John 18:31 Then Pilate said to them, "You take Him and judge Him according to your law." Therefore the Jews said to him, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death," 32 that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die. 33 Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?" 34 Jesus answered him, "Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?" 35 Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew?...
John 18:31 Then Pilate said to them, "You take Him and judge Him according to your law." Therefore the Jews said to him, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death," 32 that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die. 33 Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?" 34 Jesus answered him, "Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?" 35 Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?" 36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here." 37 Pilate therefore said to Him, "Are You a king then?" Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." 38 Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, "I find no fault in Him at all.
We see Pilate still trying to get out of crucifying Jesus, but the Jews will not be persuaded. Jesus is then questioned by Pilate as to who He really is. We know that Pilate’s wife has had a dream about Jesus; he knows they delivered Him up for envy and so he is still desperately trying to find some way out. Jesus then puts Pilate on the hot seat and even while He is under threat of the cross, He is still concerned with Pilate’s soul. Jesus wants to know why Pilate is asking the questions He asks. Jesus admits He is a King, but of a heavenly realm, not earthly. He then tells Pilate the reason He came is to bear witness of the truth and poor Pilate responds what is truth. Jesus realizes Pilate is not going to trust Him as Savior, so He ends the conversation and ultimately refuses to speak to him anymore. Pilate’s fate is sealed.
The purpose of this lesson is to consider the condemnation of Jesus as John portrays it, so that we see the guilt of Jews and Gentiles alike. No one but our Lord comes out of this looking good.
Verse 31, again, their minds are made up, “We just want you to execute him.” Now the Jews are in a predicament. The Sanhedrin wants Jesus dead, but if they’re given Jesus back, they can’t execute Him. So, they had to play ball with Pilate, and they don’t like this.
I find it very difficult to believe that Pilate is as ignorant and uninformed about Jesus as he lets on to these Jews. I believe there must have been the equivalent of what I would call “the Jesus file” in Pilate’s possession. Think about it for a minute. Today, the CIA, the FBI, and who knows how many other federal agencies make it their business to keep track of any person or group that seeks the overthrow of our government. The identity and activities of every known enemy, as well as all those even suspected, are closely monitored, and all of this information is kept on file. So each possible enemy of the state would have his or her own file, containing all kinds of information concerning their statements and their activities.
Do you think it reasonable that Rome and Pilate kept track of anyone who was popular and had a following among the Jews. Such people had the potential of leading the Jews in rebellion against Rome. Every time Jesus made an appearance in Jerusalem, there was some kind of commotion or disturbance. Surely Pilate was aware of this and kept track of Jesus’ activities. When the Jews brought Jesus before Pilate, it is difficult to believe that He was unknown to the governor, at least by reputation. Pilate no doubt knew what Jesus had claimed, and how the Jewish leaders reacted to Him and His teaching.[i] But Pilate is initially playing out this trial “by the book,” and so he insists that they declare formal charges against Jesus.
31 Then Pilate said to them, "You take Him and judge Him according to your law." Therefore the Jews said to him, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,"
Crucifixion itself, a Roman form of execution, was forbidden by Jewish law because it was torture.
Since the Jews did not charge Jesus formally there was nothing that Pilate could do except hand Him back to them for discipline in their courts. The Jews' response explained why that was an unacceptable alternative. They wanted Jesus executed, but they did not have the authority to execute Him themselves.
Be that as it may, they could have killed Him if they wanted. But they wanted the blood to be on Rome’s hands. Which is another layer of irony, as you know how the story progresses, and the blood is on their hands. Okay? Full of layers of irony in this section. We know from Deuteronomy 21:23 and Galatians 3:13 that cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree. Prophecy in Deuteronomy is shadowing ahead the kind of death Jesus is going to face.
"The Pilate disclosed in the [ancient] historical documents almost certainly acted like this not so much out of any passion for justice as out of the ego-building satisfaction he gained from making the Jewish authorities jump through legal hoops and recognize his authority."
John noted that the Jews' admission that they could not put anyone to death was in harmony with the sovereign plan of God. Jesus had predicted that He would die by crucifixion, not by stoning (cf. 12:32-33). The Romans were the only ones who could condemn a person to death by crucifixion. The Jews did stone people to death for blasphemy (e.g., Acts
6:11; 7:58), but these seem to have been instances of mob violence rather than independent legal action. They probably wanted Jesus crucified too because the Mosaic Law regarded such a death as proof of God's curse (Deut. 21:22-23).
"Ironically, the death that the Jewish hierarchy regarded as a final negation of Jesus' claims became the means of justification apart from the law
Ga 3:13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"),
32 that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die. Mt 20:19; John 12:32-33
John the Gospel writer, while center-stage is crowded with this experience in the Praetorium with all these religious leaders and Pilate, John puts this parenthetical “By the way, time out” verse in the record.
"It was necessary for three reasons for Jesus to be crucified by the Romans at the instigation of the Jews: (a) to fulfill prophecies (e.g., that none of His bones be broken; cf.19:36-37); (b) to include both Jews and Gentiles in the collective guilt for the deed (cf. Acts 2:23; 4:27); (c) by crucifixion, Jesus was 'lifted up' like 'the snake in the desert' [3:14] . . ."
Luke 23:1-2, 1 Then the whole group of them rose up and brought Jesus before Pilate. 2 They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation, forbidding us to pay the tribute tax to Caesar and claiming that he himself is Christ, a king”
33 Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?" Mt 27:11
the Greek says, "You, are You the king of the Jews
The Jews' accusations motivated Pilate's question. He asked Jesus if He was claiming to be the King of the Jews. Messianic expectation was running high in Jesus' day, and many people were saying that Jesus was the Messiah. The Jewish leaders had charged Jesus with claiming to be this king (Luke 23:2). Now Pilate wanted to hear if Jesus Himself claimed to be this king.
Are you king, not of a slice of geography; are you king of this people called the Jews? Are you king of this rag-tag group?”
And I think there might be a little distain, astonishment and disgust in Pilate’s voice when he looks at this bound Jesus Christ before him.
“Are you the king of the Jews?” with some astonishment. “You’ve got to be kidding! You? Are you the king? You don’t look like a king.”
Fast-forward, how he mocks them, “Here’s your king. This is what your king looks like to me.”
34 Jesus answered him, "Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?"
The Synoptics reported that Jesus replied, "It is as you say" (Matt. 27:11; Mark 15:2; Luke 23:3). John also recorded that Jesus gave that answer (v. 37), but he included additional conversation first. This added material included Jesus' explanation of the nature of His kingship
Jesus asked Pilate His question to determine how He would answer him. If his question had arisen from his own understanding and curiosity, Jesus presumably would have dealt with Him as a sincere inquirer. If he was merely trying to clarify the essence of the Sanhedrin's charge, Jesus would need to answer differently.
It would surely appear that Jesus was gently probing Pilate, testing for any spiritual interest on his part. Our Lord knew who His sheep were (John 10:14, 26-27; 13:18), but even so He sought to encourage Pilate to seek Him.
If Pilate meant, "Are you a political king conspiring against Caesar?" the answer would have been, "No." If he meant, "Are you the messianic king of Israel?" the answer would have been, "Yes." The object of interrogation, Jesus, became the interrogator temporarily.
35 Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?"
Pilate’s answer effectively shuts off this line of conversation: It ticks Pilate off and in verse thirty-five, he responds to Him, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own people delivered you to me.”
Pilate's reply clarified that he had no personal interest in Jesus' kingship, and he was indignant that Jesus would suggest such a thing. He simply wanted to understand what Jesus was claiming in view of the Sanhedrin's accusation. Beyond that, he wanted to discover why the Jewish leaders were so intent on doing away with Jesus. His question, "Am I a Jew?" sarcastically denied that Jewish matters such as Jesus' kingship were of any interest to him personally. Ironically Jesus was Pilate's King.
Pilate's comment about Jesus' own people handing Him over to him confirmed John's statement that Jesus came unto His own, but His own did not receive Him (1:11).
The word delivered is very important to John. It’s the same word for betrayed when Judas delivers Him. In fact, every time in the Gospel of John, the word delivered, lifted up, handed over, and betrayed are the same word. It’s just the context that tells us the meaning. Just like Judas betrayed Him, just like His own people, the Jews, betrayed Him to Rome, just like He’s going to be delivered up, or lifted up.
And I think the human, incarnate side of Jesus Christ bristled when He heard that remark, because He knew that He came into His own and His own didn’t welcome Him.
Jesus stands there and Pilate says ‑- What have You done? Now we come against the same problem we saw two weeks ago. In the Jewish court and the Roman court the judge had no right to ask that question. Remember that? Under no circumstances was a man to be condemned at the word of his own testimony. It's like the Fifth Amendment. He could not be incriminated by His own testimony. So, Pilate is asking an illegal question and you will notice that Jesus does not answer it. What hast Thou done? Jesus doesn't answer that. Jesus just takes off in verse 36 and starts talking about His Kingdom. He never answers that. Why? It's an illegal question. He did the same thing to Annas, the same thing to Caiaphas; He'll never capitulate to illegalities. And thus He indicts them because of those illegalities. And so rather than answer the question He just explains what kind of a King He is. Now Pilate understands that He is no political King so He says ‑- Now I'll explain to you what kind of King I am.
36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here." Da 2:44; 7:14; Lu 12:14; John 6:15; 8:15; 1Ti 6:13
- Jesus is telling Pilate, “Look, I’m not the kind of king you think. I am not a king who brings armies together and rebels against existing governments and takes over land and controls by subversion. I’m a king of another world. My kingdom is not of this earth.”
- He’s also telling Pilate implicitly, “Don’t worry about me as a threat to Rome. I’m not here to threaten your assumed kingship role with Rome’s imperial government.”
Jesus was not denying that His kingdom was an earthly kingdom. He was not saying it was only the spiritual rule of God over the hearts of His people. He was not saying that His kingdom had nothing to do with this world either. This should be clear from Jesus' other references to His kingdom as being an earthly kingdom. His point was that He and His kingdom were not a threat to Rome (cf. 18:10-11). The reason was that God had postponed the messianic kingdom due to Israel's unbelief, though Jesus did not explain this to Pilate.
Now, Pilate was right when he saw nothing in Jesus to resemble an earthly king, but he was wrong when he then concluded that Jesus wasn't a King. He was a King, indeed He was a King. And in Revelation 11:15 it says that He shall reign and rule over every nation and that He shall be King of kings and Lord of lords.
37 Pilate therefore said to Him, "Are You a king then?" Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." John 8:47; 1Jo 3:19; 4:6
Pilate did not understand the distinctions between Jesus' kingdom and his own that Jesus was making. He did understand that Jesus was claiming to have a kingdom. Consequently he next tried to get Jesus to claim unequivocally that He was a king
The Kingdom of Christ is a spiritual Kingdom. And so, Paul says to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:13: "I commend thee in the sight of God who maketh all things alive, and before Christ Jesus," who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession." What confession did Jesus make before Pontius Pilate? "Which in His times He shall show who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords." That's the confession Jesus made before Pilate. That He was indeed a King.
This is talking about God coming into human form. Jesus is claiming to be incarnate God. It's a powerful claim. I love the fact that John makes sure we know that He said: "I came into the world." Before the world began, He was there. Jesus claims to have come into the world. Paul says in Philippians 2, "Christ thought it not something to hold onto to be equal with God, but let go of it, came into the world, humbled Himself, found in fashion as a man," right? God coming into the world. So, in a brief statement, Jesus claims eternal preexistence.
He’s saying, “Yeah, I’m a king. [Change subjects.] For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world.”
To be king? No, to testify to the truth. You see where I’m trying to make the distinction? It’s not the antecedent. It’s what follows. He’s not saying, “I’m a king, for this I was born,” which would be true. That’s not His point. His point is, “I have come and have been born into the world to testify to the truth.”
Our Lord’s response informs Pilate that he is right to understand Him to mean that He is the King of the Jews. But Jesus wants it to be clear that His purpose in coming is revelation, not revolution. He has come to testify to the truth. Those who belong to the truth pay attention to His words.
The main reason Jesus had come into the world was to bear witness to the truth. By this He meant that He came to reveal God (cf. 14:6). Jesus made subjects for His kingdom by revealing God, by calling on people to believe on Him, and by giving them eternal life. This prepared them to participate in His kingdom. Everyone who truly wanted the truth followed Jesus because His teachings had the ring of truth. Jesus' words were an invitation for Pilate to listen to Him and to learn the truth. Jesus showed more interest in appealing to Pilate than in defending Himself. This desire for the welfare of others marks all of Jesus' interviews in the fourth Gospel.
I came into the world to bear witness to the truth." What truth? The truth about God, the truth about men, the truth about sin, the truth about judgment, the truth about love, the truth about holiness, the truth about life, death, the truth about everything. And when you know Jesus you know the truth ... because Jesus came to proclaim the truth.
verse 37: "... Everyone that is of the truth hears My voice." A lot of people claim to know the truth, you know that? A lot of people claim to have answers. Everyone who really knows truth hears the voice of Jesus Christ. What does it mean "to hear?" The Greek word is to listen intently and obey. There's no such thing as knowing the truth unless you obey Jesus, for He is the truth. He is God revealed to men and there's no truth outside of Him.
38 Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, "I find no fault in Him at all. Mt 27:24; Lu 23:4; John 19:4, 6
Obviously Pilate was not one who truly sought the truth. He turned away from Jesus' offer to reveal it with a cynical comment that implied that the truth was unknowable. Undoubtedly Pilate's experience as a Roman official to whom others constantly lied and his personal desire to use the truth to accomplish his own ends accounted for his cynicism. The very idea that someone would aim his whole life at revealing truth was both foolish and improbable from his perspective.
Other views of Pilate's statement interpret it as despairing, impatient, or sincere. However the context seems to imply that it was facetious and mocking. Pilate turned away from the One who claimed to reveal the truth without waiting for an answer.
Pilate’s question, “What is truth?” What does Pilate mean by this question? It echoes down humanity’s hallways. What is truth? What is truth? What is truth?
Well, is it this sort of wistful desire, “You know I really wish I knew the truth.”?
Is it this philosophical distrust with knowledge, “Well, what is truth? Hmm. Let’s think about that.” That would be the Starbuck’s conversation, “What is truth?”
Is it an indifference to something so impractical? Is it some jaded politician, “What’s truth. Who cares about truth?”
Or is it irritation, “What’s truth?” And then he turns and he’s going to declare Him the first of three times, innocent, to the audience.
Now, the interpretation of Pilate’s question, “What is truth?” I don’t know the answer to, but I make two observations. One, the question remains. It’s a great question. What is truth?
Secondly, I think what John the Gospel writer wants you and me to understand with this question is, Pilate lays it out there, but then he walks away. He turns away from the question. He turns away from the One who was born and came into the world to testify to truth. Remember in John 1:29, John the Baptist says, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who comes to take away the sin of the world.” The innocent one comes. And here Jesus says, “I came, I was born, I came into the world to testify to the truth.”
Let’s try to make some application from this. First of all there are three applications.
The first is that Peter denies Christ. We looked at his denial last week, the three-fold denial.
Secondly, the Jews want to destroy Christ. Their clearly stated objective is to kill Him
And Pilate is going to dismiss Christ. At any layer of this story, I think this is a pretty good snapshot at how men and women, look at Jesus Christ. You can deny Him; you can want to destroy Him. And if you don’t think there are people who’d like to destroy the Christian faith, you’ve been in a Christian bubble a little too long. The largest populations of the world don’t merely tolerate, or dislike, or hate Christianity. They loathe it. They would love to destroy what Christ stands for.
And then of course, there’s the apt politician’s statement in a worn-out sarcastic politician’s viewpoint. That he just dismisses it, “What’s truth?”
Those are pretty good responses that people could have toward Christ, aren’t they? They could deny it, they could try to destroy it, or they could sort of dismiss it, out of hand.
Now, I don’t know how much you as a believer in Christ sort of get your mind out of this Christian experience. Some Churches, have a pretty clear understanding of authority and of truth. Now, you may have to take that by faith, but take it by faith. If you travel around at all and visit other churches, and talk to other believers in Christ, you will discover very quickly that if you hold to the things the truth, and when we talk about this Book the way we talk about it on Sunday mornings, you’re a pretty narrow-minded, bigoted person. If you think this Book is truthful and authoritative, you think it’s the Word of God and He did not stutter when He gave it to us. You think it is an authority and you should submit to it and follow it, you are a rare breed.
This text is about the King of the Universe being accused of treason. About the God of the Universe in man’s court, being alleged to be an evildoer, a person who makes Himself out to be God and treasonous in threatening the world government.
You now, in a way, the last two are true. If you call yourself a follower of Jesus Christ, men and women, Jesus Christ is your King, and you salute Him and say, “Yes, Sir.” If you call yourself a believer in Jesus Christ this is the authoritative, truthful Word of God and you do not play with it, but you submit to it. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, this world is not to be Heaven. This world is not your home. This world isn’t to be better and better, and God has a wonderful plan for your life. Yes, He may well bless you and it seems to me He loves to bless us, but that’s not the posture of the believer. It is reporting for duty, that, “You are my King. You are my God. You are the Master of the universe. You are the Master of my soul and I am here because you are Truth, and I submit to your truth. Amen.”
You know, this penetrating question of Pilate’s, “What is truth?” is the question that has echoed through the ages, both among Christians and in the popular culture. I mean, that question of “What is truth?” is a central question for all of us today, isn’t it?
In the post-modernity of America has just muddied this. You know, it’s whatever you want it to be. I hear young college students out of Christian homes saying, “Well, if that’s truth for you…”
And it just takes us back to the fact that there is one Truth, and it is Christ and His Father, and we must submit to the Word, not to our own opinion.
And when you stop and peel it back and say the question, “What is truth?” what you’re really asking is, “What’s your source of authority? Where does truth come from for you?”; because everybody has some source of authority in their lives. It’s either your own opinions and your own ideas or it’s something outside of you. And when Pilate says, “What is truth?” Jesus is already answered it. He has said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.”
The sin nature of man is always trying to make it into his truth. Clear back to Adam and the woman. From Cain all the way down till today. We’re trying to make God in our image. We resist authority. We resist truth.
So, we come full circle and Jesus is as pure at the end as He was at the beginning. There's nothing to hold against Him. He is the perfect man, the prophetic God, the supernatural King, the preincarnate One, the proclaimer of truth, the personal Savior and the proven faultless. I hope you see Him that way and I hope you respond to Him differently than Pilate did.
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
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“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions.
[i] For example, we read in Matthew 27:18 and Mark 15:10 that Pilate knew the religious leaders had delivered Jesus to him “out of envy.” This would seem to be information he had discerned or obtained before this trial.
