For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Ver. 29. For he taught them as one having authority] Never man spake as he spake, said those catch poles that came to take him, but were taken by him. For matter, his doctrine was not his own, but his Father's that sent him, John 7:16. For manner, this prince of preachers had the tongue of the learned, Isaiah 50:4; yet without ostentation of learning he delivered himself so plainly that the simplest might conceive him, and so powerfully that his enemies could not but confess that he "was true, and taught the way of God truly," Matthew 22:14. And for end, he seriously sought his Father's glory in the salvation of men's souls. A fair precedent for preachers; who should thus seek to get within the people, and to maintain the credit of their ministry, that their words may carry an authority and command attention.
And not as the Scribes] Who, 1. Stuck in the bark of the law, and pierced not into the heart and sense of it. 2. Delivered "for doctrines the commandments of men" about washings, tithings, &c. 3. They sought not the glory of God, but praise of men; and were therefore mad at our Saviour, as one that bare away the bell from them for a powerful preacher. 4. They rejected publicans and sinners, though penitent: so did not Christ. 5. They taught coldly and carelessly; but he zealously and imperiously, as the lawgiver, and not as an interpreter only; as that "prophet like unto me," saith Moses; yea, far beyond him, or any other that ever spake with a tongue. For he could and did speak to the hearts of his hearers; together with his word "there went forth a power," as to heal the bodies of those, Luke 5:17, so the souls of his elect; he was a minister of the spirit and not of the letter only. a
a Optimi ad vulgus hi sunt concionatores, dixit Lutherus, qui pueriliter, trivialiter, populariter, et simplicissime docent. Melch. Ad. in Vita. Γραμματεις ησαν δευτερωται του νομουγραμμα τικην τινα επιστημην εφηγουμενοι. Epiphan. lib. 1 Panarii. Scribarum doctrina erat torpida, elumbis, frigida. Hebrews 2:3 .