John 19:10-11

“ Pilate says to him: Speakest thou not to me? Knowest thou not that I have power to release thee and power to crucify thee? 11. Jesus answered, Thou wouldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above; therefore, he that delivered me unto thee is guilty of a greater sin. ”

Pilate feels that there is a reproach in this silence. He reassumes all his haughtiness as judge and Roman governor. Hence the ἐμοί, to me, at the beginning of the clause (“ to me, if not to others”), and the repetition of the words, I have power.

The T. R. places the to crucify thee before the to release thee. Undoubtedly the idea of the impending punishment is that which prevails in the conversation; but the expression becomes still more weighty if it closes with the terrible word to crucify thee. Pilate thinks that he has the disposal of Jesus; he speaks only of his power, without thinking of his dependence and his responsibility. Jesus reminds him that in reality he has not the disposal of anything; for his power is given him.

The word given is opposed to the twofold I have of Pilate. The reading ἔχεις, thou hast, of א A, etc., is evidently an error.

This time Jesus speaks; He also assumes His dignity; He takes the position of judge of His judge, or rather of all His judges; and as if He were already Himself seated on His tribunal, He weighs in His infallible scales both Pilate and the Sanhedrim. The διὰ τοῦτο, because of this, refers to the word given. “Because this position, in virtue of which thou hast power over me, is given thee this is the reason why thou art less guilty than the one who delivers me to thee in virtue of a power which he has arrogated to himself.” In fact, God, by subjecting His people to the Roman power, had made it subject to the imperial jurisdiction which was at that moment delegated to Pilate. But the Sanhedrim, by taking possession of the person of their King, notwithstandstanding all the proofs which He had given of His divine mission, and by delivering Him to the pagan authority, arrogated to itself a right which God had not assigned to it, and committed an act of theocratic felony. He who delivered me to thee, therefore, is neither Judas,

Jesus could not, with this meaning, have said: to thee, nor Caiaphas, who only acts in the name of the body which he represents, and who is not named in this whole scene. It is the Sanhedrim, the official representative of the Jewish people, in whose name this body acted.

The explanation of this saying of Jesus which we have just given approaches that of Calvin: “He who delivers me to thee is the more guilty of the two, because he makes a criminal use of thy legitimate power.” Some interpreters think that Jesus means to distinguish between the function of judging, which is official, and that of accusing, which is voluntary. But the Jews did not merely accuse, they had judged. The other explanations do not account for because of this. Thus the following ones: Pilate is less guilty “because he sins through weakness rather than through wickedness” (Euthymius); “because he has less knowledge than the Jews” (Grotius).

Far from being irritated by this answer, Pilate is profoundly impressed by the majesty which breathes in it. Hence the fourth phase of the trial: it is the last effort of Pilate to deliver Jesus, but one which fails before a fourth and last expedient held in reserve by the Sanhedrim. As Hengstenberg observes, “it is a bad policy to gain the world, that of beginning by granting it the half of what it asks.”