Matthew 26:63

Matthew 26:63. But Jesus held his peace. Before Annas He had spoken (John 18:19-23), but that was not an official hearing. Here under false witness and reproach He (as before Herod) is silent, in patience and confidence of victory. The testimony was false in fact, even if partially true in form. An answer would have involved an explanation, which his opposers either knew already or were too hostile to accept. The silence does not, as early interpreters thought, point to our silence before the judgment seat of God, had He not taken our place and been silent before His judges; for His silence led to their greater judgment and self-condemnation. His claim to be the Messiah was the ground of their hostility and also the only ground on which they could demand His death. His silence implied this, and served to bring the whole matter to an issue.

And the high-priest said. Our Lord's silence compels the abandonment of the subterfuge. Yet the deceitfulness remained. They would not believe Him, as He afterwards told them (Luke 22:67). They merely offered the alternative of a conviction as a blasphemer or an impostor.

I adjure thee, etc. Genesis 24:3; 2 Chronicles 36:13. When a judge used this formula, the simple answer yea or nay, made it the regular oath of the witness.

By the living God. In His presence, a witness and judge of the answer.

The Christ, the Son of God. The latter term probably meant more than the former. Mark 14:61, and the question at the third examination (Luke 22:67; Luke 22:70), indicate that Caiaphas used it in a sense similar to that we now attach to it. ‘He and the Sanhedrin wittingly attached to it the peculiar meaning which, on previous occasions, had been such an offence to them (John 5:18; John 10:33); and Jesus, fully understanding their object, gave a most emphatic affirmation to their inquiry. Of all the testimonies in favor of the divinity of Christ, this is the most clear and definite' (Gerlach).