Then Pilate went out again, and said to them, “Behold, I bring him out to you, that you may know that I find no basis for a charge against him.”
Jesus therefore came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment. Pilate said to them, “Behold, the man!”
When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw him, they shouted, saying, “Crucify! Crucify!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves, and crucify him, for I find no basis for a charge against him.”
The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.”
When therefore Pilate heard this saying, he was more afraid. He entered into the Praetorium again, and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate therefore said to him, “Aren’t you speaking to me? Don’t you know that I have power to release you and have power to crucify you?”
Jesus answered, “You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above. Therefore he who delivered me to you has greater sin.”
At this, Pilate was seeking to release him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If you release this man, you aren’t Caesar’s friend! Everyone who makes himself a king speaks against Caesar!”
When Pilate therefore heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called “The Pavement”, but in Hebrew, “Gabbatha.” Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, at about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!”
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv6–14 6. Take you him. He did not wish to…
6. Take you him. He did not wish to deliver Christ into their hands, or to abandon him to their fury; only he declares that he will not be their executioner. This is evident from the reason immediately added, when he says that he finds no guilt in him; as if he had said, that he will never be persuaded to shed innocent blood for their gratification. That it is only the priests and officers who demand that he shall be crucified, is evident from the circumstance that the madness of the people was not so great, except so far as those bellows contributed afterwards to kindle it.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv4, 6, 8, 13 Christ is again acquitted by the same mouth wherewith…
Christ is again acquitted by the same mouth wherewith he is afterward condemned.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv4–14 4 Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto…
4 Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.
Ver. 4. That ye may know that I find no fault] But why did he not then deliver him out of their hands? Pusillanimity (cowardliness) and popularity would not suffer him; but howsoever he shall give testimony to his innocence. So when Dr Weston was gone from Mr Bradford, martyr (with whom he previously had conference), the keeper told Bradford that the doctor spoke openly that he saw no cause why they should burn him. This Weston being prolocutor (spokesman) in the divinity schools at Oxford, when Cranmer was brought forth to dispute, thus began the disputation, Convenistis hodie, fratres, profligaturi detestandam illam haeresin de veritate corporis Christi in Sacramento, &c. You are assembled today brothren, to overthrow that destable heresy conceriing the body of Christ in the sacrament. At which various learned men burst out into a great laughter, as though even in the entrance of the disputation he had bewrayed himself and his religion. God will have such words fall sometimes from the mouths of persecutors, either wittingly, or by mistake, as shall one day rise up in judgment, and out of their own mouths condemn them.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv4–14 Pilate appeareth convinced in his own conscience that Christ…
Pilate appeareth convinced in his own conscience that Christ had done nothing worthy either of death or bonds, and a great while resisted that strong temptation which he was under to please the people, and to secure his own station, lest any complaint made to the Roman emperor against him should have prejudiced him.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv4, 7, 10, 12, 14 Observe here, 1. The great variety of our Saviour’s…
Observe here, 1. The great variety of our Saviour’s sufferings: he is made the foot-ball of all cruelty and scorn; his sacred body is stript of his garments, and his back disguised with purple robes; his tender temples wounded with a thorny crown; his face spit upon, his cheeks buffeted, his head smitten, his hand sceptred with a reed. By his wearing a crown of thorns, he took away the bitterness of that curse which our sins brought upon the earth. Thorns and briars shall it bring forth. Gen 3:18. Christ by his bitter and bloody suffering, has turned all the curses of his people into crowns and blessings.
Observe, 2. The noble testimony given of Christ’s innocency, by the mouth of Pilate: I find in him no fault at all. He doth not say, I find him not guilty of what is laid to his charge; but gives and universal testimony of our Lord’s innocency: I find no fault at all in him. In spite of all malice, innocency shall find some friends and abetors. Rather than Christ shall want witnesses, Pilate’s mouth was open for his justification: how fain would he have freed Jesus, whom he found fautless! Our Lord found more compassion from Pilate, a heathen, than he did from them of his own nation. Pilate would have saved him, but they cry out for his blood. Hypocrites within the visible church may be guilty of such monstrous acts of wickedness, as the consciences of heathens without the church may boggle at, and protest against. Pilate, a pagan, pronounces Christ innocent; whilst the hypocritical Jews, who had heard his doctrine and seen his miracles, do condemn him.
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Observe, 3. Who influenced the main body of the Jews to desire Pilate to put Jesus to death; it was the chief priests and elders: They persuaded the multitude. Woe be to the common people, when their guides and leaders are corrupt; and woe be unto them much more, if they follow their wicked and pernicious counsels. The Jews here followed their guides, the chief priests; but it was their own destruction, as well as their leaders: when the blind lead the blind, both fall into the ditch.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv4–14 Pilate therefore went forth again,.... When all this was…
Pilate therefore went forth again,.... When all this was done to Jesus, Pilate went again out of the judgment hall, or however from the place where Jesus had been scourged, and ill used in the manner he was: he went a little before him unto the Jews that stood without,
and saith unto them, behold I bring him forth unto you; that is, he had ordered him to be brought forth by the soldiers, and they were just bringing him in the sad miserable condition in which he was, that the Jews might see, with their own eyes, how he had been used:
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that ye may know that I find no fault in him; for by seeing what was done to him, how severely he had been scourged, and in what derision and contempt he had been had, and what barbarity had been exercised on him, they might know and believe, that if Pilate did all this, or allowed of it to be done to a man whom he judged innocent, purely to gratify the Jews; that had he found anything in him worthy of death, he would not have stopped here, but would have ordered the execution of him; of this they might assure themselves by his present conduct. Pilate, by his own confession, in treating, or suffering to be treated in so cruel and ignominious a manner, one that he himself could find no fault in, or cause of accusation against, was guilty of great injustice.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14 By our law he ought to die, because he…
By our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God - Which they understood in the highest sense, and therefore accounted blasphemy.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14 Verse 5. And Pilate saith] The word Pilate, which…
Verse 5. And Pilate saith] The word Pilate, which we supply in our version, is added by one MS., the later Syriac, later Arabic, and the Coptic.
Behold the man!] The man who, according to you, affects the government, and threatens to take away the empire from the Romans. Behold the man whom ye have brought unto me as an enemy to Caesar, and as a sower of the seeds of sedition in the land! In him I find no guilt; and from him ye have no occasion to fear any evil.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv4, 8, 13 Joh 19:4-7. Pilate went forth again — Although he…
Joh 19:4-7. Pilate went forth again — Although he had given sentence that it should be as the Jews desired, and had delivered Jesus to the soldiers, to be scourged and crucified, he thought, if he were shown to the people in the condition in which he now was, covered with blood and wounds through the scourges, spit upon, crowned with thorns, &c., they might yet relent and let him go. And that the impression might be stronger, he went out himself and spoke to them, saying, Behold, I bring him forth, &c. — Though I have sentenced him to die, and have scourged him as one that is to be crucified, I bring him forth to you this once, that I may testify to you again how fully I am persuaded of his innocence, and that you may have an opportunity to save his life. Upon this Jesus appeared on the pavement, having his face, hair, and shoulders all clotted with blood, and the purple robe bedaubed with spittle: when Pilate said, Behold the man! But all was to no purpose. The priests, whose rage and malice had extinguished, not only the sentiments of justice and feelings of pity natural to the human heart, but that love which countrymen usually bear to one another, no sooner saw Jesus than, fearing, perhaps, lest the fickle populace might relent, they cried out with all their might, Crucify him! Crucify him! Pilate saith, Take ye him and crucify him — He seems to have uttered these words in anger, vexed at finding the chief priests and rulers thus obstinately bent on the destruction of a person from whom they had nothing to fear that was dangerous either to the church or state. But they refused this offer also, perhaps “thinking it dishonourable to receive permission to punish one who had been more than once publicly declared innocent by his judge. Besides, they considered with themselves that the governor afterward might have called it sedition, as the permission had been extorted from him. Wherefore they told him, that though none of the things alleged against the prisoner were true, he had committed such a crime in the presence of the council itself, as by their law (Lev 24:16) deserved the most ignominious death. He had spoken blasphemy, calling himself the Son of God, a title which no mortal could assume without the highest degree of guilt. And therefore, said they, since by our law blasphemy merits death, and though Cesar is our ruler, he governs us by our own laws, you ought by all means to crucify this blasphemer.” It is evident they must have understood our Lord as using the title, Son of God, in the highest sense, otherwise they could not have accounted his applying it to himself blasphemy.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv4–14 Behold, I bring him forth ... - Pilate, after…
Behold, I bring him forth ... - Pilate, after examining Jesus, had gone forth and declared to the Jews that he found no fault in him, Joh 18:38. At that time Jesus remained in the judgment hall. The Jews were not satisfied with that, but demanded still that he should be put to death, Joh 19:39-40. Pilate, disposed to gratify the Jews, returned to Jesus and ordered him to be scourged, as if preparatory to death, Joh 19:1. The patience and meekness with which Jesus bore this seem to have convinced him still more that he was innocent, and he again went forth to declare his conviction of this; and, to do it more effectually, he said, “Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know,” etc. - that they might themselves see, and be satisfied, as he had been, of his innocence. All this shows his anxiety to release him, and also shows that the meekness, purity, and sincerity of Jesus had power to convince a Roman governor that he was not guilty. Thus, the highest evidence was given that the charges were false, even when he was condemned to die.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv11, 14 Unless it were given, or permitted thee from above.…
Unless it were given, or permitted thee from above. Therefore, he that delivered me to thee, hath the greater sin. Some expound this of Judas; others, rather of the high priest Caiphas, with the Jewish council: for they could not be ignorant that Jesus was their Messias, having seen the miracles Jesus did, and knowing the predictions of the prophets. (Witham) --- Lest any should think, from what our Saviour had said, that Pilate was not in fault, in this place, he here adds, that he that had delivered him up, had the greater sin: God, indeed, had permitted it; but still these instruments of his death were not without fault. (St. John Chrysostom, hom. lxxxiii. in Joan.) --- Christ had been delivered into the power of Pilate through envy, and Pilate was about to exercise that power through fear. But though this last motive of fear can never justify any one, who condemns the innocent, yet still it is much more pardonable than the motive of envy, which was the incentive of the Jewish multitude. (St. Augustine, tract. 116. in Joan.) --- Judas delivered Jesus into the hands of the priest, but both the priests and the people delivered him up to Pontius Pilate.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 Pilate . . . went forth again, and saith…
Pilate . . . went forth again, and saith . . . Behold, I bring him forth to you--am bringing, that is, going to bring him forth to you.
that ye may know I find no fault in him--and, by scourging Him and allowing the soldiers to make sport of Him, have gone as far to meet your exasperation as can be expected from a judge.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv4–14 4. Went forth again—After Jesus returned from Herod, Pilate…
4. Went forth again—After Jesus returned from Herod, Pilate again took him into the inner apartments where the scourging took place, and the multitudes still stood in the front court of the palace. Pilate now brings forth Jesus in his most piteous plight, and, probably, mounting the gallery or balustrade slightly projecting over the court, presents him in an elevated position to their view.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv4–14 4. Pilate therefore] The true text gives, and Pilate.…
4. Pilate therefore] The true text gives, and Pilate. What follows is a continuance rather than a consequence of what has preceded.
I find no fault in him] There is a slight change from Joh_19:38, the emphasis here being on ‘crime’ instead of on ‘I’; ground of accusation I find none in Him.
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4–7. Outside the Praetorium; Pilate’s appeal, ‘Behold the man;’ the Jews’ rejoinder ‘He made Himself Son of God.’
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv4–14 (4) Pilate therefore went forth again.—He had returned to…
(4) Pilate therefore went forth again.—He had returned to the palace, and had ordered the scourging in the courtyard (Mar_15:15-16). He now goes forth again with Jesus wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and hopes by the spectacle to move the sympathy of the people, and to prevent the design of the rulers.
That ye may know that I find no fault in him.—Comp. Note on Joh_18:38. Had he found proof of a legal crime he would have ordered His execution, and not have led Him forth in this mock royal attitude to move the feelings of the people.
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(4) That the third, sixth, and ninth hours (comp. Mat_20:3; Mat_20:5) seem to have been, in common life, rough divisions of the day, corresponding to the watches of the night. An event occurring at ten o’clock might have been spoken of roughly as about the third hour, while it might, on the other hand, be thought of as within the division called the sixth hour.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv4–14 Vers. 4-7. (e) Without the Praetorium. Further protestations by…
Vers. 4-7. (e) Without the Praetorium. Further protestations by Pilate of Christ"s innocence bring out the hitherto-concealed Jewish verdict that he had claimed to be the Son of God.
And Pilate, with grim insouciance, allows the mockery to take place, and then, with his poor derided sham-king at his side, he went forth again from the Praetorium to the public seat, where he kept up the conflict with the accusers and the ever-gathering crowd, and saith to them, with more of passion than before, imagining that this pitiable caricature of a king would reduce the cry of "Crucify him!" into some more moderate and less preposterous demand. Behold, I lead him forth to you, crowned, but bleeding, robed as a king, but humiliated to a condition worse than a slave, that ye may know that I find no crime in him; literally, no charge; i.e. no "crime." Pilate rims renews and varies his testimony to the character of the Holy One! He makes another fruitless appeal to the humanity and justice of the maddened mob. But what a revelation of Pilate"s own weakness and shame! He can find no fault, but has connived at, nay, ordered, the worst part of this atrocious punishment. Keim would have us think that Pilate"s anxiety to save a Jew is a mere invention made by the second-century fabricator. There is however, nothing incompatible with a Roman official"s anxiety not to commit a judicial murder, for his own sake, and perhaps for the honor of his order. The hypothesis is irrational that the entire representation of Pilate"s desire to screen or save Jesus from the malice of the Jews was a device of the author, due to his Gentile nationality and proclivities, anxious to put even the Roman officials in the best possible light. Surely Christians had no temptation to mitigate their judgments upon Rome at the time of the persecution under Marcus Antoninus. Thoma, like Strauss, finds the basis of the representation in the prophetic types of Isa 53 and Ps 22.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14 I find no fault in Him
Joh_19:4
I find no fault in Him
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Pilates confession
Alas! it was discoursing to wolves about the innocence of the lamb.
(W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)
It is very noteworthy that this expression is used three times by Pilate in the same Greek words in St. Johns account of the passion (chap. 18:38; 19:4-6). It was meet and right that he who had the chief hand in slaying the Lamb of God, the Sacrifice for our sins, should three times publicly declare that he found no spot or blemish in Him. He was proclaimed a Lamb without spot or fault, after a searching examination, by him that slew Him. (Bp. Ryle.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v7 Joh_19:9. Whence … Jesus gave no answer.—The answer had…
EXPLANATORY AND CRITICAL NOTES
Joh_19:9. Whence … Jesus gave no answer.—The answer had already been given (Joh_18:36-37 : see also Joh_8:25; Joh_10:24-25). Besides, what Pilate had to settle now was the justice of the charge for which Jesus was brought before him (Isa_53:7).
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Joh_19:11. He that delivered He unto thee, etc.—The Jewish high priest claimed to represent a divinely ordered religion and system, and to be directed in his action by divine revelation and guidance. Therefore, as one who should have been in possession of clearer light, he was more guilty than a heathen judge, to whom the light and truth of God had not come.
Joh_19:12. Cæsar’s friend.—Amicus Cæsaris was a title of honour sometimes given to provincial governors. Those men well knew the jealous fears of Tiberius for his authority. The suspicion of treason brought almost inevitable ruin during his reign, and many were charged with that crime.
Joh_19:13. Therefore.—Pilate’s action is that of a man of the world, not of a just, impartial judge—of a man who puts self-interest before truth and righteousness.
Joh_19:14. The preparation (παρασκευή).—Of the passover, which was near at hand. Soon the passover lamb was to be slain, and even on that very day “Christ our passover was sacrificed for us.” The sixth hour.—See note, pp. 536, 537.
Joh_19:15. Shall I crucify your king?—Since those men would persist in the political charge against Christ, Pilate intends that the condemnation of the accused shall rest on that ground, as he clearly showed in the “title” written to be affixed on the cross (Joh_19:19). No king but Cæsar.—This cry, in which the leaders of the theocracy reject their rightful King, is sadly prophetic. They judged themselves “unworthy of everlasting life”; therefore the kingdom of God was taken from them (Act_13:46; Mat_21:43). And the world’s rule has been hard and bitter for them and their children.
Joh_19:16. Then delivered lie Him unto them, etc.—I.e. to the priests and rulers of the Jews. Not that Jesus was actually delivered into their hands, but He was delivered up, in order that their evil designs against Him might be carried out. The quaternion of Roman soldiers who carried out the actual crucifixion were only instruments of their wicked will (Act_2:23; Act_3:15).
Joh_19:17. Bearing His cross, etc.—He bore it until He appears to have sunk under it, and then Simon of Cyrene was compelled to help Jesus to bear it (Mar_15:21). Golgotha (from נָּלַלִ).—Probably so called from the rounded form of the mound, or hillock, on which crucifixion was usually carried out. The Vulgate translated the word Calvaria—a skull, or a place of burial. Hence our word Calvary. The question of the site of Calvary and the holy sepulchre need not be discussed here. It is a question that is not yet settled, if it ever can be. But no valid reason has yet been given to lead to a conclusive decision against the spot now covered by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Joh_19:18. Two others.—The intention, no doubt, in crucifying these two malefactors, and Jesus in the midst as, on account of His alleged treason, more guilty than they, was to offer to the world an ostensible reason for His condemnation.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Joh_19:7-18
Joh_19:7-16. Jesus innocent, yet condemned.—Pilate had done his utmost to deliver Jesus from those implacable foes, i.e. he had done his utmost to effect his purpose by policy. He hesitated to take a firm stand on the platform of even-handed justice. His unjust government of his province made him fear to do this. “Conscience makes cowards of us all”; and here it made Pilate weak and vacillating. The Jewish leaders were quick to see this, and pressed their advantage remorselessly until the divinely appointed end had been reached. Notice—
I. Pilate’s final examination of Jesus.—
1. The last word of Jewish malice made Pilate again hesitate and bethink himself before finally yielding (Joh_19:7).
2. The Son of God! This saying of the infuriated Jews, coupled with the remembrance of his wife’s message regarding her mysterious dream, made Pilate more than ever conscious that in Christ’s presence the eternal world was near. Little wonder that he feared, lest haply he might be found “fighting against God” (Act_5:34-40). But he had neither the clear conscience nor the moral courage of a Gamaliel to make such a stand for truth and right as he should have made.
3. Perturbed in mind, this unbeliever (in whose mind the usual association of unbelief and superstition was found) returned to the judgment hall, and again stood before the silent, suffering Christ. Abruptly and with troubled countenance he asks the question, “Whence art Thou?” but he received no answer from our Lord.
4. It is plain why Jesus did not answer the Roman judge. All the materials for forming a judgment were before him, and on reviewing these Pilate had already pronounced Jesus innocent. Thus the Roman judge himself was indirectly condemned. But it was also in mercy for Pilate’s moral weakness which his heathen education could not change into strength. Therefore He spares him further sin.
5. But in answer to Pilate’s foolish boast about his power Jesus did reply in a fashion that made Pilate yet more uneasy (Joh_19:11). Jesus pointed out to him that his power and authority as judge and governor lay above and behind imperial Rome (Rom_13:1): that this power was given to be exercised justly, and that therefore he would be called to account for the use of it; but that those who knew better—the theocratic judge Caiaphas and the other Jewish leaders, who should have had more enlightenment, and who unjustly pressed Pilate to condemn Jesus—were the most guilty.
II. Pilate’s final declaration of the innocency of Jesus.—
1. This last conversation with the Saviour made Pilate more feverishly anxious than ever to release Jesus. The more he saw of the kingly Sufferer, the more unfathomable abysses of mystery and being seemed to open around Him.
2. In doing this he bore testimony again to his own word, “I find in Him no fault at all” (Joh_18:38). And well might Pilate do so; for Jesus here distinctly acknowledges Pilate’s right to judge derived from above, and thus proves that He is no stirrer-up of the people against properly constituted authority. He declares also the right of Heaven to order human affairs, and thus shows Himself to be no blasphemer.
3. Well then might Pilate seek to release Him. And we should rejoice to be able to accept this evidence of the blamelessness of our great High Priest. It was testimony dragged from an unwilling witness; and it shows us that Jesus in this was fitted for His great mediatorial work as the Redeemer of men.
III. Jesus, though innocent, is condemned.—
1. Pilate’s well-meant efforts to save Jesus from the uttermost penalty proved vain. A cry of wrath from the excited mob rent the air: “If thou let this man go,” etc. (Joh_19:12). The struggle between righteousness and apparent self-interest going on in Pilate’s breast, and which a moment ago seemed being decided on the side of righteousness, was suddenly ended in favour of self-interest.
2. If this accusation, however baseless, came to the ears of Tiberius, and it was proved that Christ had been released, then Pilate knew, or thought, there would be “short shrift” for him. “What was this Jew in comparison with his position and safety. Better the satisfaction of this unjust demand of the Jewish rulers than disgrace or worse at Rome.” Is it so certain, Pilate? and does a God of righteousness not reign? Had you remained firm that day your house might have been established in righteousness (Psalms 112). Unrighteousness will not serve you; the unrighteous shall perish.
3. Pilate therefore, with a heavy load upon his conscience, sat down in his judgment seat to stain his office by a crime. He was not a judge, but a slave in the high light of noon.
4. Strange were his words in pronouncing judgment: “Behold your King”; and as the people cried, “Away with Him, crucify Him,” again the scornful voice was heard: “Shall I crucify your King?” This was the plea on which they finally pressed Pilate to condemn Jesus, and they will not be spared the humiliation of the charge.
5. But if Pilate was a slave, what shall be said of those hypocritical men who boasted of their freedom as they cried out, “We have no king but Cæsar” (Joh_8:32-33)? Jesus is “delivered to be crucified,” and is led away to the cross. But as these men go we see gathering over them the storms of justice, summoned by their imprecation, “His blood be on us and on our children.” We see a subjugated people—a ruined city, the abode of hideous iniquity, round which the eagles gather for their prey—a blazing temple—“a people scattered and peeled”—until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (Luk_21:24), and the descendants of those murderers shall say, “Blessed is He,” etc. (Mat_23:39).
Joh_19:17-18. Golgotha.—A guard of Roman soldiers issue from one of the gates of Jerusalem escorting three prisoners, and accompanied by a varied crowd, many execrating or jeering, some, mostly of the gentler sex, weeping. The guard hold their way toward an open space near the highway, where, on a low mound, malefactors are wont to be executed. Two of the prisoners are known criminals; the third, who has aid in bearing the cross to which He is soon to be nailed, is Jesus, who was pronounced innocent by the Roman judge. As they come to the place of execution, the flower-scented airs of spring breathe around, and the bright spring sunshine, as yet undimmed, gleams down on this scene. The preliminaries of crucifixion are soon arranged. Jesus and the malefactors are nailed to the crosses they have been bearing, which are then set upright and fixed. Jesus occupies the central position; on either hand the malefactors are placed, and the weary hours begin to pass. We place ourselves in thought before the central cross on Golgotha, and ask the meaning of this scene.
I. The cross of Jesus is the symbol of the punishment of sin.—
1. Around it are marshalled the hosts of light and darkness. The crucial hour of conflict has come, when humanity shall be freed from the guilt of sin—when the darkness that covered the earth, and the gross darkness brooding over the peoples, shall begin to pass, and the true light to shine (1Jn_2:8).
2. Jew and Gentile felt the burden of sin, and perceived that they were responsible for its committal and obnoxious to its punishment. The Hebrew with the divine revelation given to him apprehended this truth most deeply. He realised that sin springs “out of the depths of human personality in opposition to the divine,” that it is “in its nature destructive and leads to death,” and that by it misery comes upon men.
3. But the Gentile also had his idea of sin. It gave rise to the dualism of Persia, it meets us in the thought of the most cultured Gentile peoples; it is one of the foundations on which the loftiest heathen literature, Greek tragedy, has been built. “Behind all the activities of life, and all the play of dramatic passion, … there is a stern background of righteousness which will by no means clear the guilty. A shadowy terror overhangs all wrong-doing, and a curse which cannot be turned away pursues the offenders” (Dr. John Tulloch).
4. Sin and its punishment, then, were amongst the most engrossing thoughts of all men. How to escape its guilt and penalty—that was the cry of the ages.
5. And here on the cross of Jesus the prayers of the ages uttered, or unexpressed, have found an answer. “He was made sin for us who knew no sin.” On the cross He suffered the extreme penalty, even to the hiding for a moment of the Father’s face.
6. There, too, the dominion of evil is broken. The evil power in which sin inheres is vanquished. The head of Satan is bruised; and the kingdom of darkness begins to shrink as the kingdom of light expands.
II. The cross of Jesus is the symbol of divine love.—
1. When sinful men remember that they must stand before God they begin with fear to ask, “How shall I come before Him?” etc. And if they are honest their answer will be, “I cannot answer for one of a thousand transgressions.” I cannot pay the ten thousand talents which I owe. I have no way by which the debt might be cancelled. My own righteousness falls in ruins. The heaven that I would purchase with my good works becomes like an empty dream.
2. “What man could not do God did,” etc. (Rom_8:3). His love planned the way of escape for man. In the Son He lays a foundation on which men may build safely for eternity, “not having their own righteousness which is of the law,” etc. (Php_3:9).
3. And in the cross is seen the love of the Redeemer in His vicarious suffering and self-sacrifice for mankind, in obedience to the Father’s will, “who desires not the death of a sinner,” etc. (Eze_18:32). The cross of shame thus becomes a visible manifestation and symbol of heavenly love toward fallen men.
III. The cross of Jesus on Golgotha is the meeting-point of the ages.—
1. (1) It was foreseen from eternity. Jesus is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
(2) It was concealed in the first promise of redemption after Eden’s fall.
(3) Abraham saw it afar off, “and was glad,” when Isaac was spared on Moriah (Gen_22:12-14).
(4) Jacob waited for the salvation of God (Gen_49:18).
(5) Isaiah and all the Old Testament saints and prophets sighed for and looked forward to that happy hour when Christ’s divine sorrow and suffering should bring joy to men. “Oh that Thou wouldst rend the heavens, and come down,” etc. (Isa_64:1). “Yea, many kings and prophets would fain have seen the things which Christ’s disciples saw,” etc. (Luk_10:24).
(6) The Gentile world also felt vague longings after peace and a higher life which no wisest philosophy, no effort, could help men to attain to,—when the love of God wrought redemption for humanity on the cross of shame.
2. (1) And toward this cross all succeeding ages have looked.
(2) Men still have tried in various ways to effect for themselves what the redeeming grace of our great High Priest alone can effect. They have sought through ritual, pilgrimages, etc., to escape the necessity of that full surrender to Christ which has made the cross of Christ “to the Jews a stumbling-block,” etc. (1Co_1:23). But however far men wander into the ways of unbelief or superstition, seeking thus to gain peace and promise of heaven, they have had to come back to the cross of Jesus.
(3) And now in ever-widening circles its influence is spreading. Men of all races, as the years pass on, are turning toward it, as the true centre of life—the true blessedness for time, the only hope for eternity.
Application.—Do we see in this scene on Golgotha divine love exhibited toward us? Do we see in it the wisdom and mercy of God working out through Christ our redemption? Then what joy and comfort should the view bring to our souls! On that cross the dominion of evil is broken, the guilt of sin removed, the sting of death taken away. Do our sins appal us with the thought of judgment? “Christ was delivered for our offences,” etc. (Rom_4:25; Col_1:14). Does death affright? The power has been taken from him (Rom_14:8). Does the law thunder condemnation?
“Free from the law, O happy condition,
Jesus hath bled, and there is remission.
Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall,
Christ hath redeemed us, ‘once for all.’ ”
What reason, then, to rejoice in the cross of Jesus! Thence flow eternal peace, heavenly joy, divine sonship and citizenship; there the darkness passes from our souls for time and eternity, and through the mists of sorrow and pain the morning of joy dawns, and the Sun of righteousness arises, bringing an endless day of truth and grace.
Joh_19:17-18. The cross of Christ.—It is in the mystery of the cross that God has made the glory of His wisdom most evident. The thoughts of men and those of God have been in opposition since men sinned. It is therefore no cause of astonishment that men should have dared sometimes to find fault with the works of God. That which should surprise us most is that men have been offended even at the grace of God. The mystery of a crucified God is foolishness to the worldling. Yet with the apostle we maintain that it is in a special degree the manifestation of divine wisdom. Two things were essential:
1. To satisfy an offended God; and
2. To elevate men, who had become perverted and corrupted. But these ends could not be attained to in any way more effectually than by the cross of the Saviour.
I. There is no other means by which an offended God can be satisfied than the cross of Jesus Christ.—
1. God could be satisfied only by the God-man. And what has this God-man done, or rather what was there that He did not do? Why was God alienated from man? Because man had sought to be as God. “Ye shall be as gods,” etc. (Gen_3:1-5). And I, said the God-man, in order to satisfy My Father, I shall humiliate Myself more than any man: “I am a worm and no man,” etc. (Psa_22:6). Men had rebelled against God. Therefore, said the God-man, shall I become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Php_2:8). Man in sinful concupiscence eats of the forbidden fruit; therefore I (said the God-man) will become a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief (Isa_53:3). Can we conceive a more complete reparation?
2. But this is not all. The Saviour has revealed three great truths with which men should be chiefly concerned:
(1) What God is;
(2) what sin is; and
(3) what salvation is. The knowledge of these truths is essentially connected with the mystery of the cross. What is God? An exalted Being, for whose glory Emmanuel had to be humiliated, even to the death of the cross. The idea of the greatness of God which this gives surpasses all that can otherwise be conceived. And what is sin? An evil, for the expiation of which it was necessary that the God-man should become “a curse” (Gal_3:13) and full of reproach. This is the mystery of the cross which we preach. And what is the salvation of man? It is a blessing to secure which for man the Son of God laid down His life. These are the great truths which this divine Master, dying on the cross, teaches us. Now, a truth which gives us such lofty ideas of God, which inspires us with a perfect horror and hatred of sin, which leads us to prize salvation above everything else, must be a mystery of divine wisdom.
II. There is no means more effectual than the cross of Christ for converting men perverted and corrupted by sin.—
1. There are three sources of sin according to St. John: “The lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life” (1Jn_2:16). The remedy for these our Lord brought when He came from heaven, and He shows us in His passion what they are. The despoilment of His garments teaches us not to love riches, the lust of the eye. The humiliations He underwent testify against ambition, the pride of life. His sufferings witness against sensuality, which is the lust of the flesh. “What would be the result,” said the learned Pic de la Mirande, “if men should agree universally to live according to the example of Jesus Christ, so that this crucified God should become practically the law according to which the world would be governed? To what a degree of perfection would the world speedily be raised which to-day is so corrupt!”
2. In the divine plan how beautifully is the excess of malice corrected by the excess of perfection in Christ, the excess of sinfulness by His superabounding holiness, the excess of base ingratitude by the abounding of His unspeakable love!
3. Behold, here is surely what is sufficient to confound our reason in view of the judgment of God; and may it please Him that this judgment, at which our reason must be convinced of its errors and put to confusion, may not already be begun for us. For from this time forth the dying Saviour has committed to Him the judgment of the world. “Now is the judgment of this world” (Joh_12:31). His cross will rise against us. It is the cross of Christ by which we shall be judged—this cross (so inimical to our passions), which we have honoured in our speculations, and which we have shrunk from in our practice, with it we shall be confronted. All that is not found to be conformable to it shall then bear the character and seal of reprobation. What resemblance is there between it and our fleshly lives? Let not that which should reconcile us to God only make us more worthy of condemnation; but let it be that in which we place all our confidence.—Abridged from Bourdaloue.
HOMILETIC NOTES
Joh_19:14. The time of the crucifixion.—Does John here use the Jewish mode of reckoning time? and if so, how is this statement to be reconciled with Mar_15:25, “And it was the third hour,” etc., and with the assertion of all the Synoptists that the darkness—not mentioned by St. John—lasted from the sixth to the ninth hour, i.e. twelve to three o’clock?
1. It must be remembered that the ancients had not the convenient means we have of determining the exact time. They had to go a good deal by guess-work, by noticing the position of the sun, etc. We are not therefore to think that the hour as given either by the Synoptists or by St. John was what we might call the exact moment in astronomical time. Then St. John expressly uses the word about. It is just as if he had said toward noon.
2. All the Synoptists give the hours when darkness fell on the scene of the crucifixion as the sixth to the ninth. This probably denoted the actual time of our Lord’s crucifixion; and in this way St. John’s general reference would not be at variance with St. Mark’s statement as above.
3. Probably the scourging was regarded by St. Mark as the beginning of the crucifixion. It was preliminary to it. Then would come the march to Golgotha, and the preparation for the crucifixion itself. Both would take time. And as Jesus would almost appear to have been the last of the three to be nailed on the cross, it might be well on toward noon when His cross was finally lifted up.
4. There are strong arguments, however, in favour of the idea that John used the Western mode of reckoning time (a day of twelve hours from midnight to noon and from noon to midnight) as best known in Roman Asia where he laboured. But this surely would only shift the difficulty, and not solve it; for 6 a.m. is not 9 a.m. The likelihood is that amid the events of that day, so awful to the disciples, neither St. John nor St. Peter (if he it was who dictated St. Mark’s Gospel) would have time or thought to inquire what the exact hour by sun-dial or clepsydra was, whilst both might think of somewhat different stages of the proceedings when they made their notes of time.
Joh_19:16-18. The presence of evil in human life.—When we turn to the highest form of life in man himself, the presence of evil haunts it everywhere in endless forms of general and individual experience in all relations of human society, all functions of human industry, and in the noblest energies of human progress. We cannot conceal its working when we look within our own hearts. Nay; here more than anywhere it shows its deepest power, and touches human experience with acutest misery. Different natures will apprehend differently the depth and power of evil in human life; but there are none, not even the more sentimental enthusiasts, can dispute its existence; and it requires only a slight degree of moral earnestness to be solemnly arrested by it. The highest natures have been most moved by its mystery; and those who have most realised the greatness of man, and done most for his good, have at the same time felt most pathetically the shadows of evil that rest upon his lot. So far there can hardly be any difference of opinion as to the fact which we call evil. Whatever men may make of the fact, its presence around them and in their own life admits of no denial. A fact so universal and so painful, touching human life at all points with such a sore pressure, has been necessarily a subject of much inquiry and reflection. Men have never ceased interrogating the mystery which lies around them and within them. The history of religion is in great part a history of the explanations which men have tried to give of it.—Dr. John Tulloch.
Joh_19:17-18. The law is no remedy for sin.—The moral law powerfully contributed to awaken the innersense of the Hebrew people and deepen their consciousness of sin. The divine is presented in it not merely as Sovereign and Lord—although this is the opening keynote (Exo_20:2-3)—but as identified with every aspect of order, truth, righteousness, and purity in human life. A moral idea not only invests all life, but is carried up to Jahveh-Elohim, as the Source of this life and its highest Exemplar. It was impossible to dwell in the light of such an ideal and not to have had the spiritual sense quickened and made sensitive and the feeling of offence toward the divine called forth in many ways hitherto little understood or owned. This is what St. Paul means when he says that “the law entered that the offence might abound” (Rom_5:20), and again, that “without the law sin was dead” (Rom_7:8). He is speaking of his own experience, or of the experience of a devout Jew in his own time; but the experience of the religious nature is always so far the same—nay, the experience of the individual is typical of the race. When the law entered into the consciousness of humanity, and was added to the progressive force of divine revelation, the sense of sin was deepened alongside of it. Conscience became alive in front of the divine commandment, and spiritual life was touched to its depths by that sad undertone of sin which has never died out of it. Through ages the moral law has been the most powerful moral factor of humanity, restraining its chaotic tendencies, and binding it into harmonies of domestic, social, and religious well-being. It has lain not merely upon the human conscience, but entered into the human heart as one of its most living inward springs—bracing its weakness, rebuking its laxity, holding before it an inflexible rule of moral good. Words cannot measure the strength which it has been to all the higher qualities of the race, and the widespread moral education which it has diffused, discriminating and purifying the ideas alike of good and evil wherever it has prevailed, and clothing life with a reality and depth of meaning which it would never otherwise have possessed.—Dr. John Tulloch.
ILLUSTRATION
Joh_19:17-18. The preaching of the cross the power of God unto salvation.—Let me try then to point out to you what some of the effects will be in a man’s preaching from a true sense of the value of the human soul, by which I mean a high estimate of the capacity of the spiritual nature, a keen and constant appreciation of the attainments to which it may be brought. And first of all it helps to rescue the gospel which we preach from a sort of unnaturalness and incongruity which is very apt to cling to it; this is, I think, very important. Consider what it is that you are to declare week after week to the men and women who come to hear you. The mighty truths of Incarnation and Atonement are your themes. You tell them of the birth and life and death of Jesus Christ. You picture the adorable love and the mysterious sacrifice of the Saviour, and you bind all this to their lives. You tell them that in a true sense all this was certainly for them. I do not know what you are made of, if sometimes, as you preach, there does not come into your mind a thought of incongruity. What are you, you and these people to whom you preach, that for you the central affection of the universe should have been stirred? You know your own life. You know something of the lives they live. You look into their faces as you preach to them. Where is the end worthy of all this ministry of almighty grace which you have been describing? Is it possible that all this once took place, and by the operation of the Holy Spirit is a perpetual power in the world, merely that these machine-lives might run a little truer, or that a series of rules might be established by which the current workings of society might move more smoothly? That, which men sometimes make the purpose of it all, is too unworthy. The engine is too coarse to have so fine a fire under it. You must see something deeper. You must discern in all these men and women some inherent preciousness, for which even the marvel of the Incarnation and the agony of Calvary were not too great, or it is impossible that yon should keep your faith in those stupendous truths which Bethlehem and Calvary offer to us. Some source of fire from which these dimmed sparks come, some possible renewal of the fire which is in them still, some sight of the education through which each soul is passing, and some suggestion of the special personal perfectness to which each may attain, all this must brighten before you, as you look at them; and then the truths of your theology shall not be thrown into confusion nor faded into unreality by your ministry to men.—Dr. Phillips Brooks.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v4 Joh 19:4-16. “Then Pilate again came out, and spake…
FINAL EFFORT OF PILATE FOR HIS RELEASE
Joh 19:4-16. “Then Pilate again came out, and spake to them, Behold, I lead Him out to you, that you may know that I find nothing criminal in Him. Then Jesus came out, bearing the thorny crown, and the purple robe. And he says to them, Behold the Man!” Now recognize the scene. Pilate leads Him out, lacerated and bleeding because of the cruel scourging; the cruel thorns at the same time interpenetrating His flesh, the blood issuing from every thorn point! He is now an object of indescribable pity. So Pilate thinks to arouse their sympathies and produce a merciful reaction in His favor, and that they would relent and say, “He has suffered enough, release Him; and if He can survive all of those cruel wounds, let Him live.” But in this, Pilate is mistaken. He finds them as cruel as the grave and as merciless as the pandemonium. In the old judgment-hall in Jerusalem they point out to us travelers the door out of which Pilate led Him when he said, “Behold the Man!” There is now a life-size effigy on the wall above the door, exhibiting Him as He stood before His persecutors, led out by Pilate.
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“Then, when the high priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, Crucify Him! crucify Him!” Having already suffered death over and over in the cruel scourging, and now the bleeding, smarting wounds excruciating Him unutterably, yet those demonized preachers and officers, as destitute of sympathy, pity, and mercy as the fiends of the pit, on sight of Him, instead of being moved to commiseration, give way to the volcano of diabolical cruelty ‘heaving and surging in the deep interior of their fallen spirits, screaming vociferously, “Crucify Him! crucify Him!”
“Pilate says to them, You take Him, and crucify Him; for I find nothing criminal in Him.” Pilate awfully fears his responsibility in the case, and resorted to every conceivable stratagem to evade it; but signally and finally failed, as he was dealing with incarnate demons, though standing at the head of the fallen Church.
“The Jews responded to him, We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.” You find the law against blasphemy to which they here refer in Lev 24:16. You see the dilemma in which their blind and wicked misconstruction of the law would necessarily place the Messiah. He must be true, and consequently testify to His Divine Sonship. Whereas it would be blasphemy for any of us to claim to be the Son of God in that high Messianic sense, it was not blasphemy for the real Christ to thus publicly proclaim Himself. You see the Jews had no trouble to find a law in the Bible for the condemnation and execution of Christ. Hence they boldly, and even boastingly, certify that they are acting according to the law. How wonderfully history repeats itself! The denominations have no trouble now to find a law for the decapitation and excommunication of their most godly members and ministers. But what about the law? They utterly misconstrue and misapply it, precisely as these fallen preachers and Church officers when they found a law in God’s Book which required them to kill His Son. You see demonstratively, as illustrated in the martyrdom of Jesus and millions of His followers, that when the devil gets into preachers and ruling elders they have no trouble to find a law in the Bible justifying them in the most diabolical treatment of God’s saints. God says for us to go everywhere and preach. Who dares say “No?” Satan and the people actuated by him are all who could possibly antagonize the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, as all of God’s true and intelligent people want the gospel preached to “every creature.” So on the law questions, so much agitated by ecclesiastical tyrants at the present day, just remember Joh 19:7, where the murderers of Jesus boldly claimed to be acting in harmony with the law of God.
“Then when Pilate heard this word, he feared the more.” The Roman mythology claims that Jupiter, Apollo, Neptune, and other gods, have their sons upon the earth, invested in mortal flesh. Now, Pilate becomes terribly alarmed, lest he may be dealing with the son of some one of the gods — a most dangerous affair, as Jupiter might strike him with a thunderbolt, Apollo with an arrow, or Neptune engulf him in the sea if he ever sailed again. Under this alarm, Pilate puts forth every feasible effort (in his own estimation) to save His life.
“And again he went into the judgment-hall, and says to Jesus, Whence art Thou? And Jesus gave him no answer. Then Pilate says m Him, Do you not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to crucify you, and I have authority to release you?” Exousia, “power,” in E. V., is better translated “authority,” which Pilate did have; while at least he felt that he lacked the power (dunarnis), which he would have used if at that time at his command, his military forces being too weak to protect Jesus.
“Jesus responded, Thou hast no authority against Me, unless it were given to thee from above; consequently the one having delivered Me to thee [the high priest] hath the greater sin. From this, Pilate sought to release Him. But the Jews continued to cry out, saying, If you release Him, you are not Caesar’s friend. Every one making himself a king speaketh against Caesar.” Now you see the Jews come out and boldly threaten Pilate with prosecution for high treason against the Roman emperor, because of the favor he was extending to Jesus, whom they claimed to be an enemy and a rival of Caesar. This was a delicate point. Pilate, a corrupt, intriguing politician, had held the proconsulate of Judea seven years with difficulty. He is very anxious to remain in office; for at that time all the world was subject to the Roman despotism, and many a king, as well as subordinate ruler, when charged with treason, had been summoned to Rome, where he laid down his head on the executioner’s block or submitted to lonely exile. This really turned out to be Pilate’s final destiny as three years subsequently, deposed from his governorship and ordered to Rome to answer charges for maladministration, the Emperor Caligula, an awful tyrant, not only dethroned him, but banished him to Vienne, in Gaul (France), then a lonely retreat in the wild West, there to spend the remnant of his days in solitary exile. It is said that he was haunted by the form of Jesus — pale, feeble, and bleeding at many wounds, as he saw Him those several hours at his bar and on the cross — and was so affrighted and tormented by the awful specter, which his guilty conscience would likely portray, that he finally committed suicide, A. D. 41, thus surviving the dark tragedy of Calvary only eight miserable years. Like other corrupt, ambitious politicians, Pilate was appalled at the threat of the Jews to report him to the emperor for high treason if he dared to release Jesus, whom they claimed to be a rival of Caesar. In this way, Pilate was intimidated into acquiescence.
“Then, Pilate hearing this word, led out Jesus, and sat upon his tribunal in the place called the Pavement, and in Hebrew, Gabbatha. And he says to the Jews, Behold your King!” This is the last resort of Pilate to effect the release of Jesus by an effort to arouse their national pride. Already Judea had been a Roman province thirty-three years. Yet those high priests, elders, and Pharisees remembered well the halcyon days of their former freedom, and so loathed the despotic yoke of Rome that they sighed and cried for the good time coming, when God would break the yoke, set them free, and give them a king of their own. As they charged Jesus with claiming to be their King, Pilate, recognizing that fact, led Him out to them, saying: “Behold your King! Shall I crucify your King? Will not that be an ineffaceable disgrace upon your national escutcheon?” thus endeavoring to rekindle the lingering spark of their patriotic zeal, which in olden time was a rolling flame. But this, like all preceding efforts, signally failed, as we see from their response, “And they cried out, Take Him away! take Him away! crucify Him! Pilate says to them, Shall I crucify your King? The high priests responded, We have no king but Caesar.” Thus you see they utterly rejected Pilate’s appeal to their national pride and patriotism. Much as they hated Roman rule, and longed to regain their independence and have their own king, now, that they may sweep away every excuse of the governor and force him to crucify Jesus, they surrender forever all hopes of regaining their freedom, and acquiesce in their fate as the vassals of imperial Rome. How strikingly significant! They have never had a king from that day to this, and never will have till Jesus comes in His glory, gathers the elect remnant back to the Holy Land, and, pursuant to the prophecies, ascends the throne of David, King of the Jews forever.
“Therefore he then delivered Him up to them, that He may be crucified.” Pilate, though awfully opposed to the crucifixion of Jesus, and terribly suspicious that He might turn out to be one of the Roman gods, yet, upon the whole, displayed the coward from beginning to end. If he had been a true man, finding Jesus utterly innocent, as he certified all the time, as governor of Judea he would have defended him with the last drop of his blood. When Martin Cozta, a Hungarian, having been imprisoned by the Austrian authorities at Smyrna, sent for Captain Ingram, of the United States war-sloop St. Louis, and showed him his naturalization papers, satisfying him that, though far away in Asia, he was a United States citizen, and the captain demanded of the Austrian general, in command of one hundred thousand soldiers, the release of the prisoner, and upon receiving a haughty denial, prepared immediately to open fire on the Austrian fleet, though he had but one hundred men and was five thousand miles from home, the Austrian general, seeing that he would have to kill every one of them, at once released the prisoner. If Pilate had done his duty, and shown up the hero; releasing Jesus and taking the consequences, he would neither have died an exile nor a suicide; and, best of all he might have saved his soul. But did not Jesus come into the world to die? Certainly He did; but that was no apology for either the cowardice of Pilate or the treason of Judas. God makes no provision for sin. Jesus would have died in some way if neither of these men had lost their souls by serving the devil, either in His betrayal or crucifixion.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv11, 14 Sin. (See Scofield "Rom 3:23").
sin
Sin. (See Scofield "Rom 3:23").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv7, 12 Pilate again examines Jesus:
Pilate again examines Jesus:
v. 7. The Jews answered him, We have a Law, and by our Law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.
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v. 8. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid,
v. 9. and went again into the judgment-hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art Thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.
v. 10. Then saith Pilate unto Him, Speakest Thou not unto me? Knowest Thou not that I have power to crucify Thee, and have power to release Thee?
v. 11. Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against Me, except it were given thee from above; therefore he that delivered Me unto thee hath the greater sin.
v. 12 And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release Him.
When Pilate made his declaration before the people of his belief in the innocence of Jesus, they stopped their noisy demonstration just long enough to give him an answer which was intended to bring his superstitious heart into further subjection. They calmly stated to him that they had a Law, and that according to that Law it was necessary that Jesus die. It was intended to impress Pilate and to browbeat him into submission, by playing upon his superstition. Unwittingly the Jews here uttered a great truth, as their high priest had done a short time before. It was indeed necessary that Jesus die, but not for any guilt of His own. "Mark here that the innocence of Christ, our Lord, stands for our guilt. For though He was condemned to death being innocent, He yet is guilty before God according to the Law; not for His person, but for our persons. He stands before Pilate, not as the son of the Virgin Mary, but as a malefactor; and that not for Himself, but for thee and for me. Thus Christ for His own person is innocent but being in our stead, He is guilty, for He has taken our part to pay our guilt. " The emphasis of the Jews was now upon that one point which had aroused the hypocrites to the highest pitch of pretended indignation, namely. that He had made Himself the Son of God. Their manner implied that they considered His claim to be altogether unfounded, but one that for that very reason merited punishment. It was a point which had no value from the standpoint of the Jews, who were attempting to show that Jesus was a dangerous rebel. "Such accusation of blasphemy toward God had no weight with Pilate, since he knew nothing of the Law of the Jews; and even if the Jews had gained this point and truly had fixed this upon Christ that He had blasphemed God, yet Pilate might have said: Why do you Jews act contrary to your own Law? Your Law commands that a blasphemer should be stoned, and not crucified; but now you cry that I should crucify this man, although crucifying is not the penalty of blasphemy, also according to your Law. Therefore the Jews are again raving and foolish, and are caught. For thus it will happen to all enemies of God that oppose the truth, that they are always caught in their own rascality. " But for us there is a world of comfort in that fact, that Jesus suffered and died as the Son of God. That gives to His Passion the real, lasting worth. The Jews, in their anxiety to force Pilate into submission, almost spoiled their own object. For the effect of their statement concerning the claim of Christ was to make him afraid of the punishment of the gods, if he should carry out the demand of the Jews. So he once more entered the hall and had a second interview with Jesus. He wanted to know whether there were any truth to the statement as to His being of divine origin. The question, blunt as it sounds, must have been spoken also with a certain amount of awe. The silence of Jesus said more strongly than words might have done that the whole trial was a blasphemous farce. Jesus had given testimony concerning Himself, as the King of truth, and Pilate had rejected the words, treated them with contempt. But the silence of Jesus enraged the proud, supercilious Roman, who now sought to impress this poor prisoner with the greatness of his power over Him. That this Man would not answer him, the governor, who, in his belief, had absolute power over His life, was almost unbelievable.
But the calm answer of Jesus pointed out to him his limits: Not wouldest thou have any power over Me if it had not been given to thee from above. Jesus was under divine direction to carry out the divine obligation resting upon Him. God’s purposes were being carried out in the present trial, and not a weak man’s whims and fancies. The greater blame rested with the Jews that had delivered the Lord into the hands of the Gentiles; their sin and guilt was of a nature that would bring them temporal and eternal destruction. "Here thou seest that Christ judges the work according to the heart and not according to outward seeming and appearance. Pilate commits a sin in having Christ crucified, though he finds no cause of death in Him. But since his heart is not so evil as that of Caiaphas and the high priests, therefore did not sin so great as the sin of Caiaphas and the high priests. " Such was the impression that Pilate gained from this interview that he sought more than ever, although without result, to release the Lord. But as Jesus had told him, the matter was no longer in his hands, but in that of a higher power.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv4, 7, 10, 12, 14 I find no guilt in him
I find no guilt in him
Pilate states this twice to say he does not believe Jesus is not guilty of any crime. He does not want to punish him. AT: "I see no reason to punish him" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
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crown of thorns ... purple garment
The crown and the purple robe are things only kings wear. The soldiers dressed Jesus in this manner to mock him. See John 19:2.
translationWords
Pilate
guilt
chief priests
crucify
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14 19:4-6 Pilate’s intention was to bring Jesus out to…
19:4-6 Pilate’s intention was to bring Jesus out to display the marks of his punishment to sway the crowd to let him go. After being flogged with a lead-tipped whip, Jesus was bleeding profusely. • Pilate announced his verdict of not guilty a second time, but he was met with a strident call for Jesus’ death (19:6).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.