saying, What think ye concerning the Christ? whose son is he? They say to him, David's.
All day, group after group had come to trap Jesus with questions. Now He turns and asks the Pharisees one of His own. Their answer is true — but it is only half the truth.
The setting is a coordinated attempt to catch Jesus out, and one writer notes who had lined up against Him.
The self-appointed shepherds of Israel all made an assault against the Son of God. The Herodians were the political party in Israel. The Sadducees trusted human reason, and the Pharisees kept the rituals. Politicians, reasoners and ritual-keepers all joined together against the concentrated truth of God, shown in the person of the Son of God. They asked Him questions to trap Him, but they could not trap Him. Then He asked them a question: "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?"
He had answered them all. Now He raises the subject that mattered most, and their reply falls far short.
They are still gathered together. He has answered all their clever questions and left them embarrassed. Now He asks them a question of the greatest possible importance. This is a matter that should have held their deepest interest and concern, because the Old Testament scriptures were full of prophecies about Israel's expected Messiah. Yet in pathetic ignorance all they can answer is, "the son of David."
Their answer was not wrong. It was the easy part — the part any child in Israel could have supplied.
And now the Lord appeals to them as they are gathered there before Him about what was now for them the question of questions: what do they think of Christ? "Whose son is He?" To that they readily reply, "The son of David." This was the truth, and they knew He would not deny it: it was in fact a question which any child among them could have answered.
Their answer was true as far as it went. His next question is where everything for them was at stake.
Now it was the Lord's turn to ask them the question of questions — a question not only for a Pharisee, but for any soul: "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is He?" He was David's son — most true. But was this truth the whole truth? "How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying, 'The Lord said to my Lord'?" How was He both David's Son and David's Lord? It was the key to all Scripture — the way, the truth, the life — the explanation of His position, the only hope for theirs. But they had nothing to say.
Matthew's Gospel opens by naming Jesus the son of David; here the same Gospel shows that title is not the ceiling.
In Matthew 1:1, He is the Son of David. As such the government shall be on His shoulder, and from Zion He will send out the rod of His strength, ordering the earth according to God. But in Matthew 22:41-46, He emphasises the fact that David's Son is David's Lord. The complex glory of His Person is here before us. A Man — yes, truly a Man — but more, He is God.
Faith does not solve the puzzle. It receives it — and holding both titles marks a Christian.
In this title divine and human glories unite. Jesus is David's Lord and David's Son. This is the great test for every person. No one has a right to the name Christian if he denies either one or the other… They were silent and had no answer to this great mystery. It is a mystery to us also, for we cannot explain it. But what we cannot explain we can believe, and in the Person of Jesus we see God and Man, the Root and the Offspring of David.
His follow-up question pointed them to a Psalm they had never understood.
If they had understood that Psalm, they would have understood all the ways of God with His Son — and this at the very time they were going to reject Him. So these discourses closed by showing the true position of Christ. He is the Son of David, yet He must go up on high to receive the kingdom. While He waits for it, He sits at the right hand of God, as the rights of His glorious Person require — David's Lord, as well as David's Son.
Commentators read the question not only as an argument but as an offer. One writer sees mercy in it — a last chance held out to men already set against Him.
The Lord used this great saying against the Pharisees as a challenge and a warning. It gave them a chance to see who He was and to repent of their hatred of 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.
What was decisive in the temple courtyard has not shifted since.
The test question for that day is the test question for this day also. Everything depends upon the answer that our souls give to it. The Word of God supplies us with the answer, and every heart that values the Word and bows to its authority is satisfied with what God has said there.
And the answer wanted is not merely a correct one. A right reply can still be given by a heart that has no interest in Him.
All really depends on the heart's estimate of Christ. Like a great moral indicator, it reveals a person's true state, character, direction and aim in all things. It is not merely a question of his outward life, or of his profession of faith. His life may be blameless, and his stated faith may be orthodox. But if underneath all that blameless morality and orthodox profession there is not one true beat of the heart for Christ… then all the morality and the orthodoxy are only fine clothes that a guilty sinner wears to look good in front of others.
- Question. Jesus asks the question they should have been asking. The men trained in Scripture reach only half the answer.
- Half. "The son of David" was true, but it was only part of the truth — and that left them with nothing to say.
- Whole. David's Son is also David's Lord: truly Man, and God. Faith holds both and explains neither away.
- Throne. The Psalm He pointed to showed a Christ who must go up on high to receive the kingdom and sit at God's right hand — and this at the very time Israel was rejecting Him.
- You. The same question still tests the heart, not just the doctrine. A faultless profession without one beat of love for Christ is only decoration.
He says to them, How then does David in Spirit call him Lord, saying,
After all their efforts to condemn Jesus, the Pharisees now face a question from Him, drawn from a psalm they agreed spoke of the Messiah. It turns on three words — "in the Spirit" — and on one puzzle: how could David call his own descendant his Lord?
Jesus brought no new evidence against them. He used what they already believed.
These men knew this Psalm and held that it spoke of the Messiah. Yet they would not acknowledge their Messiah... So the very truth that belonged to their own religious creed condemned them and shut their mouths. They were unhappy, miserable, and had turned away from God. After all their efforts to condemn the Lord of glory, they stood silent — condemned, but still not subdued.
Jesus does not treat Psalm 110 as David's own opinion. Two things point the same way here: the Lord's own word, and plain reason.
The Lord stated it as fact: the Holy Spirit guided David as he wrote the Psalms... We have the Lord's testimony, and we have the testimony of common sense too. What did those words mean to David as an ordinary human being? Nothing at all. But if they are inspired, the statement is a perfectly ordinary one.
This was not a one-off. It was Jesus' settled way of handling the Psalms.
The Lord recognizes David as an inspired prophet in this very verse, and He quotes the Psalms as prophecy again and again.
Jesus never denied being David's descendant. The point of His question was that "Son of David" is true but not the whole account of Him.
They could not understand, and would not believe, that Jesus was the Lord spoken of in Psalm 110:1. The truth lay in the incarnation of the Son of God, who was God's Anointed One... Jesus was David's Lord, and that affirms His deity. He was also a Son of David, and that shows His true humanity. Notice that Jesus never hinted that He was not from David's line. He knew He was. The question He put to the Pharisees was a test, and they failed it.
This question did not die with the Pharisees. One writer traces the same failure through every age.
This is the turning point of unbelief at all times, now as then. It is the constant theme of the Holy Spirit's testimony, and man's usual stumbling block. Man is never so foolish as when he wants to be wisest. He either tries to work out the mystery of Christ's Person by his own cleverness — a mystery no mind can reach — or he denies that there is any mystery in it at all.
The psalm settles more than who Christ is. It also says where He was going. Just before they rejected Him, Jesus pointed them to a throne.
He asks the Pharisees to fit two titles together: Son of David, and the Lord — the title David himself gave Him. He ties this to the ascension of this same Christ, to sit at God's right hand until God has made all His enemies His footstool... In fact, to understand that Psalm would have been to understand all God's ways with His Son — and that at the very time they were going to reject Him.
The Pharisees had no answer. Faith has one — not an explanation, but belief in both halves of the mystery.
Jesus is David's Lord and David's Son. And this is the great test for every man, for no man has a right to the name of Christian who denies either one or the other... They were dumb and had no answer to this great mystery. It is a mystery to us also, for we cannot explain it. But what we cannot explain we can believe.
- Inspired — David spoke "in the Spirit." So Psalm 110 carries God's authority, not a king's guesswork.
- Prophetic — the words meant nothing in David's own lifetime. That is the mark of prophecy, and Jesus read the Psalms that way.
- Impossible — the leaders held both truths in their own Scriptures. They could not join them, and their own creed shut their mouths.
- Incarnate — the answer stood in front of them. In His humanity He is David's descendant; in His deity, David's Lord.
- Enthroned — the psalm they could not explain named what came next. The Messiah they rejected sits at God's right hand until His enemies become His footstool.
The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand until I put thine enemies under thy feet?
The Lord has just silenced every group that came to trap Him. Now He asks His own question, drawn from a psalm of David: how can one man be both David's descendant and David's Master?
The first "Lord" in the quoted line is not the same word as the second. One writer explains what the capital letters in older Bibles mean, and how the two titles fit together.
In the opening words of this psalm, the first "LORD" is printed in capital letters. When it is printed that way, it usually means Jehovah. So we may 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 as born of Mary, who was of the house and family of David, He was David's Son.
Another writer counts the speakers in that line.
In the King James Version, the name LORD in capitals stands for God's personal name, Jehovah, and "my Lord" means my Master. So there are two Persons. The God of Israel addressed the Messianic King "Sit at my right hand".
The Pharisees had said the Christ is David's son. The Lord does not deny it.
He was David's son — most true. But was this truth the whole truth? How was He both David's Son and David's Lord? It was the key to all Scripture — the way, the truth, the life — the explanation of His position, and the only hope for theirs. But they had nothing to say.
Another writer weighs what any answer would have cost them.
He turns on them with a question that goes to the bottom of the whole dispute: the question of His Person, of the true glory of Christ. Was He only David's Son? Why then did David, speaking by the Spirit, call Him "Lord"?… No answer was possible that did not admit His higher nature.
The verse names a seat at God's right hand. One writer explains what that place stands for.
The "right hand" speaks of authority, power, and eminence. According to Exodus 15:6, the power to rescue and to subdue belongs to the right hand… Acts 2:32-36 hails His exaltation. It shows God's approval of Him, and at the same time it reverses man's judgment.
At the very time they were about to reject Him, the Lord tells His enemies where He is going and how long He will stay.
He asks the Pharisees to square the title Son of David with the title Lord, which David himself gave Him. And He does it in connection with the ascension of this 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 His Son at the very time they were going to reject Him.
The verse reads "until I put your enemies under your feet"; older translations read "until I make your enemies your footstool." One writer weighs who does the work here.
The Holy Spirit points straight to the last clause of this verse. In Hebrews 10:13 He speaks of the ascended Messiah as now "waiting until His enemies should be made a footstool for His feet." The power that will do this is the same power that raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory. It does not say "until they are made," but "until I make."
The word "until" opens a gap in time, and we are living in it. One writer marks what is not happening in it.
This is the time when He is sitting there — doing nothing for Israel, though He is their great High Priest within… This is not the time when He is making His enemies His footstool. He is gathering the joint-heirs while He sits on the throne of God.
Another writer names what kind of day this is.
Jehovah acknowledges Him as Lord and places Him at His right hand — but it is "until…" Something lies ahead of Him. The seat He is to take is very high, yet it is only for a time, until what lies ahead comes. The day of His poverty is over. The day of His patience has begun.
- Two speakers. Jehovah speaks to another Person and calls Him Lord. David's own words prove the Messiah is more than a descendant.
- One question. Was He only David's Son? No answer works unless it admits His higher nature.
- The seat. The right hand is the place of authority and power. Christ seated there is God's approval of Him, and it reverses man's judgment.
- The promise. The words are not "until they are made" but "until I make." The same power that raised Him will put every enemy under His feet.
- The waiting. We live inside the word "until." His day of poverty is over, His day of patience has begun. He gathers joint-heirs while He waits.