Thus David calls Him ‘Lord.’ So how can He be David’s son?”
Parallel translations
- WEB “David therefore calls him Lord, so how is he his son?”
- KJV David therefore calleth him Lord, how is he then his son?
- NKJV Therefore David calls Him ‘Lord’ ; how is He then his Son?”
- NASB Therefore David calls Him ‘Lord,’ and so how is He his son?”
- NLT Since David called the Messiah ‘Lord,’ how can the Messiah be his son?”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Since David calls the Messiah 'Lord,' He must be more than merely David's descendant.
Overview
Jesus draws out the implication: a son does not normally outrank his father, yet David addresses his descendant as Lord. The answer, fulfilled in Jesus, is that the Christ is both David's son in His humanity and David's Lord in His deity. This unveils the mystery of the incarnate Son of God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Rev 22:16“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright Morning Star.”
- Rom 9:5Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them proceeds the human descent of Christ, who is God over all, forever worthy of praise! Amen.
- Gal 4:4But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
- Isa 7:14Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel.
- Luke 2:11Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord!
- Matt 1:23“Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means, “God with us”).
- Luke 1:31–35Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus.
- 1 Tim 3:16By common confession, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was proclaimed among the nations, was believed in throughout the world, was taken up in glory.
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 20:44 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.