23 And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” 24 Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” (Matthew 21:23–27 (ESV)
Following Jesus’ cursing of the fruitless fig tree, and His subsequent explanation this represented His judgment upon the fruitless Jewish religious leaders, these same fruitless religious leaders engaged in an acrimonious discussion with the Lord.
Jesus entered the temple and began teaching. Luke recorded Jesus was proclaiming the Gospel (Luke 20:1). The chief priests, the elders and the scribes (Mark 11:27; Luke 20:1) of the Jews approached Jesus and accusingly said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” The religious leaders were not only referring to Jesus teaching, but also His cleansing of the temple (Matt. 21:12-13) and perhaps His triumphant entry into Jerusalem (21:1-11). They did not approve of Jesus doing “these things” and demanded the Lord justify His actions and show His credentials. In their minds, He was guilty of blasphemous sin.
“Their question is clear. They want to know by what authority Jesus was doing these things, that is, who had given him this right. They were saying, “Show us your credentials!” It was an attempt to embarrass Jesus. If he admitted that he had no credentials the people could be expected to lose respect for him. On the other hand, if he considered himself authorized to do the things he had been doing, was he not arrogating to himself rights that belonged only to God? Could he not then be accused of being guilty of blasphemous behavior? By not assaulting him directly, for example by having him arrested, they reveal that they are afraid of him because of his following,” explains Dr. William Hendriksen.
The religious leader’s opposition to the Gospel was conspicuous. Instead of being God’s heralds, and spiritual shepherds of the Lord’s flock, they were His enemies. They followed in the footsteps of their ancestors (Ezekiel 34). They opposed Jesus, but could not deny His miraculous work and authoritative teaching.
“They were forced to acknowledge that he had some source of indisputable authority. His miracles were too obvious and too numerous to be fraudulent. Even his teaching was with such force and clarity that it was obvious to all that there was authority in his words (see Matt. 7:29),” states Dr. John MacArthur.
Fruitless spiritual leaders existed then and they exist today. The true test of any pastor, teacher, theologian or evangelist is whether they hold to the truth of God’s Word. Scripture remains the indisputable standard by which to evaluate and discern truth from error.
Soli deo Gloria!
His Word Today 