The Authority of the Word
Speaker: Dr. John Clayton Series: The Gospel of Luke Scripture: Luke 4:31–44
And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority. And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region. And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them. Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ. And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea (Luke 4:31–44).[1]
Jesus’ teaching at the synagogue in Nazareth went from marvel to mob violence to attempted murder in a matter of minutes. We don’t know how Jesus’ averted their attempt, other than he passed through their midst and went away.[2] We learn in our passage today that “away” meant Capernaum, a coastal town where he was well-received and eventually, according to Matthew’s Gospel, established a residence,[3] homebase as it were for his itinerate ministry.
As was his custom, Jesus went to synagogue on the Sabbath and presumably read the Scriptures and then taught the people. Unlike his teaching in Nazareth’s synagogue, we do not know what he read or taught, only the reception: The people “were astonished at his teaching,” and they were astonished specifically, Luke tells us, because “his word possessed authority.” Unlike other teachers, Jesus did not need to draw upon other authoritative sources to teach the people, because he was in himself the authority. As it was that day, so it is today: There is no greater authority of the written Word of God than the living Word of God.
Authority over Doctrine
The apostle John begins his Gospel with this succinct, poetic description of the eternal, preincarnate, second Person of the Trinity: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). When we read in the creation account “And God said ...” (Gen. 1:3), we know that the word spoken was the pre-incarnate Word through whom “All things were made ... and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3). And when we read into what was “without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep” (Gen. 1:2) came light and life, we know through whom it came, because as John explains, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:4-5). This is true, because, as John testifies, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Therefore, when we read that the people were “astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority” (Luke 4:32), we know in a greater sense what they mean, because the living and eternal Word entered time and space and is the authority over the Word as the Word.
To apply this theology practically, the Reformers taught us this truth: Scripture is its own interpreter, because unlike you and me, it is in itself the Word of God. Or to put it another way, let me ask: Who alone has authority over Scripture? Is it you, are you the determiner of doctrine? Is it the church? Or what about tradition? There is merit in each of these options but none can claim inerrancy. Only Scripture is inerrant and also infallible. And so, if we are to understand Scripture, we must go to Scripture.
And as we do, who may we expect to find? There is good reason the apostle Paul uses “the Word of Christ” (Col. 3:16) as a synonym for Scripture, because when we interpret Scripture with Scripture, we find Christ everywhere. Michael Horton explains it this way:
Sometimes we are bewildered by the diversity of the Bible, wondering how Leviticus or Esther bears any relation to the Gospel of Matthew or to Romans. What is the thread that pulls together all of the narratives, laws and wisdom, prophecy, poetry, instruction and exhortation? There really is a unifying message from Genesis to Revelation, and it is Christ who brings all of the threads together. When we read the Bible in the light of its plot, things begin to fall into place. Behind every story, piece of wisdom, hymn, exhortation, and prophecy is the unfolding mystery of Christ and his redemptive work.[4]
When Jesus read from the sixty-first chapter of Isaiah in Nazareth and then said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21), he taught with authority, because he alone is the authority. Isaiah was pointing to Christ all along, and only Christ himself could claim this of himself. And so, when the people of Capernaum said that Jesus’ “word possessed authority,” they were on to something, because he is the authority.
Authority over Demonic
To see Christ for who he is and to believe his gospel is more than simply identification and information. James tells us, “Even the demons believe—and shudder!” (James 2:19). Sometimes they even vocalize their belief, such as the demon who cried out in the synagogue, “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God” (34). It wasn’t an isolated occurrence, as demons were cast out of many in Capernaum, also crying out, “You are the Son of God!” (41). But to know who Jesus is does not necessarily connote faith, love, and devotion. “The problem with evil spirits,” R.C. Sproul says, “is not that they do not know who Jesus is. Instead, the trouble is that they know who He is and hate Him for it.”[5] And their hatred is warranted, because, as John explains in his first epistle, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8b). And we see this live and in action in our passage today.
There are different theories as to why there was such a concentration of demon possession in Capernaum, and throughout Israel for that matter, but the most compelling argument I have heard is that Satan sends his minions en masse to where the Word of God is faithfully preached. If this is the case, it explains why the living Word of God encountered so many throughout his ministry. But the point of Luke’s record is not to draw attention to the demonic, as dramatic as this encounter in the synagogue may have been, but to reveal Jesus’ authority. Just as Jesus’ word possessed authority as he preached in the synagogue, so his word possessed authority over the demonic. When he said, “Be silent and come out of him!” the demon did not seek to debate but simply obeyed.
Given how much our imaginations make of demon possession, I find it intriguing that no one who witnessed the exorcism was amazed at the violence of the demon’s departure but instead were asking one another, “What is this word?” (36) In an age where the spoken Word is devalued to the point that we must “fact check” our elected officials, it may be hard for us to imagine that Jesus could simply say the word and the vilest demon would flee. Words may not seem so important to us, but when those words came from the mouth of the Son of God, they carried with the same authority that spoke creation into existence. Such is the authority of the Word of Christ then and now. Or as Martin Luther taught us to sing,
And though this world, with devils filled,
Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim,
We tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
For lo! his doom is sure;
One little word shall fell him.[6]
Just as Jesus defeated the devil’s temptations in the desert with the Word of God, so we endure the devil’s rage and stand against his schemes, which don’t typically come at us in the form of demons in the middle of a Jewish synagogue but through the ways of the world, the lies of our sinful flesh, and the devil’s distortion of truth.
Thankfully, it is not our word that defends us and defeats our enemy but what the apostle Paul calls “the whole armor of God” (Eph. 6:11).“Stand therefore,” he says, “having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication” (Eph. 6:14-18). Did you catch all those metaphors? It’s a Scripture-saturated depiction of the Lord’s equipping.
Authority over Disease
When Jesus left the synagogue he proceeded to Simon Peter’s house, where Simon’s mother-in-law was gravely ill. It wasn’t some kind of spiritual oppression or demonic possession. She physically had a dangerously high fever. And so, we read that Jesus “stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her” (38). He “rebuked” disease like he did the demonic, and both fled in obedience to his word. Perhaps everyone in that house could have said, like everyone in the synagogue, “What is this word?”
It is again a picture of Jesus’ authority, but this time not in the spiritual but the physical realm. I love the way Dale Ralph Davis summarizes this: “for all the cosmic implications of Jesus’ work in casting out a demon, He is yet the domestic Savior ... He is the Christ who conquers the evil one and yet the Christ who provides in the home. He works in the public place but also enters into private need.”[7] This should remind us never to trivialize the power of the Word of Christ.
This does not mean that we may claim a verse or speak a word and presume that we will be healed of sickness. As God’s providence is mysterious, so is his purpose in illnesses of all kinds, which teaches us not to presume and demand but to trust and pray. Jesus did not work a miracle so that we would expect a miracle, although we should pray for the sick, knowing that God works through the means of the prayers of his people. But the point of Jesus’ miracles were not the miracles but Jesus. He is the point. And he often uses sickness to show us the reality of his person and the necessity of his presence.
In Capernaum, Jesus healed the sick well into the night, and when he cast out the demons, “he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ” (41). As Jesus’ progressively revealed his divine identity the closer he drew to the cross, he had many places to preach the gospel before Golgotha. But perhaps more importantly, the revelation of Jesus’ identity as the Christ would come according to his word, not the demons’.
And then, as if to remind us of Jesus’ humanity, Luke reveals that Jesus escaped to “a desolate place” (42), where according to Mark’s Gospel he prayed. [8] Time alone with his heavenly Father was a necessity for our Lord, for he had come to do his Father’s will. Prayer acknowledges authority to the one to whom we pray. It’s why Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father who art in heaven,” as well as what follows it. Because when we pray, we go to God as our authority but also yield authority to him over our life, indeed over all of life, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” How often do we wrestle with God over that which he already has? He is the authority over all, and prayer acknowledges this truth, helping direct our hearts and minds to this reality. For all that consumes your thoughts, for that which weighs heavy upon your shoulders, for what keeps you restless at night, is that God’s intent?
Jesus went away to pray but where he went was not so desolate after all. The people of Capernaum found him. What he had done for them was simply too much to let him disappear. They wanted him back, never to leave. And why not? He casts out demons and heals the sick. Why not keep him for ourselves? But Jesus didn’t just come for one town, or one people, but said clearly, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose” (43).
Jesus did not come to be the Savior of Capernaum alone but the Savior of the world. And lest we forget, Jesus came to save sinners like me and you, and he came to save sinners that aren’t like me and you. He did not come to save one city in Galilee or one nation under God, he came to redeem a people for his own possession, to build an eternal kingdom from a variety of people from every tribe, tongue, and nation, whose only common characteristic is sin. That’s the good news that Jesus preached, and that’s the gospel we are called to preach: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17).
[1] Unless referenced otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2001).
[2] Luke 4:30
[3] Matt. 4:13
[4] https://www.modernreformation.org/resources/articles/interpreting-scripture-by-scripture
[5] “Jesus Ministers in Capernaum,” Tabletalk 47, No. 2 (Feb. 23, 2023), 55.
[6] “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” Trinity Hymnal, Rev. Ed. (Suwanee: Great Commission Publications, 1990), 92.
[7] Dale Ralph Davis, Luke: The Year of the Lord’s Favor (Fearn: Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 2021), 84.
[8] Mark 1:35
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