When we hear the words of Jesus, we are not simply listening to a learned rabbi or sound theologian. We are hearing the Word of God speak.

At various points in the gospels, we are told that Jesus taught ‘with authority’. For example, Matthew says ‘When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.’ (Matt 7:28-29 ). Mark insists, ‘The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.’ (Mark 1:22 ). Luke says, ‘They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority.’ (Luke 4:32 ). The question is, what does this mean?

Luke (of the examples above) leaves us with the slightly vaguer ‘because his words had authority’. Both Matthew and Mark supply a little more with ‘not as the teachers of the law’. But all three can be harmonized in broadly the same way.

Clearly, Matthew and Mark recognise that the scribes spoke with some sort of authority. The very fact that they were scribes, recognised by the people as part of the religious authority, is significant. What the gospel writers seem to be drawing our attention to is not that scribes had no authority, but that Jesus spoke with a different kind of authority to them. His authority was not like the teachers of the law.

This is perhaps where Luke’s description becomes helpful. Luke reckons Jesus’ teaching carried a particular quality ‘because his words had authority’. The scribes were not arguing that their very words had authority in and of themselves. Rather, the scribes would cite other scholars and the rabbinic traditions. They had the kind of authority that a university professor holds. They have read the traditions, they understand the various arguments that have previously been advanced, they have then weighed the evidence and learned views, they have marshalled all the arguments and so speak authoritatively in reference to them.

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