{"id":3440,"date":"2023-05-26T14:36:41","date_gmt":"2023-05-26T14:36:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/?p=3440"},"modified":"2023-05-26T14:36:41","modified_gmt":"2023-05-26T14:36:41","slug":"do-you-know-the-scriptures-and-the-power-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/2023\/05\/26\/do-you-know-the-scriptures-and-the-power-of-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Know the Scriptures and the Power of God?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Do you know the Scriptures and the power of God?<\/p>\n<p>Matthew 22 records Jesus\u2019 interaction with the Sadducees, who do not believe in the resurrection of the dead. These opponents speak of a woman who had been married successively to seven brothers, each of whom died, then ask: \u201cIn the resurrection \u2026 of the seven, whose wife will she be?\u201d (Matthew 22:28) Through this story, they suppose they have shown the resurrection of the dead to be absurd: A woman can\u2019t be married to seven men simultaneously, as she would be if they all were resurrected!<\/p>\n<p>Jesus responds: &#8220;You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God\u201d (Matthew 22:29). He goes on to show that the Old Testament Scriptures teach the resurrection of the dead, and thus God has power over death.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s consider Jesus\u2019 statement more broadly: Why do we need to know <em>both<\/em> the Scriptures and the power of God?<\/p>\n<p>Consider first <em>those who know the Scriptures but not the power of God<\/em>. That is, they have studied Scripture, they may have memorized much Scripture, they may know the original languages, they may be familiar with commentaries and grammar and the history of interpretation \u2013 but they do not know God\u2019s power. They do not believe that He is sovereign, that He is a Redeemer, that He is the Judge.<\/p>\n<p>The Sadducees were somewhat like that, as Jesus brings out Matthew 22:31. He says: \u201cHave you not read what was said to you by God,\u201d and then quotes Exodus 3:6, \u201cI am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.\u201d God originally spoke those words to <em>Moses<\/em> \u2013 but Jesus says God spoke them also \u201cto you,\u201d to the Sadducees.<\/p>\n<p>The point: God spoke all Scripture <em>to you<\/em>! He spoke all Scripture to me! And unless we read the Scriptures that way, we do not know them \u2013 even if we can quote the entire Bible from memory.<\/p>\n<p>So when you read Scripture:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If you primarily think, \u201cThat sheds light on the customs and beliefs of Jews two thousand years ago,\u201d you haven\u2019t heard Scripture correctly.<\/li>\n<li>If you primarily think, \u201cThat\u2019s a key statement in the historical development of worldwide religious thought,\u201d you haven\u2019t heard Scripture correctly.<\/li>\n<li>Even if you primarily think, \u201cBoy, my friend really needs to hear and apply that truth,\u201d you haven\u2019t heard Scripture correctly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now, all those statements may be true. But God speaks the words of Scripture <em>to you! <\/em>So hear them that way! Plead for insight into them. Conform your mind to them. Submit your actions to them.<\/p>\n<p>Second, consider <em>those who know the power of God but not the Scriptures<\/em>. They may be impressed by the majesty of creation and ascribe that to a Creator. They may have prayed for the healing of a loved one \u2013 and it happened! They may witness natural disasters and believe that a god controls them.<\/p>\n<p>Such knowledge, however, often results in thinking of God as a genie in the bottle (I rub the bottle, make my three wishes, and \u2013 voila! \u2013 I get what I want!), or as a random, dangerous force I need to bargain with and appease (\u201cHere, I\u2019ll offer you this worship and this contribution if you\u2019ll refrain from harming me\u201d).<\/p>\n<p>Only from Scripture can we know of both God\u2019s power and His redeeming love, of both His justice and His saving grace, of both the power of temptation and the greater power of His life-giving Spirit, of both the dangers of this present age and the security we have in Jesus, of both death as the last enemy and Jesus\u2019 victory over death.<\/p>\n<p>So, once again: Do you know the Scriptures and the power of God? Commit yourself to knowing both. Only in this way can we be \u201cimitators of God, as beloved children, \u2026 walk[ing] in love\u201d (Ephesians 5:1-2).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you know the Scriptures and the power of God? Matthew 22 records Jesus\u2019 interaction with the Sadducees, who do not believe in the resurrection of the dead. These opponents&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,15],"tags":[2729,206,211,595,889,2730,2728,2731,2727,1515],"class_list":["post-3440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-devotions","tag-all-scripture","tag-bible","tag-biblical-authority","tag-genie","tag-knowing-god","tag-mark-1224","tag-matthew-2229","tag-paganism","tag-sadducees","tag-submission"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3440"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3441,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3440\/revisions\/3441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}