires.  Jesus taught as led by the Spirit of God as did his apostles and as will his disciples today. It is important that we are in the Scriptures daily combined with daily prayer and reflection on His Word, asking and listening for the Spirit's direction. 

We don't need clever or well thought out notions, we need a word from the Lord, which begins with a searching heart. Jus' Sayn.