Matthew 27:12

27:12 But when he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he did not respond.

Luke 23:2-5

23:2 They ¹  began to accuse ²  him, saying, “We found this man subverting ³  our nation, forbidding ⁴  us to pay the tribute tax ⁵  to Caesar ⁶  and claiming that he himself is Christ, ⁷  a king.” 23:3 So ⁸  Pilate asked Jesus, ⁹  “Are you the king ¹⁰  of the Jews?” He replied, “You say so.” ¹¹  23:4 Then ¹²  Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no basis for an accusation ¹³  against this man.” 23:5 But they persisted ¹⁴  in saying, “He incites ¹⁵  the people by teaching throughout all Judea. It started in Galilee and ended up here!” ¹⁶ 

John 18:29-31

18:29 So Pilate came outside to them and said, “What accusation ¹⁷  do you bring against this man?” ¹⁸  18:30 They replied, ¹⁹  “If this man ²⁰  were not a criminal, ²¹  we would not have handed him over to you.” ²² 

18:31 Pilate told them, ²³  “Take him yourselves and pass judgment on him ²⁴  according to your own law!” ²⁵  The Jewish leaders ²⁶  replied, ²⁷  “We cannot legally put anyone to death.” ²⁸ 

John 19:6-7

19:6 When the chief priests and their officers saw him, they shouted out, “Crucify ²⁹  him! Crucify him!” ³⁰  Pilate said, ³¹  “You take him and crucify him! ³²  Certainly ³³  I find no reason for an accusation ³⁴  against him!” 19:7 The Jewish leaders ³⁵  replied, ³⁶  “We have a law, ³⁷  and according to our law he ought to die, because he claimed to be the Son of God!” ³⁸ 

John 19:12

19:12 From this point on, Pilate tried ³⁹  to release him. But the Jewish leaders ⁴⁰  shouted out, ⁴¹  “If you release this man, ⁴²  you are no friend of Caesar! ⁴³  Everyone who claims to be a king ⁴⁴  opposes Caesar!”

[23:2]  ¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[23:2]  ² sn They began to accuse him. There were three charges: (1) disturbing Jewish peace; (2) fomenting rebellion through advocating not paying taxes (a lie – 20:20-26); and (3) claiming to be a political threat to Rome, by claiming to be a king, an allusion to Jesus’ messianic claims. The second and third charges were a direct challenge to Roman authority. Pilate would be forced to do something about them.

[23:2]  ³ tn On the use of the term διαστρέφω (diastrefw) here, see L&N 31.71 and 88.264.

[23:2]  ⁴ tn Grk “and forbidding.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated to suggest to the English reader that this and the following charge are specifics, while the previous charge was a summary one. See the note on the word “misleading” earlier in this verse.

[23:2]  ⁵ tn This was a “poll tax.” L&N 57.182 states this was “a payment made by the people of one nation to another, with the implication that this is a symbol of submission and dependence – ‘tribute tax.’”

[23:2]  ⁶ tn Or “to the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).

[23:2]  ⁷ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[23:3]  ⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the charges brought in the previous verse.

[23:3]  ⁹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:3]  ¹⁰ sn “Are you the king of the Jews?” Pilate was interested only in the third charge, because of its political implications of sedition against Rome.

[23:3]  ¹¹ sn The reply “You say so” is somewhat enigmatic, like Jesus’ earlier reply to the Jewish leadership in 22:70.

[23:4]  ¹² tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[23:4]  ¹³ tn Grk “find no cause.”

[23:5]  ¹⁴ tn Or “were adamant.” For “persisted in saying,” see L&N 68.71.

[23:5]  ¹⁵ sn He incites the people. The Jewish leadership claimed that Jesus was a political threat and had to be stopped. By reiterating this charge of stirring up rebellion, they pressured Pilate to act, or be accused of overlooking political threats to Rome.

[23:5]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “beginning from Galilee until here.”

[18:29]  ¹⁷ tn Or “charge.”

[18:29]  ¹⁸ sn In light of the fact that Pilate had cooperated with them in Jesus’ arrest by providing Roman soldiers, the Jewish authorities were probably expecting Pilate to grant them permission to carry out their sentence on Jesus without resistance (the Jews were not permitted to exercise capital punishment under the Roman occupation without official Roman permission, cf. v. 31). They must have been taken somewhat by surprise by Pilate’s question “What accusation do you bring against this man,” because it indicated that he was going to try the prisoner himself. Thus Pilate was regarding the trial before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin as only an inquiry and their decision as merely an accusation.

[18:30]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “They answered and said to him.”

[18:30]  ²⁰ tn Grk “this one.”

[18:30]  ²¹ tn Or “an evildoer”; Grk “one doing evil.”

[18:30]  ²² tn Or “would not have delivered him over.”

[18:31]  ²³ tn Grk “Then Pilate said to them.”

[18:31]  ²⁴ tn Or “judge him.” For the translation “pass judgment on him” see R. E. Brown (John [AB], 2:848).

[18:31]  ²⁵ sn Pilate, as the sole representative of Rome in a troubled area, was probably in Jerusalem for the Passover because of the danger of an uprising (the normal residence for the Roman governor was in Caesarea as mentioned in Acts 23:35). At this time on the eve of the feast he would have been a busy and perhaps even a worried man. It is not surprising that he offered to hand Jesus back over to the Jewish authorities to pass judgment on him. It may well be that Pilate realized when no specific charge was mentioned that he was dealing with an internal dispute over some religious matter. Pilate wanted nothing to do with such matters, as the statement “Pass judgment on him according to your own law!” indicates. As far as the author is concerned, this points out who was really responsible for Jesus’ death: The Roman governor Pilate would have had nothing to do with it if he had not been pressured by the Jewish religious authorities, upon whom the real responsibility rested.

[18:31]  ²⁶ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders, especially members of the Sanhedrin. See the note on the phrase “Jewish leaders” in v. 12.

[18:31]  ²⁷ tn Grk “said to him.”

[18:31]  ²⁸ tn Grk “It is not permitted to us to kill anyone.”

[19:6]  ²⁹ sn Crucifixion was the cruelest form of punishment practiced by the Romans. Roman citizens could not normally undergo it. It was reserved for the worst crimes, like treason and evasion of due process in a capital case. The Roman statesman and orator Cicero (106-43 b.c.) called it “a cruel and disgusting penalty” (Against Verres 2.5.63-66 §§163-70); Josephus (J. W. 7.6.4 [7.203]) called it the worst of deaths.

[19:6]  ³⁰ tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from context.

[19:6]  ³¹ tn Grk “said to them.” The words “to them” are not translated because they are unnecessary in contemporary English style.

[19:6]  ³² sn How are Pilate’s words “You take him and crucify him” to be understood? Was he offering a serious alternative to the priests who wanted Jesus crucified? Was he offering them an exception to the statement in 18:31 that the Jewish authorities did not have the power to carry out a death penalty? Although a few scholars have suggested that the situation was at this point so far out of Pilate’s control that he really was telling the high priests they could go ahead and crucify a man he had found to be innocent, this seems unlikely. It is far more likely that Pilate’s statement should be understood as one of frustration and perhaps sarcasm. This seems to be supported by the context, for the Jewish authorities make no attempt at this point to seize Jesus and crucify him. Rather they continue to pester Pilate to order the crucifixion.

[19:6]  ³³ tn On this use of γάρ (gar) used in exclamations and strong affirmations, see BDAG 190 s.v. γάρ 3.

[19:6]  ³⁴ tn Or “find no basis for an accusation”; Grk “find no cause.”

[19:7]  ³⁵ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9.) Here the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders, especially members of the Sanhedrin, and their servants (mentioned specifically as “the chief priests and their servants” in John 19:6).

[19:7]  ³⁶ tn Grk “answered him.”

[19:7]  ³⁷ sn This law is not the entire Pentateuch, but Lev 24:16.

[19:7]  ³⁸ tn Grk “because he made himself out to be the Son of God.”

[19:12]  ³⁹ tn Grk “sought.”

[19:12]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders, especially members of the Sanhedrin, and their servants (mentioned specifically as “the chief priests and their servants” in John 19:6). See the note on the phrase “Jewish leaders” in v. 7.

[19:12]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “shouted out, saying.”

[19:12]  ⁴² tn Grk “this one.”

[19:12]  ⁴³ sn Is the author using the phrase Friend of Caesar in a technical sense, as a title bestowed on people for loyal service to the Emperor, or in a more general sense merely describing a person as loyal to the Emperor? L. Morris (John [NICNT], 798) thinks it is “unlikely” that the title is used in the technical sense, and J. H. Bernard (St. John [ICC], 2:621) argues that the technical sense of the phrase as an official title was not used before the time of Vespasian (a.d. 69-79). But there appears to be significant evidence for much earlier usage. Some of this is given in BDAG 498-99 s.v. Καῖσαρ. E. Bammel (“φίλος τοῦ καίσαρος (John 19:12),” TLZ 77 [1952]: 205-10) listed significant and convincing arguments that the official title was indeed in use at the time. Granting that the title was in use during this period, what is the likelihood that it had been bestowed on Pilate? Pilate was of the equestrian order, that is, of lower nobility as opposed to senatorial rank. As such he would have been eligible to receive such an honor. It also appears that the powerful Sejanus was his patron in Rome, and Sejanus held considerable influence with Tiberius. Tacitus (Annals 6.8) quotes Marcus Terentius in his defense before the Senate as saying that close friendship with Sejanus “was in every case a powerful recommendation to the Emperor’s friendship.” Thus it is possible that Pilate held this honor. Therefore it appears that the Jewish authorities were putting a good deal of psychological pressure on Pilate to convict Jesus. They had, in effect, finally specified the charge against Jesus as treason: “Everyone who makes himself to be king opposes Caesar.” If Pilate now failed to convict Jesus the Jewish authorities could complain to Rome that Pilate had released a traitor. This possibility carried more weight with Pilate than might at first be evident: (1) Pilate’s record as governor was not entirely above reproach; (2) Tiberius, who lived away from Rome as a virtual recluse on the island of Capri, was known for his suspicious nature, especially toward rivals or those who posed a political threat; and (3) worst of all, Pilate’s patron in Rome, Sejanus, had recently come under suspicion of plotting to seize the imperial succession for himself. Sejanus was deposed in October of a.d. 31. It may have been to Sejanus that Pilate owed his appointment in Judea. Pilate was now in a very delicate position. The Jewish authorities may have known something of this and deliberately used it as leverage against him. Whether or not they knew just how potent their veiled threat was, it had the desired effect. Pilate went directly to the judgment seat to pronounce his judgment.

[19:12]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “who makes himself out to be a king.”