Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 20:8
And Jesus said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.
8. Neither tell I you ] If they were incompetent to decide as to the authority of the Prophet who had saluted Jesus as the Messiah, they were obviously incompetent to decide as to His authority.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And Jesus said unto them,…. Since they would not give him a direct answer to his question:
neither tell I you by what authority I do these things; nor was there any need of it; they might easily perceive by what he had said, from whence he professed to have received his authority, from God, and not men; [See comments on Mt 21:27].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
1) “And Jesus said unto them,” (kai ho lesous eipen autois) “And Jesus replied to them,” replied to their deceitful and dishonest evasion of the issue, Mar 11:33.
2) “Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.” (oude ego lego humin poia eksousia tauta poio) “Neither do I tell you all by what administrative authority I do these things,” Job 5:12-13. For it would be as “pearls cast before swine,” as you three are in colleague and collusion to entrap me, Luk 20:46; Mat 21:27; Mat 21:32; Mar 11:33.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
‘And Jesus said to them, “Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.” ’
So when Jesus then declared that He was not willing to submit His case to the very people who had admitted that they did not know how to judge a prophet’s authority, the people would recognise that He had really answered their question. His claim was that the source of His authority was the same as that of John, which was what they thought anyway. The Sanhedrin were stymied, and the belief of the people was thus confirmed.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
5 And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then believed ye him not?
6 But and if we say, Of men; all the people will stone us: for they be persuaded that John was a prophet.
7 And they answered, that they could not tell whence it was .
8 And Jesus said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.
Ver. 8. Neither tell I you, &c. ] God’s servants should be ready with their answer upon sudden assaults, and not to seek such arguments as may stop the mouth of an adversary. When a nimble Jesuit asked, Where was your religion before Luther? answer was presently returned, In the Bible, where your religion never was.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jesus. App-98. Neither. Greek. oude.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Luk 22:68, Job 5:12, Job 5:13, Pro 26:4, Pro 26:5, Mat 15:14, Mat 16:4, Mat 21:27, Mar 11:33
Reciprocal: Eze 14:3 – should Mat 7:29 – and not
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE SUFFICIENCY OF REVELATION
Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.
Luk 20:8
What is the truth that is involved in our Lords answerNeither tell I you by what authority I do these things?
I. The principle of reservation.God reserves to Himself the right to restrain, when He sees fit, that full manifestation of Himself which some men nevertheless demand of Him. There are some men, some women, in whose heart there has frequently risen up something of this resentment: Why must I live in a state of imperfect knowledge, which is the result of a limited revelation? It was not only unto the scribes and the Pharisees, and the idle, gaping crowd that our Lord acted upon this principle of reservation when He was here on earth, it was so with His own disciples. How is the great central mystery of the Incarnation, for example, ever present in His teaching, and yet who shall deny that it is ever shrouded? How guardedly He speaks of the new birth by water and the Word; how mysteriously in the blessed sacrament of His own Blood and Body!
II. The revelation sufficient.And yet shall we dare to say that the teaching which God in His mercy has vouchsafed to us, and the revelation that He has given to us, is insufficient? How much evidence of authority had He already given to those very scribes and Pharisees! Those who asked Him this very question as to His authority had never denied the factsthey had never dared to deny them. Yet you know what they had donethey had hardened their hearts and shut their eyes against them. It was possible for them to know long ere this by Whose authority He did these things. So for us it is possible to know, and to know with great certainty too, of Christ and His authority. What we need is sufficient knowledge to guide us unto the knowledge of Gods will. And such knowledge comes to men and women rather through the heart than through the intellect. If any man will do His will, he shall know the doctrine whether it be of God. Will to do His will, and He tells you that you shall know.
III. Conditions on which knowledge is attainable.There are conditions on which this knowledge is attainable.
(a) Purity of heart. It is purity of heart that enables men to see God, it is men who love God, and men who love each other as the children of God, who have the most perfect intelligence of God.
(b) Obedience. It has been well said that there is boundless danger in all inquiry which is merely curious! It is to such our Lord answers, and will ever answer, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things. When men ask questions of Almighty God, by the answer to which they never mean to rule their lives, let them not think that to them any sign will be given. The will must be set to do the will of God before the intellect can act with discernment on spiritual truth.
(c) Earnestness. A life of trifling here is not the life of those who are enlightened by their God. God must be really sought if God is to be truly found.
A life of earnest seeking is a life of finding, but Gods truth is too sacred a thing to be expounded to superficial worldliness. There are others tried by intellectual difficulties, yet athirst for the living God, and for a fuller revelation to their souls. The time of granting this revelation rests with Him, and to them that revelation will be given. The answer to their cry will come; they shall know the doctrine whether it be of God; He will tell tell them by what authority He does these things.
Rev. Prebendary Villiers.