Luke 22:68-71

22:68 and if ¹  I ask you, you will not ²  answer. 22:69 But from now on ³  the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand ⁴  of the power ⁵  of God.” 22:70 So ⁶  they all said, “Are you the Son of God, ⁷  then?” He answered ⁸  them, “You say ⁹  that I am.” 22:71 Then ¹⁰  they said, “Why do we need further testimony? We have heard it ourselves ¹¹  from his own lips!” ¹² 

[22:68]  ¹ tn This is also a third class condition in the Greek text.

[22:68]  ² tn The negation in the Greek text is the strongest possible (οὐ μή, ou mh).

[22:69]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of Jesus’ pronouncement.

[22:70]  ⁷ sn The members of the council understood the force of the claim and asked Jesus about another title, Son of God.

[22:70]  ⁸ tn Grk “He said to them.”

[22:70]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[22:71]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² tn Grk “from his own mouth” (an idiom).