Lesson 2463

(Lesson 2463)(09-15-18) Mark 11:27-33
    “And they come again to Jerusalem: and as he was walking in the temple, there come to him the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders, And say unto him, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority to do these things? And Jesus answered and said unto them, I will also ask of you one question, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? answer me. And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then did ye not believe him? But if we shall say, Of men; they feared the people: for all men counted John, that he was a prophet indeed. And they answered and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

   When the Jewish leaders asked Jesus, by what authority He preached, Jesus challenged them by asking, in essence, if “the baptism of John” was a message sent from God, or had John simply made it up. They would not answer Jesus’ question out of fear of the people.
    There is another lesson in this quote that has been ignored by the vast majority of bible scholars throughout the history of Christianity. The lesson I’m referring to is the confirmation that the phrase, “the baptism of John”, has two distinctly different meanings. One usage of the phrase, the baptism of John, refers to the physical water immersions that John oversaw. The other usage of the phrase, the baptism of John, refers to the message that John brought. The latter is definition the Jewish leadership applied in today’s quote. That fact is apparent when they considered that Jesus might think they didn’t “believe it”. One cannot believe or disbelieve a physical action such as water immersion, it either occurs or it doesn’t. On the other hand, if the phrase referred to the message John brought, it makes perfect sense that one would either believe it or not.
    This distinct difference in the meaning and application of the phrase, the baptism of John, will be very important in understanding some of the lessons we will confront as our study continues.
The usage of that phrase in today's quote clearly referred to the message John taught.~