By What Authority?
23 When he had come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority do you do these things? Who gave you this authority?” 24 Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, which if you tell me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?” They reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all hold John as a prophet.” 27 They answered Jesus, and said, “We don’t know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
The temple authorities demand his credentials, and he offers to trade the answer for one about John.
When he had come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority do you do these things? Who gave you this authority?”
The question is legitimate. These are the men responsible for the temple, and someone has overturned the furniture in it and is now teaching in the cleared space. Asking for credentials is their job.
The exchange is in the earlier account Mark 11:20–33. What he offers is not a refusal but a trade: one question for one question, with his answer promised if they answer first.
The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?” They reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’
It is not a diversion. John had publicly identified him, and any honest verdict on John settles the matter under discussion. The question is also perfectly answerable — they had sent a delegation to John and knew exactly what they thought of him.
They reasoned with themselves Matthew 21:25, and Matthew lets us hear it. Both branches are evaluated, and neither is evaluated for truth. If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask us, 'Why then did you not believe him?' — a cost. If we say, 'From men,' we fear the multitude — a different cost. The whole deliberation is about consequences, and the possibility that one of the answers might be the case never enters it.
They answered Jesus, and said, “We don’t know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
Men whose office was to rule on exactly this kind of question plead incompetence in public to avoid a position, which is a heavier admission than either answer would have been.
"Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things." The terms are kept. He is not withholding out of pique; there is no point giving evidence to a court that has just demonstrated it decides cases on cost. And he does not leave it there — the next three parables are the answer, delivered in a form they cannot refuse to understand.
settled What this mark means