At Jerusalem, a large number of
religious leaders had gathered together in order to interrogate Peter and John,
demanding to know "by what power or by what name" these two disciples
of Jesus had healed a man born lame (Acts 3:1-9; 4:1-7).
Peter straightly answered that it
was "by the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom
God raised from the dead," declaring that it was by Him that the once
lame man stood before them, fully healed (4:10). Peter further declared that
salvation is in Christ alone, "for there is no other Name under heaven,
given among men, whereby we must be saved" (verse 12).
Their audience
"marveled" when they saw the boldness of Peter and John,
perceiving "that they were unlearned and ignorant men" (verse
13). Other translations use words like "illiterate,"
"unschooled," "unlettered," "uninstructed,"
"uneducated," "simple," and "home-bred." While it
may be true that these common fishermen had not received much formal schooling,
nevertheless, "THEY HAD BEEN WITH JESUS," and "who
teaches like Him?" (Job 36:22; Mark 1:22; John 8:28).
Yes, these men may have been
ignorant of many things; but they did understand the concerns of their
livelihood:the mending of nets, the navigation of their boats, and the signs
of changing weather. But their sanctimonious listeners questioned what such
uneducated men could possibly know of the profound and lofty issues of life. In
Matt. 11:25, Jesus said, "I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto babes."
Today, we cannot stand beside
Peter and John in Jerusalem and see their "boldness" that so
impressed the rulers of the Jews. But God, through the operation of the Holy
Spirit, has given us an imperishable record written by those very men. For
centuries, tributes of thanksgiving and praise have been bestowed on their
inspired language. We, too, might well marvel at the bold assurance of these
simple fishermen when we compare their words with the words of the so-called
"wise and prudent" men of the world. The words of the latter are as
"vanity and pursuit of the wind" (Eccl. 1:14; 2:11; JND) when weighed
against those words penned by the disciples of the Lord Jesus. The words of the
disciples are the words of life.
Who were those "holier than
thou" religionists that compared themselves with the apostles of the Lord?
What does Scripture say of them?
The Priests:"For the
priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth:
for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But you are departed out of the
way; you have caused many to stumble at the law; you have corrupted the
covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts" (Mal. 2:7,8).
The Sadducees:"Then
Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and
of the Sadducees … for the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection,
neither angel, nor spirit" (Matt. 16:6; Acts 23:8).
The Rulers:"The kings
of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the
Lord, and against His anointed" (Psa. 2:2). "Do the rulers know
indeed that this is the very Christ?… Have any of the rulers or of the
Pharisees believed on Him?" (John 7:26,48).
The Elders:"Now the
chief priests, and the elders, and all the council, sought false witness
against Jesus, to put Him to death" (Matt. 26:59).
The Scribes:"Where is
the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? Has not God
made foolish the wisdom of this world?" (1 Cor. 1:20).
Following are a few samples of the
vaunted "wisdom" of this world. Devotees of "New Age"
teachings grow ecstatic over such musings as this from the Hindu:"Then
was not non-existent nor existent. There was no realm of air, no sky beyond it.
What covered in, and where? and what gave shelter? Was water there, unfathomed
depth of water?"
The fisherman, John, wrote:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him;
and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life; and the
life was the light of men" (John 1:1-4). The Bible’s opening statement of
Creation is unequalled in its majesty, simplicity, and clarity:"In the
beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). The inspired
account continues, describing the creative process in words that "science
falsely so called" (1 Tim. 6:20) may dispute, but never disprove.
From another branch of
"worldly wisdom," we read:"When the oneness of the totality of
things is not recognized, then ignorance as well as particularization arises,
and all phases of the defiled mind are thus developed; but the significance of
this doctrine is so extremely deep and unfathomable that it can be fully
comprehended by Buddhas and by no others" (from Asvaghosha).
"Unlearned" Peter wrote:
"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto you do well
that you take heed, as unto a light that shines in a dark place, until the day
dawn, and the Day Star arise in your hearts. Knowing this first, that no
prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation [i.e., the prophet’s
own interpretation], for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man,
but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Pet.
1:19-21). For the Christian, the doctrine is "sure," and the
clear light of truth dispels the cryptic dogmas of Buddhism.
Unlike the usually temperate
Buddhist, the Muslim is blatantly heretical:"If the Merciful One has a
son, then am I the first to worship him … that is, Jesus the son of Mary …
God could not take to himself any son! … The Christians say that the Messiah
is the son of God; that is what they say with their mouths, imitating the
sayings of those who misbelieved before—God fight them! How they lie!" (The
Koran).
John, the beloved, wrote:"I
have not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know
it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus
is the Christ? He is antichrist, who denies the Father and the Son" (1
John 2:21,22).
No less an esteemed figure than
Thomas Jefferson thought it "necessary" to rewrite the New Testament.
He gave no credence to what he called "mystical faith," denying the
deity of Jesus while holding His teachings to be "on the road to true
happiness." He believed in the self-perfectibility of humanity, ultimately
leading to a perfect society. Jefferson wrote to John Adams:"In the New
Testament, there is internal evidence that parts of it have proceeded from an
extraordinary man; and that other parts are the fabric of very inferior
minds." ("Unlearned men"?)
He snipped out passages from his
King James Bible that he considered "supernatural elements," pasting
the remaining words into a blank book. The result was titled The Life and
Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, popularly known today as The Jefferson
Bible.
In the "Epistle
Dedicatory" to King James I, offered by the 47 translators of the Bible
bearing that monarch’s name, they wrote:"Things of this quality have ever
been subject to the censures of ill-meaning and discontented persons."
Further, the translators wrote of their desire to make "God’s holy Truth
to be yet more and more known unto the people, whom they [i.e., their
detractors], desire still to keep in ignorance and darkness." A
present-day example of such men described in their Dedication as "self-conceited
… who run their own ways, and give liking unto nothing but what is framed by
themselves, and hammered on their own anvil," is the so-called "Jesus
Seminar." This is a panel of 75 "experts" in such fields as
history, archaeology, linguistics, and "biblical scholarship." They
meet periodically, making a selection of words of Jesus in the Gospels. Then
they have the audacity to take a vote on which of those words were
actually spoken by the Lord! They claim that their object is to present the
"authentic Jesus" (surely a blasphemous claim)! The Bible condemns
"falsifying the Word of God" (2 Cor. 4:2, JND).
The old Quaker poet, Bernard
Barton, wrote:
Word of the ever-living God!
Will of His glorious Son!
Without Thee how could earth be trod,
Or heaven itself be known?
Lord, grant us all aright to learn
The wisdom it imparts,
And to its heavenly teaching turn
With simple, child-like hearts!
There is but one Author of the
Bible—God the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:21). But He has employed human instruments
to complete that Word, which is forever settled in heaven (Psa. 119:89; Isa.
40:8). God has not only used unschooled fishermen like Peter, John, and James,
but also a few highly-educated men like Moses, instructed "in all the
wisdom of the Egyptians" (Acts 7:22) and the apostle Paul who was taught
at the feet of the great teacher, Gamaliel (Acts 22:3). God has used kings,
herdsmen, and shepherds; cupbearers, warrior, and tax-collectors. He has used
young and old, rich and poor:all working in His service to reveal to a
perishing world His Son and Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Living Word.
We do well to hide that Word in
our hearts (Rev. 19:13; Psa. 119:11).