Luke 22:69-71

22:69 But from now on ¹  the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand ²  of the power ³  of God.” 22:70 So ⁴  they all said, “Are you the Son of God, ⁵  then?” He answered ⁶  them, “You say ⁷  that I am.” 22:71 Then ⁸  they said, “Why do we need further testimony? We have heard it ourselves ⁹  from his own lips!” ¹⁰ 

[22:69]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of Jesus’ pronouncement.

[22:70]  ⁵ sn The members of the council understood the force of the claim and asked Jesus about another title, Son of God.

[22:70]  ⁶ tn Grk “He said to them.”

[22:70]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[22:71]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “from his own mouth” (an idiom).