| What Does It Mean To "Reason" ?
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| Luke 5:21 - And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? This verse was written at a time when Jesus was choosing the men that would be His disciples. He was already becoming very popular with the common people. They were under such oppression from all the laws that had been made by the religious rulers of that time, that Jesus must have seemed like a breath of fresh air. His teachings seemed so simple compared to the heavy load that they were under. By this time in their history, almost everything they did was regulated by some kind of religious law. They probably had to think closely about everything they did to make sure they weren't breaking any miniscule law of some kind, because there were now over 600 laws that had come from the original Ten Commandments. We also need to understand that the Sanhedrin and Pharisees were very powerful. The people did whatever they told them to do, even if they knew that it might be wrong. They had such power that they were able to lead the people in just about any direction they desired because the people so revered them. They pretty much had it made until Jesus came on the scene. Imagine their anger when Jesus all of a sudden started teaching with such power and authority that the people were just mesmerized with Him. They somehow knew that He was different from the ball-and-chain religion they had at the present time. He preached that they could be set free if they would just learn what the Truth was and start doing it. As the people started to be swayed more and more to the teachings of Jesus, the Pharisees found that their power was being stripped away. They were losing their popularity with the people. Also, multitudes of people were following Jesus everywhere he went and He was healing them and doing great miracles among them. I'm sure that by this time the Pharisees were getting desperate and grasping for any straw they could find to get rid of Jesus. They could not come up with anything really concrete until Jesus healed the paralyzed man that was let down through the roof (Luke 5: 17-19). Jesus had much compassion on them all, because the men had been concerned enough about their friend to actually take off the roof of the house that Jesus was in. They just somehow knew that if they could get him to Jesus that he would be healed - and he was. The Pharisees had their answer, though, when Jesus looked at the man and said, "Man, thy sins are forgiven thee." That brings us to the next verse about how they started 'to reason' about how Jesus thought He could possibly forgive any person's sins. They knew that only God could do that. He told them from the very start that He was the Son of God. He didn't keep it a secret after His time had come to start His public ministry. They were just so caught up in their own works that they didn't realize that Jesus was the Savior that the prophets had talked about. They expected him to save them by going to war with their oppressors, like it had always happened before. They never expected that He was intent on setting up His Kingdom in a different way.
The following word studies have been taken from the Word Study Greek New Testament. The exact definitions will be given of each word in Greek. Scribe - professional writer, secretary, town clerk Pharisee - a separatist that is exclusively religious
To Reason - to reckon thoroughly, to deliberate by reflection or discussion, cast in mind, consider, dispute, muse, think Tense of "To Reason" - Present Infinitive Middle "Reason" is a verbal noun that in English usually has "to" in front of it. It has a great many more uses in Greek than in English. The middle voice means that the subject always acts in some way upon himself/herself or concerning himself/herself. Also, there is no middle voice in English. The present tense represents contemporaneous (living or occurring at the same time) action, as opposed to action in the past or future. In all forms it refers to continuous repeated present action.
So if a person "reasons" about the wrong things, he/she is acting on those things in some way with an action that is "living" in the present time. They are not acting on something that has already happened, or is going to happen. This action is alive in the here and now. To "reason" in the flesh can be the beginning of doubt and unbelief that leads to criticism, and then takes you on a downward spiral that can quickly get out of control. So this "reasoning" was the start of what led to the eventual crucifixion of Jesus. Actually, when everything was said and done, the Pharisees broke almost every one of the laws that they had made themselves, to finally get to the point of bringing Jesus to the cross. They were so determined to get rid of him that they decided they would stop at nothing to get what they wanted. So we need to be very careful what we "reason" about. As we have just seen in the Bible, it is entirely possible to be so deceived about something and "reason" about it enough that you can get to the point of justifying that whatever you do is right. Don't let yourself start reasoning about anything while you are in the flesh. It just leads to many wrong conclusions and Satan will be happy to feed any of those by telling you how right you are to feel that way. As soon as you know you are in the flesh, immediately stop and make sure to start thinking about things the way that God would have you think. Pray, read the Word, or whatever it takes to get back into thinking the way that God would have you to think. Don't let Satan let you "reason" your way into doing something that you will later deeply regret. This text has been written by Cathy Deaton and is her own work. Please ask for permission to use other than personal use.
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