<p>21:27&nbsp;<em>And they answered Jesus and said: We do not know</em>- See on :25&nbsp;<em>They reasoned with themselves&nbsp;</em>and :24&nbsp;<em>If you answer Me.&nbsp;</em>The Greek means 'We cannot&nbsp;<em>know</em>'. They had set themselves up as defenders of the Faith, whose duty it was to analyse the claims of teachers and decide whether or not they were false prophets. But now they are beaten in fair intellectual fight. They can give no answer, and yet by saying they could not judge John's claim to be a prophet, they were abdicating the very role of assessors of teachers which they claimed to have, and which they were using against the Lord.</p><p><em>He replied to them: Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things</em>- He meant that they knew in their consciences and did not need Him to spell it out to them in words. This was again His style in His silence before His judges, and in His brief answer to Pilate: &quot;You are saying it&quot; (Lk. 23:3). The answer was in Pilate's own words rather than the Lord's.</p>