John 18:36,37

“ Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have fought that I might not be delivered to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from hence. 37. Thereupon Pilate said to him, Art thou a king, then? Jesus answered him, Thou sayest it; I am a king; I was born and am come into the world to bear witness to the truth.Whoever is of the truth hears my voice. ”

Jesus does not answer directly; but the answer appears from what He is about to say. He certainly possesses a kingship; this kingship, however, is not of a nature to disturb Pilate.

The expression ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου, of this world, is not synonymous with ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, in this world. For the kingdom of Jesus is certainly realized and developed here on earth; but it does not have its origin from earth, from the human will and earthly force. Jesus gives as a proof of this the manner in which He has surrendered Himself to the Jews. His servants are that multitude of adherents who had surrounded Him on Palm-day, and not merely, as Lucke and Luthardt suppose, hypothetical beings: “the servants whom I should have in that case.” The meaning given by Bengel and Stier: the angels, could not have been even dimly seen by Pilate.

The attempt has been made to give to νῦν, now, a temporal sense: “My kingdom is not now of this world, but it will be otherwise hereafter.” But, at the coming of the Lord, His kingdom will be no more of this world than it is to-day. Now must be taken, as often, in the logical sense: it contrasts the ever-present reality of the truth with the non-existence of error.

Pilate certainly expected a simple denial. His answer expresses surprise. The meaning of the particle ουκουν, if it were accented οὔκουν, would be: certainly not. Pilate would say: “Thou art certainly not a king,” with or without an interrogation point. But the reply of Jesus: “Thou sayest it,” by which He appropriates to Himself the contents of Pilate's words while reaffirming them for Himself, favors the accentuation οὐκοῦν, not...then. “It is, then, not false, the claim that is imputed to thee?”

The affirmative formula employed by Jesus: Thou sayest it, is foreign to the classic Greek and even to the Old Testament, but it is very common with the Rabbis. Its meaning cannot be that which Reuss would give to it (Hist. ev ., p. 676): “It is thou who sayest that I am a king; as for me, I am come into the world to bear testimony,...” which would mean simply: I am not a king, but a preacher of the truth, a prophet. In this sense, a σύ, thou, in contrast with an ἐγώ, I, would have been absolutely necessary; and then, a but, to contrast the saying of Jesus with that of Pilate. Besides, the meaning of the formula: thou sayest it, is well known; comp. Matthew 26:64. ῞Οτι might signify: seeing that: “Thou sayest it rightly, seeing that I really am such.” It is more natural, however, to explain this conjunction in the sense of that: “Thou sayest (it) well, that I am a king.” The importance of the idea makes Jesus feel the need of again formulating it expressly. Hengstenberg separates altogether from this declaration the following words, which he applies simply to the prophetic office of Jesus Christ. But it is very evident that Jesus means to explain by what follows the sense in which He is a king. He comes to conquer the world, and for this end His only weapon is to bear witness to the truth; His people are recruited from all men who open themselves to the truth. The first of the two consecutive ἐγώ, I, which are read in the T. R., must be rejected. Jesus certainly did not say: “I am a king, I. ” The two εἰς τοῦτο, for this, refer to the following ἴνα (that), contrary to the translation of Ostervald and Arnaud: “I was born for this (to be a king) and...” “ I was born ” refers to the fact of birth which is common to Him with all men, while the words: “I am come into the world” set forth the special mission with a view to which He has appeared here on earth. It is His work as prophet which is the foundation of His kingly office.

The truth, the revelation of God this is the sceptre with which He bears sway over the earth. This mode of conquest which Jesus here unveils to Pilate is the opposite of that by which the Roman power was formed, and Lange brings out with much reason that, as John 12:25 contained the judgment of the Greek genius, this declaration of Jesus to Pilate contains the judgment of the Roman genius by the Gospel.

The expression to be of the truth recalls to mind John 3:21; John 7:17; John 8:47; John 10:16, etc. It denotes the moral disposition to receive the truth and to put oneself under its holy power when it presents itself in living form in the person of Jesus Christ. By the word whoever, Jesus addressed no longer merely the conscience of the judge, but also that of the man, in Pilate (Hengstenberg).