What Does Mark 11:28 Mean?
And they said to him, By what authority do you do these things? Or who gave you this authority to do these things?
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And say unto him, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority to do these things?THE KEY
The repeated question binds authority to its source: they ask who grants the right to act.
THE MEANING
The question reaches beneath a visible act: what is being done, and from whom does its right come? Here authority is treated as something granted, so its source matters as much as the action.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It loosens the assumption that visible power validates itself: the question still asks who grants the right to act.
THE ROOT
ἐξουσίαν
exousian
GROWS FROM
ἔξεστιν (exestin), the Greek verbal base of ἐξουσία
It is permitted; it is within one’s right.
Alongside “authority,” exousia carries the sense of a right or permission to act. That makes the question about more than visible power: it asks who grants that right.
ALSO GROWS
exestin: It is permitted; one may do it.
ἔξεστιν
This verbal base makes the question about whether the action is within someone’s right.
exousiazō: To exercise authority or have power over.
ἐξουσιάζω
This related verb brings the authority into action, matching the question about doing these things.
ἔδωκεν
edōken
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give or grant.
“gave” in this verse is edōken. The Greek asks not only what authority is present, but who gives it. The verb keeps the source of the right in view: authority is spoken of here as something granted.
ALSO GROWS
dosis: Giving; a gift.
δόσις
This related noun keeps the act of giving visible beside the question of granted authority.
dōron: A gift.
δῶρον
This gift-word echoes the verse’s focus on something received from a giver.
THE PATTERN
Scripture presents authority as a received right whose source matters and whose presence becomes visible in action.
And dominion was given to him, and weight, and a kingdom, so that all peoples, nations, and tongues should serve him. His dominion is a dominion of ages, which shall not be moved away, and his kingdom which shall not be destroyed.And has given him authority to do judgment also, because he is the Son of Man.And they were struck by his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.THE THREAD
And they were all amazed, and spoke among themselves, saying, What word is this! For with authority and power he commands the unclean breaths, and they come out.Luke uses the same Greek word, exousia, and shows it operating through a command that drives unclean spirits out. Mark’s question asks who grants this right; Luke’s scene shows its action.
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