Chapter 4: How Jesus Overturned the Theologians. When Jesus entered the scene, he wasted no time scraping off the barnacles. In fact, before Jesus even began his ministry, the Spirit had sent out John the Baptist to prepare the way. And John launched the opening salvo against the Jewish theologians by talking about their fruit. He said to them, "Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Therefore, bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones." Matthew 3:7-9. We've already seen why the Jewish theologians deserved to be denounced in such strong terms. They had tried to create a way to God that didn't require godly fruit. As Jesus explained it, "Woe to you, lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge.
You did not enter in yourselves, and those who entered in you hindered." Luke 11:52. The lawyers Jesus denounced were not attorneys. In fact, Jewish society in Jesus' day had no such thing as attorneys. The lawyers of which he spoke were the theologians, the so-called experts of the law. They saw themselves as the protectors and defenders of the law. But in reality, they were just the opposite. They had corrupted the law and had taken away the key of knowledge from the common people.
The theologians had made the people totally dependent on them for access to the Scriptures and to the knowledge of God. But then they had blocked the way to the kingdom. They produced no kingdom fruits themselves, and they hindered others from producing fruit as well. In the course of his ministry, Jesus destroyed the two methods by which the theologians had held the people in bondage. As we've seen, one of those methods was the superior knowledge of the Hebrew language.
Did Jesus endorse Hebrew as a holy language, the only language suitable for God's messages to mankind? Not at all. Instead, the only record we have of his teachings is in Greek. Jesus totally bypassed Hebrew. Unlike the theologians, he didn't train his disciples to read Hebrew so they could read Scriptures in its original language. In fact, when Jesus' apostles quoted from the Old Testament, they nearly always quoted from the Greek Septuagint, not from the Hebrew versions used by the theologians.
Similarly, rather than recognizing the scribes and Pharisees as the official interpreters of the law, Jesus called them blind guides who had missed the whole point of the law. The theologians were constantly perturbed at Jesus because he contradicted their teachings. Unmasking the Theologians. As we've discussed, Jesus labeled the whole Jewish theological system as leaven of which the children of the kingdom needed to beware.
Because of their finicky interpretations of the law, Jesus denounced the religious leaders for binding heavy burdens on the people that were hard to bear. Furthermore, Jesus rejected their claims to be preserving the oral traditions handed down from Moses. Instead, he deliberately ignored their traditions because they were man-made. For example, what happened when he accepted an invitation to dine with a Pharisee? Luke 11:37-41. As he spoke, a certain Pharisee asked him to dine with him.
So he went in and sat down to eat. When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not first washed before dinner. Then the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness. Foolish ones, did not he who made the outside make the inside also?
But rather give alms of such things as you have, then indeed all things are clean to you." On another occasion, Jesus addressed the same issue about the ceremonial washings of the theologians. Mark 7:8. "Laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, the washing of pitchers and cups and many other such things you do." All the theologians' extra-biblical commandments were not really the oral law passed down from Moses. They were just the traditions of men.
Not only that, Jesus called the theologians to task in the strongest language, nullifying God's commandments. He told them, "You are making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down, and many such things you do." Mark 7:13. No Theologians in the Kingdom. However, Jesus went much further than simply denouncing the scribes and Pharisees as hypocrites and attacking their teachings. The problem wasn't merely that these particular theologians were teaching the wrong things.
The problem was the very existence of a theological class. That's because theologians will inevitably end up corrupting God's message. They will always place head knowledge above fruit. If God had wanted a class of theologians, he would have set one up in the first place. God doesn't need theologians as the official interpreters of Scripture. His word is sufficient. For that reason, Jesus told his disciples the following about the scribes and Pharisees.
"They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men rabbi, rabbi. But you do not be called rabbi, for one is your teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father, for one is your Father, he who is in heaven. And do not be called teachers, for one is your teacher, the Christ.
But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant, and whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Matthew 23:6-12. One of the problems with the whole theological system is that it sets up certain men as superior to others. What's more, theologians end up invalidating much of God's word, no matter how well-intentioned they may be. The kingdom of God needs simple pastors and teachers, but not theologians above their ordinary brothers.
Throughout his ministry, Jesus made it clear that his kingdom needed no theological class. To enter the kingdom, a person doesn't need to sit at the feet of some learned theologian. It's just the opposite. He needs to humble himself and become as a little child.
At that time, the disciples came to Jesus saying, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" Then Jesus called a little child to him, sat him in the midst of them, and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in my name receives me." Matthew 18:1-5.
In fact, in the kingdom, not only is special theological training not necessary, it's actually a hindrance. Intellectual babes can understand matters of the kingdom better than cerebral academics. As Jesus said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes." By wise and prudent, Jesus is obviously referring to the worldly wise and prudent.
Other translators have rendered this phrase the learned and the clever or the wise and the learned. Theological schooling is of no help in matters pertaining to the kingdom. If anything, it's a hindrance. When Jesus preached about babes entering the kingdom, he wasn't voicing some empty slogan that he himself didn't follow. No, he chose as his twelve apostles men who had no theological training. In fact, many of them had little schooling. They were ordinary, unlettered men.
The training he gave them was hands-on experience. Jesus didn't set up any seminaries, theological schools, or academies, as did the scribes and Greek philosophers. Rather, he had his disciples accompany him on his preaching missions. And he later sent them out on missions of their own to obtain experience. He made disciples, not academics. The Kingdom in Operation. Nothing changed in this basic system after Jesus ascended to heaven.
The fishermen and ordinary people who Jesus had placed in positions of leadership proved themselves quite capable of the task. People flocked into the kingdom, and the spiritual shepherds were able to give them good teaching and care. In fact, the kingdom followers of Jesus grew rapidly. Seeing this, the Jewish theologians realized they would either have to stop it or else eventually lose their own positions of power.
So they had their soldiers arrest Peter and John, the two former fishermen among the leaders of this new movement. The Jewish theologians were quite certain they would be able to intimidate these ignorant fishermen into keeping quiet. However, that's not how things worked out. Rather than being cowed by the theologians, as were most Jews, Peter answered them fearlessly. The Jewish theologians had wanted to know by what power he and John had healed a man.
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter boldly replied, "Let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man stands here before you whole." Acts 4:10. The religious leaders were taken aback. Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.
And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. Acts 4:13. So they decided to let Peter and John go, but with a certain warning to speak no more about Jesus. But the days when the theologians held a spiritual power monopoly in Judea were over. Peter and John responded to the theologian's threat with a bold declaration. "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge.
For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." Acts 4:19-20. As the years passed, nothing changed. It was still the ordinary and uneducated men who led the church. The apostles neither set up any seminaries nor provided any other theological schooling for the next generation of leaders. Paul described how things worked in the kingdom of God. "Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.' Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise." 1 Corinthians 1:17-28.