Mark 12:24, commentary and pictures

Jesus confronted the Sadducees' denial of the resurrection, correcting their assumption that risen life would simply continue mortal marriage and earthly relations by revealing that the risen live immortal like angels. All such error comes from not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God, and Scripture is to be read in its plain obvious sense except where it uses a symbol or figure, without obscuring its clear truths by claimed hidden meanings. The leaders erred by exalting human tradition, rabbinic opinions, ceremonies and commandments of men above God's word, neglecting judgment, mercy and faith while blinding hearts and making worship vain. Mere knowledge of words and theory is not enough, for true understanding requires the Holy Spirit to enlighten the mind, apply truth to the heart and form godliness in character, since spiritual things are spiritually discerned and finite reasoning cannot contain God's mysteries. The same rebuke falls on ministers and teachers in every age who interpret Scripture to suit their own minds, teach human commands as doctrine and hinder others from truth, showing culpable willful ignorance despite great opportunity that will increase condemnation.

Setting and Original Error

Jesus spoke these words in the midst of scribes and Pharisees, Sadducees and elders, rabbis and priests, Herodians and rulers who were listening to Him. Most of them were proud, world-loving, bigoted and ambitious men who loved human praise more than God's approval, and because they did not know the Scriptures or the power of God they replaced the teaching of the prophets with their own expositions, twisting Scripture away from truth to serve error. Jealous of their position as teachers, they hated Christ who taught with authority, desired accusation against Him, and set spies to catch His words in order to condemn and silence Him who drew the world after Him. Knowing the hearts of all and their malignant watching, He answered His questioners plainly and wisely, and He presented truth in parables so they could find nothing to bring against Him before the Sanhedrin. He exposed the hypocrisy and wicked works of men in high position in cutting imagery that would have ended His ministry if spoken as direct denunciation, while making truth so clear that error was manifested, bringing precious light to the crowd, sowing seeds of truth, and enabling the honest in heart to discern truth.

The rebuke was directed to the Sadducees for error of belief about the resurrection, distinct from His rebuke of hypocrisy to the Pharisees. The Sadducees assumed that resurrection would restore mortal bodies unchanged, with the same earthly marriage, relationships and desires resumed, and therefore they rejected resurrection rather than grasping the higher life beyond death. Their error came from not knowing the Scriptures in their true interpretation and not knowing the power of God, assigning to human power what only the power of the Spirit of God can do. They flattered themselves as strict adherents of Scripture while bringing its mysteries down to finite reasoning instead of opening their minds to receive sacred truth by the enlightening power of grace, so that spiritual things which must be spiritually discerned remained dark to them. Jesus proved their false premises false by teaching that in the resurrection there is no marrying but life as angels, that the dead will be raised to immortal life, and that if there were no resurrection the Scriptures would be of no avail. God’s power and purpose reach beyond human limits, for He sees His promised work as already accomplished and the dead live to Him, and knowing Scripture rightly requires the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment, since finite reasoning cannot contain God’s mysteries and rejecting what it cannot explain leads to confused faith.

The Sadducees denied the resurrection because they treated it as impossible according to their reasoning, but Christ’s words overturned their theory. Lazarus’s return from the dead displayed God’s power and exposed their error.

The words were also spoken to Jews who expected Christ at His first coming to break the Roman yoke from their necks and to honor Israel above every other people on the earth, and who produced Scripture to sustain that expectation. They took Old Testament prophecies of the glorious second appearing of Christ and applied them to His first advent, and many, even the wise and educated, were deceived by that misinterpretation and misapplication. The same spirit works in those who pervert and misapply Scripture to sustain their own theories, so that their error cannot be proved to them from the Bible because they twist its meaning, and such error is fatal.

The rebuke belongs to Jesus’ warnings about rejecting the Son of God, and those warnings apply in every age. Anyone who refuses Christ as Redeemer faces the doom pictured by the disobedient son, the false husbandmen, and the contemptuous builders, unless he repents.

Meaning of True Knowledge

Error comes from not knowing the Scriptures and not knowing the power of God. The Bible is to be read according to its obvious meaning, except where it uses a symbol or figure. Teachers err when they obscure plainly revealed truths by claiming secret spiritual meanings hidden beneath its words and not apparent in them.

The formalism of the rabbis and Jewish leaders illustrates this error, for they elevated human tradition, rabbinic opinions and religious ceremonies above Scripture. They taught the commandments of men as doctrine, neglected the weightier matters of the law—judgment, mercy and faith—while giving excessive attention to minor ritual details. By tradition and needless ceremonies they made God's law void, tore down His standard of righteousness, blinded eyes and hardened hearts, led people to believe a lie instead of truth and to worship in vain. This led the Jews into error and ruin and to reject Christ the Lord of glory. The same rebuke applies today to many professed Christians who do the same, and the call is to take God's word as the rule of life rather than compromise with tradition and custom, and to walk in His commandments and ordinances.

Knowing Scripture as words, theory, or business is not enough. The chief priests, rulers and elders studied the Old Testament and regarded themselves as learned and strict adherents, yet they were not connected with God nor sanctified in heart and life. True understanding comes when God's Spirit opens truth to the mind, applies it to the heart through enlightening grace, and forms its principles in character through practical godliness. Spiritual things must be spiritually discerned, and without that enlightenment they remain dark. Finite human reasoning cannot contain God's mysteries, so bringing them down to its measure and rejecting what it cannot explain leads to confused faith, while assigning to human power what only the power of the Spirit of God can do misses God's power altogether. Instead divine truth should be received with minds open to be enlarged, accepting God as Creator who commands and carries out all things, gaining a broad view of His character and ways, and seeing His promised work as already accomplished with the dead living to Him.

Those making strong claims to godliness can still fail to know Scripture or understand God's power. Professed defenders of truth may become its bitter opponents, and clear evidence does not convince those who do not love truth. Closing the eyes to divine light is ignorance of both Scripture and God's power, for those who reject the Holy Spirit's work misjudge its manifestations as fanaticism, call light darkness, and do not understand Christ's teaching or its effects.

Warning to Teachers Today

The rebuke was spoken to scribes and rulers, to those teaching in the schools of the prophets, and to scribes, Pharisees, priests and rulers in every city and town, and it applies to ministers who stand between truth and the people. Because they interpret Scripture to suit their own minds and positions, will not enter the path of truth themselves and hinder those who would enter, turn ears from truth to fables, and teach the commandments of men as doctrine, they do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God and are wholly unfitted to minister to spiritual needs. Christ rebuked culpable ignorance, not blindness by misfortune, lack of capacity, or lack of opportunity for instruction. Those rebuked had the most favorable opportunity to obtain understanding, prided themselves on knowledge and discernment, and wilfully closed their eyes to the light in determined opposition to Christ by stubbornly refusing to be instructed, so all the opportunities they enjoyed and all the wisdom, ability and knowledge of which they boasted will only increase their condemnation in the day of final judgment. The verse exposes an unfaithful minister who is unfaithful in that which is least, who puts the sacred and the common altogether too much on a level, who is full of pride and self-sufficiency and destitute of the faith that works by love and purifies the soul.

Though teaching God's word, priests and Pharisees erred because they did not truly know Scripture or God's power, imposing their own interpretations on it, failing to live by it, and becoming blinded to its true meaning, and the same danger applies to teachers who misinterpret Scripture and lead people into confusion and darkness. Knowing the Scriptures and God's power means following the Scriptures' instruction in how to treat people who have gone wrong, and those who expose an erring person's mistakes before others instead of showing patience and kindly consideration fail to understand the biblical way of dealing with the erring. Though regarded as learned in Scripture, priests and rulers were ignorant of both the Scriptures and God's power, warning that learning or religious status does not replace personally studying the Bible. The Bible can be understood through diligent study, and every person should use their gifts to search it rather than depend on ministers or other learned people to understand it.

Like the Sadducees, learned interpreters can miss truth when Scripture is obscured to their spiritual understanding, while earnest, reverent, humble, prayerful Bible study seeking God's guidance brings heavenly light, so truths beyond the grasp of great intellects can be understood by believers who are new to the faith. Those who pride themselves on being enlightened but do not humbly seek God's guidance through prayerful Bible study fall into error from ignorance of Scripture and of God's power. The teachers in Christ's day lacked the correct knowledge of Scripture, which is the foundation of education worthy of the name. Religious teachers who lack this knowledge may rely on human sayings and traditions instead of the Bible, and their learning or authority cannot replace Scripture as the test of doctrine. Knowing the Scriptures is essential, especially for teachers and students whose teaching shapes beliefs about eternal life, for relying on human works and infidel ideas instead leaves falsehood mingled with truth and can make it difficult to distinguish right from wrong.

Priests and friars who neglected Scripture and left its study to others were unable to refute its teachings, while ordinary people who knew the Bible could defend the Reformation's doctrines, even those with little formal education defeating them. Ignorance of Scripture and the power of God leading to error is also seen in the people of the Piedmont valleys, who are described as lacking both.