The Fallible Study Bible

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Matthew21:23–27

Jesus’ Authority Challenged

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Matthew 21:23–27 — Jesus’ Authority Challenged. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

23

When Jesus returned to the temple courts and began to teach, the chief priests and elders of the people came up to Him. “By what authority are You doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave You this authority?”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai autou elthontos eis to hieron didaskonti hoi archiereis kai hoi presbyteroi tou laou prosēlthon autō En poia exousia poieis tauta legontes kai tis edōken soi tautēn tēn exousian

Word by word29 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiWhenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
αὐτοῦautou[Jesus]G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ἐλθόντοςelthontosreturnedG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbAorist Participle ActiveGenitive Masculine Singular
ἔρχομαι: to come, go Aorist participle in a genitive absolute: the arrival is complete before the confrontation begins. Matthew has already told us what this arrival means, since the same figure entered these courts the day before and overturned the tables (21:12). Barnes, JFB and Pulpit all agree that the “these things” of the question reaches back primarily to that act.
εἰςeistoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
ἱερὸνhierontemple [courts]G2411
√ ἱερόν — a sacred place, iNounAccusative Neuter Singular
ἱερόν: sacred place, temple precinct Not ναός (the sanctuary building) but the whole sacred enclosure, the public court where teaching and trading both happened. Barnes suggests the inner court of the Israelites; Pulpit places the scene in courts packed with Passover pilgrims. The jurisdictional point is sharp: this is the ground the chief priests actually administered, so the challenge is territorial as well as theological.
διδάσκοντιdidaskonti[and] began to teachG1321
√ διδάσκω — to teach (in the same broad application)VerbPresent Participle ActiveDative Masculine Singular
διδάσκω: to teach The present participle makes the teaching the standing state that provokes the delegation. Benson notes the offense precisely: he was teaching “being neither priest, nor Levite, nor scribe.” In Matthew's own frame this is the teaching that had already been described as being “with authority, and not as their scribes” (7:29), so the question of v. 23 is the institution finally sending its own answer to a verdict the crowds reached at the Sermon on the Mount.
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ἀρχιερεῖςarchiereischief priestsG749
√ ἀρχιερεύς — the high-priest (literally, of the Jews, typically, Christ)NounNominative Masculine Plural
ἀρχιερεύς: chief priest Plural, so not the one high priest but the priestly aristocracy seated in the council. Gill is careful here: these are not the high priest and his deputy but the principal priests chosen to sit in the sanhedrin. With the elders (and, per Mark and Luke, the scribes), the three constituent orders of the Sanhedrin are present, which is why Pulpit judges this the first formal notice the council took of Jesus' claims.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οἱhoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
πρεσβύτεροιpresbyteroieldersG4245
√ πρεσβύτερος — olderAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
τοῦtouof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
λαοῦlaoupeopleG2992
√ λαός — a people (in generalNounGenitive Masculine Singular
λαός: a people Λαός is the covenant people considered as God's people, distinct from ὄχλος (the crowd) in v. 26. The rulers come as officers of the people, and three verses later they are terrified of the crowd. The change of noun is itself the indictment: representative office has collapsed into fear of a mob.
προσῆλθονprosēlthoncame upG4334
√ προσέρχομαι — to approach, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
αὐτῷautōto HimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ἘνEnByG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ποίᾳpoiawhatG4169
√ ποῖος — individualizing interrogative (of character) what sort of, or (of number) which oneInterrogative / Indefinite PronounDative Feminine Singular
ποῖος: of what sort The qualitative interrogative. It sets up the whole exchange, because the same word returns on Jesus' lips in v. 24 and v. 27, and the Verifier finds it again in John 10:32, where Jesus answers a temple-court attack with the same word turned back on the attackers.
ἐξουσίᾳexousiaauthorityG1849
√ ἐξουσία — privilege, iNounDative Feminine Singular
ἐξουσία: delegated right, jurisdiction The unit's keyword, used four times in five verses (vv. 23 twice, 24, 27). Its native sense is derivative: an exousia is something held from a granting power, which is exactly the assumption the second question makes explicit. The Gospel closes by having the risen Christ say “all exousia in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (28:18), so Matthew lets the question stand unanswered here and answered at the end.
ποιεῖςpoieisare You doingG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Singular
ταῦταtautathese thingsG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounAccusative Neuter Plural
λέγοντεςlegontesthey askedG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τίςtiswhoG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounNominative Masculine Singular
ἔδωκενedōkengaveG1325
√ δίδωμι — to give (used in a very wide application, properly, or by implication, literally or figurativelyVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
δίδωμι: to give Aorist indicative: they presuppose one datable past act of delegation by a human grantor, an ordination they would have on record. Poole sees the trap in it: a claim of divine authority they would charge as blasphemy, and human authority “they knew he had none, according to their rules for order.” The verb concedes in advance that nothing can be legitimate unless they conferred it.
σοιsoiYouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Singular
ταύτηνtautēnthisG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounAccusative Feminine Singular
Demonstrative, “this authority,” pointing at the exercise they have just watched rather than at an office in the abstract.
τὴνtēnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
ἐξουσίανexousianauthorityG1849
√ ἐξουσία — privilege, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
24

“I will also ask you one question,” Jesus replied, “and if you answer Me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kagō Erōtēsō hymas hena logon de ho Iēsous Apokritheis eipen autois hon ean eipēte moi kagō erō hymin en poia exousia poiō tauta

Word by word23 · parsed
κἀγὼkagōvvvG2504
√ κἀγώ — so also the dative case , and accusative case and (or also, even, etcPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 1st Person Singular
ἘρωτήσωErōtēsōI will also askG2065
√ ἐρωτάω — to interrogateVerbFuture Indicative Active1st Person Singular
ἐρωτάω: to interrogate, question Future indicative, and the verb of formal inquiry rather than of petition. The interrogated becomes the interrogator. Ellicott notes that the one who taught “as having authority, and not as the scribes” (Matthew 7:29) is here challenging their competence to examine anyone at all.
ὑμᾶςhymasyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative 2nd Person Plural
ἕναhenaoneG1520
√ εἷς — oneAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Singular
λόγονlogonquestionG3056
√ λόγος — something said (including the thought)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
λόγος: word, account, matter “One word,” with ἕνα emphatic by position: a single item against their two. The economy is part of the argument. One honest answer about John would have settled both of their questions, which is why Cambridge can say the counter-question presented equal difficulties whichever way they moved.
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
Postpositive connective; the Greek order puts the retort first and the identification of the speaker second.
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἈποκριθεὶςApokritheisrepliedG611
√ ἀποκρίνομαι — to conclude for oneself, iVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
ἀποκρίνομαι: to answer, decide for oneself The lexicon's root sense (to conclude for oneself) is worth hearing: an answer in this exchange is a judgment rendered. Jesus renders one; in v. 27 the council uses the same verb to render none.
εἶπενeipenG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτοῖςautoisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ὃνhonG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounAccusative Masculine Singular
ἐὰνean{and} ifG1437
√ ἐάν — a conditional particleConjunction
εἴπητέeipēteyou answerG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Subjunctive Active2nd Person Plural
ἔπω: to say Aorist subjunctive, second person plural: the whole body must speak, as a court speaks. Mark's parallel adds the blunt imperative “answer me.”
μοιmoiMeG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounDative 1st Person Singular
κἀγὼkagōIG2504
√ κἀγώ — so also the dative case , and accusative case and (or also, even, etcPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 1st Person Singular
κἀγώ: and I, I also A crasis of καί and ἐγώ, and the second of two in this verse (the first opens it). The doubling is the architecture of the reply: I too will ask, and I too will tell. Benson reads the first as an answering thrust, “I also will ask you one thing, who have asked me many.” The emphatic pronoun matters for v. 27 as well, because the withholding there is the same “I” honoring the same terms.
ἐρῶerōwill tellG2046
√ ἐρέω — an alternate for G2036 (ἔπω) in certain tensesVerbFuture Indicative Active1st Person Singular
ἐρέω: to say, tell Future indicative, a binding undertaking. The same verb is on the rulers' own lips in v. 25 (“he will say to us”), so their private deliberation admits they know exactly what his promise will cost them.
ὑμῖνhyminyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Plural
ἐνenbyG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ποίᾳpoiawhatG4169
√ ποῖος — individualizing interrogative (of character) what sort of, or (of number) which oneInterrogative / Indefinite PronounDative Feminine Singular
ἐξουσίᾳexousiaauthorityG1849
√ ἐξουσία — privilege, iNounDative Feminine Singular
ἐξουσία: delegated right The word is handed back unaltered. He does not renegotiate the terms of the question; he accepts them and makes the answer conditional on their own competence, which is why Ellicott can call their eventual silence an abdication.
ποιῶpoiōI am doingG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbPresent Indicative Active1st Person Singular
ταῦταtautathese thingsG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounAccusative Neuter Plural
25

What was the source of John’s baptism? Was it from heaven or from men?” They deliberated among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will ask, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

pothen ēn to Iōannou to baptisma ex ouranou ē ex anthrōpōn de Hoi dielogizonto en heautois legontes Ean eipōmen Ex ouranou erei hēmin Dia ti oun ouk episteusate autō

Word by word29 · parsed
πόθενpothenWhat was the sourceG4159
√ πόθεν — from which (as interrogative) or what (as relative) place, state, source or causeAdverb
πόθεν: from what source The counter-question is exactly the same species as theirs, which is what makes it inescapable. Poole sees a direct answer hidden inside it: John held no human license, therefore he acted by an extraordinary divine mission, and so, says Poole for Christ, “So do I.”
ἦνēn. . .G1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸtoofG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
ἸωάννουIōannouJohn’sG2491
√ Ἰωάννης — Joannes (iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
τὸtoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
βάπτισμαbaptismabaptismG908
√ βάπτισμα — baptism (technically or figuratively)NounNominative Neuter Singular
βάπτισμα: baptism Barnes and JFB both take it for John's entire mission, baptism being its distinguishing character. The choice of this term rather than “preaching” is tactically perfect: John's baptism was a public, countable, datable act that thousands had submitted to, so the rulers cannot pretend the question is obscure.
ἐξex[Was it] fromG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
οὐρανοῦouranouheavenG3772
√ οὐρανός — the skyNounGenitive Masculine Singular
οὐρανός: sky, heaven (for God) The alternative offered is total: divine commission or human invention, with no third option. Geneva notes that the two are “set one against another.” Five verses later the rulers will invent the third option (“we do not know”) that the disjunction does not allow.
ἢēorG2228
√ ἤ — disjunctive, orConjunction
ἐξexfromG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
ἀνθρώπωνanthrōpōnmenG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounGenitive Masculine Plural
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ΟἱHoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
διελογίζοντοdielogizontoThey deliberatedG1260
√ διαλογίζομαι — to reckon thoroughly, iVerbImperfect Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Plural
διαλογίζομαι: to reckon thoroughly Imperfect middle, the verb of internal calculation. Matthew lets us hear the deliberation, and what we hear is not a search for truth but a costing of two outcomes. Pulpit's judgment is exact: they sought “not truth, but evasion.”
ἐνenamongG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ἑαυτοῖςheautoisthemselvesG1438
√ ἑαυτοῦ — him- (her-, it-, them-, also (in conjunction with the personal pronoun of the other persons) my-, thy-, our-, your-) self (selves), etcReflexive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ἑαυτοῖς: themselves Pulpit observes that Mark's preposition (παρ' ἑαυτοῖς) implies the reflection passed in consultation from one to another rather than staying in one breast; Matthew's ἐν ἑαυτοῖς keeps it a huddle either way.
λέγοντεςlegontes[and] saidG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἘὰνEanIfG1437
√ ἐάν — a conditional particleConjunction
εἴπωμενeipōmenwe sayG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Subjunctive Active1st Person Plural
ἘξExFromG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
οὐρανοῦouranouheavenG3772
√ οὐρανός — the skyNounGenitive Masculine Singular
ἐρεῖereiHe will askG2046
√ ἐρέω — an alternate for G2036 (ἔπω) in certain tensesVerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἐρέω: he will say Future indicative in their own mouths: they predict his response accurately. The admission is fatal, because it shows they already know which answer is true and have calculated what truth would cost.
ἡμῖνhēminG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounDative 1st Person Plural
ΔιὰDiaWhyG1223
√ διά — through (in very wide applications, local, causal, or occasional)Preposition
τίti. . .G5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
οὖνounthenG3767
√ οὖν — (adverbially) certainly, or (conjunctionally) accordinglyConjunction
οὐκoukvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
ἐπιστεύσατεepisteusatedid you not believeG4100
√ πιστεύω — to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), iVerbAorist Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
πιστεύω: to believe, have faith Aorist indicative with οὐκ: a settled past failure, not a hesitation. Belief here is not a feeling but a verdict they declined to give about a sent messenger, and Gill draws the consequence they themselves drew: to grant John's mission is to grant the Messiah John pointed to.
αὐτῷautōhimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
26

But if we say, ‘From men,’ we are afraid of the people, for they all regard John as a prophet.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de ean eipōmen Ex anthrōpōn phoboumetha ton ochlon gar pantes echousin ton Iōannēn hōs prophētēn

Word by word15 · parsed
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐὰνeanifG1437
√ ἐάν — a conditional particleConjunction
εἴπωμενeipōmenwe sayG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Subjunctive Active1st Person Plural
ἘξExFromG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
ἀνθρώπωνanthrōpōnmenG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounGenitive Masculine Plural
φοβούμεθαphoboumethawe are afraidG5399
√ φοβέω — to frighten, iVerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive1st Person Plural
φοβέω: to frighten, to fear The only motive the council states out loud in this whole exchange is fear, and it is fear of people, not of God. Luke's parallel sharpens the danger to “all the people will stone us.” Barnes thinks a public verdict that John was an impostor could have ended in tumult and even in their own deaths; Pulpit says simply that public opinion was too strong for them.
τὸνtonof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ὄχλονochlonpeopleG3793
√ ὄχλος — a throng (as borne along)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
ὄχλος: a throng, borne along The crowd functions here as an involuntary witness for the truth. Its verdict on John is right, and it is the only thing in the scene restraining the court from an open lie. Pulpit adds that Herod had hesitated to kill John for the same reason (Matthew 14:5), which means the entire official world of Israel was, at this point, governed by the opinion it despised.
γὰρgarforG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
Causal connective: the reason given is the crowd's conviction, not the truth of John's mission.
πάντεςpantesthey allG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἔχουσινechousinregardG2192
√ ἔχω — to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remoteVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἔχω: to hold, have Present indicative: the popular verdict is a standing possession, not a passing mood, and it had survived John's execution. Ellicott notes that the death of John had deepened that reverence, so the rulers are reckoning with a settled fact.
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἸωάννηνIōannēnJohnG2491
√ Ἰωάννης — Joannes (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
ὡςhōsasG5613
√ ὡς — which how, iAdverb
προφήτηνprophētēna prophetG4396
√ προφήτης — a foreteller ("prophet")NounAccusative Masculine Singular
προφήτης: a foreteller, prophet To call John a prophet is to place him in the line tested by Deuteronomy 18:18-22, and a recognized prophet's testimony binds. Since John's whole testimony pointed to Jesus, granting the title settles the question of v. 23, which is exactly why the rulers will not grant it aloud. Poole notes, honestly and awkwardly for the rulers, that some of them revered John more than they revered Jesus.
27

So they answered, “We do not know.” And Jesus replied, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai apokrithentes tō Iēsou eipan Ouk oidamen kai autos Ephē autois Oude egō legō hymin en poia exousia poiō tauta

Word by word20 · parsed
καὶkaiSoG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀποκριθέντεςapokrithentesthey answeredG611
√ ἀποκρίνομαι — to conclude for oneself, iVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἀποκρίνομαι: to answer, decide for oneself The same participle he used in v. 24 now describes them, and what it introduces is a refusal to decide. The lexicon's root sense (to conclude for oneself) makes the irony structural: the court whose office is to conclude, concludes nothing.
τῷtōG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦIēsouG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounDative Masculine Singular
εἶπανeipanG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ΟὐκOukvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
οἴδαμενoidamenWe do not knowG1492
√ εἴδω — used only in certain past tenses, the others being borrowed from the equivalent G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι) and G3708 (ὁράω)VerbPerfect Indicative Active1st Person Plural
εἴδω: to know, to have seen Perfect with present force. Ellicott calls the confession of impotence “a virtual abdication,” and Pulpit notes that the men whose duty was to pronounce a verdict on prophetic claims here take refuge, like a modern agnostic, in a profession of ignorance. The lie is not incidental: it is the only way to keep both their hostility to Christ and their standing with the crowd, as JFB observes.
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
αὐτόςautos[Jesus]G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
αὐτός: self, he himself The emphatic pronoun with Ἔφη answers their emphatic collective “we.” Matthew balances the two speakers deliberately: a council that will not say, and a Son who will not say to a council that will not say.
ἜφηEphērepliedG5346
√ φημί — to show or make known one's thoughts, iVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
φημί: to make known one's thoughts Imperfect: the reply is given as the scene closes rather than as a single closing shot, and JFB notes that Jesus takes advantage of the resulting silence and awe to begin the parables of vv. 28-32 immediately.
αὐτοῖςautoisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ΟὐδὲOudeNeitherG3761
√ οὐδέ — not however, iAdverb
οὐδέ: neither, not even The correspondence word. His withholding is not petulance but the exact measure of their own, and it leaves the question of v. 23 standing open until Matthew answers it himself at 28:18.
ἐγὼegō{will} IG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 1st Person Singular
λέγωlegōtellG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active1st Person Singular
λέγω: to lay forth, to say Present, and the grammar carries the theology: he can tell and will not, because they could tell and would not. Poole adds that they had been told already, by the miracles, and Ellicott that for anyone not wilfully blind the words, works and sinless life were proof enough.
ὑμῖνhyminyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Plural
ἐνenbyG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ποίᾳpoiawhatG4169
√ ποῖος — individualizing interrogative (of character) what sort of, or (of number) which oneInterrogative / Indefinite PronounDative Feminine Singular
ἐξουσίᾳexousiaauthorityG1849
√ ἐξουσία — privilege, iNounDative Feminine Singular
ἐξουσία: delegated right The fourth and last occurrence, returned to them unanswered. Nothing in the unit denies that exousia was given; the question of who gave it is simply left with the men who refused to answer about John.
ποιῶpoiōI am doingG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbPresent Indicative Active1st Person Singular
ταῦταtautathese thingsG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounAccusative Neuter Plural

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The court convenes in its own courtyard — 21:23

Matthew opens with a genitive absolute and a broken sentence: αὐτοῦ ἐλθόντος into the temple, διδάσκοντι, teaching, and into that present participle the delegation walks. Pulpit judges this to be the first time the council took formal notice of Jesus' claims and demanded an account of him personally, and Ellicott notes that Matthew and Luke together name all three orders of the Sanhedrin, so the body that appears is the competent court. Their two questions are not a repetition, says Cambridge: the first asks what kind of authority (ποίᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ, the qualitative interrogative, human or divine), the second asks by whose agency it was conferred. Ellicott supplies the procedure the questions assume, that the right to teach was conferred by the scribes on one who had studied at a great teacher's feet, with the delivery of a key as the token of the right to interpret, and adds the barb: could he name the Rabbi who trained him? Benson hears in the demand both grievances at once, the public teaching and the expulsion of traders who, he has the rulers say, held “our commission.” Poole reconstructs the trap mechanically: a claim of divine authority they would have charged as blasphemy, and of human authority “they knew he had none, according to their rules for order, for they came from the court that should have given them such authority.” Geneva turns it against every age that binds vocation to an ordinary succession as a pretext “to stop Christ's mouth.” Note what the Greek makes audible in this verse and takes away in v. 26: they come as elders of τοῦ λαοῦ, the covenant people.

ii. One word against two questions — 21:24-26

The reply is built on a crasis used twice: κἀγὼ, “I too.” Benson hears the retort in it, “I also will ask you one thing, who have asked me many,” and what Jesus asks for is ἕνα λόγον, one word, which Pulpit is careful to render literally. Pulpit also records the road not taken: Jesus could have asserted his divine mission and appealed to his miracles, “in strict conformity with the old, established rule for discriminating false and true prophets,” citing Deuteronomy 18:22 and Jeremiah 28:9, and did not, because of their scepticism and malice. Instead the question is about provenance, πόθεν, and about John. Cambridge lays out the three exits and shows all three sealed: from heaven is to confess Christ, from men is to face the people, silence is to resign their standing as spiritual chiefs of the nation. Gill notes that Christ binds himself in return, promising to satisfy them fully if they answer plainly, so the offer is genuine. Then Matthew lets us overhear the council. διελογίζοντο is imperfect and middle, accountancy language, and Geneva glosses it as men who “laid their heads together”; Pulpit's verdict on the deliberation is that they sought “not truth, but evasion,” and JFB observes that the wisdom of Christ's question appears best in their own reply. Their calculation convicts them twice: they predict his rejoinder about John exactly, and in v. 26 they name their only motive out loud, φοβούμεθα, present tense, we are afraid, of the ὄχλον, which JFB insists is the multitude, the mob. Barnes thinks a public verdict against John could have ended in tumult and even in their deaths; Luke's parallel says stoning. Henry's dry line names the disease: “Many are more afraid of the shame of lying than of the sin.” In private they concede what they will not concede in the open, that all hold John ὡς προφήτην, and Gill notes the people's conviction was firm and undimmed by John's death.

iii. Two silences, only one of them honest — 21:27

The court answers with a perfect tense, οὐκ οἴδαμεν, we have not come to know. Barnes calls it “a direct falsehood,” Gill a wilful lie preferred to the reproach of ignorance, and Pulpit notes that the very men whose office was to try prophetic claims take shelter, like a modern agnostic, behind a profession of ignorance before the gaping crowd. Ellicott names the result precisely: a confession of impotence that is a virtual abdication, and before such a tribunal the Prophet they called in question might well refuse to plead. The refusal is then given in the present indicative, οὐδὲ λέγω ὑμῖν, and Poole will not let the English blur it: “Not, I cannot tell you, but I do not tell you.” So the unit ends with two silences that are not morally alike. Theirs claims an incapacity that is false; his exercises a right that is real, on terms he announced in advance. Pulpit passes on Jerome's formulation, that they knew and were unwilling to answer, while he knew and held his peace. And Barnes adds the pedagogy: the counter-question was leading these men to answer their own question about his authority, to their own confusion. JFB notes that Jesus used the ensuing silence at once, and began the parables of the two sons and the wicked husbandmen.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ Read this scene as a jurisdiction dispute and the logic is exact. ἐξουσία is by its nature derivative, something held from a granting power, so the rulers' second question (who gave you this?) is not a stupid question; it is the right question asked by men who have already decided that only they can be the answer. Jesus does not dispute the premise. He accepts it, and then asks them to apply it once, to a case already closed: John. That is the whole of his defense, and it is a devastating one, because a court that cannot render a verdict on a prophet whose baptism the whole nation submitted to has no competence to try a second case. Notice that the text never says the rulers lacked evidence. It says they calculated. Matthew gives us their deliberation in the imperfect so that we watch them weigh two consequences and never once weigh the truth, and then he gives us their only stated motive, fear, directed at the crowd rather than at God. What they feared is instructive: not being wrong, but being seen to be wrong. ⚙ Our fallible reading, offered to be tested, is that this is why the passage ends in silence rather than in argument. Revelation is not withheld from ignorance; it is withheld from a settled refusal to render judgment on light already given. Poole says he had told them long since, and they might know by his miracles, so the silence of v. 27 is not the closing of a door but the naming of one that has been bolted from the inside. And the question the council walked away from does get answered in this Gospel, though not by them: the same noun, ἐξουσία, returns on the lips of the risen Christ, all of it in heaven and on earth, given to him (Matthew 28:18). The Sanhedrin asked who gave it. Matthew answers at the end of his book, and the answer was never going to come from a committee in a courtyard.

⚙ A fallible line from this tool, not a verse of Scripture: they did not lack evidence about John, they lacked willingness to be on record, and God does not hand fresh light to a court that has filed the last delivery unanswered.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The same courtyard interrogation in Mark and Luke verbal / quotation: confirmed

The Verifier's highest scoring candidates are the synoptic parallels to this very dialogue: Mark 11:28 and Luke 20:2 carry the rulers' question with the same three words (τίς plus ἔδωκεν, ποίᾳ, ἐξουσίᾳ), and Mark 11:33 and Luke 20:8 carry the refusal of v. 27 with ποίᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ again. Mark 11:29 matches v. 24 down to the future ἐρῶ, and Mark 11:31 matches the private deliberation of v. 25 (ἐρεῖ, ἐάν, οὐρανός). Barnes, Cambridge, JFB, Poole and Pulpit all cross-reference the passages at the head of their notes, and Poole works through Mark and Luke's extra details (the daily teaching, the people hanging on him, the plan to destroy him) as the setting Matthew leaves implicit. This is a Greek to Greek link inside one Testament, and the shared wording is not a motif but the same recorded speech.

Mark 11:28-33 · Luke 20:1-8

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes across all three accounts, G1849 ἐξουσία (in 93 vv), G4169 ποῖος (in 32 vv), G1325 δίδωμι (in 378 vv), G2046 ἐρέω (in 96 vv); Mark 11:29 and Mark 11:33 and Luke 20:8 and Mark 11:28 and Luke 20:2 are the top-ranked candidates, and the agreement is continuous clause for clause, a synoptic parallel of one dialogue, not an allusion

How a true prophet is known, and the test the court would not run structural / thematic: confirmed

Pulpit states the connection explicitly: Jesus might have appealed to his miracles, which “would have been in strict conformity with the old, established rule for discriminating false and true prophets,” citing Deuteronomy 18:22 and Jeremiah 28:9. Deuteronomy 18:18-22 provides both the promise of a prophet like Moses and the test by which a spoken word is judged; Exodus 4:1-9 gives the sign-credentials granted to a sent man who asks “they will not believe me”; Jeremiah 28:15 names the opposite case, the prophet who speaks unsent. The rulers in Matthew 21 demand credentials while declining to apply the statutory test either to John or to Jesus. No verbal link is possible or claimed here: these are Hebrew texts and this unit is Greek, so no shared Strong's number can exist across the pair, and the connection is the shared legal framework, recorded by Pulpit himself.

Deuteronomy 18:18-22 · Exodus 4:1-9 · Jeremiah 28:15

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek unit to Hebrew texts), so shared Strong's lexemes are impossible by construction and no verbal tier is available; the basis is the shared juridical pattern of testing a prophet's warrant, cited from the sourced Pulpit note on Matthew 21:24 which names Deuteronomy 18:22 and Jeremiah 28:9

The tribunal that was built to try the hard case structural / thematic: confirmed

Deuteronomy 17:8-12 establishes the sanctuary court for cases too hard for a local judge, with a duty to render a verdict and a penalty for refusing it. Gill, glossing “elders of the people,” cites the rabbinic reading of Deuteronomy 21:2 (“thy elders, who are thy judges”) and identifies the body in Matthew 21:23 as the great Sanhedrin. Numbers 16:1-11 supplies the inverse: Korah contesting an appointed office and being answered by a test of whom the LORD chooses. Matthew's scene is the appointed court refusing to judge, and Ellicott calls the refusal “a virtual abdication.” The structural irony is that the very institution created to settle the hard question pleads inability on the easiest one.

Deuteronomy 17:8-12 · Numbers 16:1-11 · Deuteronomy 21:2

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so no shared Strong's number can be recorded and no verbal tier is possible; the basis is the shared institution of the appointed court and its duty to render a verdict, with Gill's sourced citation of Deuteronomy 21:2 on elders as judges as the documentary link

Halting between two opinions structural / thematic: confirmed

Ellicott's own phrase for the council is taken from Elijah on Carmel: “The priests and scribes had, in dealing with the mission of John, halted between two opinions,” and he documents the oscillation from Matthew's own text, that they came to John's baptism (Matthew 3:7) and also said “he hath a devil” (Matthew 11:18). In 1 Kings 18:21 Elijah puts the same forced disjunction to Israel (the LORD or Baal) and the people answer nothing. The parallel is a pattern of a prophet imposing a two-way choice and receiving silence, not a quotation, and the two texts share no lexical stock since one is Hebrew and one Greek.

1 Kings 18:21 · Matthew 3:7 · Matthew 11:18

basis: The Matthew 3:7 and Matthew 11:18 references are Ellicott's own sourced cross-references within this Gospel; 1 Kings 18:21 is cross-Testament, so no shared Strong's lexeme can be recorded, and the link is the shared pattern of a forced disjunction met by silence, carried by Ellicott's phrase 'halted between two opinions'

Afraid of the crowd, as their fathers were of the prophets structural / thematic: confirmed

The only motive the council states is φοβούμεθα (v. 26), and Luke's parallel makes the danger stoning. Jeremiah 26:11-19 is the closest recorded analogue: princes and people debate whether a prophet deserves death, the elders recall Micah of Moresheth, and Uriah's killing is set beside him, so the fear of harming a prophet and the willingness to kill one stand side by side in one chapter. 2 Chronicles 36:15-16 gives the summary judgment on the whole pattern, messengers sent and mocked. Pulpit adds from outside Scripture that Herod hesitated to kill John for the same fear of the people (Matthew 14:5) and that Josephus records the popular reading of Herod's later defeat as judgment for the murder. The link is a shared motif of national handling of prophets, with no claim of verbal contact.

Jeremiah 26:11-19 · 2 Chronicles 36:15-16 · Matthew 14:5

basis: Cross-Testament for the two Hebrew texts, so shared Strong's numbers are unavailable and no verbal tier applies; the basis is the shared motif of rulers weighing the cost of rejecting a prophet the people revere, with Matthew 14:5 supplied from Pulpit's sourced note on Matthew 21:26 as the in-Gospel parallel

“What sort of works?” The counter-question in the temple again structural / thematic: confirmed

The Verifier lists John 10:32 as a candidate on the strength of ποῖος with ἀποκρίνομαι. There, also in the temple and also under threat, Jesus answers hostility with the qualitative interrogative: for which sort of work do you stone me? The shared vocabulary is real and computable (Greek to Greek), but it is a habit of speech rather than a quotation, and the two scenes are independent. We record it as a verbal element inside a thematic pattern and decline the verbal tier, which is reserved here for the synoptic parallels. Job 38:1-3 shows the same rhetorical shape at its source, God answering the man who demanded an accounting by demanding one of him, though that pair is cross-Testament and can carry no lexical basis at all.

John 10:32 · Job 38:1-3

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G4169 ποῖος (in 32 vv) and G611 ἀποκρίνομαι (in 231 vv) with John 10:32, a genuine verbal element but common enough and in an independent scene, so downgraded from verbal to structural; Job 38:1-3 is cross-Testament and contributes pattern only, with no shared Strong's number possible

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The authority they asked to see the license for ancient/widely-held

⚙ The unit's keyword is ἐξουσία, four times in five verses, and its native sense is derivative: a right held from a granting power. The council's question therefore assumes that legitimacy is conferred, and Ellicott documents the concrete Jewish machinery of conferral, down to the key handed to the licensed interpreter. Matthew has already reported the crowd's verdict on the teaching of one who taught “as having authority, and not as their scribes” (7:29), a text Ellicott cites here, and Barnes says plainly that coming as a prophet and working miracles “was sufficient authority, indeed,” though the rulers professed not to be satisfied with it. The Gospel does not leave the question hanging: the same noun returns at 28:18 in the mouth of the risen Christ, all authority in heaven and on earth, given to him. So the answer Matthew finally records is not that Jesus needed no grant, but that the grant did not come from the men holding the keys in that courtyard. This is the widely-held reading; Ellicott, Barnes, Poole, Gill, Cambridge, JFB and Pulpit all take the authority in question to be a divine commission the rulers had the means to recognize.

Matthew 28:18 · Matthew 7:29 · John 5:26-27

Why everything turns on John ancient/widely-held

⚙ Christ's single λόγον is not a debating trick; it is a pointer to the witness God had already given. Barnes states the inference with no hedging: if John's ministry was from God, “then the inference was clear that Jesus was the Messiah, and then they might easily know by what authority he did those things.” Gill says they saw it themselves, that to own the divine authority of John's baptism was to allow Jesus to be the true Messiah John bore witness to, “and is the very thing that Christ had in view.” Pulpit adds the content of that witness, “Behold the Lamb of God,” from John 1:32-36, and notes that John's mission had no meaning except to prepare Christ's way. Poole makes the argument explicit as Christ's own hidden answer: John held no human license, so his commission was an extraordinary divine one, “So do I, saith our Saviour, and have given you a greater proof of it than ever John Baptist did.” The Christology is therefore not read into the text; it is the mechanism of the counter-question. Judge John rightly and the verdict on Jesus follows.

John 1:29-34 · Matthew 3:13-15 · Luke 7:29

The first of the silences novel

⚙ In v. 27 Christ, standing before the gathered Sanhedrin in the temple, declines to plead: οὐδὲ λέγω ὑμῖν, a present-tense refusal, not an inability, as Poole insists. Ellicott draws the judicial point, that before a tribunal which had just confessed itself incompetent “the Prophet whom they called in question might well refuse to plead.” Matthew will bring the same court and the same silence together again a few chapters later, when the high priest demands an answer and Jesus keeps still (26:62-63), and before Pilate, where the governor marvels at it (27:12-14). ⚙ We offer as our own reading, fallible and to be tested, that the refusal here is the first movement of the silence Isaiah 53:7 describes, the lamb that does not open its mouth, and that its logic is the same in both places: a court that will not judge honestly forfeits the testimony it demands. We mark this typological connection as novel in this form rather than claiming it from the sources; the commentators in this file draw the silence to the rulers' abdication, not to Isaiah, and the Isaiah link is cross-Testament, carrying no lexical basis.

Isaiah 53:7 · Matthew 26:62-63 · Matthew 27:12-14

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text: BSB (CC0) with the Berean interlinear and Strong's numbering as supplied in the brief; the parse and gloss for every word above are taken from that interlinear and not adjusted. Where the interlinear glosses a word with placeholder marks (for example the vvv at 21:24 word 0, 21:25 word 26 and 21:27 word 5, which signal that the English of the following word absorbs the negative or the pronoun), we have read the surface form and parse rather than the placeholder.

Sources: ten public-domain commentators are present for this unit (Ellicott, Benson, Henry, Barnes, JFB, Poole, Gill, Geneva, Cambridge, Pulpit), and all ten are quoted. Coverage is uneven in the source file itself: Benson's note on the whole pericope sits under 21:23 only, Poole's substantive treatment sits under 21:27 with cross-references at 21:24 through 21:26, Henry's concise note is one paragraph repeated across all five verses, Cambridge has no entry at 21:25 through 21:27, and Ellicott none at 21:26. Two entries in the file are capped (Gill and Pulpit at 21:23); nothing quoted here comes from the capped portion.

Uncertain or second-hand: Pulpit's report of Jerome at 21:27 is quoted as Pulpit's attribution, not as verified Jerome, and the same applies to his citation of Josephus on Herod's defeat and of the comment of Donatus on Terence. Pulpit's suggestion at 21:23 that the rulers meant to insinuate Satan's agency is his conjecture, flagged as such in the voice note. Textual detail: Pulpit discusses παρ' ἑαυτοῖς at 21:25, but the interlinear for Matthew has ἐν ἑαυτοῖς; the observation belongs to the synoptic parallel and is reported as such. One further caution: the detailed rabbinic licensing procedure that Ellicott and Cambridge use to explain the force of the question (authority to teach conferred by the scribes on a student admitted at a great teacher's feet, with a key handed over as the token of the right to interpret) is a nineteenth-century reconstruction of first-century practice. Nothing in Matthew 21:23 describes it. We quote it because it is what these sources say and because it plausibly explains the second question, not as an established fact about the Sanhedrin's rules.

Threads: the synoptic parallels in Mark 11 and Luke 20 are the only link here tiered verbal, and that is a Greek to Greek agreement in one recorded dialogue, confirmed by the Verifier's shared lexemes. Every Old Testament contact in this unit is tiered structural or typological, because no shared Strong's number can exist between a Greek unit and a Hebrew text; the bases say so explicitly. There is no formula quotation of the Old Testament in the BSB text of Matthew 21:23-27, and we have claimed none. The Isaiah 53:7 connection in the third Christ section is marked novel and is our synthesis, not a sourced reading. The remaining Verifier candidates (Mark 12:28, 1 Corinthians 15:35, Luke 24:19, Luke 6:33-34, Revelation 3:3, Acts 7:49, Luke 5:19, 1 Peter 1:11) rest almost entirely on the common interrogative G4169 ποῖος and were judged too weak to record as threads.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)