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saying, “What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “Of David.”
He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying,
‘The Lord said to my Lord, sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet?’
“If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”
Matthew 22:42-45 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, “What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “Of David.”
He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying,
‘The Lord said to my Lord, sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet?’
“If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”
saying, “What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “Of David.”
He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying,
‘The Lord said to my Lord, sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet?’
“If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”
what thinke ye of Christ? Whose sonne is he? They sayde vnto him: the sonne of David.
He sayde vnto them: how then doeth David in spirite call him Lorde sayinge?
The Lorde sayde to my Lorde syt on my right honde: tyll I make thyne enemyes thy fote stole.
Yf David call him Lorde: how is he then his sonne?
Saying, What thinke ye of Christ? whose sonne is he? They sayd vnto him, Dauids.
He sayd vnto them, How then doeth Dauid in spirit call him Lord, saying,
The Lord sayd to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footestoole?
If then Dauid call him Lord, howe is he his sonne?
55 distinct cross-references across this passage (56 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v42 Or, whose stock or family: for the Hebrews call…
Or, whose stock or family: for the Hebrews call a man’s posterity, sons.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv42–45 42 Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son…
42 Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David.
Ver. 42. What think ye of Christ?] Christus utramque paginam impleret. All our search should be with those wise men for the babe of Bethlehem, who is wrapped up, as it were, in the swathing bands of both the Testaments.
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Whose son is he?] They were curious in genealogies. A shame therefore it was for them to be ignorant of Christ’s descent and pedigree.
They say unto him, The Son of David] Herein they said well, but not all; for they conceived no otherwise of Christ than as of a mere man. Our Saviour therefore takes a text out of Psa 110:1, and thereby convinceth them of his divinity. We must be well versed in the mystery of Christ, and neglect nothing needful to be known by us.
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.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv42–43 If David then call him Lord,.... That is, the…
If David then call him Lord,.... That is, the Messiah, which is taken for granted, nor could the Pharisees deny it,
how is he his son? The question is to be answered upon true and just notions of the Messiah, but unanswerable upon the principles of the Pharisees; who expected the Messiah only as a mere man, that should be of the seed of David, and so his son; and should sit upon his throne, and be a prosperous and victorious prince, and deliver them out of the hands of their temporal enemies: they were able to make answer to the question, separately considered, as that he should be of the lineage and house of David; should lineally descend from him, be of his family, one of his offspring and posterity, and so be properly and naturally his son; but how he could be so, consistent with his being David's Lord, puzzled them. Had they understood and owned the proper divinity of the Messiah, they might have answered, that as he was God, he was David's Lord, his maker, and his king; and, as man, was David's son, and so both his root and offspring; and this our Lord meant to bring them to a confession of, or put them to confusion and silence, which was the consequence.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv42–44 Luke xx, 41.
Luke xx, 41.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv42–45 Verse 42. What think ye of Christ?] Or, What…
Verse 42. What think ye of Christ?] Or, What are your thoughts concerning THE CHRIST - the Messiah; for to this title the emphatic article should always be added.
Whose son is he?] From what family is he to spring?
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They say unto him, The son of David.] This was a thing well known among the Jews, and universally acknowledged, see Joh 7:42; and is a most powerful proof against them that the Messiah is come. Their families are now so perfectly confounded that they cannot trace back any of their genealogies with any degree of certainty: nor have they been capable of ascertaining the different families of their tribes for more than sixteen hundred years. Why, then, should the spirit of prophecy assert so often, and in such express terms, that Jesus was to come from the family of David; if he should only make his appearance when the public registers were all demolished, and it would be impossible to ascertain the family? Is it not evident that God designed that the Messiah should come at a time when the public genealogies might be inspected, to prove that it was he who was prophesied of, and that no other was to be expected? The evangelists, Matthew and Luke, were so fully convinced of the conclusiveness of this proof that they had recourse to the public registers; and thus proved to the Jews, from their own records, that Jesus was born of the family mentioned by the prophets. Nor do we find that a scribe, Pharisee, or any other, ever attempted to invalidate this proof, though it would have essentially subserved their cause, could they have done it. But as this has not been done, we may fairly conclude it was impossible to do it.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v45 If David then call him Lord, how is he…
If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? It was allowed of a certain truth, that the Messias was to be the son of David. Christ shews them by David’s own words, that he was the Lord as well as the son of David: and this is what they could not answer to. (Witham) --- Jesus Christ here inculcates to the Pharisees, that two natures must be admitted in the Messias; in one of which, viz. in his human nature, he is the son of David, and as such inferior to him; and in the other, viz. in his divine nature, he is the son of God, and consequently superior to David; whence this latter, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, justly calls him Lord. (Tirinus) --- Jesus Christ does not wish them to think that the Messias is not the son of David, but only wished to rectify their opinion concerning him. When therefore he asks how he is the son, he teaches them that he is not, after the manner they understand it, the mere Son, but what is much more, the Lord also, of David. (St. John Chrysostom, hom. lxxii.)
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George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv42–45 42. What think ye of Christ? — They have…
42. What think ye of Christ? — They have had plenty of law questions; they will now have a Gospel question. So wisely and so skillfully did he select this last question, as at once to point their minds to the great source of salvation, and yet leave them in defeat and dismay, simply because they close their minds against the truth. Christ — As we have before said, (Mat_1:1,) Christ is the Greek word for the Hebrew Messiah. The Lord therefore asks, What think ye of the Messiah as predicted in the Old Testament?
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On v44 41–46. The Son of David
41–46. The Son of David
Mar_12:35-37; Luk_20:41-44
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44. The Lord said unto my Lord] Psa_110:1. According to the Hebrew, “Jehovah said to Adoni,” i. e. to my sovereign Lord, the Messiah, the Son of David.
said] The Hebrew word translated “said” implies divine inspiration, hence “in spirit” (Mat_22:43). Canon Perowne translates, “the oracle of Jehovah unto my lord.”
Sit thou on my right hand] As My co-regent, having power equal to Mine. This verse is quoted in 1Co_15:25; Heb_1:13; Heb_10:12-13. (Cp. for the expression ch. Mat_20:21.)
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv42–43 (42) The son of David.—Both question and answer gain…
(42) The son of David.—Both question and answer gain a fresh significance from the fact that the name had been so recently uttered in the Hosannas of the multitude (Mat_21:9; Mat_21:15). The Pharisees are ready at once with the traditional answer; but they have never asked themselves whether it conveyed the whole truth, whether it could be reconciled, and if so, how, with the language of predictions that were confessedly Messianic.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv42–45 What think ye of Christ? tou Cristou , the…
What think ye of Christ? tou Cristou , the Christ, the Messiah. What is your belief? What do you, the teachers of the people and the careful interpreters of Scripture, opine concerning the Messiah? Whose Son is he? This was a question the full bearing of which they did not comprehend, thinking that it referred only to his earthly descent. In their partial knowledge, perhaps half contemptuously, as to an inquiry familiar to all, they say unto him, The Son of David. So all prophecy had said, as they very well knew. (Mat_1:1)
Our thoughts of Christ"s Sonship.
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"What think ye of Christ? whose Son is he?" This is what may be called a Socratic dialogue. Our Lord asks questions, and leads his hearers on until they find themselves entangled, and discover how little they had thought about the things of which they had talked so glibly. The expression, "What think ye of Christ?" has been made the text of many general sermons on the claims and Person of Christ; and it has been variously urged that our opinions about Christ decide our religious standing. We try to keep strictly to the passage, and find points in following through the precise inquiry of our Lord.
I WHOSE SON IS MESSIAH? Our Lord uses the term "Christ," or "Messiah," here in its general sense, and from the Pharisees" point of view. He is not directly speaking of himself, or affirming that he is Messiah. He speaks to these Pharisees, and virtually says to them, "You talk about Messiah, you expect the coming Messiah, you are very learned about the Messiah. Say then, "Whose Son is he? Those Pharisees could not read the mind of Jesus as he could read their minds, and they did not suspect how he meant to puzzle them; so at once they answered, "The Son of David." "The Pharisees were ready at once with the traditional answer; but they had never asked themselves whether it conveyed the whole truth, whether it could be reconciled, and, if so, how, with the language of predictions that were confessedly Messianic." Show how fully our Lord met this prophetic necessity. His mother was, and his reputed father was, "of the house and lineage of David.
II HOW CAN MESSIAH BE DAVID"S SON AND DAVID"S LORD? This was so exceedingly easy a question, that one wonders how anybody could have been baffled by it. But perhaps these Pharisees were not baffled. They saw the answer plainly enough, but they saw also what the answer involved. This explained it all Messiah. was to be both "Son of David" and "Son of God. " But Jesus claimed to be Messiah, and these Pharisees dare not let the people hear them admit that the "Son of David" was also "Son of God." Those people had triumphantly brought Jesus into the temple as the "Son of David;" and if the Pharisees had ventured a reply to Jesus, they must have acknowledged his claim to be "Son of God." Our Lord was the Divine-human being of David according to the flesh; of God according to the Spirit. God was the soul of his humanity. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v42 What think ye of Christ?
Mat_22:42-45
What think ye of Christ?
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I. There are some who never think of Christ at all.
II. There are some who deem it unnecessary to have fixed thoughts about Christ.
III. There are some who have many thoughts about Christ.
IV. There are some who have right thoughts about Christ, but wrong feelings.
V. There are some who have right thoughts about Christ, and right feelings. (Various.)
What think ye of His-
I. Person?
II. Mission?
III. Condescension and grace?
IV. Work?
V. Ability and willingness to save? (T. Raffles, D. D. , LL. D.)
A testing question
1. It recognizes in man a mighty power, the power to think.
2. It indicates that all right-thinking of Christ must have respect to Him as He is revealed in Holy Scriptures.
3. That to think of Christ is a personal and individual duty.
4. To think right of Christ is a matter of transcendent importance. (J. Williams.)
Revelation not to supersede thought
The Book of God is not a book for the mentally indolent. An amount of mental digging is needful to discover much of the precious ore that lies hidden under the poetry, parables, proverbs, figures, symbols, and the many things hard to be understood in Holy Writ. The telescope, we know, says Archbishop Whately, brings within the sphere of our vision much that would be undiscoverable by the naked eye; but we must not the less employ our eyes in making use of it, and we must watch and calculate the motions, and reason on the appearances of the heavenly bodies which are visible only through the telescope, with the same care we employ in respect of those seen by the naked eye. And an analogous procedure is requisite if we would derive the intended benefit from the pages of inspiration, which were designed not to save us the trouble of inquiring and reflecting, but to enable us in some points to inquire and reflect to better purpose; not to supersede the use of reason, but to supply its dificiences. (J. Williams.)
I. What think ye of Christ? For the religion of the Bible extends to the very thoughts. Our conduct towards Him must always be regulated by our views.
II. What esteem have you for him? He is esteemed by all most worthy of our regard: Abraham. What regard have you for His greatness?
III. What are you willing to part with for his sake? With your sins-the world-with learning-self-righteousness.
IV. What Is it that keeps you from him?
1. Is it ignorance?
2. Prejudice?
3. Insensibility?
V. What wilt, you do without him?
1. In the conviction of conscience.
2. In prosperity.
3. In adversity.
4. In death.
5. In the great day of account. (W. Jay.)
All doctrines equally true, but not equally important
There is a difference between the railing of the bridge and the keystone. The one is indeed ornamental, but the other is essential to the structure. Take from man an eye, or a hand, or a foot, and you injure him; but take away the head, or heart, or lungs, and you demolish him. The doctrines concerning Christ are of supreme importance. (W. Jay.)
What think ye of Christ?
This question is not an appeal to the faith of the Pharisees, but to their opinion.
I. I commend the question. You should think of Christ-
1. Because you cannot help yourself.
2. Because you cannot escape the consequences of the question.
3. As a man thinks of Christ so is he at the hour of his death.
II. Knowledge of Christ is necessary before answering this question.
1. Who is He? Whose Son is He?
2. Why did Christ come?
3. Whither is Christ gone?
4. Wherefore will He return?
III. Now what think ye of Christ?
1. Not what will you think to-morrow, but what do you think?
2. Improve the thought.
3. Strengthen the thought.
4. Express the thought. (C. Molyneux, B. A.)
The question of questions
On my own part, and on the part of those among us who are desirous to have expressed in a compendious form the primary grounds of that belief which makes them not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, I shall give (beginning for the most part in modern and non-theological language) an answer to that question of questions for every age, What think ye of Christ? That answer will land us at last on the highest summit of theological speculation.
I. What think ye of Christ? That he is exceptional in the spiritual world.
1. The holiest men are ever most conscious of their own sinfulness. Sublime dissatisfaction with self is the peculiarity of the Christian saint.
2. Jesus is the solitary exception to this rule. Besides the testimony both of enemies and of friends to the fact of His perfect innocence and sinlessness, we have His own witness. No utterance of conscious sin, no half-hid confession. He never includes Himself among sinners. We think, then, that Christ is unique and without parallel.
II. We think that the exceptional man has endowed us with exceptional fruits, with benefits unparalleled. Not merely fruits of thought, art, literature.
1. Christs living influence is yearly sending forth missionaries to the most abject tribes upon the earth.
2. Christs teaching and example furnish a perpetual motive for tending the sick-perpetuating His miracles of healing.
3. Christ did not merely preach a doctrine: He founded a Church, to be the home of charity. Is she not, with her ministries for the poor, like the mother whom we have seen on Alpine or Pyrenean ridges, as she passes some razor-like edge, knitting for her little ones while she goes, though her heart and eye are up among the clouds?
4. Who shall say what Christ gives daily to those who receive Him?
(a) Elevation above sordid selfishness.
(b) Resignation.
(c) Joy.
III. We think of Christ that he is first-born from the dead.
1. The resurrection of Christ is not a fraud-not a singular recovery of a lacerated and tortured man, awakened from a death-like swoon by the coolness of the rocky chamber, or by the pungency of the spices l We have to account for cowards turned into heroes; for the faith that overcame the world.
2. Nor is the resurrection of Christ the projection of creative enthusiasm. The Church is too real for a foundation of mist. Faith did not create the resurrection: the resurrection created faith. We think, then, that as Christ was exceptional in His life, and in the benefits He conferred on humanity, so was He in His victory over the grave.
IV. This exceptional man must have had an exceptional origin. He is the Son of God (Luk_1:35). He is the Word of God (Joh_1:1). And the Word was God.
V. Christ is the wisdom ofGod.
VI. He is very man. His delights are with the sons of Adam. (Bishop William Alexander.)
The ideal Christ
I. Some people do not think much about him any way. Their minds are preoccupied. They think of something else.
1. These Pharisees were evidently stunned by our Lords inquiry.
2. We meet those in our time who have reached no convictions worth recording.
3. It is not the part of a wise man to miss such a question as this.
II. Some do thine; and now it is of much importance that we inquire what they thine.
1. There is a historic ideal of Christ. This admits the facts of His life.
2. There is a theologic ideal of Christ. A cold dogmatism is the result.
3. There is a poetic ideal of Christ. One imagines a Jesus to suit himself; the result is mystic or emotional.
4. There is an evangelic ideal of Christ. A sacrifice for sin. It holds all the history; receives the theology; accepts the poetry; it recognizes the atonement.
III. Let us ask what this will do for us?
1. Observe, then, how thinking affects the character; ideals control life. Observe also that one may study his ideal through his personal experience and character; and that is the safest way. What is your notion of Christ doing for you?
3. Observe that the only safety for a young believer is found in accepting the scriptural Christ for his all in all.
4. Observe how pitifully the the worlds hero-worship contrasts with the Christians love.
5. Observe that in after ages the question will be reversed; then it will be of the highest moment to ask, What does Christ think of me? (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
Christ not thought about
I once asked a man what he thought, and he replied frankly, I suppose I never do think of Jesus Christ. Then I inquired when he was born. He gave the date-1843. B.C. or A.D.? I kept on. He smiled, as if he conjectured I might deem him an antediluvian. But I asked soberly, Before Christ or after Christ? He was silent, and I continued, Have you been dating letters for twenty intelligent years without even reflecting that you were daily commemorating the nativity of Jesus Christ? Have you actually formed no opinion concerning that personage whose advent among men changed the reckoning of time, whose birthday shook the race into a new era, as His crucifixion shook the planet with a new earthquake? (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
Christs origin.
Who a mans parents were ordinarily makes very little difference to us. We gauge the man according to his own ability and efficiency, without reference to his origin. Our estimate of Shakespeare or of Bacon is no greater because we know their ancestry. But the case is otherwise with Christ. His practical relation to the world is bound up with His origin. His life suggests, and words lay claim to, a superhuman lineage; and it bears very directly upon the living and thinking of all of us, whether He be indeed born Lord of men and angels, co-equal with God, or whether He be no more than a man like unto ourselves. It makes the difference between worship and admiration; between allegiance and partial adherence; between implicit trust and critical discrimination; between passionate enthusiasm and cool respect. So it behoves us to press the question in this direction; What think ye of Christ? Is He the Son of God or not? (Marvin R. Vincent, D. D.)
The test question
I. Look at some things about Christ it is well for you to think of.
1. Think of Him as a Prophet.
2. Think of Him as Priest.
3. Think of Him as King, the immortal, the invisible.
4. Think of Him as qualified for these offices by uniting in Himself the nature of the Deity and the nature of man.
II. Reasons why you should think of Christ.
1. That you may know God.
2. That we may think rightly of ourselves.
3. That you may have faith. Faith comes through thinking. (S. H. Tyng, D. D.)
The responsibility of thought
He holds all responsible for their thoughts. The question is not how do you act, how do you treat Christ, but what think ye of Christ? The seed is held responsible for the harvest, the child for the man, the thought for the act, the character. Christ declared that he who lusted and bated was an adulterer, a murderer. A thought to the mind of God is a thing. The first requirement of education is that the man shall regulate his thoughts. Says the Apostle: Whatsoever things are true (Php_4:8). The thought is of first importance. Every harmony that moves the heart of men first swayed the soul of some one as an unexpressed thought. So it is of sculpture and of painting. The thought went before the creation of the universe. The philosopher strives to find out the things which do not appear from those which do appear. (S. H. Tyng, D. D.)
What think ye of Christ?-
I. That Christianity challenges human thought. It is a system of thought; its first impulse is to set the mind at work. You will find in all systems of error a tendency to prevent men from thinking. Tyrants do not wish their people to think. Man is not only to think of things on earth, but of things in heaven. How elevating the character of the thought; it travels to the spiritual and invisible.
II. The effect which the thoughts he. Gives has upon literature. The thoughts of Christ are the thoughts that give power to the world. The people who worship Christ are the great inventors and law-givers to our earth.
III. Where Christ is received as divine, humanity becomes dignified and ennobled; for if Christ was Divine, the human nature may be nearly joined to God. Man is lifted up from grovelling appetites, and becomes the prospective inhabitant of eternity; heir to a throne. Christ connected with human nature sanctifies it.
IV. Note one prophecy. Isaiah saw Him as a child that was born, a son given, called Wonderful, etc. These characteristics of Christ are all fulfilled in Christianity. Christianity was small at first. The cry of a child was heard; then it grew strong like a son, coming to grasp the government; and then it was wonderful. Then as the everlasting Father it is full of pity. What think ye of Christ? When we look at Him personally He is our Saviour. Whatever we think I know what others think; the angels, Glory to God in the highest, etc. What do the host of the departed think: Unto Him that loved us, etc. (Bishop Simpson.)
The God-man-Jesus Christ
That Christ was lineally descended from David, and that as such, He had the body and the mind and the heart of a man, is a historical fact. That body, first natural, then spiritual, became at His ascension a glorified body; but none the less it was the identical body. Christ is now in heaven. The son of David-a man-what is the result of that.
I. Whatever He came to this earth to do is finished and accepted, else He would not be resting there.
II. His presence there in manhood shows what manhood is capable of, what human nature may become.
III. There-in that man Christ, Davids son-we have a brother. What a possession-brotherhood in heaven.
1. He is there as a representative man. On the cross He was our substitute, not a representative. Now He is not a substitute, but a representative man.
2. He is pledged as the forerunner of us all.
3. So on earth and in heaven He is Davids son and Davids Lord. If Christ be man in heaven, no less He is God.
4. And now all that this man died to purchase, He now lives as God to give. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Christs solution of Davids assertion
I. The Jews had not the slightest difficulty in answering that Christ was Davids son. They had learned that all their lives. Natural that He should come from the nations greatest man. We all have our pictures for the future, and they correspond to Israels Christ in the part they perform in our lives. Whose sons are they to be? They are to be born of human exertion. The force of human exertion is all around us, and most of us owe all we have to it. It is the parent of great results in the world.
II. Human exertion is not all. David called Christ his Lord. The Lord said unto my Lord. They had magnified David and his greatness and his power so highly, that the thought of somebody being over him and having a right to command him did not form a very prominent feature in their conception of him; and yet they would have acknowledged that he had a Lord. For that, after all, is an essential of our thought in connection with everything. We all want God for a finish to our ideas, even if we do not want Him practically. If we are thinkers, we like God as representing to us the oneness of our system of thought. He forms a sort of easy transition from one line of thought-to another. The scientific man calls his God law or nature or some such vague term, and he magnifies it very much in all his thoughts and expressions. His Christ, his great ideal, is a lord to him-it is above all that he does. Another man makes his God the summary of all that is beautiful: he loves music or art, and the idea of God represents to him the perfection of that feeling of which he just catches a glimpse when he is wrapped up in one or other those pursuits. God stands to him for that wonderful effect which he cannot explain. Another man is busy with commonplace things; perhaps he sees much of the wickedness of the world, and he likes to think that there is a place where everything is better-that there is one who is not assailed, or even reached, with all that troubles him. He likes to think that there is one who realizes all that is good and pure, which he is sure exists, but in which his circumstances do not allow him to have a very great share. He holds to Christ as his Lord. He has one Christ whom he is to produce who is to be his son: he is working for that every day in the rush of lifes battles: he has another Christ who is his Lord-a pure, a high, a noble ideal, far above him: his Lord. Religion supplies just that element of romance to life which we feel the want of, for there is little enough of romance in human exertion, after the novelty of some new effort is over. To many men that thought of God as the great mysterious Lord of life-that thought of a coming power, a Christ as one above and beyond us-is just what they need and hold to, because their life is so busy. It is the dreamers who generally supply the infidels; they do not feel the want of a thought superior to this world so much as the men of affairs who will not let this idea of God the Lord depart from their creed, but hold to it because their thought needs it, little as their lives may use it. We have seen that men do hold these two thoughts of the power that is in the world, and that is to save it. Now, Christs question is seen in all its importance. It was, Can you hold these two together? David did; he called the same person Son and Lord; he worked to bring forth the Messiah by his great and powerful life, and yet all the time he knew that Messiah was his Lord. Whatever can combine these two ideas is the true Christ: that, and that only, can save the world. We separate these things. The things we work for, in our best moments, we will not acknowledge to be our Lord; She things we worship, the things we acknowledge to be great and pure, we forget when we get out at our work. Our sons are not our lords; our lords are not our sons. Hence, we have no true idea of Christ. Till our practical life, our life of human energy, and our thoughtful, our spiritual life, our life of aspiration, are at one, there is no hope of a real salvation for us. The flesh and the spirit are warring against each other, and that contest is wearing us out. Go tell that man who it working so hard to make a fortune, that that is all he is good for, that he has no thought above money, and he will say you insult him; he will tell you that all that work is only a means-he wants to make the fortune, but he has higher motives: and he will talk vaguely of doing good with it. He is the father of one thing, but he acknowledges another thing as lord. Who shall unite these two in our life? Who is our Christ? That is our Saviours pointed question. Have we the right idea in searching for a great Deliverer? Only God, in connection with earth, can supply such a want. We shall appreciate that as soon as we see the demand. For, let our object come from the earth, from ourselves, from our fellow-men, and it may stimulate our exertions-it may make us work hard. But we are lords of this earth, we are equal to our fellow-men, and so such an object cannot be our lord-and the best part of us, the cry for something higher, remains unsatisfied. It cannot be the pure thought of God as above us, as apart from us, God the pure and holy One: for, then, how can it be the son of any man, however great and high; how can it call upon our exertions for their assistance in its appearance upon the earth? We are almost driven to give up this idea of a Christ, so difficult does it seem to be to satisfy it; and we go to asking little unimportant questions, and erecting smaller tests as the Pharisees did, or letting the thing drift along unsettled. Jesus claims to be the one that fills this important requirement, and tells us that we must get back to that idea of a Christ before We can appreciate Him; we must answer that old difficulty of Davids. He is the Son of David, and the Son of every high and noble character who looks for Him. He came of Davids line; He was the fruit of the kingdom which David planted; He carried out into fulness all the character and acts of Davids life; He fulfilled all the prophecies and aspirations of Davids Psalms. We all know that, if we understand the facts of our Bible at all. But that line of historical facts is but the expression of the fact that He is the Son of all high devoted energy. Christ is to succeed in the world by our energy consecrated to Him. He calls on us to labour for and with Him. Christian character is produced-not by being forced upon us from without, but by the quickening of our own being-that it may bring forth more of Christ in the world. Christ is among us; His life was earthly in all its development; it was His life on earth and among men that made Him Christ. He was Davids Lord-far above David in every respect. We read the story of the two lives of David and Jesus, and we never think of doubting which was the life of the Master. (A. Brooks, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv42–45 42. What think ye of Christ? The great question…
42. What think ye of Christ? The great question still. Whose son? They reply, the “Son of David,” a correct but incomplete answer, as he shows by their own Scriptures.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v43 Driving home the conclusion:
Driving home the conclusion:
v. 43. He saith unto them, How, then, doth David in spirit call Him Lord, saying,
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v. 44. The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand till I make Thine enemies Thy footstool?
v. 45. If David, then, call Him Lord, how is He his Son?
v. 46. And no man was able to answer Him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask Him any more questions.
That the Messiah was to be an offspring of David is stated so often in the Old Testament that every Jew was accustomed to call Him by that name, as a matter of fact. But the Pharisees had never compared the various passages concerning the Messiah, His person and His work, and were for that reason ignorant of His mission. The fact of the twofold nature in Christ was plainly taught in the Old Testament, but their eyes had been blinded by their false hopes and aspirations. "Jesus refers only to that fact that David, Psa 110:1, calls Him his Lord: If, then, David, He says, calls Him Lord, how is He his Son? It sounds strange and is contrary to nature that a father calls his son a lord, that he also becomes subject to him and serves him. Now, David calls Christ his Lord, and such a Lord to whom God Himself says: Sit Thou at My right hand, etc. , that is, Be equal with Me, known and adored as very, true God; for on God’s chair or at His right hand no other may properly sit; He is so jealous that He will permit no one else to sit as His equal with Him, as He says in the Prophet Isaiah, chapter 48:11: Neither will I give My honor, etc. Since, then, He places Christ on a level with Him, the latter must be more than all creatures. " To be Lord on high, equal with God, and yet to be the Son of David, according to the flesh, to have the divinity and the humanity combined in one person, that is the Messiah of prophecy. And what the learned Jews could not understand and explain, which made them speechless and utterly discomfited, is the great comfort of the believers of all time. "That is appreciating the person of Christ and knowing whose Son He is, namely, a Son of David; for He is a man, but yet also a Lord of David, as He that is sitting at the right hand of God and has His enemies, sin, death, and hell, as a footstool for His feet. Therefore, he who is in need of salvation against such enemies, let him not seek it with Moses, not through the Law, his own works, and piety; let him seek it with the Son and Lord of David, there he will surely find it. This the blind Pharisees do not know, therefore they do not respect the Lord Christ; they are satisfied with what they know out of the Law, how one should love God and one’s neighbor. And yet it is impossible to know God, much less to love God, unless one knows Christ. As He says Mat 11:27: No one knows the Father but the Son, and to whom the Son revivals it. But here we see the riches of the superabundant goodness and mercy of God, that God spared not His only-begotten Son, but delivers Him into the death of the cross for us, in order that we, liberated from sins, through Him should live forever. That is an eternal, boundless, fathomless love and mercy, which no man can know unless he knows Christ."
Summary.Jesus tells the parable of the marriage-feast, answers the question of the Herodians regarding tribute-money, convicts the Sadducees with their denial of the resurrection, gives the Pharisees the proper information as to the greatest commandment, and proposes a question concerning the twofold nature of the Messiah which they are unable to answer.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv43, 45 General Information:
General Information:
Jesus quotes from the Psalms to show that the Christ is more than just "the son of David."
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How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord
Jesus uses a question to make the religious leaders think deeply about the Psalm he is about to quote. AT: "Then, tell me why David in the Spirit calls him Lord" (See: Rhetorical Question)
David in the Spirit
"David, whom the Holy Spirit is inspiring." This means the Holy Spirit is influencing what David says.
call him
Here "him" refers to the Christ, who is also the descendant of David.
The Lord said
Here "Lord" refers to God the Father.
to my Lord
Here "Lord" refers to the Christ. Also, "my" refers to David. This means the Christ is superior to David.
Sit at my right hand
To sit at the "right hand of God" is a symbolic action of receiving great honor and authority from God. AT: "Sit in the place of honor beside me" (See: Symbolic Action)
until I make your enemies your footstool
This is an idiom. AT: "until I conquer your enemies" or "until I make your enemies bow down before you" (See: Idiom)
translationWords
David
Holy Spirit
lord
adversary
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv42, 44, 45 22:42 the son of David: See study note on…
22:42 the son of David: See study note on Matt 9:27; see also 2 Sam 7:12-14; Pss 2:7-9; 110; Isa 11:1, 10; Jer 23:5-6.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.