Luke 20:3 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Ver. 3-8. See Poole on "Matthew 21:24", and following verses to Matthew 21:27. See Poole on "Mark 11:29", and following verses to Mark 11:33. The substance of our Saviour's answer is this: From whence had John his authority? He preached and baptized; who gave him his authority? They had sent much such another message to John, 1 Thessalonians 1:19-22. Was John's authority ordinary or extraordinary? It is plain that he had no authority from them, for then they would not have sent to him to know who he was. He must therefore have it from heaven. Now if they had allowed John's call extraordinary, why should not they allow Christ's to be such, to whom John gave so large a testimony, and who confirmed his extraordinary mission by miraculous operations, which we do not read that John ever did? Besides, the Pharisees saw that if they allowed John's mission to be extraordinary, and from heaven, they had obviously exposed themselves to a check for not believing what he said; they therefore refuse to make any answer, and Christ refuseth also to satisfy them.