---
title: Luke 22:67
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/luke-22-67/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/luke-22-67.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Luke 22:67
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Luke 22:67

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> “If You are the Christ, tell us.”  Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): ""If you are the Christ, tell us." But he said to them: "Even if I told you, you would not believe it at all.""

## JW Usage

Luke's version of the trial is read as the council pressing Jesus for a messianic claim and Jesus deflecting. The Watchtower takes his eventual answer as an acknowledgement of his appointed role as Jehovah's king, and the council's verdict as the injustice of men who rejected God's chosen one.

## Protestant Usage

Luke's account is worth reading alongside Matthew's because it separates the two questions, and the separation shows what the council was actually reacting to. In verse 67 they ask whether he is the Christ, and Jesus answers evasively — even if I told you, you would not believe. Then in verse 69 he volunteers Daniel's picture unprompted: from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the powerful right hand of God. Only then, in verse 70, do they ask "are you, therefore, the Son of God?" — and his answer ends the trial. So the messianic question did not produce the verdict. What produced it was Jesus placing himself at God's right hand in Daniel's language. The council drew the conclusion themselves, and Luke records them drawing it. That sequence is useful with a Witness who has been taught that "Son of God" means only a created son. Ask why the council escalated from "are you the Christ" to "are you the Son of God" only after he described himself seated beside God. Compare Matthew 26:63, Daniel 7:9, Luke 22:62.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Son of Man on the Clouds — A Divine Prerogative](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/daniel7-son-of-man-deity.md) — Daniel 7:13-14 [Deity of Christ]