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Matthew 22:45

in Matthew 22

So if David calls Him ‘Lord,’ how can He be David’s son?”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

If David then calleth him Lord, how is he his son?

KJV

If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?

This verse in Matthew 22

Commentary

12 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jerome

Catena Aurea by Aquinas · Written before 420.

This question is still available for us against the Jews; for these who believe that Christ is yet to come, assert that He is a mere man, though a holy one, of the race of David. Let us then thus taught by the Lord ask them, If He be mere man, and only the Son of David, how does David call Him his Lord? To evade the truth of this question, the Jews invent many frivolous answers.

This site's exposition

How then doth David in spirit call him Lord

on Matthew 22:43-46

David in spirit calls him Lord, quoting Psalm 110:1, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool, a psalm every rabbinic reader in the crowd took as messianic and David himself as its author speaking of one greater than himself. If David then call him Lord, how is he his son presses a genuine puzzle a purely human Davidic descent cannot resolve on its own, and the exposition names the reading without forcing a single answer on the reader: that the Messiah is David's son by human descent and David's Lord by a greater nature, the two truths this Gospel has held together since Emmanuel, God with us, was announced in its first chapter. No man was able to answer him a word closes the whole day of temple confrontations, the questioners silenced by their own accepted Scriptures rather than by any argument outside them.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers4 voices

A commentator

John Chrysostom

Homily on the Gospel of Matthew 71 · Written in the 5th century.

proposed

Then since He had answered, He asks also in turn, "What think ye of Christ, whose Son is He? They say unto Him, The Son of David." See after how many miracles, after how many signs, after how many questions, after how great a display of His unanimity with the Father, as well in words, as in deeds; after having praised this man that said, that there is one God, He asks the question, that they may not be able to say, that He did miracles indeed, yet was an adversary to the law, and a foe to God. Therefore, after so many things, He asks these questions, secretly leading them on to confess Him also to be God. And the disciples He asked first what the others say, and then themselves; but these not so; for surely they would have said a deceiver, and a wicked one, as speaking all things without fear. So for this cause He inquires for the opinion of these men themselves. For since He was now about to go on to His passion, He sets forth the prophecy that plainly proclaims Him to be Lord; and not as having come to do this without occasion, nor as having made this His aim, but from a reasonable cause. For having asked them first, since they answered not the truth concerning Him (for they said He was a mere man), to overthrow their mistaken opinion, He thus introduces David proclaiming His Godhead. […]

A commentator

John Chrysostom

Homily on the Gospel of Matthew 71 · Written in the 5th century.

proposed

"If David then call Him Lord, how is He then his Son," not taking away the fact that He is his Son, away with the thought; for He would not then have reproved Peter for this, but to correct their secret thoughts. So that when He saith, "How is He his Son?" He meaneth this, not so as ye say. For they said, that He is Son only, and not also Lord. And this after the testimony, and then submissively, "If David then call Him Lord, how is He his Son?" But, nevertheless, even when they had heard these things, they answered nothing, for neither did they wish to learn any of the things that were needful. Wherefore He Himself addeth and saith, that "He is his Lord." Or rather not even this very thing doth He say without support, but having taken the prophet with Him, because of His being exceedingly distrusted by them, and evil reported of amongst them.

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Matthew · Written before 420.

proposed

(verses 41 onwards) But when the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus questioned them, saying, 'What do you think about the Christ, whose son is he?' They said to him, 'David.' He said to them, 'How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying, "The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool?" If David then calls him Lord, how is he his son?' Those who had gathered together to test Jesus and tried to capture the truth through deceitful questioning, gave an opportunity for their own refutation.

A commentator

Augustine of Hippo

SERMON 92.2-3 · Written in the 5th century.

proposed

Here then there is need for caution, lest Christ himself be thought to have denied that he was the Son of David. He did not deny that he was the Son of David, but he probed his detractors on the particular way this can be. You have said that Christ is the Son of David. I do not deny it. But "if David thus calls him Lord, how is he his Son?" Tell me how he could be his son who is also his Lord? They did not answer him but were dumbfounded.Let us then answer them by the explanation given by Christ himself. Where given? Through his apostle. By what source can we prove that Christ himself has explained it? The apostle says, "Would you receive a proof of Christ who speaks in me?" So it is through the apostle's voice that Christ has allowed this question to be solved. In the first place, do you remember what Christ said, speaking by the apostle to Timothy? "Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel." So it is easy to see that Christ is the Son of David. But how is he also David's Lord? Let the apostle again tell us of the one who, "though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped." Acknowledge David's Lord. If you acknowledge David's Lord, our Lord, the Lord of heaven and earth, the Lord of the angels, equal with God, in the form of God, how is he David's Son? Note what follows. The apostle shows you David's Lord by saying, "Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God." And how is he David's Son? "But he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in human form, he humbled himself, having become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God has also highly exalted him." Christ "of the seed of David," the Son of David, rose again because "he emptied himself." How did he empty himself? […]

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Glossa Ordinaria

Catena Aurea by Aquinas · Written before 1274.

proposed

(ap. Anselm.) He concludes from this authority, If David then call Him Lord, how is He his son?
5 more voices on this verse

The Medieval Church2 voices

A commentator

Theophylact of Ohrid

Commentary on Matthew · Written before 1107.

proposed

Since they thought He was a mere man, He overturns their belief and by means of the prophecy of David (Ps. 109:1) teaches the truth, that He is also the Lord, proclaiming His own divinity. For when the Pharisees said that the Christ was the …

A commentator

Thomas Aquinas

Commentary on Matthew · Written before 1274.

proposed

If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? Therefore he is both Lord and son, because he is son according to the flesh, since he drew his origin from him, and Lord according to his divinity.

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture

If David then call him Lord,.... That is, the Messiah, which is taken for granted, nor could the Pharisees deny it, how is he his son?

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

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.

How the passage was read

On Matthew 22:23-46

On Matthew 22:23-46

The Sadducees' riddle, the greatest commandment, and David's son

The Sadducees, the priestly party that denied the resurrection of the dead (Acts 23:8), build their riddle on levirate marriage: the Torah's command that a man marry his brother's childless widow (Deuteronomy 25:5-10, the law behind Ruth; the Mishnah's tractate Yevamot regulates its cases). Seven brothers, one widow: “in the resurrection whose wife shall she be?” Jesus answers them from the Torah alone, the canon they granted: “I AM the God of Abraham” (Exodus 3:6), the living God of living men. Note where the parties stand: the Pharisees affirmed the resurrection so strongly that the Mishnah excludes from the world to come anyone who says the resurrection is not from the Torah (Sanhedrin 10:1). On this doctrine the Pharisaic tradition and Christian confession stand together against the Sadducees.

The lawyer's question that follows, “which is the great commandment?”, belongs to a genuine rabbinic genre: the search for a kelal gadol, a great governing principle. Hillel, asked to teach the whole Torah while a challenger stood on one foot, answered “what is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow; that is the whole Torah, the rest is commentary; go and learn” (Shabbat 31a); Rabbi Akiva later called “love your neighbor as yourself” the all-embracing principle of the Torah (Sifra on Leviticus 19:18). Jesus' first answer IS the Shema, the confession every observant Jew prays morning and evening (Deuteronomy 6:4-5), joined to Leviticus 19:18. The materials are the tradition's own; what is His alone is the authority with which He joins and ranks them, and the counter-question He then asks from Psalm 110: whose son is the Messiah?

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Sources: Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1 (the resurrection as core doctrine) · Shabbat 31a (Babylonian Talmud, Hillel on one foot) · Sifra, Kedoshim 4:12 (Akiva's great principle) · Mishnah Yevamot 1:1 (the levirate tractate)

The words behind it

10 Greek words

Every Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    1 Timothy 3:16

    By 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,…

    it leads to

    • John 1:14

      The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Hebrews 1:3

      The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the…

    • Mark 16:19

      After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

  • Through

    John 8:58

    “Truly, truly, I tell you,” Jesus declared, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

    it leads to

    • Exodus 3:14

      God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

    • Colossians 1:17

      He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

    • John 17:5

      And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world existed.

  • Through

    Hebrews 2:14

    Now since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity, so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil,

    it leads to

    • 2 Timothy 1:10

      And now He has revealed this grace through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the gospel,

    • Romans 8:3

      For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin.…

Where this verse is studied

About Matthew

This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 92.2-3; Glossa Ordinaria, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Jerome, Commentary on Matthew; John Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists; John Chrysostom, Homily on the Gospel of Matthew 71; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Matthew and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Matthew.