SPECIAL TOPIC: AUTHORITY (EXOUSIA)

It is interesting to observe Luke's use of exousia (authority, power, or legal right).

1. In Luke 4:6 Satan claims to be able to give Jesus authority.

2. In Luke 4:32,36 the Jewish people were amazed at how Jesus taught using His personal authority.

3. In Luke 9:1 He gave His power and authority to His Apostles.

4. In Luke 10:19 He gave His authority to the seventy missionaries.

5. In Luke 20:2,8 the central question of Jesus' authority is asked.

6. In Luke 22:53 evil has been allowed authority to condemn and kill Jesus.

Although not in Luke, Matthew's introduction to the Great Commission, "all authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth," is a marvelous statement (Matt. 28:18).

Jesus' answer to their question would have been

1. God's spoken words at His

a. baptism (Luke 3:21-22)

b. transfiguration (Luke 9:35)

2. OT fulfilled prophecy

a. tribe of Judah (cf. Gen. 49:10)

b. family of Jesse (cf. 2 Samuel7)

c. born in Bethlehem (cf. Micah 5:2)

d. Born during the fourth empire (Rome) of Daniel 2

e. helped the poor, blind, needy (Isaiah)

3. His exorcisms revealed His power and authority over Satan and his kingdom.

4. His resuscitations of the dead showed His power over physical life and death.

5. His miracles all reveal His power and authority over the temporal, spacial, and physical.

a. nature

b. feedings

c. healings

d. mind readings

e. catching fish