Luke 22:66-71

22:66 When day came, the council of the elders of the people gathered together, both the chief priests and the experts in the law. ¹  Then ²  they led Jesus ³  away to their council ⁴  22:67 and said, “If ⁵  you are the Christ, ⁶  tell us.” But he said to them, “If ⁷  I tell you, you will not ⁸  believe, 22:68 and if ⁹  I ask you, you will not ¹⁰  answer. 22:69 But from now on ¹¹  the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand ¹²  of the power ¹³  of God.” 22:70 So ¹⁴  they all said, “Are you the Son of God, ¹⁵  then?” He answered ¹⁶  them, “You say ¹⁷  that I am.” 22:71 Then ¹⁸  they said, “Why do we need further testimony? We have heard it ourselves ¹⁹  from his own lips!” ²⁰ 

[22:66]  ¹ tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

[22:66]  ² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[22:66]  ³ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:66]  ⁴ sn Their council is probably a reference to the Jewish Sanhedrin, the council of seventy leaders.

[22:67]  ⁵ tn This is a first class condition in the Greek text.

[22:67]  ⁶ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[22:67]  ⁷ tn This is a third class condition in the Greek text. Jesus had this experience already in 20:1-8.

[22:67]  ⁸ tn The negation in the Greek text is the strongest possible (οὐ μή, ou mh).

[22:68]  ⁹ tn This is also a third class condition in the Greek text.

[22:68]  ¹⁰ tn The negation in the Greek text is the strongest possible (οὐ μή, ou mh).

[22:69]  ¹¹ sn From now on. Jesus’ authority was taken up from this moment on. Ironically he is now the ultimate judge, who is himself being judged.

[22:69]  ¹² sn Seated at the right hand is an allusion to Ps 110:1 (“Sit at my right hand…”) and is a claim that Jesus shares authority with God in heaven. Those present may have thought they were his judges, but, in fact, the reverse was true.

[22:69]  ¹³ sn The expression the right hand of the power of God is a circumlocution for referring to God. Such indirect references to God were common in 1st century Judaism out of reverence for the divine name.

[22:70]  ¹⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of Jesus’ pronouncement.

[22:70]  ¹⁵ sn The members of the council understood the force of the claim and asked Jesus about another title, Son of God.

[22:70]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “He said to them.”

[22:70]  ¹⁷ sn Jesus’ reply, “You say that I am,” was not a denial, but a way of giving a qualified positive response: “You have said it, but I do not quite mean what you think.”

[22:71]  ¹⁸ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[22:71]  ¹⁹ sn We have heard it ourselves. The Sanhedrin regarded the answer as convicting Jesus. They saw it as blasphemous to claim such intimacy and shared authority with God, a claim so serious and convicting that no further testimony was needed.

[22:71]  ²⁰ tn Grk “from his own mouth” (an idiom).