John 19:22

Pilate answered, What I have written I have written. PILATE ANSWERED, WHAT I HAVE WRITTEN I HAVE WRITTEN. And thus, amidst the conflicting passions of men, was proclaimed, in the chief tongues of mankind, from the Cross itself, and in circumstances which threw upon it a lurid yet grand light, the truth which drew the Magi to His manger, and will yet be owned by all the world!...

22._What I have written I have written. _Pilate’s firmness must be ascribed to the providence of God; for there can be no doubt that they attempted, in various ways, to change his resolution. Let us know, therefore, that he was held by a Divine hand, so that he remained unmoved. Pilate did not yield to the prayers of the priests, and did not allow himself to be corrupted by them; but God testified, by his mouth, the firmness and stability of the kingdom of his Son. And if, in the writing of Pilate, the kingdom of Christ was shown to be so firm that it could not be shaken by all the attacks of its enemies, what value ought we to attach to the testimonies of the Prophets, whose tongues and hands God consecrated to his service? The example of _Pilate _reminds us, also, that it is our duty to remain steady in defending the truth. A heathen refuses to retract what he has justly and properly w...

19-30 Here are some remarkable circumstances of Jesus' death, more fully related than before. Pilate would not gratify the chief priests by allowing the writing to be altered; which was doubtless owing to a secret power of God upon his heart, that this statement of our Lord's character and authority might continue. Many things done by the Roman soldiers were fulfilments of the prophecies of the Old Testament. All things therein written shall be fulfilled. Christ tenderly provided for his mother at his death. Sometimes, when God removes one comfort from us, he raises up another for us, where we looked not for it. Christ's example teaches all men to honour their parents in life and death; to provide for their wants, and to promote their comfort by every means in their power. Especially observe the dying word wherewith Jesus breathed out his soul. It is finished; that is, the counsels of t...

Verse 22. _WHAT I HAVE WRITTEN, I HAVE WRITTEN._] That is, I will not alter what I have written. The Roman laws forbad the sentence to be altered when once pronounced; and as this inscription was considered as the _sentence_ pronounced against our Lord, therefore, it could not be changed: but this form of speech is common in the Jewish writings, and means simply, what is done shall continue. Pilate seems to speak _prophetically_. This is the king of the Jews: they shall have no other Messiah for ever....

See the notes at Matthew 27:32. John 19:22 WHAT I HAVE WRITTEN ... - This declaration implied that he would make no change. He was impatient, and weary of their solicitations. He had yielded to them contrary to the convictions of his own conscience, and he now declared his purpose to yield no further....

EXPOSITION JOHN 19:1 (d) [Within the Praetorium.] The unjust scourging, and the crown of thorns. JOHN 19:1 Then PILATE THEREFORE TOOK JESUS, AND SCOURGED HIM. The force of the "therefore" may be seen in the foregoing observations (see especially Luke 23:23). He obviously fancied that the sight of their victim's utter humiliation, his reduction to the lowest possible position, would sate their burning rage. Scourging was the ordinary preliminary of crucifixion, and it might be regarded as Pilate's verdict, or the conclusion of the whole matter. Roman and Greek historians confirm the custom (Josephus, 'Ant.,'...

PILATE ANSWERED, WHAT I HAVE WRITTEN I HAVE WRITTEN,.... He seems to say this, as one angry and displeased with them; either because they would not consent to release Jesus, which he was desirous of, but pressed him so very hard to crucify him; or at their insolence, in directing him in what form to put the superscription, which he determines shall stand unaltered, as he had wrote it. This he said, either because he could not alter it after it was written, for it is said w, that "a proconsul's table is his sentence, which being once read, not one letter can either be increased or diminished; but as it is recited, so it is related in the instrument of the province;'' or if he could have altered it, he was not suffered by God to do it; but was so directed, and over ruled by divine providence, as to write, so to persist in, and abide by what he had wrote inviolably; which is the sense of...

John 19:1. _Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him._ This was one of the most terrible punishments to which a man could be sentenced. The Roman scourge was no trifle. It tore off the quivering flesh of the agonized sufferer for it was constructed on purpose to do so. It was generally made of the sinews of oxen, intertwined with the knuckle bones of sheep, and small slivers of bone. This torture our blessed Saviour endured. These are the stripes with which we are healed. John 19:2. _And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe,_ Mockery was blended with cruelty. They might have made him a crown, yet surely it need not have been one of thorns unless they intended to put him to the utmost torment that they could c

CHAPTER 19 _ 1. Behold the Man! (John 19:1 .)_ 2. The Last Question of Pilate and Christ's Last Word. (John 19:8 .) 3. Delivered up and Crucified. (John 19:12 .) 4. The Title upon the Cross. (John 19:19 .) 5. The Parted Garments. (John 19:23 .) 6. Behold Thy Son! Behold Thy Mother! (John 19:25 .) 7. It is Finished! (John 19:28 .) 8. His Legs not B

THE CRUCIFIXION. The statement that Jesus bears His own cross corrects, or at least supplements, the Synoptic story of Simon of Cyrene. It may have been added to show that the Johannine Christ needs no help, or to deprive the Gnostics of support for their theory that it was Simon who really suffered on the Cross. In itself it is in accordance with Roman custom (_cf._ Plutarch, Every malefactor carries his own cross). The incident of the title is certainly effective as depicting the obstinacy of a weak man who has given way on the main point, but it is difficult to see how it promotes the dogmatic aims of the author. John 19:23 f. suggests a very natural way of dealing with the clothes of the condemned malefactors, even if it suits the exact wording of the quotation from Psalms 22:18 *. It is very natural t