In Matthew 26:63-64, does the high priest think that the Messiah is Son of God?

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Accepted answer

Several Second Temple documents — and not just the Christian tradition — reflect the hope that God will re-establish the Israelite monarchy. This was often based on the promises God makes to David in 2 Sam 7, which state that his son Solomon:

  1. Will build the Temple.
  2. Will become God's son.
  3. Will have a throne established forever.

This makes excellent sense of the fact that the High Priest, in the passage you are asking about, moves directly from questions about Jesus's relationship to the Temple to a question about whether Jesus is God's son: both questions were attempts to determine whether Jesus saw himself as a fulfillment of 2 Sam 7. So when the High Priest asked if Jesus was God's son, he meant, “do you think God has adopted you as a son to rule over his people Israel, like he adopted Solomon as his son?”

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