I was reading from Luke 20 in my devotions and noticed how Jesus responded to the Sadducees. The Sadducees were the “liberal” Jews of Jesus’ times. The Pharisees were the conservatives holding firmly to the authority of the Scriptures (while yet being hypocritical by not truly following the Law as Jesus pointed out in His sermon on the mount in Matthew 5-7), but the Sadducees sided with the liberals and Luke 20:27 makes reference to their liberal views.
The Sadducees present Jesus with a problematic situation that apparently they had used on previous people who held to a belief in a resurrection of the dead. Jesus responded with two things. First, He responded with the same logic that the Sadducees had put forward to test Jesus in Luke 20:34-36. Second, Jesus responded by pointing out that the Sadducees’ theology was wrong by simply pointing them back to the Scriptures in Luke 20:37-38. The Sadducees simply respond with, “Teacher, you have spoken well” in verse 39 and then Luke adds, “For they no longer dared to ask him any question.”
Luke then records that Jesus asks them a question in Luke 20:41. Jesus then quotes from Psalm 110:1 in Luke 20:42-43. Jesus asks them a question in Luke 20:44. All of this is based off the authority of Scripture and particularly Psalm 110:1. Jesus uses this to verify that the Son of David is much more than a mere son of David but actually precedes David and thus shows that Jesus is fully God (Micah 5:2; John 1:1-3).
The point of all this is simply to show how important Jesus viewed the Scriptures. I do find it a bit odd that people today claim to follow Jesus yet deny a full inerrancy of Scripture. The basis of inerrancy comes from our Lord Himself (Matthew 5:18). Jesus quotes from Scripture many times in the Gospels and it is obvious that Jesus held to the full authority of the Scriptures. In His temptation (Matthew 4:1-11), Jesus quoted Scripture. In His answers to the Sadducees, Jesus quoted Scripture and He based His own divinity upon the Scriptures.
How important it is that we too hold firmly to the authority of Scripture. If Jesus so held such a strong view of the Scriptures, should not we? Are we somehow beyond Him? I believe that holding a strong view of Scripture (that it is infallible and inerrant) will protect us from error (1 John 4:1). The Scriptures complete us (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and the Scriptures are our sword to defeat the lies of the world, the flesh, and the enemy (Ephesians 6:17). Jesus responded to His critics with Scripture and so should we. Jesus based His entire life and ministry upon Scripture (see Luke 4:18-21) and He said that the Scriptures cannot be broken (John 10:35). And so should we. Jesus set us an example that we should follow in His steps (1 Peter 2:21; 1 John 2:6). No doubt He is the perfect Son of God (Hebrews 4:15), but how He viewed Scripture is vital to our discipleship.
In the midst of so many theological errors, it is vital that we remain fully committed to the Scriptures. The Bible tells us that many errors have gone forth (1 Timothy 4:1) and John says that many antichrists have come (1 John 2:18). Our protection in an age of error is the Word of God.
[Link to original post and comments on Roy Ingle’s website.]
