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Mat_26:63. The high priest answers this second refusal to speak by repeating a formal oath, in which Jesus is adjured to declare whether He be the Messiah or not. For this confession would determine how far they would be justified in pronouncing a capital sentence, and such as the Roman procurator would not fail to confirm.
ἐξορκίζω ] means, like the earlier form ἑξορκόω : I call upon thee to swear, Dem. 1265, 6; Polyb. iii. 61. 10, vi. 21. 1, xvi. 31. 5. Comp. äÄùÑÌÀáÌÄéòÇ , Gen_24:3, al. To give an affirmative answer to this formula was to take the full oath usually administered in any court of law. Michaelis, Mos. R. § 302; Matthaei, doctr. Christi de jurejur. 1847, p. 8; Keil, Arch. II. p. 256. The fact that Jesus took the oath has been denied, though without any reason whatever, by Wuttke, Döllinger, Steinmeyer.
κατὰ τοῦ θεοῦ , κ . τ . λ .] by the living God. Comp. 1Ki_3:24; Jdt_1:12; common in Greek authors, see Kühner, I. 1, p. 434; also Heb_6:13, and Bleek thereon. The living God as such would not fail to punish the perjured, Heb_10:31. It was the uniform practice in courts of law to swear by God. See Saalschutz, M. R. p. 614.
ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ] ordinary, recognised designation of the Messiah, into which, naturally enough, the metaphysical conception does not enter here, however much it may have been present to the mind of Christ Himself in making the affirmation which follows.