Gospel of Mark Chapter 1 Vs. 22

 Jesus Heals a Man with an Unclean Spirit

Mark 1:22 “And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes.”

for he taught... He taught (ἦν διδάσκων)

The finite verb with the participle denoting something continuous: was teaching.

that had authority... Greek: exousia, authority. Delegated authority and liberty to exercise the full power of attorney in all God’s interests; complete authority to act in God’s stead as if God Himself were here doing the work; power to act as freely of his own will as one has power to eat and drink (1Cor. 9:4-6). Christ’s power was unlimited in doing the will and works of God on earth (Mat. 9:6; 4:23-24; 8:17; 10:1-8; Mark 1:27; Luke 4:36; 10:19; John 5:27; 17:2). He now has all power in heaven and in earth (Mat. 28:18; Eph. 1:20-23; Col. 2:9-17; Heb. 1:3; 7:25; 1Pet. 3:22). He now promises to share His earthly power with believers.

Jesus’ authoritative teaching, as the spoken Word of God, was in sharp contrast to that of the scribes' experts in the Old Testament Scriptures, who based their authority largely on that of other rabbis. Jesus’ direct, personal, and forceful teaching was so foreign to their experience that those who heard Him were amazed. (Tit. 2:15).

Jesus astounds His listeners, for He teaches as one that had authority. The surprise is not uniformly pleasant. Some were doubtless offended by His seeming effrontery.

as the scribes... Referred to 120 times in the Bible. Formerly secretaries to kings (2Sam. 8:17; 20:25; 2Kgs. 12:10; 22:3-12). Later, they were copyists and interpreters of the Scriptures and laws of Israel, keepers of all records, and were the lawyers and schoolmasters in Israel. Had limited head knowledge of the Scriptures. Jesus is the Word. His message is a message of firsthand knowledge. Jesus did not need to bring a faltering message. The scribes were uncertain, and their message was a message of interpretation, not of actual fact.

This strong, straightforward, non-wavering message of Jesus astonished them, because Jesus is positive that His message is true. He is the Truth. (John chapter 1:1), tells us that Jesus is, in fact, the Word. His authority is unquestionable for He is God the Word.

John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

St. Mark is by no means the evangelist of the discourses. And this adds to the interest with which we find him indicate, with precise exactitude, the first great difference that would strike the hearers of Christ between His teaching and that of others. He taught with authority, and not as the scribes. Their doctrine was built with dreary and irrational ingenuity, upon perverted views of the old law. The shape of a Hebrew letter, words whereof the initials would spell some important name, wire-drawn inferences, astounding allusions, ingenuity such as men waste now upon the number of the beast and the measurement of a pyramid, these were the doctrine of the scribes.

And an acute observer would remark that the authority of Christ’s teaching was peculiar in a farther-reaching sense. If, as seems clear, Jesus said, Ye have heard that it hath been said (not by, but) to them of old time, but I say unto you, He then claimed the place, not of Moses who heard the Divine Voice, but Him Who spoke. Even if this could be doubted, the same spirit is elsewhere unmistakable. The tables which Moses brought were inscribed by the finger of Another: none could make him the Supreme arbitrator while overhead the trumpet waxed louder and louder, while the fiery pillar marshaled their journeying, while the mysterious Presence consecrated the mysterious shrine. Prophet after prophet opened and closed his message with the words, thus saith the Lord. . . . For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. Jesus was content with the attestation, Verily, I say unto you. Blessed as a wise builder was the hearer and doer of these words of Mine. Everywhere in His teaching the center of authority is personal. He distinctly recognizes the fact that He is adding to the range of the ancient law of respect for human life, and for purity, veracity and kindness. But He assigns no authority for these additions, beyond His own. Persecution by all men is a blessed thing to endure, if it be for His sake and the gospel’s. Now this is unique. Moses or Isaiah never dreamed that devotion to himself took rank with devotion to his message. Nor did St. Paul. But Christ opens His ministry with the same pretensions as at the close, when others may not be called Rabbi, nor Master, because these titles belong to Him.

And the lapse of ages renders this authority of Christ more wonderful than at first. The world bows down before something other than His clearness of logic or subtlety of inference. He still announces where others argue, He reveals, imposes on us His supremacy, bids us take His yoke and learn. And we still discover in His teaching a freshness and profundity, a universal reach of application and yet an unearthliness of aspect, which suit so unparalleled a claim. Others have constructed cisterns in which to store truth, or aqueducts to convey it from higher levels. Christ is Himself a fountain; and not only so, but the water which He gives, when received aright, becomes in the faithful heart a well of water springing up in new, inexhaustible developments.