3 And some of the scribes said to themselves, “This fellow blasphemes.” 4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? 5 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, and walk’? – Matthew 9:3-5
One striking aspect of American culture is how everyone is an expert on everything. I perused Twitter™ the other day and became entertained by a back-and-forth tweet-fest of two people trying to convince the other of how much they knew on a specific subject. One pointed out their educational degrees with their profile full of degree letters, albeit in an academic field that had nothing to do with the issue. The other person simply pointed out their school of hard knocks and the number of people they knew that held their position of whom they could drum up at a moment’s notice if needed. I gave a hearty guffaw to myself because not only were these two people wasting each other’s time with their nonsensical banter, but they sucked me into wasting my time with them. Nonetheless, their interaction made me reflect, which led to this post and what I want to share with you about considering these things through a biblical lens.
Our Lord, Jesus, found himself in a quibble with the scribes of Capernaum in Matthew chapter nine, which came on the heels of the city people across the Sea of Galilee imploring him to leave their region (Matt. 8:34). Jesus got into a boat and headed to his home base. When Jesus arrived in Capernaum, some people who were friends with a sick, paralytic man brought him to Jesus, whom Jesus healed with only the words, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven” (c.f. Mark 2:4ff). Jesus understood that the paralytic’s friends were more than friends; they were believers. We might say they were “faith-full” friends. And while there is no specific mention of the paralyzed man’s faith in the account in Matthew 9:1-8, the fact that his sins were forgiven would indicate that he had faith in addition to the faith of his four friends.
However, others did not believe, not what they just saw but what they just heard—the scribes. There are critics everywhere, especially when something good happens and more so when God is glorified. Here is a prime example. Notice that the scribes spent some time cogitating. Cogitate means “to ponder or meditate on usually intently.”[1] We might say, “chew over.” In other words, they did not speak their thoughts aloud. Instead, they reasoned in their hearts. Here is the warning-lesson, we must beware of how we think because God is aware of our thoughts, and we are accountable for our thoughts. What were the scribes thinking? That the Son of God was blaspheming. However, they did not consider him the Son of God.
Most translations have them thinking of Jesus as a mere man. That is bad enough. However, the best translation is that he was a fellow, i.e., “who does this fellow think he is?” Interestingly, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary has one definition of fellow as “a person of one of the lower social classes.”[2] A.T. Robertsonquips, “See the sneer in ‘this fellow.'”[3] Their logic was that only God could forgive sin, so if Christ forgives sin, He must claim to be God. However, the scribes and pharisees (mostly) did not believe Jesus was God, so they concluded that He had blasphemed in forgiving the paralytic of his sins. Knox Chamblinadds, “These scribes accuse Jesus of blaspheming God, of reviling His holy Name, because He – is in their eyes a mere man (cf. Mt 9:8b) – usurps the divine prerogative.”[4]
What we are experiencing in our post-post-modern Christian age is the philosophical position of passing on information rather than passing on the work of philosophical thinking. Today, teachers at all levels of academia successfully educate students concerning information in their field. And because they believe their expertise and only their expertise is valid, they do not take kindly those outside their circles who challenge them and say there is something wrong with their way of thinking. If you do not believe me, put a young-earth creationist in a room with an old-earth creationist and find out how quickly you create (pun intended) an impasse. What results is a mass of confusion and buffoonery.
How does this occur? What makes a scribe look at Jesus the way he did and think the way he thought? What makes the academic twitterer disregard the school of hard knocks twitterer? In Jesus and the scribes’ situation, Jesus points out that the scribes’ issue is faith versus intellect. They thought they knew something he did not know. And many people today have this worldly point of view.
Those who embrace academia, and I am including the whole spectrum of theologians to Sunday school teachers in the term “academia,” can sometimes see themselves as elite or superior. Rephrasing and paraphrasing Ransom Poythress, “They are above and beyond the huddled, ignorant masses, or at least those in their classes. They wield intellectualism as a weapon to intimidate others by using scientific language, like a password to a secret society, to exclude and diminish their peers; cough, cough—those fellows. ‘You don’t understand what I am saying when I spout a long list of complicated words? You poor soul. Just trust that I know what I’m talking about and believe that I am smarter than you and know better than you.’ They set themselves up as arbiters of truth in order to achieve power and position. This is academia at its worst, used to confuse instead of clarifying, to subjugate rather than serve.”[5]
When Jesus pointed out the scribes’ mistaken thought process, he did so in his usual way of asking questions. He wanted the miracle to point to the purpose of his action and his question—He wanted them to know this truth beyond a shadow of a doubt that He had the Messianic power on earth to forgive sins even as God does in Heaven (Matt. 9:6)! He would demonstrate the unseen utilizing the seen, the unseen spiritual forgiveness by the seen physical healing! Which is easier…? As his children and followers, we know he is a good lawyer. He advocates for us in the throne room of heaven (1 John 2:1-2). So, Jesus backs these religious leaders into a corner, and they have no answer for him. All they can do is stay quiet.
We often get off track in our lives because we do not think with a biblical worldview. We find ourselves bogged down trying to figure out what someone means who seems smart but is only adding confusion to the mix. Other times we consider worldly ways the right way to do things because the Bible’s way does not seem logical. We think, “surely God cannot mean to do it that way,” or “surely God’s way is outdated. He must bless my plan and make it work.” However, correct thinking is biblical thinking. As God says, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isa. 55:8-9). And you shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess (Deut. 5:33). As God’s children, we must have the humility to understand our expertise is not above God’s and always to seek answers for our questions through what the Bible teaches and no other authority.
[1] Meriam-Webster Dictionary. Accessed on November 15, 2022, at 7:30 PM. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cogitate.
[2] Meriam-Webster Dictionary. Accessed on November 15, 2022, at 7:30 PM. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fellow.
[3] A.T. Robertson, Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament, Accessed on November 15, 2022, at 7:30 PM. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/rwp/matthew-9.html.
[4] Knox Chamblin, Commentary on Matthew: Third Millennium Ministries. Accessed on November 15, at 7:30 PM. Reformedperspectives.org.
[5] Ransom Poythress, “Redeeming Science,” in Redeeming the Life of the Mind: Essays in Honor of Vern Poythress, eds. John M. Frame, Wayne Grudem, and John J. Hughes (Wheaton: Crossway, 2017), 27-28. Ransom Poythress’ discussion is concerned more with his father’s influence to help guide him to pursue the sciences and how important they are to understand God’s creation. However, this paragraph is applicable in many situations, including my discussion about Jesus’s warning of how we think in our hearts. So, I took the liberty to adapt the application to this discussion.
Andrews PCA 