Matthew 21:25

τὸ βάπτισμα τὸ Ἰ., the baptism as representing John's whole ministry. ἐξ οὐρ. ἢ ἐξ ἀνθ., from heaven or from men? The antithesis is foreign to legitimist modes of thought, which would combine the two: from heaven but through men; if not through men not from heaven. The most gigantic and baleful instance of this fetish in modern nines is the notion of church sacraments and orders depending on ordination. On the same principle St. Paul was no apostle, because his orders came to him “not from men nor by man,” Galatians 1:1. ἐὰν εἴπωμεν, etc. The audible and formal answer of the scribes was οὐκ οἴδαμεν, in Matthew 21:27. All that goes before from ἐὰν to προφήτην is the reasoning on which it was based, either unspoken (παρʼ or ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, Mt.) or spoken to each other (πρός, Mark 11:31); not likely to have been overheard, guessed rather from the puzzled expression on their faces. οὐκ ἐπιστεύσατε : the reference here may be to John's witness to Jesus, or it may be general = why did ye not receive his message as a whole?