by John Humphries
Synopsis: While education and intellect are important, greater emphasis should be placed upon having a sincere love for God and His word, and genuine concern for the souls of men.
And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time. Moses said, "The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren; to Him you shall give heed to everything He says to you. And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people." And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days (Acts 3:17-24).
Brethren, sons of Abraham's family, and those among you who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent. For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him. And though they found no ground for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed (Acts 13:26-28).
The Sanhedrin council in Jerusalem contained highly educated and very intelligent men (cf. Acts 5:34). Without question, they were the leading experts and authorities in all of the customs and theology of the Jews at that time. No doubt, they knew the Hebrew and Aramaic languages completely and fluently. Many (if not all of them) also knew Greek and Latin as well (cf. John 19:20). They could recite vast sections of the OT from memory in the original languages. They were the go-to leaders of their day in the field of Biblical scholarship and learning (cf. Matt. 2:4). They prided themselves concerning their intelligence and their knowledge of the Old Testament and their traditions (John 7:49; 9:34; Rom. 2:17-20). They were theologians who were second to none!
These learned and intelligent men did not understand and therefore distorted some vitally important truth that the prophets taught. Namely, they did not understand the work of the Messiah or the nature of His kingdom (Acts 3:17, 24; cf. John 3:10). Even ignorant and unlearned fishermen (Acts 4:13) eventually understood more than they did concerning the Messiah and His kingdom. The Sanhedrin scholars (in spite of their great learning and high intellect) had the wrong "perspective" concerning the new covenant of Christ (1 Cor. 2:8). They rejected Christ and what He taught (John 7:48). Sadly, many intellectuals and theologians today are in the same boat with these Sanhedrin scholars. Otherwise, why are they not teaching sound doctrine instead of promulgating error concerning true worship, salvation from sin, the New Testament church, etc., etc.?
Given this, we must realize that it doesn't require being highly educated and gifted with great intellect to understand and preach the truth (1 Cor. 2:7-8). Rather, a sincere love for God and His Word, as well as a deep love for the souls of mankind, are prerequisites to know and preach the gospel of Christ. Couple this with a humble eagerness to sit at the feet of faithful men (2 Tim. 2:2, 15; 3:13-17; 1 Tim. 4:16). We must also be ready to humbly correct and adjust our thinking, should we find ourselves out of step with the truth or in need of further teaching (cf. Acts 8:30-31; 18:24-28).
Please note that we are not opposed to education and high intellect! We could wish that we had more ourselves, but this is not required to teach and preach the gospel of Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 1:18-2:5). We must not, therefore, overly linger at the feet of the "wise and intelligent" (Matt. 11:25) theologians, absorbing so much that simply is not sound, and becoming too "intellectual" to preach the simple and sound gospel of Christ faithfully (Col. 2:8; 2 Tim. 1:13). We may need to repent of our prideful egos and get our thinking in line with what the Bible, the inspired word of God, teaches concerning the qualifications of a faithful gospel preacher (Rom. 12:3; 10:15; 2 Tim. 4:1-5). Preach the word!
Author Bio: John is presently retired from local work and fills in here and there. He also preaches an occasional gospel meeting and continues his gospel work in India. He and Edna have four children. He can be reached at johnedna2012@gmail.com.
