Authentic Authority Versus Reasoned Religion

David W Palmer

As Jesus approached his final hours on earth, all aspects of his life, his ministry, his training course, and his doctrinal contentions with the legalistic religious leaders converged. His final week was one of focused intensity: he healed Bartimaeus at Jericho, had lunch with Zacchaeus, led a triumphant procession into Jerusalem riding on a donkey (as Zechariah’s prophesied king), and drove the crooked merchants out of the temple area. Then, after cursing the fruitless fig tree, our wonderful Lord healed and taught in the temple during the days; and he stayed with his friends in Bethany each night—that’s where he was anointed with expensive perfume for his burial.

Jesus’s whole ministry had been on a collision course with the religious leaders, and it began to culminate here:

(Matthew 21:12–15 NKJV) Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. {13} And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ “ {14} Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. {15} But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant.

After seeing him enter Jerusalem like Zechariah’s prophesied king, cleanse the temple (with a whip), teach the crowds, and then perform many healings, signs, and wonders; they tried again to corner him with their intellectual debating skills:

(Matthew 21:23 NKJV) 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?”

I’m sure that, like us, Jesus’s original apprentices were keen to learn from how he would respond to this—seemingly legitimate—question; which could be paraphrased thus: “Who authorized you to do this? Show us your credentials—your letters of recommendation.” After all, they were the “official” leaders of the temple area; they were its “pastors,” so to speak. So how would Jesus respond to their authority when they questioned his authority? He certainly didn’t have their authorization to do what he had been doing:

(Matthew 21:24 NKJV) 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.”

Did Jesus just answer a question with a question? Maybe he was proving the old adage: “Whoever asks the questions is in control.” What was his question? Would it intrigue his confront-ors enough to draw them into trying to answer him?

(Matthew 21:25 NKJV) “The baptism of John—where was it from? From heaven or from men?” …

Jesus did it! With pinpoint accuracy he put his finger on their “Achilles heel,” so to speak. Unlike Jesus—who looked only for God’s approval, not popularity among men—but like all leaders of mere religion, they enjoyed their popularity, their place of prominence, and the power it afforded them. No doubt, Jesus asked his question of them in front of the same crowd that had just witnessed his whip, word, and wonderful miracles.

Now, the chief priests and the elders were the ones being confronted. Would they reveal their hand and state that they thought John was a false prophet? If so, it would certainly damage their popularity, and possibly destroy their credibility as reliable spiritual guides—especially among those who saw John the Baptist as a genuine prophet sent from God. After all, John had amazing and holy fruit from his ministry. So, how would they respond?

(Matthew 21:25–27 NKJV) … And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ {26} But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet.” {27} So they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.”

This passage delights and amuses me every time I read it. Grown men—intellectually strong men—with all their knowledge and reputation for being spiritually sharp and erudite, confessed that they did not know where John’s authority to preach repentance came from. Yet this was perfectly obvious to the multitude: someone preaching, “Repent from sin,” and, “Get your life right with God,” is obviously not from the devil.

Let’s look at the process that brought these supposed religious leaders to this place of spiritual blindness:

“They reasoned among themselves.” The first step leading to spiritual problems was intellectual reasoning. This is a textbook case of partaking from “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (See: Gen. 3). Eve looked at the tree, desired what it could give her, and then intellectually processed the outcome of eating it; this led to her sinful action. The sinful action led to her and Adam’s eyes being opened to one realm—they saw that they were naked. But it led to their eyes being blinded to God’s realm of revelation and glory. (See: Rom. 3:23, Gen. 3:5–7.)

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents the process of intellectually comparing and contrasting God’s will against the devil’s suggestion; this process led to Adam and Eve’s downfall into spiritual blindness and death. The “Tree of life,” on the other hand, is simple trust in what God says, leading to obedience—even when it doesn’t make intellectual sense.

“Why then did you not believe him?” With their own mouths, the chief priests and elders confessed that they did not believe—they chose to put no faith in what John said. Yet Jesus had stated that John the Baptist was a great prophet. So the chief priests and elders didn’t believe the word sent from God to their community and to them. Therefore, these people were not operating in faith; they were not partaking of the tree of life.

They confessed, “We fear the multitude.” “The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe” (Prov. 29:25 NKJV). They feared losing their reputation, respect, credibility, and position in the eyes of the people. But they were completely checkmated by Jesus’s question; they were going to lose their credibility now no matter which way they answered.

They confessed, “we do not know.” Whether this was a lie or not, it exposed their true acuity in spiritual matters; they had no revelation. Jesus described people like this so aptly when he later said:

(Matthew 23:15–17, 19, 23–24 NKJV) “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! … Woe to you, blind guides … Fools and blind! … Fools and blind! … Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! … Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!”

As a result Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things” (Mat. 21:27 NKJV). In other words, the outcome of their reasoning and fear of man was that they received no revelation from Jesus, at all.

I’m beginning to see why they wanted him dead; in front of the multitude, he completely removed the camouflage of their religious cover. He completely cornered them with his simple question, and shone heaven’s searchlight into the darkness of their black hearts. But our loving Lord didn’t do this to destroy them—the devil is the destroyer; he did it to let them see their own true spiritual state. If they did, perhaps then they would receive, believe, and obey John’s call to repentance and baptism.

So, what led to their spiritual blindness? They reasoned among themselves; they didn’t believe the word that God sent them; they feared the people; they confessed that they did not have knowledge. As a result, they received no revelation from Jesus, the Living Word of God. In other words, he didn’t give them a life-giving word.

Let’s not follow these chief priests and elders into the quagmire by blindly leading, or being led into, the ditch (See: Mat. 15:14). As a result of their choices and processes, the Master assessed them as “hypocrites” and “blind guides.” Obviously, anyone following them would fall into the ditch along with them. So, what should we do?

Choose to partake exclusively from the tree of life—put simple trust in what God says above intellectually reasoned actions.

Only believe: the just shall live by faith; they are led by the Holy Spirit (Gal. 3:11, Rom. 8:14).

Fear only God, not man.

Confess: that you are born again, that you have the “mind of Christ,” that you are “one spirit with the Lord,” and that you believe you receive God’s Spirit of wisdom and revelation. In other words, confess that you have revelation from heaven.

Receive Jesus’s revelation, declare and obey it, and you will be operating in true authority.

(John 10:27 NKJV) “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”