Luke 20:5

5 So they debated the matter with one another. "If we say `Heavenly,'" they argued, "he will say, `Why did you not believe him?'

Luke 20:5 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 20:5

And they reasoned with themselves
Or "they thought with themselves", as the Syriac version; or "within themselves", as the Vulgate Latin, though they did not express it; or "one with another", as the Arabic version; they took counsel together, and debated the matter among themselves, and reasoned after this manner:

saying, if we shall say from heaven;
which was what, in their own consciences, they believed to be true,

he will say, why then believed ye him not?
in what he said concerning the Messiah; which if they had, as they should, there would have been no reason for such a question they had put; (See Gill on Matthew 21:25).

Luke 20:5 In-Context

3 "I also will put a question to you, "He said;

4 "was John's baptism of Heavenly or of human origin?"

5 So they debated the matter with one another. "If we say `Heavenly,'" they argued, "he will say, `Why did you not believe him?'

6 And if we say, `human,' the people will all stone us; for they are thoroughly convinced that John was a Prophet."

7 And they answered that they did not know the origin of it.