Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.
Jesus answered the Sadducees' question about the resurrection by exposing their error in belief as coming from not knowing the Scriptures and not knowing the power of God. That twofold ignorance must be cured in the school of Christ by making Scripture the counsellor and by being a doer of the Word. The learned teachers of His day erred by substituting their own interpretations, traditions and human commandments for God's Word, thereby making void His law and hiding its spirituality and central principles of love. The power they did not know is the Holy Spirit and the Creator's power over even death, as shown in raising Lazarus against the claim that a dead body could not live again. Therefore no one can safely trust soul to ministers or learned men, but every person must prayerfully study the Bible for self, test teaching by Scripture compared with Scripture, and practice the truth in obedience to all His commandments.
Verse Setting and Audience
Jesus spoke these words in answer to the Sadducees' question about the resurrection, diagnosing their trouble as error in belief rather than hypocrisy. Their error about the resurrection came from not understanding the true meaning of Scripture or the power of God, while treating Scripture as though it supported their mistaken view. They assumed that those raised would simply resume earthly relationships and affairs as before death, but the resurrection does not continue life as it was, for those raised neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven. Their argument rested on false premises and a false foundation, and failing to understand Scripture and God's power in this way leads to mistaken beliefs about the future life. They tried to force divine mysteries to fit finite human reasoning instead of receiving truth through God's enlightening grace, and human inability to explain His works is no reason to reject them. Scripture must be understood through the Holy Spirit's enlightenment, for finite reasoning cannot contain God's mysteries, and rejecting what cannot be explained brings confusion and unbelief. Those who cannot fathom God's mysteries may reject the evidence of His power and explain His works as natural causes, so the call is to accept God as Creator who commands and carries out all things and to take a broad view of His character and works. The Sadducees denied the resurrection from ignorance of Scripture and God's power, using claims of science to argue that a dead body could not live again, but Christ's words and the raising of Lazarus exposed their error and demonstrated God's power over death in a way that left its effect on the people undeniable.
The rebuke was spoken to the professedly learned and pious people of that day, the priests and Pharisees, scribes, Sadducees, rulers and Jewish teachers who claimed to know and teach God's oracles while opposing Christ. Though teachers of the oracles of God and supposed to understand the Word, they put their own interpretations upon it, were not doers of it, and were blinded so they did not see its true import. They claimed the Scriptures as their authority yet were spiritually blind, transgressing God's law while teaching human traditions and commandments of men as God's commandments and neglecting the law's central principles of love for God and love for neighbor. Their reverence for human tradition and ceremony above Scripture left them without the knowledge of God and obscured the great essentials of His service. Wrapped in unbelief, they kept not God's commandments while regarding their own traditions as more important, and the world around them was darkened by apostasy. Their prejudice led them to resist the overwhelming Old Testament evidence that Jesus was the Christ and to turn people away from hearing the truth, so that fear of their hostility kept even some who believed from openly acknowledging faith.
The Jews erred by wrongly applying Old Testament prophecies of Christ's glorious second coming to His first coming, expecting Him to overthrow Roman rule and exalt Israel above other nations, and their use of Scripture to support that expectation did not prevent their error, which was fatal. Though they regarded themselves as exalted above all other peoples as keepers of the oracles of God, they could not discern that Jesus was their Saviour when He came exactly as the living Oracles foretold, nor understand the manner of His coming. They were unaccustomed to accept God's Word exactly as it reads or to allow it to be its own interpreter, but read it in the light of their own maxims and traditions. Because they had so long neglected to study and contemplate the Bible its pages were a mystery to them, so they turned with aversion from the truth of God to the traditions of men. Their study of prophecy had not enabled them, despite learning and confidence as teachers, to recognize the proofs of the Messiah's coming, the manner of His coming, His mission or His character, for worldly learning alone does not reveal the mysteries of redemption.
The verse belongs to Jesus' warnings and illustrations about rejecting the Son of God, which apply to people in every age who refuse Him as Redeemer, so that unless they repent the judgment foreshadowed by the examples will be theirs. Christ answered the questions of the Pharisees, Herodians and Sadducees plainly and intelligently, so that precious light reached the people and seeds of truth were sown among them.
Twofold Cause of Error
Error comes from the twofold ignorance named in the rebuke, not knowing the Scriptures and not knowing the power of God, and both kinds of knowledge must be learned in the school of Christ. To avoid the error the Scriptures must be made the counsellor, and a person must be a doer of the Word, for doing the Word gives knowledge of the power of God. The rebuke was spoken to scribes and Pharisees, to the Jewish nation and the teachers of Israel, who could explain Bible truth to others yet did not practice it in daily life because they lacked an experimental knowledge of the Scriptures. The same peril threatens professed Christians who have great light and privileges but backslide, lose the presence of God when they need it most, and fail to respond, so the call is for zeal, repentance, departure from iniquity, pure Christianity, walking humbly with God and binding about desires near the end of time.
Learning, religious position, claimed wisdom, favorable opportunity and profession of godliness do not prevent this error. Religious teachers can be spiritually privileged yet unable to interpret Scripture correctly, and people who make high claims to godliness can fail to know Scripture and God's power, for profession does not ensure openness to truth and even the clearest evidence may be rejected by those who oppose it. The Pharisees boasted of knowledge and discernment and had the most favorable opportunity to understand the Scriptures, yet were willfully ignorant by closing their eyes to light and stubbornly refusing instruction from Christ, and their error came not from lack of capacity to learn or lack of opportunity which would have left them comparatively free from guilt in opposing Him. Their pride led them to interpret Scripture wrongly, to claim Abraham's blessings as a natural right while failing to follow Abraham's works, and because they had been taught these misinterpretations they could not grasp the truth taught from Scripture; their pride and hypocrisy kept them from entering God's kingdom and hindered others from entering it. Prejudice and refusal to study the messages God sends keep such teachers from truth, while setting prejudice aside to pray and search Scripture as the Bereans did allows the Holy Spirit to give understanding, for knowing Scripture requires prayerful, humble study and seeking God's guidance into truth rather than pride in human enlightenment and reliance on human speculation. Greater intellectual light does not prevent error, for when intelligence is idolized or turned against truth it can cause greater harm than ignorance, and all the opportunities enjoyed and all the wisdom, ability and knowledge proudly claimed will only increase condemnation in the day of final judgment.
Human wisdom cannot comprehend God and cannot grasp the immeasurable compass of His Word, so learning and literary position do not give knowledge of the Scriptures or of the power of God. The Sadducees' error about the resurrection came from not understanding Scripture's true meaning or the power of God, though they treated Scripture as though it supported their mistaken view, and their problem was error in belief, not hypocrisy. They forced divine mysteries to fit finite human reasoning instead of receiving truth through God's enlightening grace, and knowledge of Scripture must reach the heart through that grace to enlarge understanding rather than be contained by human reason. Human inability to explain His works is no reason to reject them, yet those who cannot fathom God's mysteries may reject the evidence of His power and explain His works as natural causes, which leads to confusion and unbelief; the call is to recognize God's power as Creator who commands and carries out all things and to let sacred truths broaden understanding with a broad view of His character and works. To deny inspiration is itself proof of ignorance of the Scriptures and of the power of God, as is the course of educated but uninspired higher critics who pronounce Scripture uninspired and of those who obscure plainly revealed truths by assigning Scripture a hidden, mystical meaning instead of explaining the Bible according to its obvious meaning unless it uses a symbol or figure. Unbelief does not come from great depth of reasoning but from this ignorance, and skeptics who mingle darkness with light to confuse believers, who assail truth with cavils and boldly deny the divinity of Christ, show not intellectual greatness but a mind bound about with earthliness that does not comprehend spiritual truth; God gives abundant evidence of the truth of the Scriptures so no one must believe without evidence, and those who accept that evidence are translated out of darkness into faith, hope and assurance that stands as a barrier against infidelity.
Saying I am holy, I am sanctified is error that proves ignorance of the Scriptures and the power of God. A true revelation of the glory of God takes away all inclination to boast of personal holiness, and if holiness is real God will write it in His books, but a person should never utter it of himself. A claim of salvation or sanctification, or a feeling of happiness and excitement, does not prove that a person is sanctified; those who know the Scriptures test their experience by God's word and seek truth on every point, for sanctification means conformity to God's will as expressed in His law, shown by obedience to all His commandments. Treating the Jewish age as without Christ, mercy or grace comes from the same ignorance of Scripture and God's power, for the Jewish economy displayed divine power and the gospel of a coming Redeemer was preached to Adam, Abraham, Jacob and Moses, with the sacrificial system given by Christ picturing the Saviour who would bear the world's sins and die for its redemption. Protestants who pride themselves on their enlightenment show the same ignorance, being wise in their own conceit and feeling no need of humbly seeking God to be led into the truth, so that without prayerful study of the Bible they fail to see the real character of the Papacy and to abhor and shun it; needing something to quiet their consciences they seek what is least spiritual and humiliating, a method of forgetting God that passes as a method of remembering Him, which the Papacy supplies to those who would be saved by their merits and to those who would be saved in their sins.
Tradition Against God's Law
The error Christ named was teachers who claimed to teach God's word while teaching their own ideas, interpretations, maxims, ceremonies, rabbinical opinions and human commandments mingled with divine ones as doctrine. Though teachers of the oracles of God and supposed to understand the Word, priests and Pharisees were not doers of it, had substituted their own way of salvation for God's, failed to keep His commandments in practical life, and lost the purity seen in Christ's character. Their ceremonial religion had lost sight of the true object of worship, and selfishness and greed made them unfaithful to their sacred trust. Blinded by Satan and by prejudice, they resisted overwhelming Old Testament evidence that Jesus was the Christ, turned people away from hearing the truth, and by fear of their hostility kept some believers from openly acknowledging faith. Claimed scriptural knowledge does not make one a safe guide, for rejecting light because it conflicts with one's ideas leads to misunderstanding Scripture and opposing those who cherish and obey its truth.
By that course they made void the law of God through tradition, made it meaningless and of none effect, lost its spirituality, and exalted cheap, worthless ceremonies and sayings of men above the pure principles of God's law and the sayings of God. Their blindness was shown in transgressing God's law while teaching human traditions as God's commandments, and in neglecting its central principles of love for God and love for neighbor with its weightier duties. Human traditions distorted their understanding and, with separation from the God of truth, hid the plain meaning of His Word, buried truth beneath error, and left people perplexed, confused, and unable to be sure whether they were keeping the law. The same error occurs when religious teachers pass down falsehoods as God's Word and refuse to test teaching by searching Scripture and comparing Scripture with Scripture.
As Expositor of the prophecies He Himself had given, Christ came to rescue truth from error, restore the prophets' lessons to their true setting, expose teachings that replaced God's commandments with human commands, and separate God's law from men's additions. He spoke to exalt what they had made of none effect and to rescue and restore the ten holy precepts to their elevated, holy, just and good position, holding up the Ten Commandments as truth in all its purity. He came to take away traditions and maxims and remove the rubbish, to rescue truth that had served in the enemy's lines to strengthen error, restore it to its native loveliness and beauty, and let it stand before the people. So He gives recovery of sight to the blind and sets at liberty the bruised, calling His peculiar, royal, holy people who have the glorious light of truth to show forth the power of Him who called them out of darkness into marvelous light. They must not let the mouth be stopped or let tradition put falsehood in the mouth, but speak the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, letting the Spirit of God speak without mixing in self and human ideas and opinions.
Age and long acceptance do not turn error into truth, for the Jews were mistaken in treating inherited human traditions repeated from age to age and generation to generation as truth until truth was so mixed with error that they taught tradition for the commandments of God. The oldest error pleaded because of its age and hoary with age does not change error into truth.
Their ignorance appeared in condemning the guiltless and misjudging Christ's Sabbath keeping, for human maxims and traditions had obscured the law's meaning, though the law is the transcript of the Father's character and Christ who made the Sabbath and spoke the law at Sinai exposed this ignorance. The law permits acts of mercy, including relieving suffering of people or animals, so doing good on the Sabbath is lawful and Christ's conduct violated no commandment. Their ignorance also appeared in multiplying outward rules and small religious tests God had not given, confusing the people and displacing true godliness, self-denial, and the weightier matters of truth and love for God. Religious shepherds who oppose the law of the Lord, reject the Word of the Lord and put their own words in its place, make God's Word of no effect by interpreting Scripture to teach men's commandments as doctrines, while still claiming wisdom and that the law of the Lord is with them. Men who have the oracles of God yet break His law themselves and teach investigators who would obey the light to break it also deceive the people in the same way, and this law-breaking course that encourages wickedness has brought the sinful, deceitful, violent and miserable condition now existing in the world and the church.
Power of God Revealed
The power of God named in the rebuke is the Holy Spirit, who will come now to workers who earnestly seek Him as the golden oil of divine communication in rich blessing, so that their light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon them and they arise and shine. Those addressed had taught for doctrine the commandments of men, and the meaning for co-laborers with Christ is that preaching truth is not enough without also practicing it. Christ longed to fill the whole nation with the spirit of His mission of love, that they might unite with Him in the work of saving the world.
That power is the power of God as Creator, who commands and carries out all things and has power over death. The Sadducees denied the resurrection from ignorance of the true meaning of Scripture and of that power, using claims of science to argue that a dead body could not live again. Christ's words and the raising of Lazarus exposed their error and left them unable to deny its effect upon the people. Knowledge of Scripture must reach the heart through God's enlightening grace by the Holy Spirit, for finite human reasoning cannot contain God's mysteries, and forcing divine truth to fit that reasoning, rejecting what cannot be explained, and ascribing His works to natural causes bring only confusion and unbelief. The call therefore is to accept God as Creator, let sacred truths broaden the understanding, and take a broad view of His character and works.
Right understanding of Scripture is the source of pure, heavenly knowledge. To know the Scriptures and the power of God is to be better acquainted with God, to comprehend to a greater degree His character, His goodness, His mercy and His love, to know more what living faith means, and to have a more intelligent idea of what it means to abide in Christ and have Him abide within. Those who lack it, even ministering brethren, bring little of the righteousness of Christ into their discourses, but those who gain it can go forth to labor with new courage and hope to present Jesus and His love to the people. The rabbis showed the opposite course by reverencing human tradition and ceremonies above Scripture, neglecting the knowledge of God and the weightier duties of His service and hindering true education, whereas personal trust in God's word brings peace and power with God.
Concerning the resurrection itself, the error lay in assuming that those raised simply resume earthly relationships and affairs as before death. Those raised neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven. Failure to know Scripture and God's power concerning the eternal destiny of the soul builds belief about the future life on false premises and a false foundation, and the problem identified is error in belief, not hypocrisy. Teachers who exalt human productions above the word of God show that same lack, for though they think themselves wise and strong they are weak and in error when they study books containing infidel sentiments and doctrines that mix a little truth with human opinions and sayings and doings. That course intermingles good and evil in their work, plants objectionable ideas like weeds in the minds of students, forces much to be unlearned afterward, leaves some never able to distinguish right from wrong, and keeps youth from knowing the way of life.
True Education and Ministry
Correct knowledge of Scripture is the foundation of true education, for the Word of God lies at the very foundation of all true education and understanding what it says is the most important of all education. Teachers who lack it fail to educate youth rightly and badly misjudge what education is. Ignorance of Scripture and of God's power leads to error, and the Jews' failure to know them brought ruin and rejection of Jesus the Lord of glory. The warning is against relying on tradition and custom instead of taking God's word as the rule of life and walking in obedience to His commandments and ordinances.
Ignorance of the Scriptures and the power of God is a great mistake that leaves a man unfit for the ministry and unfit to teach students, even if he has been ordained. One in this state has everything to learn and needs thorough conversion first, becoming a learner before acting as a teacher.
The rabbis as educators of youth erred because they did not know the Scriptures nor the power of God. They were formalists who reverenced amplified tradition far above the Scriptures, taught the commandments of men as doctrines, filled student life with the sayings of men and an endless round of ceremonies, and enlarged continually on little things and every ceremonial detail as highest obligation. They neglected the education that imparts a knowledge of God and the weightier duties of His service, and hid the great essentials of God's service from youth under a mass of rubbish. Personal trust in God's word, by contrast, brings peace and power with God.
Teachers who exalt human productions above the word of God have little knowledge of the Bible and lack knowledge of the Scriptures and the power of God concerning the eternal destiny of the soul. Though they think themselves wise and strong, they are weak and in error, studying books containing infidel sentiments and doctrines that mix a little truth with human opinions and sayings and doings. That error intermingles good and evil in their work and plants objectionable ideas like weeds in the minds of students. What is learned from such a course must afterward be unlearned, which is the more difficult work because objectionable things take root like weeds, and some will never be able to distinguish right from wrong or know the way of life. People who pride themselves on superficial knowledge and self-esteem can still be ignorant of Scripture and God's power, like the Pharisees, satisfied with worldly learning rather than seeking life-giving truth, and exposure to infidel ideas fosters questioning and unbelief. Faithful knowledge comes from making the Scriptures the chief lesson book and receiving God's truth, rather than relying on writings that turn the mind from Christ, including failure to understand the truths teachers are responsible to teach such as the third angel's message.
Not knowing the Scriptures and the power of God leaves even ministering brethren ignorant, so that they bring little of the righteousness of Christ into their discourses. Knowing them means being better acquainted with God, comprehending to a greater degree His character, goodness, mercy and love, knowing more what living faith means, having a more intelligent idea of abiding in Christ and having Him abide within, and going forth to labor with new courage and hope to present Jesus and His love. Much ignorance of God's Word prevails even among those who preach it, with many teaching the Word of life to others while themselves dull of comprehension, knowing little of true moral and religious science and less of the Word of God though they regard themselves as authority and teach for doctrine the commandments of men. Such teachers stand only on the threshold of knowledge without entering in to obtain true spiritual understanding, and need to become learners before they can truly teach the Scriptures to others unto salvation. Truths hidden by superstition and false doctrine become clear through earnest, reverent study of Scripture, and even new believers can understand what has clouded the perception of learned interpreters who like the Sadducees fail to understand spiritual truth. The same ignorance of truth, the Scriptures, and God's power is found among those near Melbourne.
Learned rank does not protect from this ignorance. Priests and friars who had neglected Scripture were defeated in argument by people with little formal education but a better knowledge of the Bible. Those who neglect Scripture are unable to refute its plain teachings, while ordinary people who know the Bible can defend them and recognize truth. Religious teachers who lack that knowledge cannot defend their positions from the Bible and turn instead to human sayings, doctrines, and traditions.
Personal Study and Obedience
No soul can safely be trusted to ministers, learned men, talented men, or human law-makers, for even educated, professedly pious teachers who are spiritually privileged may err and be unable to interpret Scripture correctly because they do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God. The priests, rulers, and teachers rebuked in the verse were regarded as learned in Scripture yet were ignorant of both Scripture and God's power, proving that learning, religious position, or authority does not ensure true understanding or replace personal study. They were false teachers and blind guides who interpreted and wrested the Scriptures to suit their own ideas, obscuring plainly revealed truths by giving them a hidden, mystical meaning, whereas the Bible is to be explained according to its obvious meaning unless it uses a symbol or figure. The people placed entire confidence in them because they were educated men and allowed them to be conscience for them instead of thinking and studying and searching the Scriptures for themselves, and those blinded, prejudiced leaders then led the less informed with them until priests, rulers, and people united in rejecting Christ and crucifying the Son of God, most obstructing His work of saving souls by the light of truth. Every person has the privilege and responsibility to be wise for himself in reading the Scriptures, and God means the poor and uneducated as well as those entrusted with talents to have His Word as a sure, understandable light and guide in righteousness, searching it diligently as the Bereans did, setting prejudice aside, praying, and comparing Scripture with Scripture so the Holy Spirit gives understanding and life-giving truth.
Knowing the Scriptures and knowing the power of God must both be learned in the school of Christ by making the Scriptures the counsellor and by being a doer of the Word, for ignorance of either causes error. Understanding requires openness to God's power and enlightening grace through the Holy Spirit rather than forcing God's mysteries within finite human reasoning, and human inability to explain His works is no reason to reject them, since rejecting what cannot be explained leads to confusion, unbelief, and skepticism. Truths hidden by superstition and false doctrine become clear through earnest, reverent, humble, prayerful study aimed at practicing them in daily life, so that even new believers can understand what has clouded the perception of learned interpreters. Those who profess to follow Christ yet stir up strife, discourage and bruise souls instead of helping them by kindness, and fail to be peacemakers show their weakness in not studying the Scriptures for the purpose of daily practice, thus lacking the knowledge that would keep them from sin. By contrast, advocates of false doctrine who have not diligently studied the Bible sustain their positions with mere assertions agreeable to those seeking to evade the cross, skillfully building theories spiced with humor, ridicule, and misrepresentation of believers while having no plain Thus saith the Lord to rest upon, and hearers who do not test their statements by Scripture accept them, lose conviction, and think themselves released from obeying the truth.
Preaching truth is not enough, for all who work as co-laborers with Christ must also practice the truth in practical life. The priests and Pharisees put their own interpretations upon the Word, substituted their own way of salvation for God's, mingled human commandments with God's commandments and taught them as doctrine, wrapped themselves in unbelief, kept not God's commandments while regarding their own traditions as more important, and lost the purity seen in Christ's character. Though teachers of the oracles of God and supposed to understand the Word, they were not doers of it, so Satan blinded their eyes to its true import, and claiming scriptural knowledge did not make them safe guides, since rejecting light because it conflicts with one's ideas leads to misunderstanding Scripture and opposing those who cherish and obey its truth. Knowledge and profession must be joined to repentance, consecration, and lives shaped by the truth, or professors dishonor Christ, and the same charge rests on teachers and churches today when supposed wise men falsely interpret the divine oracles and bring souls into perplexity and darkness. Christ longed to fill the whole nation with the spirit of His mission of love so they might unite with Him in saving the world, and the power of God, which is the Holy Spirit, will come to workers who earnestly seek it as the golden oil of divine communication in rich blessing so their light has come and they arise and shine.
Knowing the Scriptures and the power of God keeps believers from error and makes them light-bearers who draw near to God, trust Him alone instead of putting man where God should be, live as He wants them to live, and do not walk in darkness. That knowledge makes a church responsible to scatter to carry the light of truth to those in darkness instead of remaining gathered together in one large body, working together with God instead of living to please and glorify self, working in unity without considering themselves superior to earlier workers, walking humbly without delay because probationary time is about to close, or the woe of God will be upon it.
Meeting false teaching that gives false interpretations, wrests the Word from its true meaning, and misapplies its utterances brings angry controversy amid human prejudice, jealousy, and tradition and bitter opposition to truth, a condition still existing today, so constant wisdom is needed to know when to speak and when to keep silent. Ministers and people who oppose the truth are to be met with words spoken in the Holy Spirit, not harshness, since harsh words give Satan opportunity to accuse those who defend the truth.
The rebuke applies today to many professed Christians and to people in positions of responsibility who do as the nation that rejected Christ did, making worship vain by teaching the commandments of men for doctrines, making void the law of God with needless ceremonies, tearing down the Lord's standard of righteousness, blinding eyes and hardening hearts, and leading people to believe a lie in place of truth. It applies to those who reject divine light, dismiss the Holy Spirit's work as fanaticism, accuse Christ's teachings of causing harmful excitement, mistake light for darkness, and endanger God's cause by resisting truth. Such ignorance of the Scriptures, of truth, and of God's power is seen in people near Melbourne, and generally in the Piedmont valleys, and where customs, traditions, and the testimony of the fathers take the place of God's Word, fables are offered to all inclined to turn from Bible truth, God's great moral standard of righteousness is made of none effect, and hardest effort is made to shut out advance light, producing a discouraging lack of doctrine, faith, and vital godliness as seen in Italy and especially in the Waldensian valleys in reverse of the ancient Waldenses.
Jesus answered the Sadducees' question about the resurrection by exposing their error in belief as coming from not knowing the Scriptures and not knowing the power of God. That twofold ignorance must be cured in the school of Christ by making Scripture the counsellor and by being a doer of the Word. The learned teachers of His day erred by substituting their own interpretations, traditions and human commandments for God's Word, thereby making void His law and hiding its spirituality and central principles of love. The power they did not know is the Holy Spirit and the Creator's power over even death, as shown in raising Lazarus against the claim that a dead body could not live again. Therefore no one can safely trust soul to ministers or learned men, but every person must prayerfully study the Bible for self, test teaching by Scripture compared with Scripture, and practice the truth in obedience to all His commandments.
Verse Setting and Audience
Jesus spoke these words in answer to the Sadducees' question about the resurrection, diagnosing their trouble as error in belief rather than hypocrisy. Their error about the resurrection came from not understanding the true meaning of Scripture or the power of God, while treating Scripture as though it supported their mistaken view. They assumed that those raised would simply resume earthly relationships and affairs as before death, but the resurrection does not continue life as it was, for those raised neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven. Their argument rested on false premises and a false foundation, and failing to understand Scripture and God's power in this way leads to mistaken beliefs about the future life. They tried to force divine mysteries to fit finite human reasoning instead of receiving truth through God's enlightening grace, and human inability to explain His works is no reason to reject them. Scripture must be understood through the Holy Spirit's enlightenment, for finite reasoning cannot contain God's mysteries, and rejecting what cannot be explained brings confusion and unbelief. Those who cannot fathom God's mysteries may reject the evidence of His power and explain His works as natural causes, so the call is to accept God as Creator who commands and carries out all things and to take a broad view of His character and works. The Sadducees denied the resurrection from ignorance of Scripture and God's power, using claims of science to argue that a dead body could not live again, but Christ's words and the raising of Lazarus exposed their error and demonstrated God's power over death in a way that left its effect on the people undeniable.
The rebuke was spoken to the professedly learned and pious people of that day, the priests and Pharisees, scribes, Sadducees, rulers and Jewish teachers who claimed to know and teach God's oracles while opposing Christ. Though teachers of the oracles of God and supposed to understand the Word, they put their own interpretations upon it, were not doers of it, and were blinded so they did not see its true import. They claimed the Scriptures as their authority yet were spiritually blind, transgressing God's law while teaching human traditions and commandments of men as God's commandments and neglecting the law's central principles of love for God and love for neighbor. Their reverence for human tradition and ceremony above Scripture left them without the knowledge of God and obscured the great essentials of His service. Wrapped in unbelief, they kept not God's commandments while regarding their own traditions as more important, and the world around them was darkened by apostasy. Their prejudice led them to resist the overwhelming Old Testament evidence that Jesus was the Christ and to turn people away from hearing the truth, so that fear of their hostility kept even some who believed from openly acknowledging faith.
The Jews erred by wrongly applying Old Testament prophecies of Christ's glorious second coming to His first coming, expecting Him to overthrow Roman rule and exalt Israel above other nations, and their use of Scripture to support that expectation did not prevent their error, which was fatal. Though they regarded themselves as exalted above all other peoples as keepers of the oracles of God, they could not discern that Jesus was their Saviour when He came exactly as the living Oracles foretold, nor understand the manner of His coming. They were unaccustomed to accept God's Word exactly as it reads or to allow it to be its own interpreter, but read it in the light of their own maxims and traditions. Because they had so long neglected to study and contemplate the Bible its pages were a mystery to them, so they turned with aversion from the truth of God to the traditions of men. Their study of prophecy had not enabled them, despite learning and confidence as teachers, to recognize the proofs of the Messiah's coming, the manner of His coming, His mission or His character, for worldly learning alone does not reveal the mysteries of redemption.
The verse belongs to Jesus' warnings and illustrations about rejecting the Son of God, which apply to people in every age who refuse Him as Redeemer, so that unless they repent the judgment foreshadowed by the examples will be theirs. Christ answered the questions of the Pharisees, Herodians and Sadducees plainly and intelligently, so that precious light reached the people and seeds of truth were sown among them.
Twofold Cause of Error
Error comes from the twofold ignorance named in the rebuke, not knowing the Scriptures and not knowing the power of God, and both kinds of knowledge must be learned in the school of Christ. To avoid the error the Scriptures must be made the counsellor, and a person must be a doer of the Word, for doing the Word gives knowledge of the power of God. The rebuke was spoken to scribes and Pharisees, to the Jewish nation and the teachers of Israel, who could explain Bible truth to others yet did not practice it in daily life because they lacked an experimental knowledge of the Scriptures. The same peril threatens professed Christians who have great light and privileges but backslide, lose the presence of God when they need it most, and fail to respond, so the call is for zeal, repentance, departure from iniquity, pure Christianity, walking humbly with God and binding about desires near the end of time.
Learning, religious position, claimed wisdom, favorable opportunity and profession of godliness do not prevent this error. Religious teachers can be spiritually privileged yet unable to interpret Scripture correctly, and people who make high claims to godliness can fail to know Scripture and God's power, for profession does not ensure openness to truth and even the clearest evidence may be rejected by those who oppose it. The Pharisees boasted of knowledge and discernment and had the most favorable opportunity to understand the Scriptures, yet were willfully ignorant by closing their eyes to light and stubbornly refusing instruction from Christ, and their error came not from lack of capacity to learn or lack of opportunity which would have left them comparatively free from guilt in opposing Him. Their pride led them to interpret Scripture wrongly, to claim Abraham's blessings as a natural right while failing to follow Abraham's works, and because they had been taught these misinterpretations they could not grasp the truth taught from Scripture; their pride and hypocrisy kept them from entering God's kingdom and hindered others from entering it. Prejudice and refusal to study the messages God sends keep such teachers from truth, while setting prejudice aside to pray and search Scripture as the Bereans did allows the Holy Spirit to give understanding, for knowing Scripture requires prayerful, humble study and seeking God's guidance into truth rather than pride in human enlightenment and reliance on human speculation. Greater intellectual light does not prevent error, for when intelligence is idolized or turned against truth it can cause greater harm than ignorance, and all the opportunities enjoyed and all the wisdom, ability and knowledge proudly claimed will only increase condemnation in the day of final judgment.
Human wisdom cannot comprehend God and cannot grasp the immeasurable compass of His Word, so learning and literary position do not give knowledge of the Scriptures or of the power of God. The Sadducees' error about the resurrection came from not understanding Scripture's true meaning or the power of God, though they treated Scripture as though it supported their mistaken view, and their problem was error in belief, not hypocrisy. They forced divine mysteries to fit finite human reasoning instead of receiving truth through God's enlightening grace, and knowledge of Scripture must reach the heart through that grace to enlarge understanding rather than be contained by human reason. Human inability to explain His works is no reason to reject them, yet those who cannot fathom God's mysteries may reject the evidence of His power and explain His works as natural causes, which leads to confusion and unbelief; the call is to recognize God's power as Creator who commands and carries out all things and to let sacred truths broaden understanding with a broad view of His character and works. To deny inspiration is itself proof of ignorance of the Scriptures and of the power of God, as is the course of educated but uninspired higher critics who pronounce Scripture uninspired and of those who obscure plainly revealed truths by assigning Scripture a hidden, mystical meaning instead of explaining the Bible according to its obvious meaning unless it uses a symbol or figure. Unbelief does not come from great depth of reasoning but from this ignorance, and skeptics who mingle darkness with light to confuse believers, who assail truth with cavils and boldly deny the divinity of Christ, show not intellectual greatness but a mind bound about with earthliness that does not comprehend spiritual truth; God gives abundant evidence of the truth of the Scriptures so no one must believe without evidence, and those who accept that evidence are translated out of darkness into faith, hope and assurance that stands as a barrier against infidelity.
Saying I am holy, I am sanctified is error that proves ignorance of the Scriptures and the power of God. A true revelation of the glory of God takes away all inclination to boast of personal holiness, and if holiness is real God will write it in His books, but a person should never utter it of himself. A claim of salvation or sanctification, or a feeling of happiness and excitement, does not prove that a person is sanctified; those who know the Scriptures test their experience by God's word and seek truth on every point, for sanctification means conformity to God's will as expressed in His law, shown by obedience to all His commandments. Treating the Jewish age as without Christ, mercy or grace comes from the same ignorance of Scripture and God's power, for the Jewish economy displayed divine power and the gospel of a coming Redeemer was preached to Adam, Abraham, Jacob and Moses, with the sacrificial system given by Christ picturing the Saviour who would bear the world's sins and die for its redemption. Protestants who pride themselves on their enlightenment show the same ignorance, being wise in their own conceit and feeling no need of humbly seeking God to be led into the truth, so that without prayerful study of the Bible they fail to see the real character of the Papacy and to abhor and shun it; needing something to quiet their consciences they seek what is least spiritual and humiliating, a method of forgetting God that passes as a method of remembering Him, which the Papacy supplies to those who would be saved by their merits and to those who would be saved in their sins.
Tradition Against God's Law
The error Christ named was teachers who claimed to teach God's word while teaching their own ideas, interpretations, maxims, ceremonies, rabbinical opinions and human commandments mingled with divine ones as doctrine. Though teachers of the oracles of God and supposed to understand the Word, priests and Pharisees were not doers of it, had substituted their own way of salvation for God's, failed to keep His commandments in practical life, and lost the purity seen in Christ's character. Their ceremonial religion had lost sight of the true object of worship, and selfishness and greed made them unfaithful to their sacred trust. Blinded by Satan and by prejudice, they resisted overwhelming Old Testament evidence that Jesus was the Christ, turned people away from hearing the truth, and by fear of their hostility kept some believers from openly acknowledging faith. Claimed scriptural knowledge does not make one a safe guide, for rejecting light because it conflicts with one's ideas leads to misunderstanding Scripture and opposing those who cherish and obey its truth.
By that course they made void the law of God through tradition, made it meaningless and of none effect, lost its spirituality, and exalted cheap, worthless ceremonies and sayings of men above the pure principles of God's law and the sayings of God. Their blindness was shown in transgressing God's law while teaching human traditions as God's commandments, and in neglecting its central principles of love for God and love for neighbor with its weightier duties. Human traditions distorted their understanding and, with separation from the God of truth, hid the plain meaning of His Word, buried truth beneath error, and left people perplexed, confused, and unable to be sure whether they were keeping the law. The same error occurs when religious teachers pass down falsehoods as God's Word and refuse to test teaching by searching Scripture and comparing Scripture with Scripture.
As Expositor of the prophecies He Himself had given, Christ came to rescue truth from error, restore the prophets' lessons to their true setting, expose teachings that replaced God's commandments with human commands, and separate God's law from men's additions. He spoke to exalt what they had made of none effect and to rescue and restore the ten holy precepts to their elevated, holy, just and good position, holding up the Ten Commandments as truth in all its purity. He came to take away traditions and maxims and remove the rubbish, to rescue truth that had served in the enemy's lines to strengthen error, restore it to its native loveliness and beauty, and let it stand before the people. So He gives recovery of sight to the blind and sets at liberty the bruised, calling His peculiar, royal, holy people who have the glorious light of truth to show forth the power of Him who called them out of darkness into marvelous light. They must not let the mouth be stopped or let tradition put falsehood in the mouth, but speak the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, letting the Spirit of God speak without mixing in self and human ideas and opinions.
Age and long acceptance do not turn error into truth, for the Jews were mistaken in treating inherited human traditions repeated from age to age and generation to generation as truth until truth was so mixed with error that they taught tradition for the commandments of God. The oldest error pleaded because of its age and hoary with age does not change error into truth.
Their ignorance appeared in condemning the guiltless and misjudging Christ's Sabbath keeping, for human maxims and traditions had obscured the law's meaning, though the law is the transcript of the Father's character and Christ who made the Sabbath and spoke the law at Sinai exposed this ignorance. The law permits acts of mercy, including relieving suffering of people or animals, so doing good on the Sabbath is lawful and Christ's conduct violated no commandment. Their ignorance also appeared in multiplying outward rules and small religious tests God had not given, confusing the people and displacing true godliness, self-denial, and the weightier matters of truth and love for God. Religious shepherds who oppose the law of the Lord, reject the Word of the Lord and put their own words in its place, make God's Word of no effect by interpreting Scripture to teach men's commandments as doctrines, while still claiming wisdom and that the law of the Lord is with them. Men who have the oracles of God yet break His law themselves and teach investigators who would obey the light to break it also deceive the people in the same way, and this law-breaking course that encourages wickedness has brought the sinful, deceitful, violent and miserable condition now existing in the world and the church.
Power of God Revealed
The power of God named in the rebuke is the Holy Spirit, who will come now to workers who earnestly seek Him as the golden oil of divine communication in rich blessing, so that their light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon them and they arise and shine. Those addressed had taught for doctrine the commandments of men, and the meaning for co-laborers with Christ is that preaching truth is not enough without also practicing it. Christ longed to fill the whole nation with the spirit of His mission of love, that they might unite with Him in the work of saving the world.
That power is the power of God as Creator, who commands and carries out all things and has power over death. The Sadducees denied the resurrection from ignorance of the true meaning of Scripture and of that power, using claims of science to argue that a dead body could not live again. Christ's words and the raising of Lazarus exposed their error and left them unable to deny its effect upon the people. Knowledge of Scripture must reach the heart through God's enlightening grace by the Holy Spirit, for finite human reasoning cannot contain God's mysteries, and forcing divine truth to fit that reasoning, rejecting what cannot be explained, and ascribing His works to natural causes bring only confusion and unbelief. The call therefore is to accept God as Creator, let sacred truths broaden the understanding, and take a broad view of His character and works.
Right understanding of Scripture is the source of pure, heavenly knowledge. To know the Scriptures and the power of God is to be better acquainted with God, to comprehend to a greater degree His character, His goodness, His mercy and His love, to know more what living faith means, and to have a more intelligent idea of what it means to abide in Christ and have Him abide within. Those who lack it, even ministering brethren, bring little of the righteousness of Christ into their discourses, but those who gain it can go forth to labor with new courage and hope to present Jesus and His love to the people. The rabbis showed the opposite course by reverencing human tradition and ceremonies above Scripture, neglecting the knowledge of God and the weightier duties of His service and hindering true education, whereas personal trust in God's word brings peace and power with God.
Concerning the resurrection itself, the error lay in assuming that those raised simply resume earthly relationships and affairs as before death. Those raised neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven. Failure to know Scripture and God's power concerning the eternal destiny of the soul builds belief about the future life on false premises and a false foundation, and the problem identified is error in belief, not hypocrisy. Teachers who exalt human productions above the word of God show that same lack, for though they think themselves wise and strong they are weak and in error when they study books containing infidel sentiments and doctrines that mix a little truth with human opinions and sayings and doings. That course intermingles good and evil in their work, plants objectionable ideas like weeds in the minds of students, forces much to be unlearned afterward, leaves some never able to distinguish right from wrong, and keeps youth from knowing the way of life.
True Education and Ministry
Correct knowledge of Scripture is the foundation of true education, for the Word of God lies at the very foundation of all true education and understanding what it says is the most important of all education. Teachers who lack it fail to educate youth rightly and badly misjudge what education is. Ignorance of Scripture and of God's power leads to error, and the Jews' failure to know them brought ruin and rejection of Jesus the Lord of glory. The warning is against relying on tradition and custom instead of taking God's word as the rule of life and walking in obedience to His commandments and ordinances.
Ignorance of the Scriptures and the power of God is a great mistake that leaves a man unfit for the ministry and unfit to teach students, even if he has been ordained. One in this state has everything to learn and needs thorough conversion first, becoming a learner before acting as a teacher.
The rabbis as educators of youth erred because they did not know the Scriptures nor the power of God. They were formalists who reverenced amplified tradition far above the Scriptures, taught the commandments of men as doctrines, filled student life with the sayings of men and an endless round of ceremonies, and enlarged continually on little things and every ceremonial detail as highest obligation. They neglected the education that imparts a knowledge of God and the weightier duties of His service, and hid the great essentials of God's service from youth under a mass of rubbish. Personal trust in God's word, by contrast, brings peace and power with God.
Teachers who exalt human productions above the word of God have little knowledge of the Bible and lack knowledge of the Scriptures and the power of God concerning the eternal destiny of the soul. Though they think themselves wise and strong, they are weak and in error, studying books containing infidel sentiments and doctrines that mix a little truth with human opinions and sayings and doings. That error intermingles good and evil in their work and plants objectionable ideas like weeds in the minds of students. What is learned from such a course must afterward be unlearned, which is the more difficult work because objectionable things take root like weeds, and some will never be able to distinguish right from wrong or know the way of life. People who pride themselves on superficial knowledge and self-esteem can still be ignorant of Scripture and God's power, like the Pharisees, satisfied with worldly learning rather than seeking life-giving truth, and exposure to infidel ideas fosters questioning and unbelief. Faithful knowledge comes from making the Scriptures the chief lesson book and receiving God's truth, rather than relying on writings that turn the mind from Christ, including failure to understand the truths teachers are responsible to teach such as the third angel's message.
Not knowing the Scriptures and the power of God leaves even ministering brethren ignorant, so that they bring little of the righteousness of Christ into their discourses. Knowing them means being better acquainted with God, comprehending to a greater degree His character, goodness, mercy and love, knowing more what living faith means, having a more intelligent idea of abiding in Christ and having Him abide within, and going forth to labor with new courage and hope to present Jesus and His love. Much ignorance of God's Word prevails even among those who preach it, with many teaching the Word of life to others while themselves dull of comprehension, knowing little of true moral and religious science and less of the Word of God though they regard themselves as authority and teach for doctrine the commandments of men. Such teachers stand only on the threshold of knowledge without entering in to obtain true spiritual understanding, and need to become learners before they can truly teach the Scriptures to others unto salvation. Truths hidden by superstition and false doctrine become clear through earnest, reverent study of Scripture, and even new believers can understand what has clouded the perception of learned interpreters who like the Sadducees fail to understand spiritual truth. The same ignorance of truth, the Scriptures, and God's power is found among those near Melbourne.
Learned rank does not protect from this ignorance. Priests and friars who had neglected Scripture were defeated in argument by people with little formal education but a better knowledge of the Bible. Those who neglect Scripture are unable to refute its plain teachings, while ordinary people who know the Bible can defend them and recognize truth. Religious teachers who lack that knowledge cannot defend their positions from the Bible and turn instead to human sayings, doctrines, and traditions.
Personal Study and Obedience
No soul can safely be trusted to ministers, learned men, talented men, or human law-makers, for even educated, professedly pious teachers who are spiritually privileged may err and be unable to interpret Scripture correctly because they do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God. The priests, rulers, and teachers rebuked in the verse were regarded as learned in Scripture yet were ignorant of both Scripture and God's power, proving that learning, religious position, or authority does not ensure true understanding or replace personal study. They were false teachers and blind guides who interpreted and wrested the Scriptures to suit their own ideas, obscuring plainly revealed truths by giving them a hidden, mystical meaning, whereas the Bible is to be explained according to its obvious meaning unless it uses a symbol or figure. The people placed entire confidence in them because they were educated men and allowed them to be conscience for them instead of thinking and studying and searching the Scriptures for themselves, and those blinded, prejudiced leaders then led the less informed with them until priests, rulers, and people united in rejecting Christ and crucifying the Son of God, most obstructing His work of saving souls by the light of truth. Every person has the privilege and responsibility to be wise for himself in reading the Scriptures, and God means the poor and uneducated as well as those entrusted with talents to have His Word as a sure, understandable light and guide in righteousness, searching it diligently as the Bereans did, setting prejudice aside, praying, and comparing Scripture with Scripture so the Holy Spirit gives understanding and life-giving truth.
Knowing the Scriptures and knowing the power of God must both be learned in the school of Christ by making the Scriptures the counsellor and by being a doer of the Word, for ignorance of either causes error. Understanding requires openness to God's power and enlightening grace through the Holy Spirit rather than forcing God's mysteries within finite human reasoning, and human inability to explain His works is no reason to reject them, since rejecting what cannot be explained leads to confusion, unbelief, and skepticism. Truths hidden by superstition and false doctrine become clear through earnest, reverent, humble, prayerful study aimed at practicing them in daily life, so that even new believers can understand what has clouded the perception of learned interpreters. Those who profess to follow Christ yet stir up strife, discourage and bruise souls instead of helping them by kindness, and fail to be peacemakers show their weakness in not studying the Scriptures for the purpose of daily practice, thus lacking the knowledge that would keep them from sin. By contrast, advocates of false doctrine who have not diligently studied the Bible sustain their positions with mere assertions agreeable to those seeking to evade the cross, skillfully building theories spiced with humor, ridicule, and misrepresentation of believers while having no plain Thus saith the Lord to rest upon, and hearers who do not test their statements by Scripture accept them, lose conviction, and think themselves released from obeying the truth.
Preaching truth is not enough, for all who work as co-laborers with Christ must also practice the truth in practical life. The priests and Pharisees put their own interpretations upon the Word, substituted their own way of salvation for God's, mingled human commandments with God's commandments and taught them as doctrine, wrapped themselves in unbelief, kept not God's commandments while regarding their own traditions as more important, and lost the purity seen in Christ's character. Though teachers of the oracles of God and supposed to understand the Word, they were not doers of it, so Satan blinded their eyes to its true import, and claiming scriptural knowledge did not make them safe guides, since rejecting light because it conflicts with one's ideas leads to misunderstanding Scripture and opposing those who cherish and obey its truth. Knowledge and profession must be joined to repentance, consecration, and lives shaped by the truth, or professors dishonor Christ, and the same charge rests on teachers and churches today when supposed wise men falsely interpret the divine oracles and bring souls into perplexity and darkness. Christ longed to fill the whole nation with the spirit of His mission of love so they might unite with Him in saving the world, and the power of God, which is the Holy Spirit, will come to workers who earnestly seek it as the golden oil of divine communication in rich blessing so their light has come and they arise and shine.
Knowing the Scriptures and the power of God keeps believers from error and makes them light-bearers who draw near to God, trust Him alone instead of putting man where God should be, live as He wants them to live, and do not walk in darkness. That knowledge makes a church responsible to scatter to carry the light of truth to those in darkness instead of remaining gathered together in one large body, working together with God instead of living to please and glorify self, working in unity without considering themselves superior to earlier workers, walking humbly without delay because probationary time is about to close, or the woe of God will be upon it.
Meeting false teaching that gives false interpretations, wrests the Word from its true meaning, and misapplies its utterances brings angry controversy amid human prejudice, jealousy, and tradition and bitter opposition to truth, a condition still existing today, so constant wisdom is needed to know when to speak and when to keep silent. Ministers and people who oppose the truth are to be met with words spoken in the Holy Spirit, not harshness, since harsh words give Satan opportunity to accuse those who defend the truth.
The rebuke applies today to many professed Christians and to people in positions of responsibility who do as the nation that rejected Christ did, making worship vain by teaching the commandments of men for doctrines, making void the law of God with needless ceremonies, tearing down the Lord's standard of righteousness, blinding eyes and hardening hearts, and leading people to believe a lie in place of truth. It applies to those who reject divine light, dismiss the Holy Spirit's work as fanaticism, accuse Christ's teachings of causing harmful excitement, mistake light for darkness, and endanger God's cause by resisting truth. Such ignorance of the Scriptures, of truth, and of God's power is seen in people near Melbourne, and generally in the Piedmont valleys, and where customs, traditions, and the testimony of the fathers take the place of God's Word, fables are offered to all inclined to turn from Bible truth, God's great moral standard of righteousness is made of none effect, and hardest effort is made to shut out advance light, producing a discouraging lack of doctrine, faith, and vital godliness as seen in Italy and especially in the Waldensian valleys in reverse of the ancient Waldenses.