Knowing vs. Faith

Luke 22:70 So they all said, "Are you the Son of God, then?" And he said to them, "You say that I am." 71 Then they said, "What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips."

70 εἶπαν δὲ πάντες· σὺ οὖν εἶ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ; ὁ δὲ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἔφη· ὑμεῖς λέγετε ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι. 71  οἱ δὲ εἶπαν· τί ἔτι ἔχομεν μαρτυρίας χρείαν; αὐτοὶ γὰρ ἠκούσαμεν ἀπὸ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ.

I normally gloss over this passage.  Frankly, I have a hard time reading the passion account slowly.  The longer I walk with the Lord the more difficult it is to read about His suffering on my behalf.  Yet here it is in black and white.  It is there for us to ponder as is all of Scripture.  We hear it ἀπὸ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ, which is very woodenly "from His mouth."

Something occurred to me today.  The chief priests and scribes knew His claims.  They really believe Him, but they knew who He claimed to be.  I think it is clear that they were the bad guys in this story and were not on the road to salvation.

I don't think much has changed today.  There are folks who give intellectual assent to the person of Jesus.  They recognize Him as a good teacher who claimed to be the Son of God.  They are willing to accept Him as a teacher, but not as the Son of God.  This is a facet of theological liberalism.  I would even maintain that there are conservatives who do the same thing.

"I have made Jesus my savior, but not my lord."  Ever heard that or something like it?  How can you recognize Jesus as the incarnate Son of God and not make Him your Lord?  That is not to say that you fall into perfect obedience, but that your heart's desire becomes obedience.  I don't see how you can divorce the two.

Where are you as you read this?  Do you give Jesus token approval?  Or is He your Lord?  If He is not your Lord then I urge you to repent and believe.