What Does Matthew 21:24 Mean?
And Jesus answered and said to them, I will ask you one word, and if you tell me, I will also tell you by what authority I 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 Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things.THE KEY
The answer to authority is held behind the questioners’ willingness to answer honestly themselves.
THE MEANING
Jesus meets a demand for an account of his authority with one condition: he will answer after they answer his question. His question makes the answer depend on whether they will state what they judge to be true. Authority here is inseparable from the source one is willing to name.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that a questioner can demand an answer while remaining exempt from answering.
THE ROOT
ἐξουσία
exousia
GROWS FROM
ἐξουσ-
The right or capacity to act; power that is within one’s remit.
The question concerns the warrant behind an action: what power or right makes it possible? The verse keeps authority tied to its source, so a claim of right cannot be separated from where it comes from.
ALSO GROWS
exousiazō: To exercise authority or have power over.
ἐξουσιάζω
This shows authority as something enacted, not merely held as a title.
exousiasthēsomai: I will be brought under someone’s power; a passive form in the same word family.
ἐξουσιασθήσομαι
This shows authority’s other direction: someone acts with power, while another can be placed under it.
ἐρωτήσω
erōtēsō
GROWS FROM
ἐρωτα-
To ask or inquire; here, “I will ask.”
The word translated “ask” belongs to a word family for inquiry and the question it produces. Jesus’ counter-question does not sidestep the demand; it makes the questioners disclose what they believe before he answers.
ALSO GROWS
erōtaō: To ask, request, or inquire.
ἐρωτάω
The verse uses a future form of this verb for a deliberate counter-question.
erōtēma: A question, inquiry, or appeal.
ἐρώτημα
The related noun keeps the focus on a question that calls for a stated judgment.
THE PATTERN
Claims about authority turn on the source that stands behind action.
And Moses said, By this you shall know that the LORD has sent me to do all these deeds, for I have not done them from my own heart.For he taught them as one who holds authority, and not as their letter-writers.And when they had stood them in the midst, they asked, "By what strength, or by what nature, have you done this?"THE THREAD
And they answered Jesus and said, We do not know. And he said to them, Nor do I tell you by what authority I do these things.The same word for authority returns, and the condition in this verse comes due: they cannot answer his question, so he does not name his authority. Their silence becomes part of the exchange, exposing the limit of their demand.
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