Luke 22:66-69

Context

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 Then² they led Jesus³ away to their council⁴ 22:67 and said, “If⁵ you are the Christ,⁶ tell us.” But he said to them, “If⁷ I tell you, you will not⁸ believe, 22:68 and if⁹ I ask you, you will not¹⁰ answer. 22:69 But from now on¹¹ the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand¹² of the power¹³ of God.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[22:69] ¹³sn 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] ¹⁴sn 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] ¹⁵sn 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.