Matthew 27:65

‘Pilate said to them, “You have a guard (or ‘Have a guard'), go, make it as sure as you can.” '

It is difficult to believe that Pilate would have taken them too seriously, even if he was still disturbed by his encounter with Jesus. He would certainly have been cynical about the idea of a crucified man rising from the dead. Such a thing had never happened before to his knowledge. And besides, once a man had been crucified even if he survived, he would be a hopeless cripple. He would also indeed certainly be cynical about the idea of anyone rising from the dead. Thus he would probably have seen the idea that someone would steal the body and make such a claim as so fantastic that it could not really be taken seriously. And if he did think about his encounter with Jesus at all, and considered that it might just be possible that He might rise from the dead, he would probably have rather wanted to see what did happen, not have tried to prevent it. So it is difficult to see how he could have taken the whole idea too seriously, or have considered that anyone else would take it seriously. Thus we should almost certainly see Pilate's words as being in the indicative as indicating that they should set their own guard. He would not want Rome to become a laughingstock. This would also explain why the guard that was set later reported back to the Chief Priests (Matthew 28:11).

However the verb could be seen as an imperative and as therefore telling them to take a Roman guard for the purpose, and some have argued for this position. This latter position might be seen as being supported by the fact that the guards are later called ‘soldiers'. But it must be seen as quite probable that the Chief Priests loosely considered that some of their own guards could be seen as ‘soldiers'. They would see it as prestigious to have their own ‘soldiers'. And certainly the common people would have seen armed men in these terms. Thus the word cannot necessarily be pressed too specifically. It is not, however, overly important which they were. What is more important is that the guard was set. But even without it no one could seriously suggest that the disciples had stolen the body and then gone out into the wider world and convinced everyone of the resurrection, and even less established a movement that changed the world. Anyone who could believe that could believe anything.