[B-Greek] Luke 22:70 & 23:3 'you say'?

Iver Larsen iver at larsen.dk
Thu Aug 11 07:59:57 EDT 2005


> Hi.
>
> I am wondering about Jesus' words in Luke 22:70 and 23:3. When it says:
> hUMEIS LEGETE hOTI EGW EIMI and SU LEGEIS.
>
> Is it intended to be somewhat ambiguous, not an out-and-out admission, or
> perhaps Jesus casting back accountability onto his accusers, emphasising
> what comes or should come from their own mouths and lips?

Some questions are not easily answered by a clear yes or no. The NET Bible
comments:
"Jesus' reply, "You say that I am," was not a denial, but a way of giving a
qualified positive response: "You have said it, but I do not quite mean what
you think."

> Or is there good precedent (rather than just context) that Jesus is just
> saying as most translations put it "Yes, it is as you say"?

Apart from John's gospel (which uses more than the usual amount of pronouns)
it is quite unusual to have an explicit pronoun as subject for LEGW. Not
counting the 10 cases of a nominative form of the pronoun SU/hUMEIS in John,
there are only four: Mat 27:11, Mrk 15:2, Luk 22:70; Luk 23:3.

It is common to have a dative form as recipient, e.g. I tell you (Luk 5:24;
7:14 SOI LEGW, Luk 6:27 hUMIN LEGW, etc.). In most cases the pronoun follows
the verb, but sometimes it precedes, probably in order to indicate
contrastive emphasis.

When the subject is expressed both in the verbal suffix and as a separate
pronoun, it also indicates an emphasis on the pronoun, usually a contrastive
emphasis. But context is the decisive factor, IMO.
Whereas Jesus was apparently ready to accept the statement about being the
"Son of God", it is still a matter of suppositions. What kind of "Son of
God" were the high priests thinking of in 22:70? It appears to be used as a
synonym for the Messiah, cf. Matt 26:63, but what kind of Messiah?

In 23:3 it is again a sort of yes and no answer. Jesus was not the kind of
"king of the Jews" that people expected or Pilate referred to, although
Pilate really didn't now what to think about Jesus.

Iver Larsen





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