John 18:31

Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death: THEN SAID PILATE UNTO THEM, TAKE YE HIM, [ labete (G2983 ) auton (G846 ) humeis (G5210 ), 'TAKE HIM YOURSELVES,'] AND JUDGE HIM ACCORDING TO YOUR LAW. This was not an admission, as some view it, of their independence of him in matters of life and death: for they themselves say the contrary in the very next words, and Pilate surely did not need to learn what his powers were from these Jews. But by this general reply he would throw upon themselves...

31._According to your law. _Pilate, offended by their barbarous and violent proceedings, undoubtedly reproaches them by stating that this form of condemnation, which they were eager to carry into effcct, was at variance with the common law of all nations and with the feelings of mankind; and, at the same time he censures them for boasting that they had a _law _given to them by God. _Take you him. _He says this ironically; for he would not have allowed them to pronounce on a man a sentence of capital punishment; but it is as if he had said, “Were he in your power, he would instantly be executed, without being heard in his own defense; and, is this the equity of your Law, to condemn a man without any crime?” Thus do wicked men, falsely assuming the name of God as an excuse for their conduct, expose his holy doctrine to the reproaches of enemies, and the world eagerly seizes on it as an oc...

28-32 It was unjust to put one to death who had done so much good, therefore the Jews were willing to save themselves from reproach. Many fear the scandal of an ill thing, more than the sin of it. Christ had said he should be delivered to the Gentiles, and they should put him to death; hereby that saying was fulfilled. He had said that he should be crucified, lifted up. If the Jews had judged him by their law, he had been stoned; crucifying never was used among the Jews. It is determined concerning us, though not discovered to us, what death we shall die: this should free us from disquiet about that matter. Lord, what, when, and how, thou hast appointed....

Verse 31. _IT IS NOT LAWFUL FOR US TO PUT ANY MAN TO DEATH_] They might have judged Jesus according to their law, as Pilate bade them do; but they could only _excommunicate_ or _scourge_ him. They might have voted him worthy of death; but they could not put him to death, if any thing of a secular nature were charged against him. The power of life and death was in all probability taken from the Jews when _Archelaus_, king of Judea, was banished to Vienna, and Judea was made a Roman province; and this happened more than _fifty_ years before the destruction of Jerusalem. But the Romans suffered _Herod_, mentioned Acts 12:1, c., to exercise the power of life and death during his reign. See much on this point in _Calmet_ and _Pearce_. After all, I think it probable that, though the power of life and death was taken away from the Jews, as far as it concerned affai...

JUDGE HIM ... - The Jews had not directly informed him that they had judged him and pronounced him worthy of death. Pilate therefore tells them to inquire into the ease; to ascertain the proof of his guilt, and to decide on what the law of Moses pronounced. It has been doubted whether this gave them the power of putting him to death, or whether it was not rather a direction to them to inquire into the case, and inflict on him, if they judged him guilty, the mild punishment which they were yet at liberty to inflict on criminals. Probably the former is intended. As they lied already determined that in their view this case demanded the punishment of death, so in their answer to Pilate they implied that they had pronounced on it, and that he ought to die. They still, therefore, pressed it on his attention, and refused to obey his injunction to judge him. IT IS NOT LAWFUL ... - The Jews were...

EXPOSITION B. THE HOUR HAS COME. JOHN 18:1 John 19:42.—1. _The outer glorification of Christ in his Passion_. JOHN 18:1 (1) The _betrayal_,_ the majesty of his bearing_,_ accompanied by hints of the bitter cup_. JOHN 18:1 WHEN JESUS HAD SPOKEN THESE WORDS—_i.e._ had offered the prayer, and communed with his Father touching himself, his disciples, and his whole Church—he went forth

THEN SAID PILATE UNTO THEM,.... Either ironically, knowing that they did not, or it was not in their power, to judge in capital causes; or seriously, and with some indignation, abhorring such a method of procedure they would have had him gone into, to condemn a man without knowing his crime, and having evidence of it: TAKE YE HIM, AND JUDGE HIM ACCORDING TO YOUR LAW; this he said, as choosing to understand them in no other sense, than that he had broken some peculiar law of theirs, though they had otherwise suggested; and as giving them liberty to take him away to one of their courts, and proceed against him as their law directed, and inflict some lesser punishment on him than death, such as scourging, c. which they still had a power to do, and did make use of: THE JEWS THEREFORE SAID UNTO HIM, IT IS NOT LAWFUL FOR US TO PUT ANY MAN TO DEATH thereby insinuating, that he was guilty of a...

John 18:28. Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the passover. Pilate then went out unto them, and said, What accusation bring ye against this man? They answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor we would not have delivered him up unto thee. Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death: that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what death he should die. Then. Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? T...

III. “I LAY DOWN MY LIFE, THAT I MIGHT TAKE IT AGAIN.” Chapter s 18-21 CHAPTER 18 _ 1. The Arrest in the Garden. (John 18:1 .)_ 2. Before Annas and Caiaphas; Peter's Denial. (John 18:12 .) 3. Before Pilate. (John 18:28 .) 4. Not this Man, But Barabbas. (John 18:39 .) The hour of His suffering had now come. With His disciples He went across the brook Cedron into the garden. It is the Kidron mentioned frequently in Old Testament history. When David fled from his own son Absalom, he passed weeping over this brook. (2

JOHN 18:28 TO JOHN 19:16. THE TRIAL BEFORE PILATE. From Caiaphas Jesus is brought to the Præ torium, the governor's residence, either Herod's palace in the W. part of the city, or the Antonia, near the Temple, to the NW. To avoid defilement the Jews remain in the open. The Passover has still to be eaten, in contrast with the Synoptic view of the Last Supper. Pilate, to respect their scruples, transacts his business with them outside. In itself this concession to religious scruple is far from improbable in the light of what is known of Roman practice, however we may judge the frequent going backwards and forwards between the prisoner and His accusers. The governor naturally asks first for a definite charge. The Jews endeavour to get his recognition of their decision without going into detail, demanding the sentence