Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of Matthew
Chapter 22: What Think Ye of Christ?
Matthew 22 is a day of questions in the temple, and the King answers them all. He tells the parable of the wedding feast, where the invited refuse and the highways are searched for guests, but one is cast out for having no wedding garment: 'many are called, but few are chosen.' Then His enemies close in with their traps. The Pharisees and Herodians ask about tribute to Caesar, and He answers, 'Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.' The Sadducees deny the resurrection, and He proves it from the living God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. A lawyer asks the great commandment, and He sums up all the law in love for God and neighbour. Then Jesus turns the tables with His own question, 'What think ye of Christ? whose son is he?', showing from Psalm 110 that Messiah is both David's son and David's Lord, so that 'no man was able to answer him a word.' The chapter presses the one question that matters most: what will you do with Christ, who is Lord?
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of Matthew chapter 22. For each section you will find the KJV text, word studies that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. Here Jesus tells the parable of the wedding feast, silences His challengers on tribute and the resurrection, gives the great commandment, and reveals Himself as David's Lord. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
Setting the Stage
Come Unto the Marriage
The invited refuse, the highways are searched, and one is cast out with no garment.
Render Unto Caesar
Jesus answers the trap of tribute, giving Caesar his coin and God His due.
The God of the Living
He confounds the Sadducees, proving the resurrection from the living God.
David's Son and Lord
Messiah is both David's son in flesh and David's Lord as God.
Many Are Called, but Few Are Chosen (Matthew 22:1-14)
A king's invited guests refuse his son's feast, the doors are thrown open to all, yet none may sit without the garment the king provides.
The Wedding Was Furnished with Guests
"And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen."
Word Study
"wedding garment," Greek enduma gamou (ἔνδυμα γάμου). These guests had just been swept in off the highways, "both bad and good," with no time or means to dress for a royal feast -- so the fitting garment must have been the king's own provision, handed to each at the door; to appear without one was to reject what the king freely gave. The man "had not on a wedding garment" not because he was too poor to buy one, but because he refused the garment offered him. It is a picture of trying to enter the kingdom clothed in one's own righteousness rather than the righteousness God provides in Christ. All are welcomed, "both bad and good," but all must be clothed by the King.
Explanation
The parable of the wedding feast tells the gospel's history: the invited guests (Israel's leaders) refuse and even kill the servants, so the king sends into the highways to gather all he can find, "both bad and good." The open door to everyone is real -- but the man without a wedding garment is cast out, for coming to the feast still requires being clothed in the righteousness the King provides. "Many are called, but few are chosen" holds both truths together: the invitation is universal, yet no one enters on his own terms. Grace invites freely, but it also clothes -- and to spurn the garment is to spurn the King.
Gospel Focus
This parable tells the whole history of the gospel invitation. God is the King; the marriage is for "his son"; the feast is the joy of His kingdom. He "sent forth his servants," the prophets and then the apostles, to call those first "bidden," Israel, but "they would not come." Some simply "made light of it," too busy with farm and merchandise, and others "entreated them spitefully, and slew them," as Jerusalem killed the prophets and would kill the apostles. The king's judgment on that city, "burned up their city," foreshadows the fall of Jerusalem. But the feast will not go empty. The doors are flung wide: "Go ye therefore into the highways," and servants gather "all as many as they found, both bad and good", a picture of the gospel going out to the Gentiles and to all sorts of sinners. This is the wideness of grace: the invitation is free, and it reaches the outcast and the undeserving. Yet the parable does not end with an open door only; it ends with a solemn warning. Among the gathered guests is a man "which had not on a wedding garment." Being present is not enough; one must be clothed. The garment the king provides pictures the righteousness of Christ, put on by faith, without which no one can rightly sit at God's feast. When challenged, the man "was speechless", he has no excuse, for the garment was freely offered and he refused it. He is cast into "outer darkness." Here are two errors the parable guards against at once: the presumption that refuses the invitation altogether, and the presumption that accepts the invitation but comes in one's own clothing, trusting one's own goodness rather than being covered by Christ. "Many are called, but few are chosen." The call goes out to all; those who come, and come clothed by the King, are His. Have you not only entered, but been clothed by Him?
Render Unto Caesar, and Unto God (Matthew 22:15-22)
A trap baited on both sides is turned into a principle for the ages: give the state its due, and give God what bears His image.
Whose Is This Image and Superscription?
"Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's. When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way."
Word Study
"image," Greek eikon (εἰκών). The coin bore Caesar's eikon, his image and inscription, marking it as his; so, Jesus says, "render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's." But the word carries a deeper echo: man himself is made in the eikon of God (Genesis 1:27, the same word in the Greek Old Testament). As the coin stamped with Caesar's image belongs to Caesar, so the soul stamped with God's image belongs to God. Give the state its coins; give God yourself.
Explanation
The Pharisees and Herodians spring a trap on the question of taxes, hoping to make Jesus either a rebel or a collaborator. Calling for a coin, He asks whose image it bears and answers, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." The coin bears Caesar's image, so it belongs to Caesar; but the human being bears the image of God, and therefore belongs wholly to God. Beneath the clever escape is a claim on the whole self: give the state its coin, but give God the image-bearer -- you.
Gospel Focus
The Pharisees and Herodians, usually enemies, unite to "entangle him in his talk." Their question is a perfect trap: "Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?" Say yes, and He offends the Jews who hated Roman taxation; say no, and He can be reported to Rome as a rebel. Their flattery, "we know that thou art true," only masks their malice, and Jesus sees straight through it: "Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?" Then, with perfect wisdom, He asks for the coin and turns the trap into a lesson. "Whose is this image and superscription?" "Caesar's." "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." In one sentence He establishes the proper place of two loyalties. Earthly government is ordained by God and has real, God-given authority; the Christian pays his taxes, obeys just laws, and honors the state in its sphere. But the state is not God, and its claims are limited. Caesar may stamp his image on a coin and claim it; but God has stamped His image on the human soul, and that belongs to Him alone. The state may command our coins and our lawful obedience; it may never command our worship or our conscience, for those are God's. Give Caesar what is Caesar's, and give God what is God's, and never confuse the two. This word has guided the people of God ever since: loyal citizens of earth, but with a higher allegiance that no earthly power may claim. And it presses a personal question home: you bear God's image; have you rendered yourself to Him?
He Is Not the God of the Dead, but of the Living (Matthew 22:23-33)
The Sadducees mock the resurrection with a riddle, and Jesus answers their error from the Scriptures and the power of God.
Ye Do Err, Not Knowing the Scriptures
"The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him, Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother: Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. And last of all the woman died also. Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her. Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine."
Word Study
"I am," Greek ego eimi (ἐγώ εἰμι). Jesus rests His whole proof of the resurrection on the tense of one phrase. At the burning bush God declared Himself the God of the patriarchs (Exodus 3:6), and Jesus presses the very tense of the words: God did not say "I was" but "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob", spoken long after the patriarchs had died. Since "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living," they must live still to Him, and shall rise. The living God binds Himself in covenant to His people, and death cannot break that bond. He who is the great "I am" holds His own beyond the grave.
Explanation
The Sadducees, who deny the resurrection, pose a riddle about a woman married to seven brothers, and Jesus answers that they err "not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God." In the resurrection life is transformed, not merely resumed. Then He proves the resurrection from the Torah they accepted: God said "I am the God of Abraham" -- present tense, long after the patriarchs died -- and "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." The covenant bond God forms with a person cannot be severed by death; the God of the living guarantees that those who are His will live.
Gospel Focus
The Sadducees, who denied the resurrection, angels, and the spirit world, come with a riddle designed to make the resurrection look absurd: a woman married in turn to seven brothers, "in the resurrection whose wife shall she be?" Jesus answers with a rebuke that exposes the root of all their error: "Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God." Their double ignorance is instructive. They did not know the "power of God," imagining the risen life must simply be more of this life, whereas "in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven." The life to come is not a mere continuation but a glorious transformation. And they did not know the "scriptures," so Jesus proves the resurrection from the very books of Moses they claimed to revere. At the burning bush, long after the patriarchs had died, God says, "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." He does not say "I was," but "I am"; and "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." The covenant God binds Himself to His people in a bond that death cannot dissolve; because He lives, they live to Him, and will rise. Here is deep comfort. The believer's hope is not wishful thinking but rests on the character of the living God who has pledged Himself to His own. Our God is not the God of the dead. Those who are His do not perish in the grave; they live to Him and shall be raised. No wonder "the multitude... were astonished at his doctrine." Christ, who is Himself the resurrection and the life, speaks with the authority of the living God.
If David Call Him Lord, How Is He His Son? (Matthew 22:34-46)
Jesus sums up the whole law in love, then turns the question on His questioners: Messiah is David's son and yet David's Lord.
The LORD Said Unto My Lord
"But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions."
Word Study
"my Lord," Greek kurios (κύριος). Jesus quotes Psalm 110:1, where David writes, "The LORD said unto my Lord." The first "LORD" renders the divine name; the second, "my Lord," is the one David calls his own master, the Messiah. David, the greatest king of Israel, calls his own descendant his "Lord", a title of one greater than himself. How can the Messiah be both David's son and David's Lord? Only if He is more than a man: David's son according to the flesh, yet David's Lord as God manifest in flesh. The riddle Jesus poses has one answer, Himself, the divine Messiah.
Explanation
Asked for the great commandment, Jesus binds two into one: love God with all the heart, and love your neighbor as yourself -- "on these two... hang all the law and the prophets." Then He turns the tables with His own question about Psalm 110: if the Messiah is David's son, how does David call Him "my Lord" -- "The LORD said unto my Lord"? The answer no one dared give is that the Messiah is more than David's descendant; He is David's Lord, God come in the flesh of David's line. The Son of David is also the LORD of David, and none could answer Him a word.
Gospel Focus
The Pharisees, regrouping after the Sadducees' defeat, send a lawyer to test Jesus: "which is the great commandment in the law?" His answer gathers all of God's law into two commands of love. First and greatest: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind", the whole person given wholly to God. And the second, "like unto it": "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Every command God ever gave is an unfolding of love, love to God and love to neighbour, and without love all religion is empty. But Jesus does not leave the day to His challengers. Having answered every trap, He asks the one question that silences them all: "What think ye of Christ? whose son is he?" They answer correctly but only halfway, "The Son of David." So Jesus presses the deeper truth from Psalm 110: how then does David, by the Spirit, call his own descendant "Lord"? "The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand." No father calls his son "Lord"; no king calls his own descendant his master, unless that descendant is more than merely his son. Here is the mystery Jesus lays before them: the Messiah is David's son according to the flesh, born of David's line, yet He is also David's Lord, for He is God come in flesh. This is the heart of the whole gospel and the answer to the day's real question. It is not enough to say Messiah is the Son of David; He is the LORD, God manifest, seated at the right hand of power. And "no man was able to answer him a word." The chapter that began with an invitation to the feast ends with the question every soul must answer: "What think ye of Christ?" He is not merely a teacher, a prophet, or David's son; He is the Lord. What you think of Him decides everything.
Chapter 22 in Review
Matthew 22 is a day of testing that ends in the triumph of the King. In the parable of the wedding feast, the invited refuse and are judged, the highways are searched so "the wedding was furnished with guests," yet a man without a "wedding garment" is cast out: "many are called, but few are chosen." Then His enemies attack in turn and fall in turn. To the trap on tribute He answers, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." To the Sadducees' denial of the resurrection He replies from the living God of Abraham, "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." To the lawyer He gives the great commandment, love to God and neighbour, on which "hang all the law and the prophets." And then He silences them all with His own question, showing from Psalm 110 that Messiah is both David's son and David's Lord, so that "no man was able to answer him a word."
For the Apostolic reader the chapter gathers to a single point: the identity of Christ. The wedding feast pictures the gospel freely offered to all, but entered only by those clothed in the righteousness God provides in His Son. The answers to Caesar, the Sadducees, and the lawyer each reveal a wisdom no man could match. And the climax lays bare who Jesus is: David's son in the flesh, born of his line, yet David's Lord, God manifest in flesh, seated at the right hand of power. This is the Oneness of God shining through the whole scene, the LORD of Psalm 110 come as the Christ. The day that began with men questioning Jesus ends with Jesus questioning them, and none can answer. So the chapter turns its searching question upon every reader: "What think ye of Christ? whose son is he?" To confess Him only as a great man, or even as David's son, is to stop short of the truth. He is the Lord. Render yourself to Him, put on the garment He provides, and love Him with all your heart.
- The gospel feast is freely offered to all, but entered only clothed in the righteousness God provides (22:11-12).
- "Many are called, but few are chosen": the call is wide, the response is what matters (22:14).
- Give the state its due, but render to God what bears His image, yourself (22:21).
- The resurrection rests on the living God's covenant: "the God... of the living" (22:32).
- All the law hangs on love to God and love to neighbour (22:37-40).
- Messiah is David's son in flesh and David's Lord as God (22:44-45; Psalm 110:1).
Questions for Reflection
- Have you entered the feast clothed in Christ's righteousness, or trusting your own?
- Are you rendering to God the self that bears His image?
- Does your hope rest on the living God who holds His own beyond the grave?
- "What think ye of Christ?" Do you confess Him as Lord, not merely as a great man?
References & Sources
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV). Supporting passages are listed so every claim can be verified in its own setting. The wedding garment and the righteousness of Christ: Isaiah 61:10; Revelation 19:8. Man in the image of God: Genesis 1:27. God at the burning bush: Exodus 3:6. The great commandment: Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18. David's Lord at God's right hand: Psalm 110:1; Acts 2:34-36. If anything here does not look right, a verse, a reference, or a wording, please tell us at info@FruitBearers.net. Thank you for helping us keep Bible Learning error free.
- The parable of the wedding feast: Matthew 22:1-14; Luke 14:15-24; Revelation 19:7-9.
- Tribute to Caesar: Matthew 22:15-22; Mark 12:13-17; Luke 20:20-26; Romans 13:1-7.
- The Sadducees and the resurrection: Matthew 22:23-33; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-40; Exodus 3:6.
- The great commandment and David's Lord: Matthew 22:34-46; Mark 12:28-37; Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18; Psalm 110:1.