What does Matthew 7:29 mean?
Jesus has concluded what we now call the Sermon on the Mount, found in chapters 5—7 of the gospel of Matthew. Matthew has reported that those who heard Christ in person were "astonished" at His teaching (Matthew 5:28). That description uses a Greek word that literally means being "struck." At least part of their surprise is the way Jesus fully explained the purpose of God's law and commandments (Matthew 5:17), mostly by condemning hypocrisy and shallow, performance-based religion (Matthew 5:20).Now Matthew adds another reason why Jesus' original audience was so shocked by His words. Since the crowd was mostly made up of Jewish people who participated in Israel's religious system, they had heard a lot of teaching in their lives from many different local Rabbis and teachers. Jewish scholars often taught the Scriptures by presenting multiple viewpoints of any given subject. They might point to different Rabbis, with different views, and leave it to the listener to decide which was closer to the truth. This was not Jesus' approach.
Jesus Christ taught with authority. He stated clearly, even bluntly, what was true and what was false. He called out sin and falsehood and even Israel's religious leaders themselves. He didn't build His arguments on the basis of other people or rely on their reputations. He spoke as One with first-hand, personal, absolute knowledge of the truth (John 3:13).
That's not a surprising approach, given that Jesus is the Son of God. As God incarnate, He knew exactly what God intended in every passage of Scripture and exactly what God wanted from His people. Jesus spoke with authority because all authority—even declaring who will or will not enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 7:23)—belongs to Him (Matthew 28:18; Philippians 2:10).
Matthew 7:28–29 describes the reaction of the crowds after Jesus had finished teaching what we now call the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1–2). They were astonished. They had never heard teaching like His. Accustomed to the more philosophical teaching of the Jewish rabbis, they were shocked to hear Jesus be so authoritative and definitive about truth and error, right and wrong, life and destruction.
Matthew 7 is the last of three chapters that record what is now known as the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus commands His hearers not to pronounce shallow or hypocritical judgment. He describes God as a generous Father eager to give good things to His children when they ask. He commands His followers to enter the narrow gate and walk the hard road to life. False prophets can be recognized by their fruit, meaning their actions and choices. At the same time, good deeds are not absolute proof that someone has true faith. To live by Jesus' teaching is like building the house of your life on a solid foundation instead of shifting sand.
