Matthew 22:41 - 46 What do you think of Christ?

Jesus questions the Pharisees

Mat 22:41  While the Pharisees were gathered, Jesus asked them,

Mat 22:42  saying, What do you think of Christ? Whose son is he? They say to Him, David's.

Mat 22:43  He said to them, How then does David by the Spirit call him Lord, saying,

Mat 22:44  "the LORD said to my Lord, Sit on My right until I make Your enemies Your footstool for Your feet?"

Mat 22:45  If David then calls Him Lord, how is He his son?

Mat 22:46  And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day to question Him any more.

Introduction

Jesus had been continually assailed by Religious, Self-Righteous Pharisees and Sadducees, trying to trap Him in what He replied to their questions. He silenced them all and finally no one could answer Him a word and they didn’t dare question Him any more. Now it was Jesus turn to ask them.

The Pharisees were gathered. http://nccg.org/106Art-7Pharisees.html

Mat 22:41  While the Pharisees were gathered, Jesus asked them,

Notes

The Pharisees had retreated from their attack and their legal questioning about the great Law, so

now Jesus asked them

Mat 22:42  saying, What do you think of Christ? Whose son is he? They say to Him, David's.

Notes

What do you think of Christ? Whose son is he?

The Christ (tou Christou). The Messiah, of course, not Christ as a proper name of Jesus. Jesus here assumes that Psa_110:1-7 refers to the Messiah. By his pungent question about the Messiah as David’s son and Lord he really touches the problem of his Person (his Deity and his Humanity). Probably the Pharisees had never faced that problem before. They were unable to answer.RWP

Application

Perhaps you should contemplate the question : What do YOU think of the Christ? Your answer will determine Your Eternal Destiny. Is He just a religious figure, a prophet as in the Qu’ran,  or a person of History. What is the Christ to you? Some don’t even believe that He existed or exists now. It is all a fairy-tale.

Whose son is he? They say to Him, David's.

Notes

They only partially answered Jesus’ Question. The Messiah of Israel was to be the Son of the Great King David. God had promised David that He would place one of His Sons upon the Throne of Israel forever.

King DAVID and Nathan the Prophet

2Sa 7:4  And that night the Word of Jehovah came to Nathan saying,

2Sa 7:5  Go and tell My servant David, So says Jehovah, Shall you build Me a house for My dwelling?

2Sa 7:6  For I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up the sons of Israel out of Egypt until this day, but have walked in a tent, even in a tabernacle.

2Sa 7:7  In all places in which I have walked with all the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the tribes of Israel, those I commanded to feed My people Israel, saying, Why do you not build Me a house of cedars?

2Sa 7:8  And now so shall you say to My servant David, So says Jehovah of Hosts: I took you from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people, over Israel.

2Sa 7:9  And I was with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies out of your sight, and have made you a great name like the name of the great ones in the earth.

2Sa 7:10  And I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them so that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more. Neither shall the sons of wickedness afflict them any more, as before.

2Sa 7:11  And even from the time that I commanded judges to be over My people of Israel, so will I cause you to rest from all your enemies. Also Jehovah tells you that He will make you a house.

2Sa 7:12  And when your days are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who shall come out of your bowels. And I will make his kingdom sure.

2Sa 7:13  He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

2Sa 7:16  And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.

Mat 22:43  He said to them, How then does David by the Spirit call him Lord, saying,

Notes

How then ... - How is this doctrine that he is “descended” from David consistent with what David says when he calls him “lord?” How can your opinion be reconciled with that? That declaration of David is recorded in Psa_110:1. A “lord” or master is a superior. The word here does not necessarily imply divinity, but only superiority. David calls him his superior, his lord, his master, his lawgiver, and expresses his willingness to obey him. If the Messiah was to be merely a descendant of David, as other men descended from parents if he was to have a human nature only if he did not exist when David wrote - with what propriety could he, then, call him his lord?

In spirit - By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. As a prophet, Act_2:30; Act_1:16; 2Sa_23:2.

Mat 22:44  "the LORD said to my Lord, Sit on My right until I make Your enemies Your footstool for Your feet?"

Notes

The LORD said ... - This is the language of David.

“Yahweh said to “my” lord “the Messiah” - sit thou,” etc. This was a prediction respecting the exaltation of Christ. To be raised to the right hand of a king was significant of favor, trust, and power. See the notes at Mat_20:21. This was done respecting Christ, Mar_16:19; Act_7:55; Rom_8:34; Eph_1:20; Heb_1:3; Heb_8:1; Heb_10:12. He is seated at the Father’s Right Hand in Glory.

“Thine enemies thy footstool.” A footstool is that which is under the feet when we are sitting implying that we have it under subjection, or at our control. So, Christ shall put all enemies under his feet - all his spiritual foes - all that rise up against him, Psa_2:9, Psa_2:12; Heb_10:13; 1Co_15:25.

Mat 22:45  If David then calls Him Lord, how is He his son?

Notes

If David then calls Him Lord, how is He his son?

As the Jews did not attempt to deny the conclusion of our Lord’s question, which was, the Messiah is not only the son of David according to the flesh, but he is the Lord of David according to his Divine nature, then it is evident they could not. Indeed, there was no other way of invalidating the argument, but by denying that the prophecy in question related to Christ: but it seems the prophecy was so fully and so generally understood to belong to the Messiah that they did not attempt to do this; for it is immediately added, No man was able to answer him a word - they were completely nonplussed and confounded.A.C.

COMPARE the Apostle Paul

Rom 1:3  about His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh,

Rom 1:4  who was marked out the Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead;

Rom 1:5  by whom we have received grace and apostleship, to obedience to the faith among all nations, for His name;

Mat 22:46  And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day to question Him any more.

Notes

“Thus,” says Dr. Wotton, “our Lord put the four great sects of the Jews to silence, in one day, successively. The Herodians and Pharisees wanted to know whether they might lawfully pay tribute to Caesar or not. The Sadducees were inquisitive to know whose wife the woman should be of the seven brethren, in the resurrection, who had her to wife.

Then comes the scribe, (or legal Expert), who owned no authority beyond or besides the written law, and asked which was the great commandment in the law. This lawyer deserves to be mentioned here, because he not only acquiesced in, but commended, what our Lord had said in answer to his question.” Wotton’s Miscellaneous Discourses, vol. i. p. 78.

The Pharisees and Herodians were defeated, Mat_22:15-22. The Sadducees were confounded, Mat_22:29-33. The lawyers or karaites nonplussed, Mat_22:37-40. And the Pharisees, etc., finally routed, Mat_22:41-46.

Thus did the wisdom of God triumph over the cunning of men.

From this time, we do not find that our Lord was any more troubled with their captious questions: their whole stock, it appears, was expended, and now they coolly deliberate on the most effectual way to get him murdered. He that resists the truth of God is capable of effecting the worst purpose of Satan.A.C.