The Scribes - Jewish Leaders in the New Testament

Their Authority

The Authority of the Scribes

There's no doubt that the Scribes were diligent about preserving The written Word. They even went through painstaking methods of copying the Torah. Yet, they were intent on discovering hidden meanings not only in every word, but in every syllable and every letter of every word. Their investigation of the letter of the law was destructive of all spiritual instruction.

Jesus clearly denounced peoples dependence upon the "tradition of the elders" (Mark 7:7,8) and he pronounced Woe to those "lawyers" who had taken away the key of knowledge, entering not in themselves, and hindering those who are trying to enter.

When the Bible says that after Jesus had spoken they had been "astonished at His doctrine, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their Scribes" (Matt. 7:28-29), there's no doubt about the contrast of Jesus teaching and that of the Scribes.