John 18:28-40

TRIED BY PILATE, THE ROMAN AUTHORITY

Text: John 18:28-40

28

They lead Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the Praetorium: and it was early; and they themselves entered not into the Praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but might eat the passover.

29

Pilate therefore went out unto them, and saith, What accusation bring ye against this man?

30

They answered and said unto him, if this man were not an evildoer, we should not have delivered him up unto thee.

31

Pilate therefore said unto them, Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law. The Jews said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death:

32

that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying by what manner of death he should die.

33

Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of Jews?

34

Jesus answered, Sayest thou this of thyself, or did others tell it thee concerning me?

35

Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests delivered thee unto me: what has thou done?

36

Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

37

Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end have I been born, and to this end am I come into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.

38

Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find no crime in him.

39

But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?

40

They cried out therefore again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.

Queries

a.

Why could the Jews not put Jesus to death?

b.

By what manner of death should Jesus die?

c.

What did Pilate mean when he said, What is truth?

Paraphrase (Harmony)

And straightway in the morning the chief priests with the elders and scribes, and the whole council, held a consultation, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him up to Pilate.
They led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the Praetorium: and it was early; and they themselves entered not into the Praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but might eat the passover. Pilate therefore went out unto them, and saith, What accusation bring ye against this man? They answered and said unto him, If this man were not an evildoer, we should not have delivered him up to thee. And they began to accuse him, saying, We would this man perverting our nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king. Pilate therefore said unto them, Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law. The Jews said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death; that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying by what manner of death he should die.

Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews? Jesus answered, Sayest thou this of thyself, or did others tell it thee concerning me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end have I been born, and to this end am I come into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?

And when he had said this, he went out again unto the chief priests and the multitudes, and saith unto them, I find no crime in him. And Pilate again asked him, saying, Answerest thou nothing? Behold how many things they accuse thee of. But Jesus no more answered anything; insomuch that Pilate marvelled greatly.
But they were the more urgent, saying, He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, and beginning from Galilee even unto this place. But when Pilate heard it, he asked whether the man were a Galilean.
And when he knew that he was of Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him unto Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem in these days.
Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was of a long time desirous to see him, because he had heard concerning him; and he hoped to see some miracle done by him. And he questioned him in many words; but he answered him nothing. And the chief priests and the scribes stood vehemently accusing him. And Herod with his soldiers set him at nought, and mocked him, and arraying him in gorgeous apparel sent him back to Pilate. And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day: for before they were at enmity between themselves.
And Pilate called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said unto them, Ye brought unto me this man, as one that perverteth the people: and behold, I, having examined him before you, found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him: no, nor yet Herod: for he sent him back unto us; and behold, nothing worthy of death hath been done by him. I will therefore chastise him, and release him.
Now at the feast he used to release unto them one prisoner, whom they asked of him. And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas, lying bound with them, that had made insurrection, men who in the insurrection had committed murder.
When therefore they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ? For he knew that for envy they had delivered him up. And while he was sitting on the judgment-seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that righteous man; for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him. Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
They cried out therefore again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas.

Summary

Jesus, having been tortured and subjected to questioning all night, is condemned to death early in the morning by the Sanhedrin, but they cannot execute their sentence, They must have permission from the Roman governor. So Jesus is taken before Pilate. Pilate finds nothing in Jesus worthy of death and wants to release Him.

Comment

Just where the Praetorium was located is not certain. Andrews thinks the procurator's pavement or judgment stones were carried with him to different places. Andrews further believes that Pilate judged Jesus in the open paved space before the palace of Herod the Great which was situated on the north side of Mount Zion. Others think the judgment hall of Pilate was in the Tower of Antonia which may have been connected to Herod's palace.

John 18:28 has been abused by destructive critics to prove that the Fourth Gospel contradicts the Synoptics. The Synoptics all say that Jesus ate the passover on Thursday and was crucified on Friday. John 18:28, at first glance, would make one think that the Passover had not yet been celebrated. But there are two possible answers. First, however, it must be seen that John and the Synoptics do not disagree in the light of so much evidence to their perfect harmony. On the one hand these Jews who feared to enter the Praetorium may have feared defilement for the remainder of the passover feast. The actual festivities of the passover lasted a full week. There were other feasts besides the passover lamb on the 14th of Nisan such as the Chagigah which followed the day after the Passover Supper. On the other hand these Jews may have been so busy with arresting and trying Jesus that they postponed their Passover Supper and planned to eat it after the matter of Jesus-' death was taken care of. These men were not above violating the law of Moses to serve their own ends.

If they should enter any place where the Roman eagle was on its standard they would have been, according to their tradition, ceremonially unclean.

They would not come in so Pilate went out to meet them. We believe Pilate must have known some of the rumblings that were going on there in the city during that passover, After all, that is what he was there forto keep down rioting and insurrection. He had no doubt heard of the great triumphal entry of Jesus into the city on the first day of the week. He no doubt had informers keeping him informed of the arrest and trial of this Jesus by His own Sanhedrin. He was probably not too worried about this Jesus since he had no doubt heard of His meekness and His philosophical teachings. We believe Pilate was persuaded that Jesus was just another Jewish philosopher or rabbi. Jesus-' followers were not organized and were unarmed. But it seems it was also plain to Pilate that these Jewish rulers were trying to embroil him in their religious wranglings. It is plain by his question in John 18:29 that he was not intending to become a mere tool in the hands of the priests and elders to execute their revengeful plans.

Pilate was a politician, first last and always. He seems to have been superstitious as most Romans were. His sense of justice went only to the point where it might cost him his official position. He later was accused of mismanagement of his procuratorship and called to Rome to answer the charges. Before he could defend himself the emperor died and tradition has it that he committed the honorable Roman suicide.
Pilate and the Jews had no love for one another. Once he caused soldiers who were under his command to bring with them ensigns with their images of the emperor. To the Jew this was sacrilege. When he threatened with death those who had come to petition him for the removal of these idolatrous standards, they called his bluff, and he yielded. At another time he used the temple-treasure to pay for an aqueduct. When a crowd complained and rioted, he ordered his soldiers to club them into submission. He felt the Jews were always causing him trouble and every opportunity he had to trouble them he enjoyed.
Here they had come to cause him some more trouble. If he became involved in a local religious dispute things might get out of hand and he would lose his position. Furthermore, he might use this opportunity to vex his enemies.

That they were vexed by his refusal to go along with their murderous scheme is evident from their impudent, sarcastic answer, If this man were not an evil-doer, we should not have delivered him up unto thee. There may even have been the hint of a threat in their answer. In fact, later they do threaten Pilate (John 19:12).

Pilate is at a loss to know why these Jewish rulers would bring one of their rabbis who had fallen into disrepute because of something the rulers felt was heresy. Let these Jews take care of their own religious squabblings. But then, the Jews (Luke 23:2) came up with the accusation that Jesus was perverting our nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king. Such treasonable acts were worthy of death and the Jews were forbidden by their Roman conquerors to execute the sentence of death upon any one.

Now the lawful method of execution for the Jew was death by stoning. Any other death was accursed by the law (Deuteronomy 21:23). At this time, however, the Jews were not allowed to put anyone to death. Jesus had predicted that he would be crucified (John 3:14; Matthew 20:19). His death to atone for man's sin and remove the curse of the law was predicted as one which would come by hanging Him on a tree, (cf. Galatians 3:13). And so when the Romans were forced to crucify Him on a tree, it fulfilled prophecy.

Upon hearing the accusation of the Jews Pilate thought it wise to make a thorough examination in case this religious teacher might be planning an insurrection. So, leaving the Jews outside, Pilate entered into the Praetorium and called for Jesus to be brought before him for questioning. The accusations of the Jews were utterly false. Jesus was not perverting the nation but trying to raise its moral standards; He actually taught that tribute was to be paid to Caesar; He refused to be crowned the temporal king of Israel. But Pilate had no knowledge of this.

Hendriksen thinks the emphasis in Pilate's question (John 18:33) should be upon thou. Inother words, Are you the King of the Jews? It was inconceivable to Pilate that such an unassuming individual as this could be a king! The Roman concept of king and ruler was one of power, dignity and pride.

Jesus answers Pilate's question with a question of His own, Are you saying this of your own accord, or have others said it to you about me? In other words, Why are you asking concerning my kingshipis it because you also have the concept of it which these Jews have given you or is it because you really want to know for yourself?
With a note of contempt in his voice for the Jews Pilate answers, No, I do not see in you any such king as the Jews see or any such danger of insurrection as they seeNo, I am not a Jew, am I? But your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me for some reason which they evidently believe is a crime. What have you done? We think Pilate knew that the envy of the Jewish rulers over the following this Jesus had gained was part of the reason for His arrest, but he was not sure this was all the prisoner was guilty of.
In His answer, Jesus not only answers all the charges but He witnesses to this Gentile ruler. First He allays Pilate's concern over the political situation when He says, My kingship is not of this world. If my kingship were of this world my attendants would have been fighting in order to keep me from being handed over to the Jews, but now my kingship does not spring from that source. Jesus makes it plain that He does not seek a kingdom or kingship of the world at all. He seeks no overthrow of the political structure, either Roman or Jewish. In fact, He infers that the Jewish rulers are His enemies as much as any other political group so He is not the king of the Jews as they would think of it. Furthermore, His followers were not allowed to use force to rescue Him. He had no temporal throne, no temporal army and no temporal province. The implication is evident to Pilate that Jesus claims to be some kind of a king. So Pilate's question, So you are a king?

Now Jesus has opportunity to witness to Pilate. Yes, Jesus replies, you are saying correctly that I am a king, for this royal purpose was I born. But His kingship is His rule in the hearts of men by truth. He, Himself, is the embodiment of the truth which He came to witness. He brought divine truthsupernatural truthfrom realms beyond this world. He had brought to this world that which every man needs and most men long forsupernatural truth and supernatural wisdom. And men may live in this truth by listening to His doctrine. His doctrine as He taught it and as the apostles taught it later (cf.1 John 4:1-6).

Pilate had nothing but contempt and skepticism for such high idealism. What is truth? he scoffs. To a Roman politician of his day truth was relative. Their view of what was good and truthful was cynical pragmatism. In other words, whatever worked for their personal benefit or promotion was perfectly justifiable. One has but to study the case histories of some of the Roman Caesars to see this (Nero, Caligula, etc.).

Pilate could plainly see that this Jewish rabbi was just another religious fanatic and He was simply stirring up His own religious leaders to jealousy, but as far as committing any crime worthy of death, He was not guilty. So Pilate went out on the porch to where the Jews were waiting and pronounced Jesus innocent. But the Jews would not hear of it! They began a clamor for His death. The rulers incited the crowd to clamoring also. Meanwhile, Pilate's wife came to him with her superstitions connected to a dream she had had concerning this Jesus (cf. Matthew 27:19-21). Pilate must be careful! Every move must be weighed! He does not want to become involved in the nasty trial and condemnation of an innocent man. But neither does he want to incur the political disfavor of the Jewish rulers. So he offers to release the prisoner Jesus according to the Roman custom of releasing a prisoner at passover time. Now there was another Jewish prisoner held by the Romans, one Barabbas, a robber and one who had in fact incited a seditious riot. But the Jews would not hear of it! They cried out, Not this man but Barabbas. this man stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, and beginning from Galilee even unto this place.

Aha! Pilate ponders the thought! This Jesus was a Galilean. Herod was ruler of that province. Pilate and Herod had been at odds with one another over some political squabble for quite a while. Here was an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. He would be rid of the responsibility of condemning an innocent man while placating Herod at the same time. Herod was placated but the innocent Jesus was returned to Pilate for final responsibility. John leaves all this out of his account. It may be studied in the Synoptics.

Quiz

1.

Where was Pilate's judgment hall and the Praetorium?

2.

What is meant when it is said that the Jews were afraid of defilement should they enter Pilate's judgment hall?

3.

What type of a man was Pilate and what did he probably know about Jesus?

4.

Why must the Romans put Jesus to death?

5.

How did Jesus answer the charges against Him and witness to Pilate at the same time?

6.

What did Pilate mean when he said, What is truth?

7.

How did Pilate think he had solved his dilemma of not wanting to sentence an innocent man and yet not wanting to displease the Jews?