A Christian Seeking Answers

[aron]

Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!

Yes, but don't you think that's the implication? He said many times that they didn't really know God. And how about this - "You search the scriptures but you will not come to Me?"

Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God." ~Matt 22:29

I think the implication is ignorance. But its ignorance of the worst kind, that of those who think they aren't ignorant, simply because they can cite a few more verses than the unlettered folk. Relative to most Galileans they aren't ignorant (cf Acts 4:13), but Jesus isn't most Galileans. "And they were astonished at his teaching", not merely in its subjective passion but in its wisdom.

I'm an extremely ignorant man. But I'm not so ignorant, today, that I allow a charlatan to tell me that I'm wise. Lee duped me, once. You know what they say, "Fool me once..."

[Sons to Glory!]

Originally Posted by aron

Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God." ~Matt 22:29

I think the implication is ignorance. But its ignorance of the worst kind, that of those who think they aren't ignorant, simply because they can cite a few more verses than the unlettered folk. Relative to most Galileans they aren't ignorant (cf Acts 4:13), but Jesus isn't most Galileans. "And they were astonished at his teaching", not merely in its subjective passion but in its wisdom.

I'm an extremely ignorant man. But I'm not so ignorant, today, that I allow a charlatan to tell me that I'm wise. Lee duped me, once. You know what they say, "Fool me once..."

They didn't know God, and Jesus said if they had, they would have known the One He sent. Without knowing God, they couldn't rightly divide scripture.

[aron]

Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!

They didn't know God, and Jesus said if they had, they would have known the One He sent. Without knowing God, they couldn't rightly divide scripture.

I think you're putting the cart before the horse. Jesus didn't say, "You know scripture but don't know God", or "You know scripture but don't rightly divide it."

Scripture revealed God, and Jesus as incarnate Word did as well. But if they knew scripture they would have recognized Messiah, plainly foretold. There are many positive instances of this in the gospels, from the infancy narratives on up. The epistles confirm this. ~Rom 1:2

The crime of the Pharisees wasn't that they were ignorant but that they thought that they were wise. This conceit allowed them some place among their fellows, but it became a major stumbling when they met Jesus.

"Lord, when did we see you sick?"

"When you saw these, the least of my brothers".

Scripture plainly showed how to treat the poor and the feeble. It's in many of the "low" and "natural concepts" sections that Lee dismissed. He wasn't interested in "works" but in "grace", or his version thereof. But the scripture clearly showed grace, in Jesus reaching out to those who society rejected as unfit and unclean. It was foretold, it was fulfilled, and it was expected that we would follow.