What did Jesus say?
Ask what Jesus said and you meet a body of speech unlike any other: parables, commands, promises, warnings, and the plainest invitations ever offered. The writers below take up not just the content of His sayings but their character — where they came from, what they do to the hearer, and how long they last.
Plain words, deep truth
His speech was accessible to anyone, yet it carried more than a lifetime can exhaust.
An Outline of Sound WordsThe teaching of the Lord Jesus was in simple words that even the young could understand, but the thoughts spoken so simply were often the most profound. Even in many of His miracles the Lord spoke simple words, but they were divinely powerful, as when He cried, "Lazarus, come out," and the dead man came out. Even when the Lord spoke in parables the words were plain, but the truth of God was hidden in the parable. In John's Gospel, the words of the Lord bring before us the most profound revelations of God, yet His words were such that the feeblest believer can draw from them the richest food for the soul, as can also the most mature, who can understand more of their meaning.
Speaking on His own authority
Other teachers of His day backed their claims by quoting earlier teachers. He did not.
James McBroomNote, too, His authority. If it is the glory of other teachers to hide behind their subject, not so with Him. He brings His Person to the front, and that without apology, in the most simple and unaffected way. He spoke with authority without stopping to say why, and commanded without declaring His right. He teaches in a way altogether different from others, penetrating to the heart of things in a way that carried conviction and exposed the accredited teachers of the day. While always honouring and fulfilling Holy Scripture, He cites no previous authority for what He says: "he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes."
Three things His words do
What He said worked in three directions at once — toward Himself, toward His hearers, and toward God.
Hamilton SmithHis words not only express the truth about Himself, they also expose the true character of men. So the Lord can add, "I have much to say about you and much to judge." Further, His words were the expression of the Father's mind, for He spoke to the world the things which He had heard from the Father. His words express Himself, expose the world, and reveal the Father.
Words that carry life
None of us heard Him speak in Galilee. One writer argues that this costs us nothing, because the life He showed is held in the sayings themselves.
J T MawsonIt was not our privilege to be with Him, as were those wonderfully honoured Galileans, and actually see Him, and hear Him, and handle Him, as He lived among them, but what He was, and is, has come out in words, as He Himself said, "The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." And the disciples recognised this when they said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." And because the life that was manifested remains in the words He spoke, we do not walk in darkness.
The same words in the day of judgment
Sayings offered for blessing do not simply vanish when they are refused.
Hamilton SmithWe are warned of the judgment that must overtake the one who hears and does not believe. It is true that the Lord came not to judge but to save the world. Nevertheless, His words, if rejected, would be a witness against the Christ-rejecter in the last day, and all the more because they were the words the Father had given Him to speak — words given for life and blessing, but which, if rejected, would become words of condemnation.
Nothing He said can expire
He set His own sayings above the lifespan of the universe — and one writer draws out what that means for the Bible you can hold.
The Bible TreasuryThis much the Lord Jesus surely meant when He said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away" — a statement able to bring great comfort to our hearts, since it is the word of the Son of God Himself; and the written word is equal in authority, surely, to His spoken word.
The response He asked for
He closed His longest recorded teaching by dividing His hearers not by what they admired but by what they did.
Arend RemmersAs we learnt in the previous passage, a mere profession of the lips that we belong to the Lord Jesus is not enough to be accepted by Him. Now He explains what really matters in the lives of those who call themselves His disciples: not only to hear but also to do His words. We are often reminded of what the Lord Jesus says here when we read the words of James, "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."
Summary
- Source — His words were the Father's mind spoken out; they reveal the Father, express Himself, and expose the world.
- Manner — plain enough for a child, deep enough for a lifetime, and spoken on His own authority without citing anyone before Him.
- Effect — they carry spirit and life, so those who never saw Him still meet Him in what He said.
- Duration — heaven and earth go before a syllable of His does; the written word carries the same authority as His spoken voice.
- Response — the same words that give life become the ground of judgment when refused; the safe hearer is the one who also does them.