John 7.14-18.
After Jesus decided
I need to remind you synagogues, at this point in history, weren’t Jewish churches:
There were also prejudices among Judean Pharisees about the quality of education you’d find among Galilean Pharisees. So when the Judeans listened to Jesus, they immediately realized here was a guy who knew as much as
John 7.14-15 KWL - 14 During the middle the Shavuot festival, Jesus went up to temple and taught.
- 15 So the Judeans were in awe, saying, “How does this unstudied man know what scribes know?”
Unfortunately, various anti-intellectual Christians make the same presumption about Jesus and his students: “These were uneducated, illiterate men!” and use this to justify their lack of education. Illiterate men? These guys wrote the New Testament, and no they didn’t just hire secretaries to make up for their inability to read: Synagogue taught you to read. You had to read, if you were read the Law and follow it. Jesus can read;
Rants about ignorance aside, Jesus was educated enough to engage Pharisees on their level. Even quote their own rabbis back at them.
John 7.16-18 KWL - 16 So in reply Jesus said, “My teaching isn’t mine, but from God who sent me.
- 17 When anyone wants to do his will, they’ll know if the teaching’s from God, or from my own speaking.
- 18 Those who speak for themselves seek their own opinion.
- Those who seek the opinion of God who sent them, are truthful. There’s no wrongness in them.”
See, Jesus teaches the scriptures and the Law correctly because he cares about what God thinks of it. (And yeah,
Like many people, Christians included, they were self-promoting: They wanted to be recognized for their own wisdom and insight, and be lauded as great teachers. And if you wanna stand out, you gotta be different. Not necessarily
Many bibles translate
John 7.18 ESV - “The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.”
—and yeah, there’s some overlap in the ideas. When you’re promoting your own opinions, it’s usually to get a little glory for yourself as a wise person. Problem is,
So why’s Jesus the best teacher ever? Because he seeks his Father. And, he points out, everyone else who truly and selflessly seeks our Father who sent us, gets it right.