Even Jesus Did Not Presume to Act without Authority

By Bob Myhan

Many seem to think Christians may act without authority from God in re­ligious matters. However, it has been shown that such had severe conse­quences under the Old Testament and has severer consequences under the New.

Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will re­pay," says the Lord. And again, "The Lord will judge His people." It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Heb. 10:28-31)

The Jewish rulers understood that one must not presume to act without authority.

Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, "By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?" But Jesus an­swered and said to them, "I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things: The baptism of John--where was it from? From heaven or from men?" And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?' But if we say, 'From men,' we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet." So they an­swered Jesus and said, "We do not know." And He said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” (Matt. 21:23-27)

Inasmuch as He was “born of a woman, born under the law” (Gal. 4:4), not even Jesus was exempt from the necessity of having authority for what He did. Though He rightly refused to explain the source of His authority in the above incident, Jesus recognized the authority of His Father and used three methods to establish au­thority for His teaching and practice.

First, He established authority by way of His Father’s commands. That is, He knew He was authorized to do what His Father commanded Him to do.

"He who rejects Me, and does not re­ceive My words, has that which judges him--the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a com­mand, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His com­mand is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak." (John 12:48-50)

Second, He established authority by way of His Father’s works. That is, He knew He was authorized to do what He had seen His Father do.

But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. Then Jesus an­swered and said to them, "Most assur­edly, I say to you, the Son can do noth­ing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him" (John 5:17-23).

Third, He established authority by way of His Father’s implications. That is, He knew He was authorized to teach, as truth, what His Father had implied.

The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying: "Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother. Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh. Last of all the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her." Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resur­rection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. But concerning the resurrec­tion of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? God is not the God of the dead, but of the liv­ing." And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teach­ing. But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. (Matt. 22:23-34)

His implied defense ran thusly:

1.      Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had been dead for hundreds of years when God first appeared to Moses.

2.      But God identified Himself as "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."

3.      In saying this, God implied that Abra­ham, Isaac and Jacob were yet alive—in some sense—at the time of Moses.

4.      To deny this is to implicitly affirm that God is "the God of the dead."

This proved (and still proves) that there is part of man that survives physical death. If this is not the case, why did Jesus bring it up? This was such a forceful argument, that it "silenced the Sadducees."

If the very Son of God did not presume to act without authority, who is mere man that he should do so? &

A Life of Full Service

By Bob Myhan

Jesus was once asked, “Which is the first commandment of all?” (Mark 12:28)

Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:29-31)

“On these two commandments hang all the Law and the prophets.” (Matt. 22:40)

These two commandments constitute a life of full service. If “strength,” here, refers to the strength of the will, and “soul” refers to the seat of conscience, then the four aspects of the inner man—the four natures of the spiritual heart—are under consideration.

In its intellectual capacity the heart is the mind. In its ethical capacity the heart is the conscience. In its volitional capacity it is the will. There does not seem to be a separate word for the heart in its emotional capacity. Thus, Jesus is saying that we must love God with our entire inner being. To love God thus is to render emotional, mental, devoted and physical service. To love one’s neighbor as oneself is to render social service. &

The Fourfold Will of God #3

By Bob Myhan

Third, there is God’s ultimate will; that which God purposes or intends to do both ultimately and eternally—reward the righteous and punish the wicked.

^“And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." (Matt. 25:46)

^“Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth--those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” (John 5:28-29)

Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. (2 Cor. 5:9-10)

Man can choose his actions, but he cannot choose the consequences of those actions. God has not predetermined the former but has predetermined the latter and, thereby, remains sovereign. Man cannot defeat the ultimate will of God. Else he, not God, would be sovereign. &