28 Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” 30 They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered Him over to you.” 31 Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves and judge Him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.” 32 This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death He was going to die.
33 So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to Him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” 35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” 37 Then Pilate said to Him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world - to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 38 Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in Him.”
The scene now shifts to Jesus’ appearance before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, as the Jewish authorities took Him to Pilate to have their death sentence ratified. John tells us in verse 28, “They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover.” The hypocrisy here is astounding. Had the Jews entered the Gentile court of the Romans, they would become ceremonially unclean, which would prevent them from taking part in the Passover meal that evening, but they had no problem in delivering the very Messiah the Passover pointed to into the hands of the Gentiles.
Vernon McGee says of this verse, “Here we see religion and the Person of Jesus Christ side by side. Here is the One who has come to fulfill the Passover. He is going to die on the cross because they are bringing the death sentence against Him. But, because they want to eat the Passover, these men won’t go inside the judgment hall. That would pollute them. They will not do that. Are they meticulously religious! Yet they are plotting the death of the very One who is the fulfillment of the Passover! My friend, how this should cause you to search your heart. Are you merely religious or are you joined to the Lord Jesus Christ?”
Having held their own illegal trial during the night, the Jews took Jesus to Pilate, assuming that having their sentence of death approved would be a mere formality, but things didn’t quite work out the way they had hoped.
As far as the Pharisees were concerned, there was no need for Pilate to question Jesus, but he asked them in verse 29, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” This surprised the Pharisees, because it meant that for Pilate, the real trial of Jesus was about to begin. According to Roman law, charges had to be laid against the accused first, which began the legal proceedings of a proper trial. This is what was implied by Pilate’s opening question to them.
The Jews replied, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered Him over to you.” (John 18:30) What they were really saying was, “No, no - you don’t understand. He is guilty. We’ve already established that, so there’s no need for you to try Him under your law. All we want is for you to rubber-stamp our verdict, so we can stone Him to death in accordance with Jewish law.”
Crucifixion was an exclusively Roman means of execution, while Leviticus 24:14-16 stipulated the sentence for blasphemy in Judaism. “Bring out of the camp the one who cursed, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him. And speak to the people of Israel, saying, ‘Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin.’ Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.”
Having Jesus crucified wasn’t part of the original plan for the Jewish authorities. They wanted Him stoned to death in accordance with Jewish law. This was their plan A, a detail we’ll come back to in a moment.
Pilate has often been regarded with some sympathy down the years, almost as if he were a victim of circumstance, but not only was he particularly cruel and brutal in the way he treated those under his authority; he was also a weak and indecisive character. Having just asked the Jews to explain their charges, indicating that he wanted to try Jesus under Roman law, he changes his mind by saying to them in verse 31, “Take Him yourselves and judge Him by your own law.”
They respond by saying, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.” It was not lawful under Roman law, because as the occupying force, Rome had denied the Jews that right. Although Jewish law allowed death by stoning, they could only do so with the permission of their Roman masters.
John, as he has throughout his Gospel reminds us in verse 32 that Jesus remained in full control of what was happening. “This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death He was going to die.” Jesus said to the Jews in John 8:28-29, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. And He who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.”
The apostle Paul makes an important point in Galatians 3:13 where he quotes from Deuteronomy 21. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us - for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.’” R. C. Sproul explains, “The form of Jesus’ execution by being ‘hanged on a tree’ showed that He endured God’s curse on behalf of others. This shows the divine control over the whole procedure even though it was marked by flagrant injustice.” It was on the cross, and not through stoning that Jesus would bear the curse of God’s righteous wrath at human sin.
Psalm 22:16-18 says, “A company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet - I can count all my bones - they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” These verses are clearly speaking about crucifixion, and it was the Romans who used crucifixion, not the Jews. Jesus had to be delivered to the Romans to fulfill Old Testament prophecy.
We’re all familiar with the baying of the crowd later that day. We’re reminded if it each year on Good Friday: “Crucify Him!” A point we easily miss is that Jews condemned to death were to be stoned, not crucified, but by now the Pharisees were so desperate, that they no longer cared that Jesus’ execution by crucifixion violated their own laws. They no longer cared about their own law. They just wanted to be rid of Jesus.
Pilate though, presented them with a problem as he reopened the case against Jesus. You didn’t just arrive at the court of the Roman governor without first arranging a meeting with such an important man. The Jewish authorities had unjustly tried and convicted Jesus during the night, so they would have made prior arrangements for a very brief audience with Pilate for the sole purpose of him giving them permission to stone Jesus in accordance with Jewish law. The Pharisees knew that Jesus’ execution required the approval of Pilate, so they had already set up a meeting with him, as they couldn’t afford to waste any time.
Pilate was expecting them, and because of the general mood of hostility between the Jews and the Romans, especially during Passover, that most sacred of Jewish festivals, it is safe to assume that Pilate knew exactly why the Jewish leaders were coming to see him that morning.
But instead of agreeing with the sentence of death imposed on Jesus by Caiaphas, Pilate began a formal hearing. The question is, why? Why did he change his mind?
Part of the answer is that Pilate couldn’t be bothered with what he considered to be a trivial Jewish religious matter. If Jesus claimed to be the king of the Jews, that was fine with him. He was a Roman, so the only legitimate king was Caesar. Pilate’s problem was that he knew Jesus was innocent, and he knew the real motive behind the Pharisees bringing Jesus to him as Matthew 27:18 tells us. “He knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered Him up.”
Jesus was a threat to the Pharisees, something that Pilate was already aware of. It was part of his job to keep tabs on any potential threat to his authority, and the last thing he needed was an internal Jewish religious matter escalating into civil unrest. Matthew 27:24 says, “When Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.’”
Pilate knew Jesus was innocent. He said so repeatedly to the Jewish authorities and the people too, but because he was weak, he refused to prevent Jesus’ death, even making a dramatic but childish attempt to absolve himself of any responsibility by washing his hands of the whole matter, pretending that this was not his problem. But it was his problem, as it is with every sinner who ever has or ever will live.
Just as with Pilate, we can’t “wash our hands” of Jesus. There is no neutral ground when it comes to deciding who Jesus is.
It is obvious that Pilate wanted to release Him, but he was not a believer in Christ or one of His followers. He just didn’t want to be guilty of condemning Him to death, but he failed. Pilate could not be neutral, and neither can we neutral. Jesus said in Matthew 12:30 and Luke 11:23, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”
Pilate mistakenly thought that deflecting the responsibility of deciding Jesus’ fate to the Pharisees meant he could avoid the issue altogether. If he agreed with the Jewish authorities, he knew he would be condemning an innocent man. If he overturned their verdict, he ran the risk of starting a civil riot as Matthew tells us, so true to his character, he chose neither.
So now the Jews had a problem. They were expecting Pilate to approve their death sentence. Essentially they were saying to Pilate, “He’s guilty because we said so, so will you please just sign on the dotted line so we can get this over with.”
Matthew also tells us that Pilate’s wife sent him a message telling him to have nothing to do with Jesus, so while this is partly why Pilate was so indecisive, by now it was too late. By asking the Pharisees to explain the charges against Jesus, and telling them to sort everything out under their own law, he was hoping they would drop the whole matter, but he had underestimated the resolve of the Jewish authorities to get the death sentence they so desperately wanted. They had come too far to just walk away now and forget the whole thing.
Now suddenly, the tables were turned on Pilate, as the Pharisees changed their tactics. We looked at this last week. Luke 23:2 records them telling Pilate, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a king.”
Now Jesus was accused of breaking the Roman law. The Pharisees were so determined to be rid of Jesus that they changed the charges against Jesus from blasphemy to treason against Rome. Plan A didn’t work, so they resorted to plan B. They couldn’t have Jesus executed under Jewish law, so they had no problem turning to Roman law to get what they wanted.
A Christian lawyer named Walter Chandler wrote a book entitled “The trial of Jesus from a lawyer’s standpoint,” in which he goes into great detail on the legal aspects of Jesus’ trials before the high priest and Pilate. He wrote, “In the passage from the Sanhedrin to the Praetorium, the indictment had completely changed. Jesus had not been condemned on any of the charges recorded in this sentence of Luke. (Referring to Luke 23:2) He had been convicted on the charge of blasphemy. But before Pilate He is now charged with high treason.”
Pilate could ignore charges of blasphemy against a God he did not believe in, but he could not ignore the charges the Pharisees now brought against Jesus.
For Jesus to tell the Jews to withhold their taxes to Rome was a serious charge, even though it was a false charge. Matthew 22:15-21 says, “The Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle Him in His words. And they sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, ‘Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?’ But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.’ And they brought Him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, ‘Whose likeness and inscription is this?’ They said, ‘Caesar’s.’ Then He said to them, ‘Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’”
Jesus did not tell His followers to withhold their taxes to the Romans, but this didn’t stop the Pharisees from falsely accusing Him of doing so, because they knew this was a serious offence against Rome.
But an even more serious charge they brought to Pilate was that Jesus claimed to be “Christ, a king.” It was serious because this claim was true. It was also serious because the Roman emperor was king, and any threat to his supreme authority was swiftly dealt with.
This was a charge Pilate could not ignore. “So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to Him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?’ Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?’ Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.’ Then Pilate said to Him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world - to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.’” (John 18:33-37)
Notice the first question that Pilate asked: “Are you the King of the Jews?” If Jesus claimed to be the Jewish king, that was fine with Pilate. Remember that there was a king of the Jews in Jerusalem at that time. Herod held this position, so if Jesus wanted to overthrow the Jewish king and take his throne, that was of no concern to Pilate. Pilate and Herod despised each other, so this might even have suited Pilate to be rid of Herod. To him, this was an internal, petty Jewish squabble. Pilate’s job was to prevent any threat to Caesar.
He completely missed the real point that Jesus was making by saying that His kingdom was not of this world, and almost mockingly he asks, “So you are a king?” Jesus’ seemingly cryptic reply that He was a king but not of any worldly kingdom satisfied Pilate that Jesus posed no threat to the authority of Caesar, so as verse 38 tells us, “He went back outside to the Jews and told them, ‘I find no guilt in Him.’”
Pilate had tried and acquitted Jesus. Why then did he not release Him as he should have? Because he was a coward. Pilate feared an uprising from the Jews, so instead of doing the right thing, he was swayed by public opinion.
We know what the world says about Jesus Christ. The question is, are we going to be swayed by public opinion and buckle under the pressure of the blasphemy of the world as Pilate did, or are we going to stand on the truth we claim to believe in?
It is very easy to say “Jesus Christ is Lord” within the four walls of a Church building, but are we proclaiming the truth of Jesus Christ in the world where it needs to be heard?
Many English translations of the Bible have subheadings throughout, which makes it easier when searching for particular passages and references. The section we are looking at today in all of those translations that use subheadings say, “Jesus before Pilate.” The reality is that it was Pilate who was before Jesus. And each of us stands before Jesus too.
Verses 37 and 38 are at the heart of our text today. “Pilate said to Him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world - to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.’ Pilate said to Him, ‘What is truth?’”
Are we going to stand on the truth of God, or are we going to be like Pilate who dismissively asked, “what is truth?”
Jesus stood before Pilate and was found innocent, but Pilate stood before Jesus, and was guilty, as we all are before a holy, righteous God. Romans 3:23 stands in judgment of us all. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
In verses 10-18 of Romans 3, Paul writes, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
This is why Jesus went to the cross. It was there that He bore the punishment and condemnation we deserve. The glory of the Gospel is that by His atoning death on the Cross, Christ has set us free if we put our faith in Him.
He died to bear the punishment for our sin and in so doing has freed us from God’s righteous judgment and curse. If you are a citizen of Jesus’ kingdom by faith, all of the promises of eternity are yours.
He is truth. This is what Jesus’ kingdom proclaims. He said Himself in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life,” and as He prayed to the Father in John 17:17, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”
Jesus said to Pilate in John 18:37, “Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” It is only those who choose to live in the truth, those who are of the truth, who will hear the voice of Jesus. They are the sheep of the Good Shepherd who obey His voice and follow Him.
Pilate is challenged to decide for himself whether or not he belongs to the truth. It is not Jesus who is on trial, but Pilate, who asks Jesus, “What is truth?” The great sadness is that although Pilate had Truth Himself standing before him, he could not see it due to his sin of unbelief in Jesus Christ.
Those who obey the word of God and receive the truth in faith, are saved by Jesus. All those who reject His truth in this life will be exposed by the truth in the judgment to come. On the last day, when every sin is exposed before the light of Christ, Pontius Pilate will come face to face with the truth once more as he faces his own condemnation and judgment, while all those cleansed by the saving blood of Christ through faith in His revealed truth will enter into the glory of His kingdom forever.
Pilate asked the question all those years ago that we each need to ask and answer for ourselves. “What is truth?”
Jesus Christ is the truth, and it is only by confessing our sin and putting our faith in His sacrificial death on the cross that the punishment and wrath we deserve can be taken upon Him, rather than ourselves. We are saved by Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone, who is, Himself, the Truth.
Homegroup Study Notes
Read John 18:28-32
What did the Pharisees really mean in response to Pilate’s question in verse 30?
The Pharisees were expecting a swift execution of Jesus by stoning in accordance with Jewish law. Discuss the significance of verse 32 (see Galatians 3:13).
Read John 18:33-38
Pontius Pilate has often been regarded with some sympathy, but why is this a mistake?
As the Roman governor, Pilate was answerable only to Caesar, so why did he not have the courage to release Jesus as he should have?
Discuss Jesus’ words in verse 37. What does it mean to “be on the side of truth?”
Pilate dismissed Jesus by not waiting for an answer to his question in verse 38.
What is truth?