Mark 11:30

30 Was John's baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me."

Mark 11:30 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 11:30

The baptism of John
The doctrine of which he was the first preacher, and the ordinance of which he was the first administrator:

was it from heaven, or of men?
was it of divine or of human institution?

answer me;
directly and plainly, without any shuffling, or evasion: it is a fair question, and may be answered; and the answer to it our Lord suggests would naturally lead to a proper one to their question; (See Gill on Matthew 21:25).

Mark 11:30 In-Context

28 They asked, "What kind of authority do you have for doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?"

29 Jesus said to them, "I have a question for you. Give me an answer, then I'll tell you what kind of authority I have to do these things.

30 Was John's baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me."

31 They argued among themselves, "If we say, ‘It's of heavenly origin,' he'll say, ‘Then why didn't you believe him?'

32 But we can't say, ‘It's of earthly origin.'" They said this because they were afraid of the crowd, because they all thought John was a prophet.