Later, as Jesus was teaching the people in the Temple, he asked, “Why do the teachers of religious law claim that the Messiah is the son of David?
Parallel translations
- WEB Jesus responded, as he taught in the temple, “How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?
- KJV And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the son of David?
- BSB While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, He asked, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David?
- NKJV Then Jesus answered and said, while He taught in the temple, “How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David?
- NASB And Jesus responded and began saying, as He taught in the temple area, “How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?
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
Teaching in the temple, Jesus raises a question: how can the scribes call the Messiah merely David's son? It sets up a deeper truth about the Christ's identity.
Overview
The scribes rightly taught that the Messiah would descend from David (2 Samuel 7), but Jesus presses them to see more. Citing Psalm 110, he shows that David calls this descendant 'Lord,' implying the Messiah is greater than David and is divine. Jesus is indeed David's son in the flesh, yet also David's Lord — the eternal Son of God, a truth the cross and resurrection make plain.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Luke 20:41–44He said to them, “Why do they say that the Christ is David’s son?
- Matt 22:41–45Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question,
- Matt 26:55In that hour Jesus said to the multitudes, “Have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to seize me? I sat daily in the temple teaching, and you didn’t arrest me.
- Matt 9:27As Jesus passed by from there, two blind men followed him, calling out and saying, “Have mercy on us, son of David!”
- Mark 11:27They came again to Jerusalem, and as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders came to him,
- John 18:20Jesus answered him, “I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues, and in the temple, where the Jews always meet. I said nothing in secret.
- Luke 20:1On one of those days, as he was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the Good News, the priests and scribes came to him with the elders.
- Luke 19:47He was teaching daily in the temple, but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people sought to destroy him.
- Luke 21:37Every day Jesus was teaching in the temple, and every night he would go out and spend the night on the mountain that is called Olivet.
- John 7:42Hasn’t the Scripture said that the Christ comes of the offspring of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?”
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Christ at the center
Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
How Mark 12:35 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
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