3 , 3 A € αν ην 7. ᾿Απεκρίθησαν αὐτῷ οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι,
““Huets νόµον ἔχομεν, καὶ κατὰ τὸν νόµον ἡμῶν © ὀφείλει ἀποθανεῖν,
8. “Ore οὖν ἤκουσεν ὁ Πιλάτος τοῦτον τὸν λόγον, μᾶλλον ἐφοβήθη,
ιά ἐξουσίαν ἔχω σταυρῶσαί σε, καὶ ἐξουσίαν ἔχω '' ἀπολῦσαί ce;’
‘ ιο 3 αν η ὅ [4 AS / ~ νὰ 0. καὶ εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸ ᾽ πραιτώριον πάλιν, καὶ λέγει τῷ [ησοῦ, 3 A ~ Ὁ δὲ ᾿Ιησοῦς | ἀπόκρισιν οὐκ ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ.
οὐκ οἶδας ὅτι
TI. ᾽Απεκρίθη ὅ ᾿Ιησοῦς, “' Οὐκ εἶχες ἐξουσίαν οὐδεμίαν κατ ἐμοῦ,
854 ΚΑΤΑ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΝ | ος > 2A etd ” ευρισκω εν αυτῷ αιτιαγ. h xiii. 14. 3 @ ite x εν A A» , 2” iv. 33. OTL ᾿ έαυτον υιον τοῦ Θεοῦ εποίιησεν. 1 xviii. 28. νο; ΣΠόθεν ef σύ;
ΙΧ. 29. ε e li, 22. Io. λέγει οὖν αὐτῷ ὁ Πιλάτος, “΄'Ἐμοὶ οὐ λαλεῖς ; M xviii. 39.
Ώ ili. 27.
1 παραδους in KBE, it. vulg.
for his part would not condemn Jesus to death, ‘‘ If He is to be crucified, it is you who must do it,” retorts, Λάβετε... αἰτίαν, ‘‘ Take ye Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him”.
Vv. 7-12a. Second private examina- tion by Pilate—Ver. 7. The Jews are as determined that Pilate shall condemn Jésus as he is resolved not to condemn Him, and to his declaration of the pris- oner’s innocence they reply, Ἡμεῖς vépov ἔχομεν . . . ἐποίησεν. He may have committed no wrong of which your Roman law takes cognisance, but ‘‘ we have a law (Lev. xxiv. 16), and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself God’s Son”’. For the construction see v. 18. The occasion they refer to is His profession to the Sanhedrim recorded in Mk. xiv. 62. vidv Θεοῦ here means more than “ Mes- siah,” for the claim to be Messiah was not apparently punishable with death (see Treffry’s Eternal Sonship), and, moreover, such a claim would not have produced in Pilate the state of mind suggested by (ver. 8) μᾶλλον ἐφοβήθη, words which imply that already mingling with the governor’s hesitation to con- demn an innocent man there was an element of awe inspired by the prisoner’s bearing and words. The words also imply that this awe was now deepened, and found utterance in the blunt inter- rogation (ver. 9), Πόθεν et σύ; ‘ Whence art Thou?”? What is meant by your claim to be of Divine origin? ‘To this question Jesus ἀπόκρισιν οὐκ ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ, ‘did not give him an answer”. Pilate had no right to prolong the case; because already he had three times over pronounced Jesus innocent. He needed πο new material, but only to act on what he had. Jesus recognises this and
Pel μὴ ἦν σοι δεδοµένον ἄνωθεν. διὰ τοῦτο 6 mapadidous! µέ σοι
declines to be a party to his vacillation. Besides, the charge on which He was being tried was, that He had claimed to be King of the Jews. This charge had been answered. Legal procedure was de- generating into an unregulated wrangle. Jesus therefore declines to answer. Ver. to. At this silence Pilate is indignant; "Epot οὐ λαλεῖς:; ''Το me do you not speak?” It is intelligible that you should not count it worth your while to answer the charges of that yelling mob; but do you not know that I have power to crucify you and have power to release you?—Ver. 11. Jesus answered, Οὐκ εἶχες . . . ἔχει. ἄνωθεν, “from above,” 7z.e., from God. Pilate must be reminded that the power he vaunts is not inherently his, but is given to him for God’s purposes. From this it follows, διὰ τοῦτο, that 6 παραθιδούς © µέ σοι, ‘‘ he that delivered me unto thee,” to wit, Caiaphas (although the designa- tion being that which is constantly used of Judas it has not unnaturally been referred to him), μείζονα ἁμαρτίαν ἔχει, “‘hath greater sin,” not than you, Pilate (as understood by most interpreters), but greater than in other circumstances it would have been. Had Pilate been a mere irresponsible executioner their sin would have been sufficiently heinous; but in using the official representative of God’s truth and justice to fulfil their own wicked and unjust designs, they involve themselves in a darker criminality. So Wetstein : ‘‘ Comparatur ergo, nisi fallor, peccatum Judaeorum cum suis circum- stantiis, cum eodem peccato sine istis circumstantiis: hoc Judaeos aggravat, eosque atrocioris delicti reos agit, quod non per tumultum sed per Praesidem, idque specie juris, me quaerunt de medio tollere”.—Ver. 12. In consequence of