Discovery BoxLuke 22:66-71 
Context22:66 When day came, the council of the elders of the people gathered together, both the chief priests and the experts in the law. 1 Then 2 they led Jesus 3 away to their council 4 22:67 and said, “If 5 you are the Christ, 6 tell us.” But he said to them, “If 7 I tell you, you will not 8 believe, 22:68 and if 9 I ask you, you will not 10 answer. 22:69 But from now on 11 the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand 12 of the power 13 of God.” 22:70 So 14 they all said, “Are you the Son of God, 15 then?” He answered 16 them, “You say 17 that I am.” 22:71 Then 18 they said, “Why do we need further testimony? We have heard it ourselves 19 from his own lips!” 20
1 tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.
2 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
3 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 sn Their council is probably a reference to the Jewish Sanhedrin, the council of seventy leaders.
5 tn This is a first class condition in the Greek text.
6 tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”
sn See the note on Christ in 2:11.
7 tn This is a third class condition in the Greek text. Jesus had this experience already in 20:1-8.
8 tn The negation in the Greek text is the strongest possible (οὐ μή, ou mh).
9 tn This is also a third class condition in the Greek text.
10 tn The negation in the Greek text is the strongest possible (οὐ μή, ou mh).
11 sn From now on. Jesus’ authority was taken up from this moment on. Ironically he is now the ultimate judge, who is himself being judged.
12 sn Seated at the right hand is an allusion to Ps 110:1 (“Sit at my right hand…”) and is a claim that Jesus shares authority with God in heaven. Those present may have thought they were his judges, but, in fact, the reverse was true.
13 sn The expression the right hand of the power of God is a circumlocution for referring to God. Such indirect references to God were common in 1st century Judaism out of reverence for the divine name.
14 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of Jesus’ pronouncement.
15 sn The members of the council understood the force of the claim and asked Jesus about another title, Son of God.
16 tn Grk “He said to them.”
17 sn Jesus’ reply, “You say that I am,” was not a denial, but a way of giving a qualified positive response: “You have said it, but I do not quite mean what you think.”
18 tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
19 sn We have heard it ourselves. The Sanhedrin regarded the answer as convicting Jesus. They saw it as blasphemous to claim such intimacy and shared authority with God, a claim so serious and convicting that no further testimony was needed.
20 tn Grk “from his own mouth” (an idiom).
