Mark 11:29

11:29-30 Jesus often replied to his opponents with counter-questions (e.g., 2:8-9, 19, 25-26; 3:4, 23; 10:3, 38; see also 12:16), which is an effective way both to teach and to refute.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mar 11:29 . The grammatical structure of this sentence, compared with that in Mat 21:24 , is crude καὶ ἀποκρίθητέ μοι instead of ὃν ἐὰν εἴπητέ μοι . It is colloquial grammar, the easy-going grammar of popular conversation. ἕνα λόλον , vide at Mat 21:24 .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 29. See Clarke on Mr 11:27.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

29. And Jesus answered] They doubtless hoped that He would have claimed Divine authority, and then they would have had matter for accusation against Him, but He answered their question by another.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The baptism of John,.... The doctrine of which he was the first preacher, and the ordinance of which he was the first administrator:

was it from heaven, or of men? was it of divine or of human institution?

answer me; directly and plainly, without any shuffling, or evasion: it is a fair question, and may be answered; and the answer to it our Lord suggests would naturally lead to a proper one to their question; See Gill on Mat 21:25.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

29 And Jesus answered and said unto them, I will also ask of you one question, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

Ver. 29. {See Trapp on "Mat 21:24"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

See Poole on "Mat 21:24", and following verses to Mat 21:27, where are the same passages opened.

A prophet here, Mar 11:32, signifieth, one extraordinarily inspired and sent of God to reveal his will, so as his baptism must needs be from heaven. This reputation John it seems universally had, so as to have denied his baptism to have been from heaven, had been to have exposed themselves to the mockings, if not the rage, of the people, which they were loath to do. If they had said,

From heaven, they had accused themselves for not believing him, Joh 7:48. This makes them choose rather to make themselves doubtful in the case, and giveth our Saviour a fitting occasion to deny them satisfaction as to what they asked of him.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

I will ask of you one question (eperwthsw umav ena logon). The verb justifies the translation, one question, for "one word." The question which our Lord put to them was one on which hung the solution of that proposed by the scribes. It is as though he said, "You do not believe me when I say that I have received power from God. Believe then John the Baptist, who bare witness of me that I was sent from God to do these things."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The effective counter-question of Jesus:

v. 29. And Jesus answered and said unto them, I will also ask of you one question, and answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

v. 30. The baptism of John, was it from heaven or of men? Answer Me.

v. 31. And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven, He will say, Why, then, did ye not believe him?

v. 32. But if we shall say, Of men, they feared the people; for all men counted John that he was a prophet indeed.

v. 33. And they answered and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell. And Jesus, answering, saith unto them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.

Jesus was perfectly willing to give them an account of Himself and of all His actions in the Temple, under one condition. He had one single matter concerning which He desired information from them. If they would answer Him about that, He would be glad to tell them by what authority He was performing His miracles, teaching the people and purging the Temple. The question that Jesus proposed proved a dilemma to the Jewish chiefs: Whether the work of John the Baptist, specifically his baptizing, was done by orders from heaven, from God, or on his own responsibility. This was a poser for them. For, as they reasoned themselves in their perplexity, if they should say: From heaven, then the obvious retort would be: For what reason, then, did you refuse him belief? On the other hand: But, suppose we say, from men? This they also did not dare to answer, for they were afraid of the multitude, for all of the common people sincerely held that John was a prophet. In either direction there lay trouble for them, and so they preferred not to answer; whereupon Jesus informed them that He also would not answer their challenge. Their conscience told them that, if even the baptism of John was from heaven, then the ministry of Jesus with His wonderful miracles and powerful preaching must surely have authority from God. Thus unbelief is objectionable even from the standpoint of mere moral reasoning. The unbelievers cannot deny the power of the Word, but refuse to bow to the truth of it. And so, when driven to bay, they make use of lies, evasions, and excuses.

Summary.Jesus makes His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, performs the miracle of the fig-tree, purges the Temple, explains to His disciples the lesson of the dead tree, and answers the challenge of the Jewish authorities concerning His right to do these things.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tell me

"Answer me"

The baptism of John

"The baptism that John performed"

was it from heaven or from men

"was it authorized by heaven or by men"

from heaven

Here "heaven" refers to God. AT: "from God" (See: Metonymy)

from men

"from people"

translationWords

Jesus

authority

baptize

John (the Baptist)

heaven

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

29. [2590][2591][2592][2593][2594][2595] omit ἀποκριθείς. See on Mar 5:9, Mar 10:5. [2596][2597][2598][2599] omit κἀγώ.

[2590] Codex Sinaiticus. 4th cent. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the Monastery of St Katharine on Mount Sinai. Now at St Petersburg. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1911.

[2591] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[2592] Codex Ephraemi. 5th cent. A palimpsest: the original writing has been partially rubbed out, and the works of Ephraem the Syrian have been written over it; but a great deal of the original writing has been recovered; of Mark we have Mar 1:17 to Mar 6:31, Mar 8:5 to Mar 12:29, Mar 13:19 to Mar 16:20. In the National Library at Paris.

[2593] Codex Regius. 8th cent. An important witness. At Paris. Contains Mar 1:1 to Mar 10:15; Mar 10:30 to Mar 15:1; Mar 15:20 to Mar 16:20, but the shorter ending is inserted between Mar 16:8 and Mar 16:9, showing that the scribe preferred it to the longer one.

[2594] Codex Sangallensis. 9th or 10th cent. Contains the Gospels nearly complete, with an interlinear Latin translation. The text of Mark is specially good, agreeing often with CL. At St Gall.

[2595] Codex Athous Laurae. 8th cent. Like N and Σ, it is written in silver letters on purple vellum. Contains Mar 9:5 to Mar 16:20, and, as in L, the shorter ending is inserted between Mar 16:8 and Mar 16:9. As in Δ, the text of Mark is specially good.

[2596] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[2597] Codex Ephraemi. 5th cent. A palimpsest: the original writing has been partially rubbed out, and the works of Ephraem the Syrian have been written over it; but a great deal of the original writing has been recovered; of Mark we have Mar 1:17 to Mar 6:31, Mar 8:5 to Mar 12:29, Mar 13:19 to Mar 16:20. In the National Library at Paris.

[2598] Codex Regius. 8th cent. An important witness. At Paris. Contains Mar 1:1 to Mar 10:15; Mar 10:30 to Mar 15:1; Mar 15:20 to Mar 16:20, but the shorter ending is inserted between Mar 16:8 and Mar 16:9, showing that the scribe preferred it to the longer one.

[2599] Codex Sangallensis. 9th or 10th cent. Contains the Gospels nearly complete, with an interlinear Latin translation. The text of Mark is specially good, agreeing often with CL. At St Gall.

29. Ἐπερωτήσω. See crit. note. He answers their questions with another question; but the ἐπ- refers to directing the interrogation, not to making it on the top of previous interrogations. Wünsche says that it was a Rabbinical custom to ask another question by way of a rejoinder; but the custom is general.

ἕνα λόγον. Not “one question” (A.V., R.V.), nor “one thing” (A.V. marg.), but one statement. “You have asked me to state My authority. I will ask you for one statement.” The “one” is not in opposition to their two questions; it means that a single statement from them may settle the matter. At once they, and not He, are placed in a dilemma. But His reply is not an evasion; if they answered His question, the way to the answer to their question would be clear. As the constituted religious guides of the people, sitting on Moses’ seat, it was their place to speak first. The people had declared John to be a Prophet, and John had declared Jesus to be the Messiah. The Sanhedrin knew this, and they had allowed the popular estimate of John to pass unchallenged. That ought to mean that they admitted that John was a Prophet with a commission from Heaven to preach repentance-baptism. Did they admit this? If so, the authority of Jesus was established, for an inspired Prophet had declared Him to be the Messiah. Cf. Act 5:38-39, where Gamaliel offers a similar dilemma.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

29.] In ἐπερωτήσω, the preposition does not signify in addition, as Fritz., but merely indicates the direction of the question.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

29. Ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, Ἐπερωτήσω ὑμᾶς ἕνα λόγον—And Jesus said to them, I will ask you one question (word, literally).

Omit ἀποκριθεὶς, answering, Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. א BCL Δ 33, two mss. Lat. Vet. Memph. Pesh. Omit κἀγὼ, I also, Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BCL Δ, one ms. Lat. Vet. Memph.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.