Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 21:27
And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.
Verse 27. We cannot tell.] Simplicity gives a wonderful confidence and peace of mind; but double dealing causes a thousand inquietudes and troubles. Let a man do his utmost to conceal in his own heart the evidence he has of truth and innocence, to countenance his not yielding to it; God, who sees the heart, will, in the light of the last day, produce it as a witness against him, and make it his judge.
We cannot tell, said they; which, in the words of truth, should have been, We will not tell, for we will not have this man for the Messiah: because, if we acknowledge John as his forerunner, we must, of necessity, receive Jesus as the Christ.
They who are engaged against the truth are abandoned to the spirit of falsity, and scruple not at a lie. Pharisaical pride, according to its different interests, either pretends to know every thing, or affects to know nothing. Among such, we may meet with numerous instances of arrogance and affected humility. God often hides from the wise and prudent what he reveals unto babes; for, when they use their wisdom only to invent the most plausible excuses for rejecting the truth when it comes to them, it is but just that they should be punished with that ignorance to which, in their own defence, they are obliged to have recourse.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
27. And they answered Jesus, andsaid, We cannot tellEvidently their difficulty was, how toanswer, so as neither to shake their determination to reject theclaims of Christ nor damage their reputation with the people. For thetruth itself they cared nothing whatever.
Neither tell I you by whatauthority I do these thingsWhat composure and dignity ofwisdom does our Lord here display, as He turns their question uponthemselves, and, while revealing His knowledge of their hypocrisy,closes their mouths! Taking advantage of the surprise, silence, andawe produced by this reply, our Lord followed it up immediately bythe two following parables.
Parable of the Two Sons (Mt21:28-32).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And they answered Jesus and said, we cannot tell,…. They saw the dilemma they were brought into; they chose rather therefore to speak against their own consciences, and tell a wilful lie, and incur the reproach of ignorance: who, at other times, took upon them to judge of a prophet, whether he was a true or a false one, and by what authority he acted, whether of God, or man: but now being reduced to this wretched condition, contrary to their office and character, declare they did not know, and could not tell from whence John had his commission, and who gave him his authority:
and he said unto them, neither tell I you by what authority I do these things: since, according to the proposal of Christ, and the agreement he entered into with them, they did not give him a direct answer to his question, he looked upon himself under no obligation to inform them, what was his authority, and from whence he had it; though by the question he put to them he tacitly suggests, that he had his authority not from man, but from God; and by this his answer signifies, that since John preached and baptized without their authority and approbation, so might he; nor was he dependent on them, or accountable to them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(27) We cannot tell.The confession of impotence to which the priests and scribes were thus brought was, as has been said, a virtual abdication. Before such a tribunal the Prophet whom they called in question might well refuse to plead. There was, indeed, no need to answer. For those who were not wilfully blind and deaf, the words that He had spoken, the works which He had done, the sinless life which He had led, were proofs of an authority from God.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
27. We cannot tell That is, in the Greek, We know not. They would more truly have said, We know, but we do not like to confess. These teachers, who are the professed guides of the people, prepared to decide upon all questions, are now reduced to a “know not.” Neither tell I you If they had really not known, and had inquired in order to know, how readily would our Lord have answered them. But he now simply exposes their obstinacy to themselves and leaves them to reflect upon it. And to aid them in these reflections he gives them the following parable, which comes in close application.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And they answered Jesus, and said, “We do not know.”. He also said to them, “Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.” ’
In the end they opted for the answer that they felt would embarrass them least. They replied that they did not know. This basically disqualified them from being judges on the question of authority, certainly in the eyes of the crowd. If they could not tell whether John’s baptism was from Heaven, how could they hope to tell whether Jesus, Who had baptised alongside John, and had been testified to by John, was from Heaven or not (Joh 4:1-2)? The crowds, of course, knew that Jesus had been backed by John, and had worked alongside him. Thus they would recognise that His authority was on the same basis as John’s.
Thus Jesus was able to emphasise that in view of their own admission that they could not tell whether John was from God or not, there was no point in His putting forward the evidence of His own authority, which was partly based on John’s. The leaders must have been furious. They had simply made themselves look fools, and had sowed in people’s minds the thought that they were unable to discern the mind of God, and that in total contrast with Jesus, Whose association with John proved that He did know the mind of God.
The importance of this episode must not be underestimated. The Jews were proud of the fact that they saw themselves as the people of God. And they looked with awe to their High Priests Annas and Caiaphas who led their worship, and to their Teachers who interpreted to them their Scriptures which brought to them the voice of God. Thus the undermining of their confidence in the ability of either of these groups to speak authoritatively concerning the truth about God and His authority would bring home to those who could ‘see’ how false their position was, and would shake their faith in them, resulting in religious disillusionment. It would thus hopefully point them towards Jesus.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 21:27. Neither tell I you “I do not think it at all necessary to tell you by what authority I do these things; for the other question concerning John, naturally requires to be determined first; and when you think proper to decide that, you may easily perceive that the same answer will serve both:” which was plainly the case; for, as on the one hand, the express testimony which John bore to Christ must be a sufficient proof of his divine mission, if that of John was allowed, (since according to the Jewish maxim, the testimony of one prophet was sufficient to confirm the authority of another); so Christ had spoken in such an honourable manner of John, that to condemn John as an impostor, would imply a like censure on the character of Jesus.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
27 And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.
Ver. 27. We cannot tell ] Lie and all: they could tell, and would not. Their reasonings within themselves, Mat 21:25 , testify that they knew the truth, but would not acknowledge it; a they profess their ignorance rather: and such dealing we have from many learned Papists. Thus Bellarmine affirmeth that he never read in all the Bible a promise of pardon made to those that confess their sins to Almighty God. (Bell. de Justif., lib. 1, cap. 21.) Baronius cannot see that Peter was in fault at Antioch, but Paul a great deal more, for taking him up for halting, Gal 2:12-14 . The wit of heretics will better serve them to devise a thousand shifts to elude the truth, than their pride will suffer them once to yield and subscribe to it.
a Mendacio nodum secant quem solvere sine impietate vel periculo non possunt, Parcus in loc.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mat 21:27 . , etc.: Jesus was not afraid to answer their question, but He felt it was not worth while giving an answer to opportunists.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
cannot tell = do not (App-105.) know.
tell = know. Greek. oida. App-132.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mat 21:27. , we do not know) A forced confession of most disgraceful ignorance.[928]-, …, neither, etc.) A repulse rare and just, by which itself Jesus proves His divine authority.[929]-, to you) you unbelievers, who do not ask for the sake of learning. He gave them a clue by which to ascertain that authority; see ch. Mat 22:43. He had often told them before.
[928] In which, however, the proud at times prefer seeking a refuge, rather than yield themselves up to the truth. The Wicked is caught in (his own) snare.-V. g.
[929] It would not have been becoming that more should be given to one who hath not.-V. g.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
We cannot tell: Mat 15:14, Mat 16:3, Mat 23:16-28, Isa 6:10, Isa 28:9, Isa 29:10-12, Isa 42:19, Isa 42:20, Isa 56:10, Isa 56:11, Jer 8:7-9, Mal 2:6-9, Luk 20:7, Luk 20:8, Joh 9:30, Joh 9:40, Joh 9:41, Rom 1:18-22, Rom 1:28, 2Co 4:3, 2Th 2:9, 2Th 2:10
Reciprocal: Mat 22:46 – no Mar 11:33 – Neither 1Ti 1:7 – understanding
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1:27
They refused to answer and falsely stated that they could not tell, for they had an abundance of evidence that John was a man of God. Jesus also refused to answer their question but did not misrepresent his position as did the Pharisees; he simply said neither tell I you.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 21:27. We know not. A falsehood; as Mat 21:25-26, show.
Neither tell I you, etc. Christ answers their thought: we will not tell. This refusal is similar to that made when a sign from heaven was demanded (chap. Mat 12:38 ff.). The answer assumes their proven and confessed incompetency to decide on the authority of a prophet, and consequently His superiority to their questioning. Such a defeat increased their opposition.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 27
Neither tell I you, &c. They were thus referred to the testimony of John, whose authority they did not dare openly to reject.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
The leaders’ equivocation gave Jesus a reason to refuse them a direct answer without losing face. Why did He not give them one? They had refused earlier revelation through John. Having refused that revelation they had no ground to ask for more. They were incompetent to judge Jesus’ authority since they misunderstood the Old Testament and rejected the ministry of John. That was tragic since these were the men charged with evaluating the claims of those who said they spoke for God. They were ineffective spiritual leaders because they refused to judge fairly. [Note: Carr, p. 246.]
"Jesus’ subtle answers to the religious leaders’ challenge concerning His authority continued for several chapters even after it initially seemed that He had stopped. Without reading on, one would miss the answers Jesus actually did give, namely, that He is the Son of the Father, and that He demonstrated His authority conclusively when challenged to debate by those who considered themselves authorities." [Note: Gene R. Smillie, "Jesus’ Response to the Question of His Authority in Matthew 21," Bibliotheca Sacra 162:648 (October-December 2005):469.]
Matthew used this confrontation over Jesus’ authority to introduce three parables. He typically used events to introduce teaching in this Gospel. All three parables deal with these religious leaders. They focus on their failure to respond to God’s call and the consequences for the future of the Israelites.