Mark 12:35-37

Is Messiah David's Son? Jesus now asks His hearers a question. The exact purpose and significance of the question are not easy to determine, but apparently Jesus held that the Messiah (who is Himself) does not depend on Davidic descent for His authority. He is more than the heir of David's glory. This implies either that Jesus did not claim to be of the house of David or else that He set little value on this connexion. The quotation is from Psalms 110:1, and the argument assumes that David wrote this psalm. This attribution was traditional, and was accepted by our Lord and His Apostles on the authority of the recognised guardians of the canon (Swete). Jesus starts from the scholarship current in His day. His use of that scholarship does not bind His followers to its acceptance to-day.