With the beginning of this chapter we enter upon a new section of the Gospel, extending to the close of chap. 19. The section contains the final assault of the devil and the world upon Jesus. But the struggle is of a kind entirely different from that contained in the fourth or leading section of the... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:1. WHEN JESUS HAD SPOKEN THESE THINGS, HE WENT FORTH WITH HIS DISCIPLES OVER THE WINTER-TORRENT KIDRON. The last discourse of Jesus to His disciples and His intercessory prayer to His Father have been spoken; and, from the upper room in which we have already seen that this took place, Jesus... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:2. AND JUDAS ALSO, WHICH BETRAYED HIM, KNEW THE PLACE: FOR JESUS OFTTIMES ASSEMBLED THITHER WITH HIS DISCIPLES. The ‘ofttimes' must refer to many previous visits to the garden, and not to those connected with the present brief sojourn in Jerusalem. The omission at this point of all mention o... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:3. JUDAS THEREFORE HAVING RECEIVED THE BAND OF SOLDIERS, AND OFFICERS FROM THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND THE PHARISEES, COMETH THITHER WITH LANTERNS AND TORCHES AND WEAPONS. The circumstances here mentioned are in contrast with those of John 18:1, constituting the obverse side of the picture, before... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:4. JESUS THEREFORE, KNOWING ALL THE THINGS THAT WERE COMING UPON HIM, WENT FORTH. It is in the full knowledge of all that was about to happen that Jesus speaks and acts. In this knowledge He ‘went forth,' not merely out of the garden, or out of the shade of the trees into the moonlight, or o... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:5. THEY ANSWERED HIM, JESUS OF NAZARETH. The answer may perhaps reveal the light in which Judas had represented Jesus to the Roman authorities, ‘of Nazareth,' a Galilean, prone to revolt; or it may be that the Evangelist beholds in it one of those unconscious prophecies of the enemies of Jes... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:6. WHEN THEREFORE HE SAID UNTO THEM, I AM HE, THEY WENT BACKWARD AND FELL TO THE GROUND. It is the Divine majesty and innocence of Jesus that produced the effect. Like the buyers and sellers in the temple, the history of whose terror at the presence of the Redeemer is vouched for by the test... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:7. AGAIN THEREFORE HE ASKED THEM, WHOM SEEK YE? Their reply is in the same terms as before. AND THEY SAID, JESUS OF NAZARETH. The moment is come when Jesus is to deliver Himself up, and His sole concern now is for the safety of His disciples.... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:8. JESUS ANSWERED, I TOLD YOU THAT I AM HE: IF THEREFORE YE SEEK ME, LET THESE GO THEIR WAY. And then the Evangelist tells us of the illustration which he beheld in this of the meaning of certain words of Jesus uttered not long before.... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:9. THAT THE WORD MIGHT BE FULFILLED, WHICH HE SPAKE, THOSE WHICH THOU HAST GIVEN ME, I LOST NOT ONE OF THEM. The words thus referred to are those of chap. John 17:12. There they primarily apply to spiritual and eternal safety; here to what is, in the first instance at least, temporal deliver... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:10. SIMON PETER THEREFORE HAVING A SWORD DREW IT, AND SMOTE THE HIGH PRIEST'S SERVANT, AND CUT OFF HIS RIGHT EAR. AND THE SERVANT'S NAME WAS MALCHUS. It is possible that the position of ‘therefore' in the original, between ‘Simon' and ‘Peter,' may be designed to call attention to the import... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:11. JESUS THEREFORE SAID UNTO PETER, PUT UP THE SWORD INTO THE SHEATH: THE CUP WHICH THE FATHER HATH GIVEN ME, SHOULD I NOT DRINK IT? The aid of all violence is disclaimed. Jesus speaks not of ‘thy' sword but of ‘the' sword, and thus shows that He can Himself resort to no measure of outward... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:12. THE BAND OF SOLDIERS THEREFORE, AND THE CAPTAIN, AND THE OFFICERS OF THE JEWS, TOOK JESUS AND BOUND HIM. The words addressed by Jesus to Peter lend boldness to His cowardly foes. They see that no further resistance is to be offered. A passive victim is before them; and they seize and bin... [ Continue Reading ]
We have in this passage the appearance of Jesus before Annas and Caiaphas, together with the three denials of the Apostle peter. The difficulties of the passage, both in itself and in its relation to the earlier Gospels, are unquestionably great. Our first aim must be to understand the narrative as... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:13. AND LED HIM TO ANNAS FIRST, FOR HE WAS FATHER-IN-LAW TO CAIAPHAS WHICH WAS HIGH PRIEST OF THAT YEAR. The word ‘first' is worthy of notice. It may be used only with reference to the narrative that follows; but it is also possible that we have here another instance, similar to that which w... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:14. NOW CAIAPHAS WAS HE WHO HAD GIVEN COUNSEL TO THE JEWS, THAT IT WAS EXPEDIENT THAT ONE MAN SHOULD DIE FOR THE PEOPLE. The introduction of these words obviously indicates that the reason why Jesus was taken to Annas first is not to be found in the mere _fact_ of his relationship to Caiapha... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:15. AND SIMON PETER FOLLOWED JESUS, AND SO DID ANOTHER DISCIPLE. Although not certain, it is upon the whole most probable that the ‘other disciple' thus unnamed is John himself. He and Peter may have fled at first with the others; but, if so, they had immediately returned. The name given to... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:16. BUT PETER STOOD AT THE DOOR WITHOUT. Peter is stopped at the door; and, while he stands there, Jesus is lost to his view. THE OTHER DISCIPLE THEREFORE, WHICH WAS KNOWN UNTO THE HIGH PRIEST, WENT FORTH AND SPAKE UNTO HER THAT KEPT THE DOOR, AND BROUGHT IN PETER. The circumstance thus re... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:17. THE DAMSEL THEREFORE THAT KEPT THE DOOR SAITH UNTO PETER, ART THOU ALSO ONE OF THIS MAN'S DISCIPLES? HE SAITH, I AM NOT. The maid knew that John was one of the disciples of Jesus, and the interest taken by him in Peter leads her to suppose that the latter must also be one of them. She as... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:18. AND THE SERVANTS AND THE OFFICERS WERE STANDING THERE, HAVING MADE A FIRE OF CHARCOAL; FOR IT WAS COLD, AND THEY WERE WARNING THEMSELVES; AND PETER ALSO WAS WITH THEM, STANDING AND WARMING HIMSELF. These ‘servants' and ‘officers,' it must be remembered, are those who had so recently laid... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:19. THE HIGH PRIEST THEREFORE ASKED JESUS of HIS DISCIPLES AND OF HIS TEACHING. Again reserving for the moment any inquiry as to who the ‘high priest' here spoken of was, and also as to the special character of the investigation itself, we remark only that the object of the narrative is to d... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:20-21. JESUS ANSWERED HIM, I HAVE SPOKEN BOLDLY TO THE WORLD: I EVER TAUGHT IN SYNAGOGUE AND IN THE TEMPLE-COURTS, WHERE ALL THE JEWS ASSEMBLE, AND IN SECRET I SPAKE NOTHING. WHY ASKEST THOU ME? ASK THEM WHICH HAVE HEARD ME WHAT I HAVE SAID UNTO THEM: BEHOLD, THESE KNOW THE THINGS THAT I SAI... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:22. AND WHEN HE HAD SAID THESE THINGS, ONE OF THE OFFICERS WHICH STOOD BY STRUCK JESUS WITH HIS HAND, SAYING, ANSWEREST THOU THE HIGH PRIEST SO? When we remember that the ‘court' in which the examination was going on could not be large, it seems probable that this ‘officer' said to have been... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:23. JESUS ANSWERED HIM, IF I HAVE SPOKEN EVIL, BEAR WITNESS OF THE EVIL; BUT IF WELL, WHY SMITEST THOU ME? ‘Bear witness' here is certainly not equivalent to ‘prove by bearing testimony in a regular manner,' an injunction which would have been out of place. It is simply the solemn word deman... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:24. ANNAS THEREFORE SENT HIM BOUND TO CAIAPHAS THE HIGH PRIEST. The difficulty connected with these words will be best explained when we have completed the consideration of the three following verses. In the meanwhile it is enough to observe that in the original Annas is so introduced to our... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:25. AND SIMON PETER WAS STANDING AND WARMING HIMSELF. The remarkable taking up again in these words of the fact already mentioned in John 18:18 cannot fail to arrest attention. As far as mere history is concerned, the words are unnecessary. Nor does there seem to be any explanation of their... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:26. ONE OF THE SERVANTS OF THE HIGH PRIEST, BEING A KINSMAN OF HIM WHOSE EAR PETER CUT OFF, SAITH, DID NOT I SEE THEE IN THE GARDEN WITH HIM? It is natural to ask why mention is made of the relationship between the servant who asks this question and the other servant who had suffered through... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:27. AGAIN THEREFORE PETER DENIED. Nothing is said of the adjurations mentioned by the first two Evangelists AND IMMEDIATELY THE COCK CREW. All else recorded in the earlier Gospels is omitted. We are now in a position to look back upon the whole narrative from John 18:12 to the present poin... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:28. THEY LEAD THEREFORE JESUS FROM THE HOUSE OF CAIAPHAS INTO THE PALACE, AND IT WAS EARLY MORNING. The ‘palace' here spoken of was in all probability a part of the castle of Antonia at the north-west corner of the temple-mount. Pilate had come for the time from Cæsarea to reside here, in or... [ Continue Reading ]
From the examination before Caiaphas we are taken to the trial before Pilate. The scene is in every respect one of the most remarkable in the Gospel, alike in its selection of incidents and vividness of description, and in that tragic under-current of thought by which it reveals the humiliation, the... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:29. PILATE THEREFORE WENT OUT UNTO THEM, AND SAITH, WHAT ACCUSATION BRING YE AGAINST THIS MAN? Pilate was Procurator of Judea under the Roman government; and his character, as described by writers of the time, is that of a skeptical, cold, and cruel man, arbitrary in his acts, and cherishing... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:30. THEY ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO HIM, IF THIS MAN WERE NOT AN EVIL-DOER, WE SHOULD NOT HAVE DELIVERED HIM UP UNTO THEE. There is pride in the reply, a lofty sense of their own importance and dignity, that importance and dignity which they are so soon to sacrifice. The person whom we bring bef... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:31. PILATE THEREFORE SAID UNTO THEM, TAKE HIM YOURSELVES, AND JUDGE HIM ACCORDING TO YOUR LAW. Pilate has already seen enough to satisfy him that no offence against civil order, calling for his interposition, has been committed. He will have nothing to do with merely religious squabbles, and... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:32. THAT THE WORD OF JESUS MIGHT BE FULFILLED, WHICH HE SPAKE, SIGNIFYING BY WHAT MANNER OF DEATH HE WAS ABOUT TO DIE. The ‘word' referred to is chap. John 3:14, or still more probably chap. John 12:32. The appeal to Pilate paved the way for the ‘lifting on high' there spoken of. The Jewish... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:33. PILATE THEREFORE ENTERED AGAIN INTO THE PALACE, AND CALLED JESUS, AND SAID UNTO HIM. ART THOU THE KING OF THE JEWS? The emphasis of the question is remarkable. The word ‘thou' stands in the original at the head of the sentence, as if Pilate would say: ‘Thou, thou so humbled, despised, ha... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:34. JESUS ANSWERED, SAYEST THOU THIS THING OF THYSELF, OR DID OTHERS TELL THEE CONCERNING ME? Many reasons have been suggested to account for this question of Jesus. The real reason seems to be, that the guilt of those now compassing His death may be fixed upon the proper parties. It is to a... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:35. PILATE ANSWERED, AM I A JEW? THINE OWN NATION AND THE CHIEF PRIESTS DELIVERED THEE UNTO ME. WHAT HAST THOU DONE? Nothing could more strongly express the contempt of the Roman governor for the Jews than these first words in reply, ‘Am I a Jew?' No words of Jesus had called for a repudiati... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:36. JESUS ANSWERED, MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD: IF MY KINGDOM WERE OF THIS WORLD, THEN WOULD MY SERVANTS STRIVE, THAT I SHOULD NOT BE DELIVERED TO THE JEWS: BUT NOW IS MY KINGDOM NOT FROM HENCE. Pilate had hardly comprehended the charge that Jesus made Himself a King. That Jesus really... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:37. PILATE THEREFORE SAID UNTO HIM, A KING ART THOU THEN? It is of importance to notice the difference of construction between the question as put here and at John 18:33. There ‘Thou' stands in the first place, here the ‘King.' The difference corresponds exactly to the course of thought whic... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:38. PILATE SAITH UNTO HIM, WHAT IS TRUTH? Not surely the question of one seriously searching after truth, for in that case he would have waited for a reply; nor that of one in despair, which would presuppose a moral depth in Pilate's character inconsistent with the light in which he comes be... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:39. BUT YE HAVE A CUSTOM, THAT I SHOULD RELEASE UNTO YOU ONE AT THE PASSOVER; WILL YE THEREFORE THAT I RELEASE UNTO YOU THE SING OF THE JEWS? The origin of the custom thus alluded to is unknown, although it is generally supposed with no small measure of probability that, as connected with th... [ Continue Reading ]
John 18:40. THEY CRIED OUT THEREFORE AGAIN, SAYING, NOT THIS MAN, BUT BARABBAS. The word ‘again' is here peculiarly worthy of notice. No previous cry of the Jews had been mentioned by the Evangelist; and, had his story been constructed merely to illustrate an idea, he certainly would not have spoken... [ Continue Reading ]