What Does Matthew 21:23 Mean?
And when he came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority do you do these things? And who gave you this authority?
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 when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?THE KEY
Their question about Jesus’ authority is really a question about its source: the Greek word carries the sense of a right to act, and they immediately ask who granted it.
THE MEANING
The live question here is what gives a voice the right to act: Jesus is teaching in the temple, and the leaders ask both what authorizes his deeds and who grants that authority. Their challenge brings the source behind his teaching into view, making authority more than a title or display of power.
THE ROOT
ἐξουσία
exousia
GROWS FROM
ἔξεστιν
exestin
The related expression means “it is permitted” or “it is possible”; exousia carries the sense of authority, right, or jurisdiction to act.
The English word can sound like sheer power, but ἐξουσία (exousia, authority or right to act) points toward whether an action is within someone’s right. The leaders ask the same question twice: what right does Jesus have, and who gave him that right?
ALSO GROWS
exestin: It is permitted; it is possible.
ἔξεστιν
This related expression brings out the question beneath the challenge: whether Jesus has the right to do what he is doing.
exousiazō: To exercise authority or have power over.
ἐξουσιάζω
The same word family moves from possessing a right to exercising it, linking Jesus’ authority to his active teaching and deeds.
ἔδωκεν
edōken
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give, grant, or place something into another’s possession.
The verb translated “gave” presents authority as something granted, with a source behind it. The challenge is not only whether Jesus acts with authority, but who confers the right he exercises.
ALSO GROWS
dosis: A giving; a gift.
δόσις
This noun makes the act of giving visible as a grant received from a source.
paradidōmi: To hand over or deliver.
παραδίδωμι
This compound shows the same giving root in the transfer of something from one party to another.
THE PATTERN
Authority is received from a source and becomes visible in the work it authorizes.
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.But I have a greater witness than that of John, for the works which the Father has given me to finish, these same works that I do, bear witness about me, that the Father has sent me.And Jesus came near and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in the heavens and upon the earth.THE THREAD
And Jesus came near and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in the heavens and upon the earth.Matthew translates the same Greek word ἐξουσία (exousia, authority or right to act) as “power” here and “authority” in 21:23. The later verse names the giver and scope of the authority whose source the leaders question.
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