The case against Jesus was falling apart. The council had sought false witness to put Him to death but "found none" (Matthew 26:59-60), and Mark adds that even the last witnesses did not "agree together" (Mark 14:56, 59). Gill says the high priest "rose up from his seat in great wrath and anger," vexed that they could get no better testimony. His first question presses Jesus to break His silence. His second presses Him to answer the charge. Either way, he hoped Jesus' own words would supply what the witnesses could not.

"But Jesus held his peace" (Matthew 26:63). Mark says He "answered nothing" (Mark 14:61). Barnes explains that Jesus knew "the evidence did not even appear to amount to anything worth a reply." Jesus broke His silence only when the high priest put Him under oath "by the living God" and asked whether He was "the Christ, the Son of God." To that, Jesus answered, "Thou hast said" (Matthew 26:63-64).

Under the Law of Moses, a person could be put to death only "at the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses" (Deuteronomy 17:6). That is why it mattered so much that the witnesses against Jesus did not agree (Mark 14:56, 59).

The high priest's first question in Greek, ouden apokrinē, reads literally "Nothing you answer?" The verb translated "witness against" is katamartureō, which Thayer defines as "to bear witness against." It appears again in the parallel at Mark 14:60 and in Pilate's questions at Matthew 27:13 and Mark 15:4 ("how many things they witness against thee").

Jesus' silence fits the Servant of Isaiah 53:7, who "opened not his mouth" and was brought "as a lamb to the slaughter." Matthew Henry says of this silence: "When Christ was made sin for us, he was silent, and left it to his blood to speak." Jesus was not cornered. He was choosing the path the Scriptures had laid out.

But His silence had limits. When the question turned from false charges to who He is, He answered plainly, even though Barnes notes that either answer would be used against Him: if He confessed, "they stood ready to condemn him for blasphemy" (Matthew 26:63-65). Jesus would not defend Himself against lies, but He would not deny the truth about Himself.