---
title: Mark 14:61
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/mark-14-61/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/mark-14-61.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Mark 14:61
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Mark 14:61

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> But Jesus remained silent and made no reply.  Again the high priest questioned Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?”

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "But he kept silent and made no reply at all. Again the high priest began to question him and said to him: 'Are you the Christ the Son of the Blessed One?'"

## JW Usage

The Watchtower reads "the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One" as Messianic language only — Christ is the Messiah, and "Son of God" in JW theology means a created being closely related to God, not God himself. Jesus's affirmative answer in v. 62 is treated as a Messianic claim, not a deity claim. The high priest's reaction in v. 63 (tearing his robes) is read as political theatre rather than as evidence that Jesus had blasphemed.

## Protestant Usage

The high priest is asking under oath. Jesus's answer in the next verse combines Daniel 7:13 ("the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven") with Psalm 110:1 ("sitting at the right hand of Power") — two passages that together attribute to the Son of Man universal eternal dominion and the seat of co-regency with Jehovah. Caiaphas understood. He tore his robes — forbidden for the high priest under Leviticus 21:10 except in response to extreme blasphemy — and called for Jesus's death. Under Second Temple Judaism, Messianic claims alone were not capital blasphemy (Bar Kokhba was a failed Messiah, not a blasphemer). What got Jesus killed was the divine identity claim. The hostile witnesses understood the trial better than the Watchtower does. Pair Mark 14:61 with Daniel 7:13-14, Psalm 110:1, and Leviticus 21:10 to see the full freight of what Jesus claimed and what Caiaphas heard.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Trial That Proved Jesus Claimed to Be God](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/mark14-trial-deity-claim.md) — Mark 14:60-64 [Deity of Christ]
- [Liar, Lunatic, or Lord — There Is No Fourth Option](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/liar-lunatic-lord.md) — John 8:58 / John 10:30 / Mark 14:62 [Deity of Christ]
- [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]
- [David's Son, David's Lord](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/psalm-110-my-lord.md) — Psalm 110:1 / Matthew 22:41-46 — the question Jesus asked that nobody could answer [Deity of Christ]