For he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes. The scribes taught by citation of tradition: Rabbi X said this, Rabbi Y disagreed, the tradition holds that. Jesus taught as one who had authority in himself — not because he was given authority by a teacher or a tradition but because the authority was inherent in who he was. The crowds recognized the difference even if they could not name what it meant. John 7:46 records temple guards who were sent to arrest Jesus but came back empty-handed, saying no one ever spoke like this man. The authority in Jesus' teaching is not volume or rhetorical skill but the unmediated self-presence of the one who is both the subject and the substance of what he teaches.

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