Matthew 21:23-32
21:23 When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”
21:24 Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things.
21:25 Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’
21:26 But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.”
21:27 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
21:28 “What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’
21:29 He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went.
21:30 The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go.
21:31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.
21:32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.
23 Καὶ ἐλθόντι αὐτῷ εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν προσῆλθον αὐτῷ διδάσκοντι οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι τοῦ λαοῦ λέγοντες· ἐν ποίᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ ταῦτα ποιεῖς, καὶ τίς σοι ἔδωκε τὴν ἐξουσίαν ταύτην;
24 ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· ἐρωτήσω ὑμᾶς κἀγὼ λόγον ἕνα, ὃν ἐὰν εἴπητέ μοι, κἀγὼ ὑμῖν ἐρῶ ἐν ποίᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ ταῦτα ποιῶ.
25 Τὸ βάπτισμα Ἰωάννου πόθεν ἦν, ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἢ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων; Οἱ δὲ διελογίζοντο παρ᾿ ἑαυτοῖς λέγοντες· ἐὰν εἴπωμεν, ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, ἐρεῖ ἡμῖν, διατί οὖν οὐκ ἐπιστεύσατεαὐτῷ·
26 ἐὰν δὲ εἴπωμεν, ἐξ ἀνθρώπων, φοβούμεθα τὸν ὄχλον, πάντες γὰρ ἔχουσι τὸν Ἰωάννην ὡς προφήτην.
27 Καὶ ἀποκριθέντες τῷ Ἰησοῦ εἶπον· οὐκ οἴδαμεν. ἔφη αὐτοῖς καὶ αὐτός· οὐδὲ ἐγὼ λέγω ὑμῖν ἐν ποίᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ ταῦτα ποιῶ.
28 Τί δὲ ὑμῖν δοκεῖ; ἄνθρωπός τις εἶχε τέκνα δύο, καὶ προσελθὼν τῷ πρώτῳ εἶπε· τέκνον, ὕπαγε σήμερον ἐργάζου ἐν τῷ ἀμπελῶνί μου.
29 Ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν· οὐ θέλω· ὕστερον δὲ μεταμεληθεὶς ἀπῆλθε.
30 Καὶ προσελθὼν τῷ δευτέρῳ εἶπεν ὡσαύτως. Ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν· ἐγώ, κύριε· καὶ οὐκ ἀπῆλθε.
31 Τίς ἐκ τῶν δύο ἐποίησε τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πατρός; Λέγουσιν αὐτῷ· ὁ πρῶτος. Λέγει αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι οἱ τελῶναι καὶ αἱ πόρναι προάγουσιν ὑμᾶς εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ.
32 Ἦλθε γὰρ πρὸς ὑμᾶς Ἰωάννης ἐν ὁδῷ δικαιοσύνης, καὶ οὐκ ἐπιστεύσατε αὐτῷ· οἱ δὲ τελῶναι καὶ αἱ πόρναιἐπίστευσαν αὐτῷ· ὑμεῖς δὲ ἰδόντες οὐ μετεμελήθητε ὕστερον τοῦ πιστεῦσαι αὐτῷ.
Comments
A question about the nature of Jesus’ authority (ἐξουσία) frames a brief parable about the contrasting conduct of two sons. Much of the vocabulary is classical alongside koine diction and constructions. LSJ and Montanari (for cl. Gk) should be consulted as well as Muraoka (for LXX koine) and The Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, 3 vols, H. Balz & G. Schneider, Grand Rapids, MI, 1990 (abbreviated in this blog as EDNT). As J. Pelekan notes in Whose Bible is it?, NY, 2005, p. 66, ‘The Septuagint should not be the only place to look for the meaningof a word in the Gospels or in St Paul, but it definitely must be the first place to look.’
[23] ἐν ποίᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ: ἐξουσία, ἡ, ‘authority’ (already cl. Gk & LXX). Repeated another two times in v. 24 and once in v. 27.
ποίᾳ, dat. < ποῖος, ποία, ποῖον, interr. pron. ‘of what kind?’, ‘of what nature?’ (in Homer, cl. Gk, and later Gk, incl. LXX; in LXX it can mean ‘which?’ as in modern Gk). ποίᾳ here is an adj. preceding the noun it defines, ἐξουσίᾳ.
[24] ἐρωτήσω ὑμᾶς κἀγὼ λόγον ἕνα: κἀγὼ (crasis < καὶ + ἐγὼ). ἐγὼ is included for emphasis; καὶ here means ‘and in turn’. Given the context, λόγον (acc.) must mean ‘question’ (a counter-question).
ἕνα: coming at the end of the main sentence, is emphatic; it is not strictly necessary as λόγον could have stood alone. So Jesus is saying, ‘To your two questions I will in my turn ask you (just) ONE.’
[25] ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἢ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων: οὐρανός, ‘heaven’, is a metonymy for God.
διελογίζοντο: διαλογίζομαι, mid. voice, ‘discuss’ (cl. Gk): ‘they discussed among themselves’ is followed by a direct quotation of what they discussed. This adds vividness.
[26] ἔχουσι τὸν Ἰωάννην ὡς προφήτην: ‘they have John (as) a prophet’, i.e. ‘they honour John as a prophet’.
[27] οἴδαμεν: koine for ἴσμεν.
[28] Τί δὲ ὑμῖν δοκεῖ: the impers. δοκεῖ + pers. dat. μοι means ‘it seems to me, I think’. Jesus asks the priests their opinion: ‘What do you think [sc. of the following, i.e. parable]?’
[29] οὐ θέλω· ὕστερον δὲ μεταμεληθεὶς ἀπῆλθε: οὐ θέλω, ‘I do not want to, Ι will not’. μεταμεληθεὶς, aor. pass. part. < μεταμέλομαι, abs., ‘change one’s purpose or line of conduct’ (cl. GK: LSJ); ‘regret one’s action and change one’s mind’ (LXX: Muraka). The preverb μετά- suggests a subsequent action, also denoted by the adv. ὕστερον, ‘afterwards’.
[30] ἐγώ, κύριε· καὶ οὐκ ἀπῆλθε: ἐγώ, κύριε, lit. ‘I, my Lord’. ‘I’ is emphatic and ‘my Lord/ Lord’ expresses obedience. This is an emotive ellipsis, implying ‘I will not go and work.’ The conjunction καὶ has an adversative force, ‘but/ and yet he did not go.’
[31] τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πατρός: θέλημα, τό (< θέλω, ‘Ι want’) means ‘will’. It is postclassical Gk. Here the will of the father is contrasted with that of his sons.
οἱ τελῶναι καὶ αἱ πόρναι προάγουσιν ὑμᾶς εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ: πόρνη, ‘prostitute, whore’, derived from πέρνημι, ‘I sell’ (Chantraine). Cf. Engl. pornography.
A τελώνης was a tax collector; a πόρνη presumably (?) did not pay taxes. Notoriously corrupt, tax collectors served Rome; pornai serviced the Roman troops.The shocking finale is that these two despised types προάγουσιν ὑμᾶς, ‘have a head start, are ahead of you on the way to the Kingdom of God’. Προάγω < πρό (‘before’) +ἄγω (‘lead’) c. acc. pers. is LXX syntax, and means ‘go before, go ahead of someone’ (Muraoka).
[32] ὑμεῖς δὲ ἰδόντες οὐ μετεμελήθητε ὕστερον τοῦ πιστεῦσαι αὐτῷ: ἰδόντες, aor. part. < ὁρῶ (άω), ‘I see’, is concessive, ‘although you have seen’.
τοῦ πιστεῦσαι: aor. inf. πιστεύω, ‘Ι believe’; construed with the genit. article τοῦ, it here means ‘so as to believe’ (a consecutive inf.)
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 