Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

John 18:37

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 which we have endeavoured to trace. In the first passage ‘thou' is emphatic; ‘thou so poor, so humbled, thou a King?' In the second ‘King' is emphatic; ‘a King then, high as that is, art thou?' In the first the thing is regarded as impossible; in the second the possibility has dawned upon the mind.

Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a King. It is hardly possible to understand these words as a directly affirmative reply to the question of Pilate, for Pilate had not acknowledged that Jesus was a King. It seems better to understand them in the sense, ‘Thou usest the word king in regard to Me, but not in the right sense'; and then the following words point out what it was that really conferred on Jesus the empire that He claimed.

To this end have I been born, and to this end have I come into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth: every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. The transition here from the thought of kingship to that of ‘witnessing' is very remarkable. It is to be explained by the consideration that, as ‘the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister,' and as the true glory of His work lay in submission to the demands of self-denying love, so His kingdom consists in witnessing to that eternal truth which is the foundation of all existence, which all were created to own, and in which alone is life. The word ‘witness' must be taken in a very emphatic sense. Jesus is not only the perfect, He is also the free and willing, Exponent or Revealer of all this truth to men. It is in His entire and voluntary surrender to it that His kingdom lies: His service is really His authority and power. In this respect, too, His dominion is universal over all who will own the truth: bowing to it, they must bow to Him in whom it is contained and by whom it is ‘declared.' Thus in His witnessing He is King. We cannot fail to notice how the absoluteness of this witnessing is brought out by means of the formula used by Jewish writers, ‘I have been born and am come,' as well as by the twice repeated ‘to this end.' For this Jesus had become incarnate: for this He was still standing there. Was not such a witness to ‘the truth' in all its glorious range of meaning in reality the universal King?

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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

John 18:37

Old Testament

New Testament