And Jesus answering said [as he was] teaching in the temple, How do the scribes say that the Christ is son of David?
Jesus is teaching in the temple, and He has answered every group that came to trap Him. Now He asks a question of His own, and it turns on a title everyone accepted: the Christ is David's son.
The questions put to Jesus that day came from human reasoning. His came from Scripture, and it pointed to Himself.
The Lord now puts His question. It was brief, and completely different from the points men raised. Man's questions came from present things, or from what seemed unlikely to him, or from a clash of rival duties. Christ's question rests directly on the Scriptures. More than that, it rests on the mystery of His own Person, the only link between souls and God.
On this point the scribes were not wrong — only incomplete. Jesus does not correct them. He shows that their own Scriptures said more than they were saying.
The charge against Him was that "He made Himself the Son of God." The creed of the scribes was that the Messiah was simply the son of David. So He brings forward David himself as proof that He must be more. Otherwise, how could the father, as in Psalm 110, call his son his lord? To this they had no answer, and could have none.
This is no puzzle for its own sake. Everything depends on who Jesus is.
The Lord has answered all questions and silenced every opponent. Now He Himself asks a question of supreme importance. It touches the glory of His Person, and all blessing for man depends on that… The scribes saw truly that the Messiah would be the son of David. But they did not see what the Holy Spirit clearly states in their own Scriptures: He was not only David's son but also David's Lord. How can He be both David's Son and David's Lord? There is only one answer. He is truly Man, and yet just as truly a Divine Person.
The silence that followed was not caused by a hard riddle. The answer lay within reach, and owning it is the work of God's Spirit.
They could not explain it. They were silent. The explanation was very simple. But they were face to face with the Christ and would not admit His claims, so they shut their eyes to it on purpose. He was the son of David, and David called Him Lord by the Holy Spirit, so there was no mistake. The explanation is this: the Son of God became the son of David according to the flesh, as Romans 1:3 states so plainly. Once you fully acknowledge the Deity of the Christ, everything is clear. These verses throw much light on 1 Corinthians 12:3: "no one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except in the Holy Spirit."
Psalm 110 does not stop at the title "Lord." It shows where the rejected Messiah goes next — and that was the road Jesus was about to take.
It was now the Lord's turn to put His question, to bring out His own position. He asks the Pharisees to reconcile the title Son of David with the title Lord which David himself gave Him. And He links this to the ascension of the same Christ, to sit at the right hand of God until God had made all His enemies His footstool… To understand that psalm would have been to understand all the ways of God with respect to His Son, at the very time they were going to reject Him.
Jesus asked this of men who were set against Him. The question was mercy as well as challenge, and the psalm He quoted leaves only two endings.
The Lord used this great saying in His conflict with the Pharisees as a challenge and a warning. It gave them a chance to see who He was and to repent of their hostility towards Him. The words declare His Deity, for they tell us that He was David's Lord. They also proclaim His exaltation, which followed His humiliation and rejection by men. Peter takes them up this way when he appeals to the nation at Pentecost… He set two ways before his hearers. One was surrender to Him whom God had set at His right hand. If they refused that, the other was to be crushed beneath His victorious feet. And it must be one or the other for every soul of man.
- Question. Jesus silenced every questioner. Then He asked one of His own — not from human reasoning, but straight from Scripture, and aimed at who He is.
- Half-truth. The scribes taught rightly that the Christ is David's son. But their creed stopped there, and stopping there cost them the blessing.
- Both. David, speaking by the Holy Spirit, called his own descendant "my Lord." He is truly Man and truly Divine — one Person.
- Silence. They could not answer because they would not. Confessing Jesus as Lord is itself the Spirit's work.
- Choice. The psalm seats the rejected Christ at God's right hand until His enemies become His footstool. That leaves two outcomes: surrender or judgment.
[for] David himself said [speaking] in the Holy Spirit, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand until I put thine enemies [as] footstool of thy feet.
Jesus has silenced every opponent, and now He asks a question of His own. He draws it from a psalm where David calls someone "my Lord" — so who is the Messiah?
His question and theirs did not come from the same place.
The Lord has answered all questions and silenced every opposer. Now He Himself asks a question of supreme importance. It touches the glory of His Person, and all blessing for man depends on that... His adversaries built their questions on the reasonings and imaginations of their own minds. The Lord's question rests on Scripture. It goes to the root of their solemn position, for it brings to light the mystery of His Person, which they refused to acknowledge.
Jesus does not just say David wrote this. He says David spoke "in the Holy Spirit." That phrase reaches beyond this one verse.
These words come to us with our Lord's own authority. They emphasize in a striking way the great facts of divine inspiration, and they give light on the way it happens. First, we see that David spoke in spirit concerning the dignity of the Christ. Second, that David actually uttered the saying in or by the Holy Spirit. Third, this puts the whole book of Psalms, by inference, on the same level of inspiration. And David himself used those wonderful words about "the Christ." So the instrument was "himself" then conscious of the glorious fact he was announcing. These truths ought to awaken serious thought and heart-searching in those who question divine inspiration.
In the opening words of this psalm, the first "LORD" is in capital letters. Printed that way, it usually shows that the word means Jehovah. So we could read the verse as "Jehovah said to my Lord" — that is, Jehovah said to Christ... How could Jesus be both David's Son and David's Lord? The answer is simple enough. As David's Lord, He was the Creator of David, for God created all things by His Son. But He was born of Mary, who came from the house and line of David, so He was also David's Son.
The scribes were not wrong about the Messiah being David's son. They were only half right, and the missing half was the one that mattered.
They could not explain it. They were silent. The explanation was very simple. But they stood face to face with the Christ and would not admit His claims, so they deliberately shut their eyes to it. He was the Son of David, and David called Him Lord by the Holy Spirit, so there was no mistake. The explanation is that it was the Son of God who became the Son of David according to the flesh, as is so plainly stated in Romans 1:3. Once a person fully acknowledges the Deity of Christ, all is plain. These verses throw a good deal of light on the statement in 1 Corinthians 12:3: "no one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except in the Holy Spirit."
The line Jesus quotes also says where the rejected Messiah would go. And His place there has a time limit built into it.
Jehovah acknowledges Him as Lord and places Him at His right hand. But it is "until…" A prospect lies before Him. The seat He is to occupy is very high, yet it is provisional, until that prospect becomes reality. The day of His poverty is over. The day of His patience has begun.
The question was a warning. It was also an open door.
The Lord used this great saying in His conflict with the Pharisees as a challenge and a warning. It gave them a chance to discern who He was and to repent of their hostility towards Him. The words declare His Deity, for they tell us He was David's Lord. They also proclaim His exaltation, which followed His humiliation and rejection by men. Peter takes them up in this way in his appeal to the nation at Pentecost... he set two ways before his hearers. One was surrender to Him whom God had set at His right hand. The other, for those who refused, was to be crushed beneath His victorious feet. And it must be one or the other for every soul.
- Question. Their questions came from their own reasoning. His came from Scripture. It went straight to the glory of His Person, and all blessing for man depends on that.
- Spirit. David spoke "in the Holy Spirit." That is Christ's own testimony to inspiration, and it places the whole book of Psalms on the same footing.
- Person. Jehovah speaks to David's Lord. He created David, and He was born of Mary as David's son. One Person, both true.
- Silence. The explanation was simple, but they shut their eyes to it. And "no one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except in the Holy Spirit."
- Throne. The seat at God's right hand is real, but it is provisional — "until." That gap is the day of His patience. It leaves every person two ways: surrender to Him, or be crushed beneath His feet.
David himself [therefore] calls him Lord, and whence is he his son? And the mass of the people heard him gladly.
After answering His opponents in the temple, the Lord asks a question of His own, drawn from Psalm 110. This verse sets two things side by side: a riddle about who the Messiah really is, and a crowd that listened to Him gladly.
The Lord's own question aimed deeper than winning an argument. It went to the Scriptures, and to who He is.
Christ's question rests directly on the Scriptures. More than that, it rests on the mystery of His own Person, that one link of souls with God. There was no curiosity in His question. It was not simply a question for the conscience either. It searched into God's ways, and it called for full submission to what God reveals about Himself... The scribes saw truly enough that He was David's Son. But David, writing by the Holy Spirit, said that He was his Lord.
If David calls Him Lord, how can He also be David's descendant? There is one answer, and there are consequences for those who refuse it.
The scribes saw truly that the Messiah would be the Son of David. But they did not see what the Holy Spirit plainly states in their own Scriptures: that He was not only the Son of David but also David's Lord. How can He be both David's Son and David's Lord? There is only one answer. He is truly Man, and yet just as truly a Divine Person. Refusing to own the truth of His Person, they miss the blessing. The One they reject passes to the right hand of God. There He waits until the time comes to deal with all His adversaries in judgment.
The Lord's argument depends on where the words came from. David is not giving his own opinion about his descendant. The Holy Spirit leads him.
One passage says that the Spirit spoke by David. This one turns it round: David himself spoke by the Holy Spirit, and he calls the Messiah Lord (Mark 12:36-37). I think there is a beautiful fitness in that order, for here it is David owning Christ's Lordship. So it is "David says." But he speaks in or by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit leads and guides him to declare the Lordship and glory of the Messiah.
Psalm 110 held the key to the very thing the Jews found impossible about Him.
Now He questioned them about David's Son being David's Lord, as David prophetically wrote in Ps. 110. How much light would that psalm have cast on the difficulty the Jews felt, in that He being a man made Himself God (John 10:33). The Lord here pointed to that which could solve what to them was an enigma. But who of all that heard Him profited by His question?
The same Psalm also marked out what was coming for Him: rejection here, then a place at God's right hand.
How wonderfully, having taken out the essence and perfection of the law, and that in part from quite a hidden passage, does the Lord turn to that which constituted the change of dispensation, as regarded the Jewish people, providing for the excellency and righteousness of the Lord's Person — His transfer, on their rejection, and His leaving them, on the call of Jehovah, to the right hand of the Majesty on high!
The scribes could make nothing of it. The crowd was different, and one writer says why.
The scribes had nothing in them to understand it with. But a great crowd heard Him gladly. Truth that gently subdues had freed them from the tyranny of scribe-like reasoning and rigid rules, and had given them liberty of heart. His moral blessedness and His care for them held sway over them.
Commentators differ on how much weight to put on that gladness. One writer separates enjoying the speaker from believing the message. He compares it with Herod, the king who enjoyed listening to John the Baptist. (Where the ESV says "the great throng," older Bibles say "the common people.")
He heard John gladly too; and it is also said elsewhere, that the common people heard Jesus gladly (Mark 12:37). But such gladness is not associated with the hearing by which faith comes.
- Scripture first. The Lord's question rests directly on the Scriptures — on Psalm 110, which David wrote.
- Person next. The question is not academic — it touches the mystery of who He is, the one link between souls and God.
- One answer. Truly Man, so David's Son; truly a Divine Person, so David's Lord. There is no second solution.
- Spirit-spoken. David said it "by the Holy Spirit," which is why his testimony to Christ's Lordship settles the matter.
- Hearing, not just liking. The crowd heard Him gladly. But gladness is not faith. Those who refused His Person missed the blessing, while He passed to God's right hand — and their rejection left room for the calling of the Church.