The Meaning of Luke 20:4 Explained

Luke 20:4

KJV: The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men?

YLT: the baptism of John, from heaven was it, or from men?'

Darby: The baptism of John, was it of heaven or of men?

ASV: The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men?

KJV Reverse Interlinear

The baptism  of John,  was it  from  heaven,  or  of  men? 

What does Luke 20:4 Mean?

Context Summary

Luke 20:1-8 - The Unanswered Question
When anyone has received a divine commission, he does not need to prove it. His credentials are written large upon his life and message. It was so with John the Baptist. There was no need for him to argue his claims. The crowds in the Jordan valley; the multitudes in the baptismal waters, were sufficient to attest him as God's servant. What he said about God and sin found corroboration in their hearts. So it was with our Lord. The masses of people that followed Him and hung on His words had no doubt that He was the heir of the vineyard. The leaders professed to doubt it, because, to use the language of the parable that follows, they were reluctant to surrender their claims to the ownership of the vineyard. Probably, sufficient stress has not been laid upon the supreme intellectual power of our Lord, which shone out so clearly in these conflicts with Hebrew casuists, and in which He always came off conqueror, by the sheer force of His mind. "We have the mind of Christ!" [source]

Chapter Summary: Luke 20

1  Jesus confirms his authority by a question of John's baptism
9  The parable of the vineyard
19  Of giving tribute to Caesar
27  He instructs the Sadducees, who denied the resurrection
41  How Jesus is the Son of David
45  He warns his disciples to beware of the scribes

What do the individual words in Luke 20:4 mean?

The baptism of John from heaven was it or men
Τὸ βάπτισμα Ἰωάννου ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἦν ἀνθρώπων

βάπτισμα  baptism 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Neuter Singular
Root: βάπτισμα  
Sense: immersion, submersion.
Ἰωάννου  of  John 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root: Ἰωάννης 
Sense: John the Baptist was the son of Zacharias and Elisabeth, the forerunner of Christ.
οὐρανοῦ  heaven 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root: οὐρανός  
Sense: the vaulted expanse of the sky with all things visible in it.
ἦν  was  it 
Parse: Verb, Imperfect Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: εἰμί  
Sense: to be, to exist, to happen, to be present.
ἀνθρώπων  men 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Plural
Root: ἄνθρωπος  
Sense: a human being, whether male or female.