If… If and then

Introduction: I remember several revelations over my relationship with God through Jesus. Those revelations are: 1) God is defined by agapé love; 2) Jesus is the incarnation of God in human form with the authority to forgive sins committed against God; 3) When faced with saving His life, Jesus couldn’t deny God therefor when He chose to go to His execution by torture and a humiliating and brutal public death on the cross, He wasn’t thinking of the people of the world He was saving; He couldn’t deny God and God’s truths so how amazing must God be and how powerful must His truths be for Jesus to do that. In this study about the God-given authority Jesus has, the Holy Spirit connected all of those revelations into a more comprehensive revelation of truth. I am always, always amazed when God does that and does that for me… a nobody, an ordinary person. So, if Jesus said, “You are my friends if you do what I command (to love one another as I have loved you). I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:14-15) And, if my understanding of God’s truth is exponentially increasing as I spend time studying God’s Word, yet I am not a Biblical scholar and therefore should not be understanding these deep truths of God. Then I must be a friend of Jesus’s and I can attest to the very fact that my understanding is coming from Jesus through His Holy Spirit because this comprehensive revelation is beyond my ability.

It started when I stumbled over 1 John 5:1-12.

1 John 5:1-12

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves His child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out His commands. This is love for God: to obey His commands. And His commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

This is the one who came by water and blood – Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. We accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God which He has given about His Son. Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about His Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and the life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Thoughts:

If Jesus is the very Word of God in human form – in the flesh – then He is the very truth of God; He represents God’s truths in all its standards, righteousness, accuracies, interpretations, abilities and authority.

If we are to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength (will/intentions/desires, thoughts/understanding/wisdom, character/being/personality, human life/ability) and to love Him is to obey His commands (His commands are His truths), then we will know we love God truly and fully because we will be living out our obedience to God’s truths willingly, gladly, by choice and appreciation. And, our ability to live out those truths will increase exponentially because we love God unconditionally and appreciate all He has done and is doing for us.

If God’s truths are summed up by “loving God with all of our hearts, minds, soul and strength” and “loving our neighbor (other people) as we love ourselves,” then we should see Jesus doing just that; Jesus’ life should be summed by loving God and loving others. In fact we see that all over in Scripture as Jesus’s life is characterized by His complete trust in, loyalty to, devotion to and obedience to God. Jesus knew God so well that He could never deny God even faced with public disgrace and brutal execution for crimes He did not commit. We all know that Jesus “laid down His life for others offering His life as a payment for our sin debt to save us from the second death” but, have we really thought about what that meant? Jesus was questioned, tested, and interrogated throughout His life with each time facing a decision: 1) trust in God’s truth, promises and character or, 2) deny God by doing something that benefitted Jesus. Basically Jesus was continually faced with choose God or choose something other than God; acknowledge God or deny God. Isn’t that the true basis of the root of sin? The garden of Gethsemane is the ultimate choice, a choice that was so terrifying that Jesus agonized, crying out to God and sweating blood from the stress. His choice: choose God, follow His plan for the salvation of the world using the trumped up charges that would result in Jesus being publicly humiliated, brutally tortured and executed while being separated from God’s presence or, 2) deny God, walk through Gethsemane out into the wilderness and live his life as Jesus wanted to live it. Jesus wasn’t thinking of us when He went to the cross. No, He was thinking of God. Jesus knew God so well that Jesus couldn’t deny the truths of God – couldn’t deny God – when the circumstances in Jesus’s life were anything but supportive of His knowledge of who God is and what are God’s truths. THAT is loving God completely and unconditionally. And Jesus’s concern for others? He was constantly and continually healing people of their infirmities so each could live a complete life and be allowed to worship God (at that time, at the temple), explaining and re-explaining the Scriptures to people, feeding people when resources weren’t available and raising people from the dead so those people could live life with their loved ones. Jesus did more than say, “I’ll pray for you.” He lived life alongside people sharing in their joys and sorrows, their trials and victories. At the end of his gospel, John wrote, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have enough room for the books that would be written.” (John 21:25) Jesus’s love and trust for God was so great that it manifested itself into an unconditional and sacrificial love for all others where He used His God-given abilities and authority to benefit others at His expense. That is why Jesus said in John 13:34, “A new command I give you: Love (agapé) one another. As I have loved (agapéd) you, so must you love (agapé) one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples (students/followers), if you love (agapé) one another.” Rose’s interpretation: “This new command from God I give you: unconditionally love one another. Just as I have unconditionally and sacrificially loved you, you must unconditionally and sacrificially love one another. That’s the true definition of love: to love someone completely first, for his/her benefit, and not because that person loved you first or deserves your love. When people see you loving in this way, then they will know you are a follower of mine.”

The proof that we love God will be seen by our ever growing obedient life – our ever sanctified life being changed into the image of Jesus who is the very truth of God, God’s commands, standards and righteousness; He embodied loving God fully and completely while loving others at the priority level of loving and caring for Himself.

If God said for us to acknowledge Jesus as His very Son and to listen to Him, and if Jesus is the truth of God, the command of God, the authority of God and that truth and authority said Jesus is the only and direct way to gain access to God, be connected, restored, reconciled to God, then we are to believe that is the truth, that is the only way, that is the promise with the authority to be kept and we are to follow Jesus if we want to be connected to God.

And if Jesus said for us to take His teaching upon ourselves, learn from Him, follow His lead, believe His teachings as accurate and truthful, and that His teachings were not burdensome. And if the teachings are God’s commands and if Jesus as the authoritative interpreter of God’s commands said, all of God’s commands can be summed up under 1) loving God completely and unconditionally and, 2) loving others unconditionally and sacrificially as you love yourself, then we are to view our lives as living out 1) loving God unconditionally and completely and, 2) loving others unconditionally and as a priority with ourselves.

And if Jesus said there is no greater example of loving unconditionally than to lay your life down for someone who doesn’t deserve it – laying aside your personal gain to place an underserving person as a priority in your life – then this is how deep our love should be growing into; this is what our sanctification should look like in our lives as God changes us into the image of His Son Jesus.

We are to love God’s commands by loving His truth, by loving Jesus and accepting Him as God’s Son, His authority, following Jesus, His teachings and leadership; getting to really know Jesus and increasingly believing He is who He said He is. Our love for and belief in Jesus should be manifesting itself into a physical life of loving God unconditionally, in the truth of that authority, interpretation, completely and placing other’s needs, lives, betterment as a priority in our lives, whether the other people deserve it or not.

Forgive us Lord, of our sins, as we forgive those who committed sins against us – as we forgive those who have hurt us. I should be moving towards forgiving people completely because God forgave me. Out of my love and appreciation for God, out of my love for and understanding of His truths, out of my belief in and acceptance of Jesus as the living authoritative representation of God’s truths, my life should then exhibit the ability to do the same for others as a disciple maker, as a coach, as a sister, and as a servant.

If Jesus was ordained at His baptism by God the Father and by John the Baptist (a rabbi with smekihah), then Jesus was ordained as a rabbi with smekihah having the authority to interpret and teach scripture which is God’s Word and Truth. At His baptism, we also learn that Jesus is in fact the Son of God when God Himself declares, “This is my Son whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17) In this culture, the eldest son was the official representative of the father in business and life. When an eldest son was sent to represent the father in a transaction, it was viewed as if the father was present himself. Whatever the son negotiated and agreed to was considered to be the authority and will of the father.  (Matthew 21:33-41) And we also learn that Jesus is the promised lamb of God when John declares that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and who will baptize people with the Holy Spirit. (John 1:29-34) John states this because God told John that when he saw the Holy Spirit descend in the form of a dove and stay upon a certain man, that man would be His Lamb, the Promised One and the very Son of God.

After His baptism where Jesus is declared the Son of God, ordained as the One with God’s authority to explain His Word, Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit into the desert to fast, pray and focus on God. (I do not believe Jesus knew the timeframe of the fast. Had He known the timeframe of the fast then the exchange with Satan isn’t as powerful as it truly is illustrated.) When Satan shows up to question Jesus, he questions Jesus’s status as THE Son of God. He questions Jesus’s ability and authority to explain God’s truth. Satan tried to get Jesus to deny or contradict God; contradict God’s statement about Jesus and God’s authority to rule. However, Jesus is steadfast in His loyalty to God and rather than prove to Satan that He is THE Son of God by turning a rock into bread to end the fast, Jesus correctly interprets the truths of God and waits for God to end His fast. “Man does not live by bread alone but by the very words of God.” Rose’s interpretation: My status as Son does not exist by my physical conditions here on earth. My status as Son is not defined by my state of physical hunger. My life exists to follow and represent God and I’ll wait on God to tell me what to do next.” When Satan tried another approach asking Jesus to throw Himself off of the temple quoting scripture saying God won’t allow Jesus to be hurt as Satan twisted God’s words trying to get Jesus to second guess Himself, Jesus responds by quoting God’s Words accurately and truthfully saying we are not to test God (Matthew 4:7) meaning we are not to force God’s hands or force Him to react to us as that subverts God’s authority placing Him below us. Satan lastly tries to persuade Jesus to subject Himself to Satan’s authority and not God’s of which Jesus replies by telling Satan to go away and that we are to place God first as the authority in our lives. Circumstances in our lives do not determine God’s authority, truths and priority in our lives; we are to love Him unconditionally. It should be noted that God ended Jesus’s fast after that exchange with Satan.

After the desert experience, Jesus now starts His ministry with preaching – teaching, explaining and interpreting God’s Scriptures with, “You have heard it said but, I say…” This would have been a clue that Jesus was a smekihah ordained rabbi with the recognized authority to explain God’s truths otherwise Jesus would have acknowledged the smekihah rabbi He followed such as Hillell; “You have heard it said but, Rabbi Hillell says…” However, Jesus does acknowledge where His interpretations come from when He says, “I don’t do things on my own but speak just what my Father has taught me.” (John 8:28 and 5:19-20)

Jesus also calls his students as a rabbi with authority inviting them to learn from Him. After hearing Jesus teach with authority and, being a Jewish boy or young man who never was invited to study under a rabbi which was the ultimate honor for a Jewish boy, when Jesus makes the offer to follow Him and when His disciples heard His authoritative teachings, each quickly accepted the invitation.

At the beginning of His ministry, we see Jesus healing the sick. Because Jesus was reconciling a people to God His Father, restoring the right relationship between man and God, He was keen on what separated people from worshipping God. Those who were sick, diseased, lame and, naturally, demon possessed were prohibited from worshipping at the temple. Because the essence of temple worship was seeking God for the forgiveness of sins and to be in fellowship with God, if a person was prohibited from worshipping at the temple, then the person was not able to seek forgiveness from sins therefor, Jesus heals the many people removing the impediment between each of them and God.

We next hear Jesus’s major teachings when He spoke to His disciples and the crowds from a mountainside in Judea explaining a volume of Scripture in a scene we call the Beatitudes. (My entry on Mathew 4:17 through 7.) In all of this teaching, we learn of Jesus’s intimate knowledge with God’s commands, character, truths as Jesus plainly explains the Law to everyone in earshot. The base of His teachings was love God unconditionally and sacrificially and love others unconditionally and sacrificially as God has loved us. Everything comes down to heart, will, desire and thoughts manifesting into actions proving your relationship with God rather than precisely following religious established rule to please God with your perfection. People were amazed at His authority to teach.

And now we come to the paralytic man and his four friends who carry the man to see Jesus to be healed. This is the story that tripped me up two years ago when I realized that Jesus did only what God is allowed to do – forgive sins – and I thought how did Jesus know He had the authority to forgive sins like God? We know the story; the four friends can’t get their paralyzed friend into the house to see Jesus because of the crowd in the house. So the friends carry the man to the roof, dig open a hole in the roof of a house not their own and lower their friend through the hole down to Jesus. What a scene already as ceiling bits and pieces must have been falling onto the people below as the four friends dug away intent on helping their friend! Then Jesus does something different; He doesn’t heal the man first. No instead, Jesus forgives the paralyzed man’s sins, an action only God Himself can do. The teachers of the Law (Scribes) were there evidently learning from smekihah rabbi Jesus. Seeing this, the Scribe think to themselves (and rightly so, if Jesus wasn’t the Son of God) “Blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins committed against God!” Then Jesus answers the Scribes’ concerns without them uttering aloud their accusation of blasphemy – which should be clue #1 that Jesus answers a silent accusation only thought of and not uttered aloud – although what Jesus just did anyone could be thinking blasphemy so you could shrug it off as an obvious guess. Jesus answers the Scribes saying which is easier; to forgive (this paralyzed man’s) sins or to tell this (paralyzed) man to get up and walk? He goes further by explaining that the Son of Man (Daniel’s dream of the Messiah) has the (God-given) authority on earth to forgive sins, (saying now to the paralyzed man) get up and walk. When the man walks, he becomes the confirmation that Jesus is in fact the promised Messiah, the Anointed One of God, the Son of God. Jesus declares and proves Himself to be the Son of Man from Daniel’s vision (Daniel 7) where God Himself gives the Son of Man all of God’s authority, glory and sovereign power. (Son of Man will be worshipped by all nations – not just Israel – and His kingdom will be everlasting.) What a statement. The Scribes knowing the scriptures of God verbatim, having memorized the entire Law and the Prophets, would have immediately recognized the title Son of Man; would have immediately known the authority given to that Son of Man.

So, back to my original quandary, how did Jesus know He had the authority to forgive sins which is something only God Himself could do? When we go through a marriage ceremony, we know we’re married. When we go through a graduation ceremony and “walk” having our degree bestowed upon us, we know we’ve graduated. When we are sworn into office by a judge or pastor, placing our hand on the Bible and reciting to uphold the constitution in front of witnesses, we know we’re now the seated official of that office. It is the same with the ordination of Jesus conducted by John the Baptist and God while witnessed by all of those present at the Jordan River. Baptism then was not only a type of washing ceremony where temple priests would symbolically purify themselves by washing themselves. And for we believers, Baptism now is a public symbolic profession of our faith as we relate to dying and being buried in Christ, as we are submerged under the water, then rising with Christ to walk in new life as we come up from under the water; we have been publicly placed into Christ and His promises. (Click here to listen to a great explanation of Baptism "Going Public" by Andy Stanley) Baptism then was also an initiation ceremony where a person was joined to something or conferred. Baptism means you were "put into something." Jesus was placed into several roles of responsibilities. Jesus was joined to the human race to be the sacrificial Lamb of God for the sins of the entire human race – as one man Adam brought sin into the world, one man Jesus would take away the sins of the world. He was also conferred as a premier rabbi – a rabbi with Smekihah, the authority power or right of deciding the Law or of interpreting, modifying, or amplifying, and occasionally of abrogating it, as vested in the Rabbis as its teachers and expounders. Smekihah rabbis were considered to have the true interpretation of the Law as "the tradition of the Elders or Fathers" in direct line from Moses. At the ordination ceremony of Jesus, God Himself verbally recognizes Jesus as His very Son thereby having the intimate relationship and recognized authority to represent God. Also at the ordination baptism is the Holy Spirit being given to human Jesus bestowing the God-given abilities and power to represent that God-given authority. (Matthew 3:13-17) That is how Jesus knew He had the ability to represent God in the matter of forgiveness of sins – sins committed against God. It’s also why Jesus insisted John baptize Him to fulfill all righteousness – He could not go forward representing God without being publicly conferred to do so. And if Jesus knew the truths of God so well, knew God so well, is the very living truth of God as well as being God’s elder, first born and only Son of God. And if Jesus, through His baptism ordination ceremony knew that God gave Him all of His authority approving Jesus to represent Him to the world. And if Jesus knew the heart of God was to forgive and reconcile a people to Himself saving His people from certain determined destruction due to the sinful nature of this people. Then Jesus would have known that God wants to forgive our sins committed against Him, He wants to restore us back into a right relationship with Him and Jesus had the authority to act on God’s behalf in that manner and matter thereby forgiving sins committed against God by we the people.

In 1 John 5 versus 6 through 12, the Apostle John explains this recognized authority when he says (in verses 6 through 8), “This is the one who came by water and blood – Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.” Which means that the water testifies to the baptism confirmation of authority of Jesus to represent God Himself in expounding upon God’s truths and standards; the blood testifies to the sacrificial responsibility of Jesus as the Lamb of God and to the priestly duty of Jesus when He offers His blood atoning sacrifice for sins in the Holy of Holies at His crucifixion; and the Holy Spirit by descending upon Jesus in bodily form at His baptism acknowledging Him as the only and promised Son of God while providing human Jesus with God’s divine powers and abilities; and finally the Spirit is then given to us who believe that Jesus is who He says He is where the Spirit now resides with us, teaching us the truths of God and pointing towards Jesus as the fulfillment of all of God’s promises – the water, the blood and the Spirit testify and all are in agreement.

After His resurrection and before His ascension, Jesus reiterates the truth of His authority to His apostles, His disciples and to us who believe Him and follow Him. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:18-20) Meaning: The final body of teaching from God, that authority to explain God’s truths, is Jesus’s authority alone and that authority extends through all of creation in heaven and on earth. So we are to make students of this teaching conferring people into the relationship with the triune God teaching them what Jesus taught us. There is no other God-given authority to explain God’s truths than Jesus. There is no other person recognized to represent God by His authority. No other avenue to God but through Jesus. Jesus is it.

As John says in the opening of his gospel, Jesus is THE very Word of God. Jesus is the very representation of God’s truths, His commands, His character and His agape’ love. He is the living example of God’s truths and He was also the one ordained and sent by God to explain His truths and God said it pleased Him. As a result, Jesus is God in human form. (John 1)

So for me to apply these truths I must reason these truths into action. If I say I love Jesus and accept Him as God’s living truth, accept Him as my savior being the sacrificial payment for my debt to God, and accept Jesus as the ruler of my life as Lord. And if a true loving relationship is defined by knowing a person, really getting to know Him. And if Jesus said that a life of living out God’s commands to love Him completely and to love others as you would care for yourself and that love is defined by being unconditional and sacrificial based on God’s truths rather than your benefit. And if those truths are spelled out for us in God’s Word and if Jesus really does teach us those truths through the Holy Spirit increasing our understanding so we accurately interpret the truths in our lives. Then we cannot live a life void of time spent in God’s Word daily or frequently. How are we to have an ever deepening relationship with God without really knowing Him?

And typical of my time with God (being taught His truths as explained by Jesus Christ through the revelation of the Holy Spirit), He confirms the lessons through the teaching pastors I listen to throughout the week. Max Wilkins, Dr. Stephen Davey, Bob Coy and Andy Stanley all taught lessons around this revelation. And here is one broadcast lesson by Dr. Stephen Davey which truly confirmed some of the revelations learned. Wisdom of the Heart: Buying Heaven with Make Believe Money

And here is a new favorite song by Flame with LeCrae that was playing regularly on my iPod during this lesson learning time: Flame “Joyful Noise”

Supportive thoughts while learning this overall lesson:

The Word of God = God's authority. God is the ultimate authority to rule. Forever.

If the Word of God is God’s very truths, His authority, His commands, His standards, His character, His promises and His abilities, then the Word defines who God is. To us, the Word exists in the form of the Scriptures in the Bible.

If you love the Word of God and you consume it daily – devouring it – reading the Word gives you pleasure and you are satisfied, then you are feeding on the Word of God and it is nourishment to your soul giving life to your soul by feeding your soul.

If Jesus is the Word of God in the flesh – in human form – then He is the physical representation of God’s character, truths, His authority, His commands, His standards, His promises and His abilities. If Jesus was ordained with the authority and sent to represent God to the world, defining God, then Jesus has the authority to explain God’s truths and to interpret God’s commands.

If God says that the blood of someone or a sacrificial animal is the essence of a person’s or animal’s life, and if God says that the blood given as a sacrifice – given on your behalf because you cannot give your own blood without dying – can atone for your sins against God (your inability to live by His standards), and if breaking those standards results in being separated from God eternally and paying the penalty of a law breaker, then that person’s blood can provide you atonement for your sins, can provide mediation for breaking the law, and extend your life.

If you read the Words of Jesus – taking into yourself His Words, consuming His Words – His explanation and interpretation of God’s truth, and you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, then you are consuming God’s Words and truths and those Words are nourishment to your soul. You are feeding on the flesh – the life – of Jesus. This is why Jesus says He is the bread of life.

If you believe that the blood of Jesus – His life – was given as a sacrificial offering on your behalf to atone for your sins – to pay the mediation required for your law breaking actions, a cost you could not afford to pay without dying yourself – then you are drinking in His blood by consuming that truth.

Reading His Word and taking into yourself the belief that Jesus’s blood paid your sin penalty to God is what is described by Jesus as eating His flesh and drinking His blood. You are consuming this information. You are drinking in this reality.

If God says no other authority exists to represent God and interpret His Word than Jesus Himself, then Jesus is the ultimate authority and only avenue to God – the only way to God. Jesus is the truth and the life.

If light reveals the path, therefor the direction, and reveals the truth about something and someone by exposing it in the light so the details can be seen clearly and examined. And if darkness hides the path, therefor the direction, hiding the details and obstacles, so something or someone cannot be examined clearly. If God and Jesus are described as light and in them exists no darkness, then God and Jesus are revealing of the way to go, the truth to follow. With Jesus, we can see the truths of God. With Jesus we can see the way to God so we can have a relationship with God through the ability of Jesus to direct our way to God.

Jesus later confirms that fact being the very heart of God taking the forgiveness of sins even further telling all of us that we also have that ability when Jesus tells us that we are to forgive the sins of the people who have sinned against us and that God will in turn forgive our sins that we have committed against Him using the same measure of compassion for us that we showed others. (Matthew 6:12, 14-15) So we too have been given the authority to forgive the sins of others against us and we have been commanded to do so. Now we are to represent Jesus in this world we live – not be Him but, represent Him – and we have been given the Holy Spirit, at the time of our rebirth, to do so.

John 1:1-18

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not that light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John testifies concerning Him. He cries out, saying, “This was He whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me,’” From the fullness of His grace, we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.

John 14:6

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.”

John 14:15, 23-24

(Jesus said) “If you love me you will obey what I command.”

Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teachings. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey me teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.”

Daniel 9:4

O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant of love with all who love Him and obey His commands…”

Psalm 119

Matthew 11:25-30

At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those the Son chooses to reveal Him. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke (teachings) upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Mark 11:27-33

They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you authority to do this?” Jesus replied, “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism – was it from heaven or from men? Tell me!” They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men’ …” (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.) So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

Matthew 7:28-29

When Jesus finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at His teachings, because He taught them as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

Matthew 28:18

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

Daniel 7:13-14

In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power: all peoples, nations and men of every language worshipped him. His dominion (supreme authority) is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

Matthew 4:13-17

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on Him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, with whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.”

Matthew 17:1-5

After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters – one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” He said, “Don’t be afraid.” When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

Rose’s interpretation of Hermeneutics: If A = B and C = B, then A relates to C by this overall explanation. It’s an “If this is that, and this is that, and this is that, then all of that relates in this way.” So Jesus, understanding God’s truths so clearly and with the authority to interpret those truths vested on him by God Himself and confirmed by John the Baptist (also a semikhah ordained rabbi), interpreted the Scriptures with authority to do so and accurately as testified by God; “This is my Son whom I love and with whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him!” Then Jesus explained the finality of that God-given authority after his resurrection when he said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

God said that Jesus is in fact His Son, that He loved Him and that He was exceptionally pleased with Jesus’s representation of God to men. He told us to listen to Jesus, with an exclamation point! Jesus said that God made Him the ultimate authority in God’s kingdom and on earth when it came to explaining God’s truth. Jesus is it! There is no one outside of Jesus to explain the truths. And Jesus said that God would send us His Holy Spirit to teach us those truths – Holy Spirit is the facilitator of Jesus’s explanations of the truth. So we are to become students of Jesus through the Holy Spirit then teach others to become students of Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Then they should do likewise until everyone has heard from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth. No one else has the God-given authority to interpret truth on their own, without it being taught by Jesus through His Spirit. And all understandings should line up with Scripture. If the teaching does not line up with Scripture, then the teaching is false and the teacher is false at most or misguided at least.

Semikhah = leaning on the hands (to press on with hands) to ordain a rabbi making him an authorized representative of God to interpret scripture by giving advice and judging. Semichut. Semicha Lerabbanut. “Shmeh-ee-hah”

Jewish encyclopedia article on authority rabbinical

The power or right of deciding the Law, in dubious cases, or of interpreting, modifying, or amplifying, and occasionally of abrogating it, as vested in the Rabbis as its teachers and expounders. In Biblical times the Law was chiefly in charge of the priests and the Levites; and the high court of justice at Jerusalem, which formed the highest tribunal to decide grave and difficult questions, was also composed of priests and Levites (Deut. xvii. 9, 18; xxxi. 9; xxxiii. 10; Jer. xviii. 18; Mal. ii. 7; II Chron. xix. 8, 11; xxxi. 4). In the last two pre-Christian centuries and throughout the Talmudical times the Scribes ("Soferim"), also called "The Wise" ("Ḥakamim"), who claimed to have received the true interpretation of the Law as "the tradition of the Elders or Fathers" in direct line from Moses, the Prophets, and the men of the Great Synagogue (Abot i. 1; Josephus, "Ant." xiii. 10, § 6; 16, § 2; x. 4, § 1; "Contra Ap." i. 8; Matt. xv. 2), included people from all classes. They formed the courts of justice in every town as well as the high court of justice, the Sanhedrin, in Jerusalem, and to them was applied the law, Deut. xvii. 8-11, "Thou shalt come . . . unto the judge that shall be in those days, . . . and thou shalt do according to the sentence which they . . . shall show thee; . . . thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall show thee, to the right hand, nor to the left." This is explained thus: Whosoever the judge of those days may be, if he be recognized as competent and blameless, whether he be a Jephthah, a Jerubbaal, or a Samuel, he is, by virtue of his position as chief of the court of justice, invested with the same authority as Moses (Sifre, Deut. 153; R. H. 25ab). Even when they decide that left should be right, or right left, when they are mistaken or misled in their judgment, they must be obeyed (R. H. 25a). Heaven itself yields to the authority of the earthly court of justice as to the fixing of the calendar and the festival days (Yer. R. H. i. 57b; compare also Mak. 22b).

The power of the Rabbis is a threefold one: (1) to amplify the Law either by prohibitory statutes for the prevention of transgressions ("gezerot") or by mandatory statutes for the improvement of the moral or religious life of the people ("taḳḳanot"), and by the introduction of new rites and customs ("minhagim"); (2) to expound the Law according to certain rules of hermeneutics, and thereby evolve new statutes as implied in the letter of the Law; and, finally, (3) to impart additional instruction based upon tradition. But the Rabbis were also empowered on critical occasions to abrogate or modify the Law (see Abrogation of Laws and Accommodation of the Law). In many instances where greater transgressions were to be prevented, or for the sake of the glory of God, or the honor of man, certain Mosaic laws were abrogated or temporarily dispensed with by the Rabbis (Mishnah Ber. ix. 5, 54a, 63a; Yoma 69a; compare also Yeb. 90b).

Abrogation of Laws: Jewish encyclopedia articles on abrogation of laws

In Deut. xiii. 1 (xii. 32, A. V.) Moses is described as saying: "What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it." Taking this injunction literally, the Sadducees, and later the Karaites, rejected the rabbinical development of Judaism, as additions to and modifications of the Mosaic laws. But the injunction could not have meant that for all future time, without regard to varying circumstances, not the least alteration or modification should be made in the religious and civil laws established for the people of Israel.

Rabbinical Authority.

The ancient rabbis claimed authority, not only to make new provisions and to establish institutions as a "hedge" for the protection of the Biblical laws, but under certain circumstances even to suspend and to abrogate a Biblical law. They derived this authority from the passage in Deut. xvii. 8-11, in which mention is made of a supreme court consisting of priests, Levites, and "the judge that shall be in those days." Doubtful questions of law were to be brought before this court, and unconditional obedience to this supreme authority in all religious, civil, and criminal matters is emphatically enjoined in the words:

"According to the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do; thou shalt not depart from the word which they may tell thee, to the right or to the left."

In reference to this, Maimonides teaches in his celebrated code "Hilkot Mamrim," i. 1: "From the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem, law and decision should go forth to all Israel. Whatever it taught either as tradition or by interpretation according to the hermeneutic rules, or whatever it enacted according to the exigencies of the time, must be obeyed."

Jewish virtual library on judaica

HERMENEUTICS, the science of biblical interpretation. The rabbis saw the Pentateuch as a unified, divinely communicated text, consistent in all its parts. It was consequently possible to uncover deeper meanings and to provide for a fuller application of its laws by adopting certain principles of interpretation (middot; "measures," "norms"). There are three formulations of such principles: the seven rules of *Hillel (Sifra, introd. 1:7; ARN¹ 37, 55; Tosef., Sanh. 7: end); the 13 rules of R. *Ishmael (Sifra, introd. 5); the 32 rules of R. *Eliezer b. Yose ha-Gelili (chiefly aggadic and generally considered to be post-talmudic). The indications are that the rules are earlier than Hillel (who lived in the first century B.C.E.). It is debatable whether (as suggested by the 12^th-century Karaite author Judah *Hadassi) any Greek influence can be detected, though terminologically some of the rules have Greek parallels. R. Ishmael's rules are basically an amplification of Hillel's, so that the best method of studying rabbinic hermeneutics is to consider each of R. Ishmael's rules in detail.

The Thirteen Rules of R. Ishmael

(1) Kal va-ḥomer (more accurately kol va-ḥomer): an argument from the minor premise (kal) to the major (ḥomer). The Midrash (Gen. R. 92:7) traces its use to the Bible (cf. Gen. 44:8; Ex. 6:12; Num. 12:14 – not explicit but see BK 25a; Deut. 31:27; I Sam. 23:3; Jer. 12:5; Ezek. 15:5; Prov. 11:31; Esth. 9:12). The following two examples may be given: (a) It is stated in Deuteronomy 21:23 that the corpse of a criminal executed by the court must not be left on the gallows overnight, which R. Meir takes to mean that God is distressed by the criminal's death. Hence, R. Meir argues: "If God is troubled at the shedding of the blood of the ungodly, how much more [kal va-ḥomer] at the blood of the righteous!" (Sanh. 6:5). (b) "If priests, who are not disqualified for service in the Temple by age, are disqualified by bodily blemishes (Lev. 21:16–21) then levites, who are disqualified by age (Num. 8:24–25), should certainly be disqualified by bodily blemishes" (Ḥul. 24a). Example (a), where the "minor" and "major" are readily apparent, might be termed a simple kal va-ḥomer. Example (b) might be termed a complex kal va-ḥomer. Here an extraneous element (disqualification by age) has to be adduced to indicate which is the "minor" and which the "major." Symbolically the two types can be represented as SIMPLE: If A has X, then B certainly has X. COMPLEX: If A, which lacks Y, has X, then B, which has Y, certainly has X. Schwarz (see bibliography) erroneously identifies the Aristotelean syllogism with the kal va-ḥomer. First, the element of "how much more" is lacking in the syllogism. Second, the syllogism inference concerns genus and species:

All men are mortal.
Socrates is a man.
Therefore Socrates is mortal.

Since Socrates belongs in the class "man" he must share the characteristics of that class. However, in the kal va-ḥomer it is not suggested that the "major" belongs in the class of the "minor" but that what is true of the "minor" must be true of the "major" (Kunst, in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 10 (1942), 976–91). Not all of the thirteen principles are based on logic as is the kal va-ḥomer. Some are purely literary tools, while the gezerah shavah is only valid if received through the transmission of a rabbinic tradition