The Authority

Hello everyone. 

Let's continue to look at Luke 4. In verses 31 tp 37, Jesus has been rejected in Nazareth, and moves on to Capernaum, where he teaches in the synagogue on the Sabbath, just as he always does. The people are astonished by his teaching, because his message carried such authority.Ἐξουσίᾳ (exousia) is the words used to describe Jesus words.  He came to them with an authority that amazed and astonished them. 

Does this mean the normal synagogue teacher and leaders did not speak with authority? I doubt it. People in positions of authority usually speak with some kind of authority even when they are wrong.  I suspect that Jesus had such a commanding presence about him that his authority was even greater than what the people usually saw, and the differences between Jesus and the scribes of the synagogues were vast.  

In the synagogue there was a man who was possessed by an evil spirit. The Greek text says - Πνεῦμα δαιμονίου ἀκαθάρτου (pneuma diamoniou akathartou)  A literal translation would be ‘a spirit of an unclean demon.’ Which seems somewhat redundant.  The man was possessed by a spirit, that was a demon, who was unclean. Maybe this was a particularly bad spirit. In my own translation, I simply went with ‘evil spirit.’

The demon began screaming out to Jesus.  ‘What do you want from us? Have you come to destroy us?’ I assume that the demon had control of the man and was using the man’s voice to call out.  

The demon identified Jesus.  He gave his testimony.  We have had several testimonies about Jesus.  Gabriel, Simeon, John the Baptist, even God himself.  Here is another testimony about who Jesus is.  This time the testimony is rejected.  Jesus tells the demon Φιμώθητι (Phimowthati)- This is a 2nd person singular passive imperative of the Greek verb φιμοω (phimo-ow). BDAG offers two definitions for this word.  1. To muzzle. 2. To be silent. Is it possiblethat  Jesus commanded this demon to ‘muzzle it?’ In my own translation, I used the phrase ‘stop talking.’ 

The demon is obedient to Jesus. However, he does throw the man down. In Mark’s version of this story, he shakes the man violently as well. Luke records, though, that he does obey and leaves the man unharmed. 

The crowd is amazed by what they just witnessed. They ask amongst themselves “Τίς ὁ λόγος οὗτος” (Tis ho logos outos) Logos can be translated as ‘word’ or ;matter.”In the context ‘matter’ makes more sense.  “What matter is this?”   I have translated it more akin to the idea that they were communicating, “How is this possible?’ They were asking how it was possible that Jesus had the power and the authority to do this. His Ἐξουσίᾳ (exousia) or authority has come up again in this passage.  Jesus has spoken with authority and now he has used that authority to cast out a demon.

Jesus has recently triumphed over the best that Satan could throw at him in the wilderness.  Remember that Satan had offered him authority.  But here, one of Satan’s minions has no choice but to obey Jesus. Jesus had all the authority, and Satan could only offer only hollow promises. 

This is an amazing story and must have blown the eyewitnesses away, so verse 37 records the news of Jesus' power and authority spread rapidly.  (I wonder if any of this news got back to Nazareth.) 

Jesus tells us in Matthew 28 that he has been given all authority.  In Luke 4, we have seen him use that authority to teach and to help others. And we submit to one who has all authority. 

Tom