The Meaning of Luke 20:8 Explained

Luke 20:8

KJV: And Jesus said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.

YLT: and Jesus said to them, 'Neither do I say to you by what authority I do these things.'

Darby: And Jesus said to them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.

ASV: And Jesus said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And  Jesus  said  unto them,  Neither  tell  I  you  by  what  authority  I do  these things. 

What does Luke 20:8 Mean?

Context Summary

Luke 20:1-8 - The Unanswered Question
When anyone has received a divine commission, he does not need to prove it. His credentials are written large upon his life and message. It was so with John the Baptist. There was no need for him to argue his claims. The crowds in the Jordan valley; the multitudes in the baptismal waters, were sufficient to attest him as God's servant. What he said about God and sin found corroboration in their hearts. So it was with our Lord. The masses of people that followed Him and hung on His words had no doubt that He was the heir of the vineyard. The leaders professed to doubt it, because, to use the language of the parable that follows, they were reluctant to surrender their claims to the ownership of the vineyard. Probably, sufficient stress has not been laid upon the supreme intellectual power of our Lord, which shone out so clearly in these conflicts with Hebrew casuists, and in which He always came off conqueror, by the sheer force of His mind. "We have the mind of Christ!" [source]

Chapter Summary: Luke 20

1  Jesus confirms his authority by a question of John's baptism
9  The parable of the vineyard
19  Of giving tribute to Caesar
27  He instructs the Sadducees, who denied the resurrection
41  How Jesus is the Son of David
45  He warns his disciples to beware of the scribes

What do the individual words in Luke 20:8 mean?

And - Jesus said to them Neither I tell you by what authority these things I am doing
Καὶ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς Οὐδὲ ἐγὼ λέγω ὑμῖν ἐν ποίᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ ταῦτα ποιῶ

  - 
Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
Ἰησοῦς  Jesus 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: Ἰησοῦς  
Sense: Joshua was the famous captain of the Israelites, Moses’ successor.
εἶπεν  said 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: λέγω  
Sense: to speak, say.
αὐτοῖς  to  them 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Dative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
Root: αὐτός  
Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself.
Οὐδὲ  Neither 
Parse: Adverb
Root: οὐδέ  
Sense: but not, neither, nor, not even.
λέγω  tell 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 1st Person Singular
Root: λέγω 
Sense: to say, to speak.
ἐξουσίᾳ  authority 
Parse: Noun, Dative Feminine Singular
Root: ἐξουσία  
Sense: power of choice, liberty of doing as one pleases.
ταῦτα  these  things 
Parse: Demonstrative Pronoun, Accusative Neuter Plural
Root: οὗτος  
Sense: this.
ποιῶ  I  am  doing 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 1st Person Singular
Root: ποιέω  
Sense: to make.