John 18:29 Commentary and Bible Study

Pilate goes out to them, standing probably on some sort of balcony above the pavement where they were gathered. Really, this was so audacious of them. They brought Christ – all they wanted was a sort of rubber stamp from Pontius Pilate: ‘We’ve tried him; we’ve found him guilty of offences that deserve death. We, of course, under the Roman authority, are not allowed to give the death sentence, so we have brought him to you, properly tried by us (which certainly wasn’t the case), and you give the death sentence and arrange his execution.’ Pilate was quite taken aback by this kind of procedure, so ‘What accusation bring ye against this man?’, which means, You have got to bring an accusation under Roman law. If you bring me somebody for a capital sentence, capital punishment, you have got to bring some offence against Roman law. But they only wanted an endorsement, they only wanted a sentence. They did not want to have to explain to Pilate why. But he demands to know the charges. ‘They answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor [a criminal], we could not have delivered him up unto thee.’ He was the governor. How was it that they could be so brazen, so arrogant? We would not have brought him if he was not a criminal, just pronounce sentence. Well they could do that because although they were under him, he was the governor, Pilate was the procurator, yet he was rather frightened of them. They had complained before to Rome. He had been kind of reprimanded before from Rome. If there were too many complaints from the Jewish leaders then Caesar could depose him, recall him. That happened eventually. So they could afford to be rather arrogant. They had some clout, as they say, they had some influence. ‘If he was not a criminal we would not have brought him, just pronounce sentence’ is their attitude.