Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Luke · About this commentary
By What Authority?
Luke 20:1-8
1 On one of those days, as he was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the Good News, the priests and scribes came to him with the elders. · WEB
The temple authorities demand his credentials and are offered a trade they cannot afford to take.
The priests and scribes came to him with the elders Luke 20:1, and they asked him, "Tell us: by what authority do you do these things? Or who is giving you this authority?" Luke 20:2.
The delegation is the full council in miniature, and the question is legitimate. Someone has cleared the temple courts and is now teaching in them daily. Asking for credentials is their office.
The exchange is told in the earlier accounts Mark 11:20–33 Matthew 21:23–27. What is offered is not a refusal but a trade: one question for one, with his answer promised if they answer first.
"The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men?" Luke 20:4. It is not a diversion. John had publicly identified him, so any honest verdict on John settles the matter under discussion — and they had sent to John and knew exactly what they thought.
They reasoned with themselves Luke 20:5, and both branches are weighed for consequences alone. If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say, 'Why didn't you believe him?' — a cost. If we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us — a worse one. Whether either answer might be true never enters.
"We don't know where it was from" Luke 20:7. Men whose office was to rule on precisely this plead ignorance in public to avoid a position.
"Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things" Luke 20:8. The terms are kept. There is no point giving evidence to a court that has just shown it decides on cost — and the next paragraph is a parable that answers the question in a form they cannot refuse to understand.
settled What this mark means