And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then did ye not believe him?
The verse records the temple leaders deliberating among themselves how to answer when Jesus challenged them about authority, weighing their reply while confronted with evidence of His divine mission. Reform of the corrupt priesthood was known to be futile, yet action in the kingly role was still necessary in order to give an unbelieving people evidence of that mission.
The leaders saw that if they said John's baptism was from heaven, the immediate rejoinder would be why they had not believed John. John had testified that Jesus was the Lamb of God and thereby identified Him as the Messiah, so to admit that John's authority was from heaven would require accepting Jesus as the Messiah. They did not truly accept John's teaching, but they feared the people who regarded John as a prophet and feared losing the people's respect if they denied his mission, so they evaded giving an honest answer.
The verse records the temple leaders deliberating among themselves how to answer when Jesus challenged them about authority, weighing their reply while confronted with evidence of His divine mission. Reform of the corrupt priesthood was known to be futile, yet action in the kingly role was still necessary in order to give an unbelieving people evidence of that mission.
The leaders saw that if they said John's baptism was from heaven, the immediate rejoinder would be why they had not believed John. John had testified that Jesus was the Lamb of God and thereby identified Him as the Messiah, so to admit that John's authority was from heaven would require accepting Jesus as the Messiah. They did not truly accept John's teaching, but they feared the people who regarded John as a prophet and feared losing the people's respect if they denied his mission, so they evaded giving an honest answer.