John 19:1 - Meaning and Application

This is another account of the unfair trial they gave our Lord Jesus. The accusers pushed the case forward in confusion among the crowd, and the judge himself was confused in his own heart. Because of that, the story does not move in a neat order, so we must follow it as it comes.

Pilate, the Roman governor, abused the prisoner even though he said Jesus was innocent. He hoped that by doing so he could calm the accusers, but a good intention would not make his actions right. He ordered Jesus to be whipped as if he were a criminal, John 19:1. Seeing the crowd grow more violent and failing in his plan to release Jesus by the people's choice, Pilate took Jesus and scourged him, that is, ordered the soldiers to beat him. Some think Pilate did the whipping himself, because the text says he took Jesus and scourged him, and that might show more personal favor. Matthew and Mark mention the scourging after the sentence, but here it seems to happen before it, while Luke speaks of Pilate offering to chastise Jesus and then let him go, which must also be before the final judgment.

This beating was meant only to satisfy the Jews, and Pilate was trying to please them by taking their word against his own judgment. Roman scourging was usually very severe, and unlike Jewish punishments it was not limited to forty lashes. Yet Christ submitted to this pain and shame for our sake. This happened so Scripture would be fulfilled, which said he would be stricken, smitten, afflicted, and wounded for our peace (Isaiah 53:5), that he gave his back to the smiters (Isaiah 50:6), and that the plowers would plow on his back (Psalm 129:3). He had also foretold it himself (Matthew 20:19; Mark 10:34; Luke 18:33).

He endured the stripes so that by them we might be healed (1 Peter 2:24). We deserved to be corrected with whips and scorpions, and to receive many stripes, because we knew our Lord’s will and did not do it. But Christ took those stripes for us, bearing the rod of his Father’s wrath (Lamentations 3:1). Pilate meant the scourging to keep Jesus from being condemned, and that did not succeed. Yet it showed God’s own purpose, that Jesus would be scourged so we would not be condemned. The healer was wounded, and so the patient is healed. For his followers, this also makes suffering bearable and even honored. We may rejoice in shame for Christ’s sake, as the early believers did (Acts 5:41; Acts 16:22, 25), and as Paul did when he was beaten many times (2 Corinthians 11:23). Christ’s stripes take away the sting of ours and change their purpose. We are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned with the world (1 Corinthians 11:32).

Pilate then handed Jesus over to his soldiers so they could mock him and treat him like a fool, John 19:2, 19:3. The soldiers, who were the governor’s bodyguard, put a crown of thorns on his head. They thought that was the right crown for such a king. They dressed him in a purple robe, probably an old worn-out garment of that color, which they thought was fit for his supposed royalty. Then they greeted him with, “Hail, King of the Jews,” and struck him with their hands.

Here we see Pilate’s baseness and injustice. He let men abuse one whom he believed to be innocent, and therefore a good man. Those under legal arrest should be under the law’s protection, since being secured ought to mean being safe. But Pilate did this partly to please his soldiers, who enjoyed making sport of it, and perhaps to enjoy it himself too. Herod and his soldiers had done the same thing just before (Luke 23:11). To them, it was like a stage play during a feast, much like the Philistines making sport of Samson. Pilate also did it to satisfy the Jews’ hatred, since they wanted every possible insult heaped on Christ.

The soldiers show great rudeness and cruelty. They had no justice or mercy, and they mocked a man in misery, one who had long been known for wisdom and honor and had done nothing to lose that reputation. In this way, Christ’s holy religion has often been wrongly represented by bad people, dressed up for ridicule and contempt just as they dressed up Christ here. They put on him a mock robe, as if his kingship were only a joke and a fantasy. In the same way, many treat Christ’s religion as a fantasy too, as though God, the soul, sin, duty, heaven, and hell were all made-up ideas. They also crowned him with thorns, as if Christ’s religion were only pain and hardship, as if obeying God and conscience were like thrusting one’s head into thorns. But that is false. Thorns and traps belong to the crooked path, while religion’s way brings roses and honors.

We should also see the wonderful humility of our Lord Jesus in these sufferings for us. Even strong and noble people can bear pain more easily than shame, yet Jesus accepted shame for us. We should admire his steady patience, which gives us an example of calmness, courage, and inner peace under the hardest trials that duty may bring. We should also admire his great love, because he willingly went through all of this for us and for our salvation. In this way he showed his love, not only by dying for us, but by dying in disgrace too. He endured the pain, not just the agony of death, though crucifixion was extremely painful. Before that, he also submitted to these extra sufferings. If we complain about a thorn in the flesh or harsh treatment in trouble, when it helps humble us and keep pride away, we should remember that Christ humbled himself to wear thorns on his head and to endure blows in order to save and teach us (2 Corinthians 12:7).

He also despised the shame, including the mock crown and the fake honor of “Hail, King of the Jews.” If we are mocked for doing good, we should not be ashamed. Instead, we should honor God, because then we share in Christ’s sufferings. The one who bore these false honors was rewarded with true honor, and so will we be, if we patiently suffer shame for him. Pilate, having abused the prisoner in this way, now brought Jesus out again in hopes that the accusers would be satisfied and drop the case, John 19:4, 19:5. He put two things before them to think about.

Pilate had already made it clear that he found nothing in Jesus that deserved punishment under Roman law (John 19:4). He said, “I find no fault in him,” which means, “I find no cause for accusation in him at all.” After looking into the matter further, he repeated what he had said before (John 18:38). In doing this, Pilate condemned himself. If he found no fault in Jesus, why did he have him scourged? Why did he allow him to be abused?

No one should suffer punishment unless they have done wrong. Yet people often mock and attack religion, while still admitting, if they are honest, that they can find no real fault in it. If Pilate truly found no fault in Jesus, why did he bring him back out to his accusers instead of releasing him at once, as he should have done? If he had listened only to his own conscience, he would not have scourged Christ or crucified him. But he tried to please everyone. He thought he could satisfy the crowd by scourging Jesus and satisfy his conscience by not crucifying him. In the end, he did both. If he had been set on crucifying Jesus from the start, he would not have needed to scourge him first. It is common for people who think they can avoid a greater sin by committing a smaller one to end up guilty of both.

Pilate also tried another way to quiet the crowd. He brought Jesus out wearing the crown of thorns, with his head and face covered in blood, and said, “Behold the man” (John 19:5). He meant, “Look at the man you have been so suspicious of.” Jesus had once been popular, and that had perhaps given the leaders reason to fear him. But Pilate thought he had now made Jesus harmless by treating him like a slave and exposing him to public shame. He imagined the people would never respect Jesus again, and that he could never recover his honor. Pilate did not know that, in later generations, the best and greatest people would honor these sufferings of Christ. They would glory in the cross and the wounds that Pilate thought would leave Jesus and his followers with lasting shame.

Here we see our Lord Jesus displaying himself in all the marks of disgrace. He came out willingly to be stared at and mocked, and no doubt he was mocked when he appeared in this condition, for he had been set as a sign that would be spoken against (Luke 2:34). Did he go out bearing our shame? Then let us go out to him and bear his shame (Hebrews 13:13).

Pilate’s words, “Behold the man,” are very moving. The Greek wording can also be taken as Pilate’s own words, but most translators take it as we do. He was trying to calm the crowd, saying in effect, “Look at this man. He is no threat now.” He was not so much asking for pity, as saying, “You have no reason to fear him anymore.” His crown has been torn down and made a joke, and now, Pilate thought, everyone would laugh at him. Still, the words are deeply touching. It is good for each of us, with the eye of faith, to behold the man Christ Jesus in his suffering. Behold this king with the crown his mother crowned him with, the crown of thorns (Song of Solomon 3:11). Behold him, and let your heart be moved. Behold him, and mourn over what he suffered. Behold him, and love him. Keep looking to Jesus.

Instead of calming down, the accusers grew even more angry (John 19:6, John 19:7). The chief priests, who led the crowd, shouted with rage, and their officers or servants joined in, crying, “Crucify him, crucify him.” The common people might have accepted Pilate’s statement that Jesus was innocent, but their leaders, the priests, led them astray. Their hatred against Christ was unreasonable and absurd, because they did not even try to prove their charges or argue against Pilate’s judgment. Even though he was innocent, they still demanded that he be crucified. Their hatred was also cruel and unappeasable. Neither the severity of his scourging, nor his patience under it, nor the judge’s gentle questioning could soften them at all. Even Pilate’s attempt to turn the matter into a kind of joke did not satisfy them. Their anger was also bold and stubborn. They were willing to risk the governor’s favor, the peace of the city, and their own safety rather than give up the full force of their demand.

Were they so intense in bringing down our Lord Jesus and crying, “Crucify him, crucify him”? Then should we not be just as eager and zealous in honoring his name and crying, “Crown him, crown him”? Did their hatred sharpen their efforts against him? Then should not our love to him stir us to labor for him and for his kingdom?

Pilate then checked their fury, still insisting that the prisoner was innocent: “Take him yourselves and crucify him, if you must.” He said this with irony, because he knew they could not and dared not crucify him. It was as if he said, “You will not make me serve your malice. I cannot, with a clear conscience, crucify him.” That would have been a good decision if he had held to it. Since he found no fault in Jesus, he should have stopped arguing with the accusers. Those who want to stay away from sin must turn a deaf ear to temptation. He also should have protected the prisoner from their insults. What was authority given for, if not to protect the innocent? Rulers should use their power to guard justice. But Pilate lacked the courage to act on what he knew was right, and his weakness trapped him.

The accusers then gave another reason for their demand (John 19:7). “We have a law,” they said, “and by our law, he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.” Here they were proud of the law even while breaking it and dishonoring God, just as Paul says of the Jews (Romans 2:23). Their law was truly excellent, far better than the laws of other nations. But their boasting meant nothing when they used that law for evil purposes. This also shows their deep and stubborn hatred of Jesus. When they could not stir Pilate against him by saying that he claimed to be a king, they tried another charge, saying that he claimed to be God. They turned over every stone they could to get rid of him. They also twisted the law and made it an instrument of their malice. Some think they were appealing to a special law made against Christ, as if a law must be carried out whether it is right or wrong. But there is a warning against those who make unjust laws and write down cruel demands they themselves have set in place (Isaiah 10:1). See also (Micah 6:16).

It seems these accusers are really appealing to the law of Moses. If so, they were partly right, because that law ordered death for blasphemers, idolaters, and false prophets. Anyone who falsely claimed to be the Son of God would indeed be guilty of blasphemy (Leviticus 24:16).

But their charge against Christ was false, because he truly was the Son of God. They should have examined the evidence he gave for that claim. If he said he was the Son of God, and his teaching did not turn people away from God but drew them to him, and if he proved both his mission and his message by miracles, as he clearly did, then by their own law they should have listened to him (Deuteronomy 18:18-19). If they refused, they were the ones in danger of being cut off. What should have been his honor, and could have been their joy if they had not blinded themselves, they treated as a crime. Yet even then, they argued that he should not be crucified, because crucifixion was not a punishment their law gave.

The judge now brings the prisoner back for further questioning because of this new claim. When Pilate heard that Jesus was not only being called a king but also the Son of God, he became even more afraid (John 19:8). This made the whole case harder for him in both directions. If he released Jesus, he risked angering the people, because he knew how strongly they held to the unity of God and how much they now rejected any talk of other gods. He could perhaps settle them if the issue were only a pretended king, but not if it touched on someone called God. If this is what lies behind the uproar, Pilate thinks, then a joke will not calm it.

At the same time, Pilate also risked troubling his own conscience if he condemned Jesus. He asks himself, “Is he one who makes himself the Son of God? What if he really is? What then will become of me?” Even natural conscience makes people afraid of being found fighting against God. The heathen even had stories about gods appearing in human form and being mistreated by people who later paid dearly for it. Pilate fears he may be running into that kind of danger himself.

So Pilate questions Jesus again, giving the accusers every fair chance possible (John 19:9). He goes back into the judgment hall, away from the crowd, and asks, “Where are you from?” He wants privacy so he can think more carefully. Those who want to find the truth about Jesus must leave behind the noise of prejudice and, in a sense, come into the judgment hall and speak with Christ alone.

Pilate’s question is broad: Is Jesus from men or from heaven, from below or from above? Before, he had asked directly whether Jesus was a king. Here he avoids asking bluntly whether he is the Son of God, since he does not want to seem too bold about divine matters. Instead, he asks where Jesus came from, what kind of being he was before entering this world.

Jesus gives him no answer. This was not stubborn silence, and it was not because he lacked an answer. It was a patient silence, fulfilling Scripture, “like a sheep before its shearers is silent” (Isaiah 53:7). His silence showed his willing submission to his Father’s will in these sufferings. He would not say anything that might keep him from the suffering he came to bear.

This silence was also wise. When the chief priests asked him, “Are you the Son of the Blessed?” he answered, “I am,” because they were using the Scriptures of the Old Testament and spoke of the Messiah. But Pilate did not understand his own question, nor did he have any real idea of the Messiah or the Son of God. Jesus saw no point in answering a man whose mind was filled with pagan ideas, ideas he would likely twist anyway.

Pilate then speaks to Jesus with pride and irritation because Jesus is silent (John 19:10). “You will not speak to me?” he says. “Do you show me such disrespect? Don’t you know that I have power to crucify you, and power to release you if I choose?” Here Pilate boasts about his own authority, as if it were no less than Nebuchadnezzar’s, who could put people to death or spare them as he wished (Daniel 5:19). People in power often become proud of that power, and the more absolute it is, the more it feeds their pride. But Pilate inflates his power far beyond the truth when he claims he can crucify a man he has already declared innocent. No ruler has authority to do wrong. We can only do what we have a right to do.

He also speaks to Jesus with contempt. First, he acts as though Jesus is rude and does not respect authority by staying silent when spoken to. Second, he acts as though Jesus is ungrateful, since Pilate has tried to protect him. Third, he treats Jesus as if he were foolish and not helping himself: “Will you not speak up for yourself when I am willing to clear you?” If Christ had wanted to save his life, this would have been the moment to speak. But his work was not to keep his life. It was to lay it down.

Christ answers Pilate’s rebuke by correcting his pride and his mistake (John 19:11). “You would have no power over me at all unless it had been given you from above.” Though Jesus did not answer impertinent questions, because one should not answer a fool according to his folly, he did answer arrogant words, so that the man would not think himself wise in his own eyes (Proverbs 26:4-5).

When Pilate used his authority rightly, Christ quietly submitted to it. But when Pilate became proud of that power, Christ reminded him where it came from: “You would have no power over me unless it had been given to you from above.” This can be understood in two ways.

First, Christ was reminding Pilate that his authority as a ruler was limited. God is the source of all power. Those in power receive it from him, so they are still under his rule. They must stay within God’s law, and they can go only as far as God’s providence, his wise control of events, allows. They are God’s hand and sword (Psalm 17:13-14). An axe may boast against the one who swings it, but it is still only a tool (Isaiah 10:5, Isaiah 10:15). So let proud oppressors remember that someone higher than they are will call them to account (Ecclesiastes 5:8). And let this also quiet the complaints of the oppressed: it is the Lord who has allowed it. God told Shimei to curse David, and so those who suffer should take comfort that their persecutors can do only what God permits them to do (Isaiah 51:12-13).

Second, Christ was telling Pilate that his power against Christ, and all he did with that power, was part of God’s settled plan. Jesus was handed over by God’s foreknowledge and purpose (Acts 2:23). Pilate likely thought himself very great as he sat in judgment over such a prisoner, one many believed to be the Son of God and King of Israel. But Christ showed him that he was only an instrument in God’s hand, and that he could do nothing against Christ except by Heaven’s appointment (Acts 4:27-28).

Christ also gently lessens Pilate’s sin when compared with the sin of the men who led the attack. “The one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” Christ is clearly saying that Pilate did sin, and that the pressure from the Jews, and from Pilate’s own fear, did not excuse him. Christ meant to wake Pilate’s conscience and increase his fear. Other people’s guilt does not clear us, and on the final day we cannot defend ourselves by saying others were worse. We are not judged by comparison, but by our own deeds.

Still, those who delivered Jesus to Pilate were guilty of a greater sin. This shows that all sins are not equal. Some are far more serious than others, just as some are like gnats and others like camels, some like specks and others like beams, some like pennies and others like pounds. The one who delivered Christ to Pilate may have been the Jewish people who cried, “Crucify him.” They had seen Christ’s miracles, which Pilate had not. The Messiah had first been sent to them. He was their own, and as a people under oppression they should have welcomed a redeemer all the more. So it was far worse for them to oppose him.

Or Christ may mean Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest who led the plot against him and first urged his death (John 11:49-50). Caiaphas’s sin was much greater than Pilate’s. He pursued Christ out of deep hatred for Christ and his teaching, and he did it on purpose and with planned malice. Pilate condemned Jesus out of fear of the crowd, and his decision was a sudden one, made before he had time to settle down and think it through.

Some think Christ meant Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed him. Judas did not hand Jesus directly to Pilate, but he did hand him over to those who did. In many ways, Judas’s sin was greater than Pilate’s. Pilate was a stranger to Christ, but Judas was his friend and follower. Pilate found no fault in him, but Judas knew much of his goodness. Pilate was biased, but not bribed. Judas took a reward against the innocent, and his sin opened the door to all that followed. He led the way for those who arrested Jesus. Judas’s sin was so great that judgment did not allow him to live long. By the time Christ said this, or soon after, Judas had gone to his own place.

Pilate then struggled to rescue Jesus from the Jews, but it did no good. We hear no more about anything passing between Pilate and the prisoner. What remains is the conflict between Pilate and the accusers.

Pilate seems to become more eager than before to have Jesus released (John 19:12). “From then on” means from that point, and for this reason, because Christ had answered him (John 19:11). Christ had given him a rebuke, but Pilate seems to have taken it well. Even though Christ found fault with him, Pilate still kept finding no fault in Christ and kept trying to release him. He wanted to do it in a way that would be safe and would not offend the priests. It is never good when our duty gets swallowed up by our plans for making it look smooth or practical. If Pilate’s desire to avoid trouble had not outweighed his sense of justice, he would not have kept hesitating. Let justice be done, even if everything else falls apart.

The Jews became even more furious and even more determined to get Jesus crucified. They kept pushing their case with the same loud shouting. They wanted people to think the common crowd was against Jesus, so they worked to get him condemned by a mob. That is not hard to do, while a fair vote would likely have given Jesus a large majority for release. A few angry voices can outshout many wise ones and then pretend they speak for a whole nation, or for all mankind. But it is easier to misrepresent what people think than to truly change their minds.

Now that Christ was in his enemies’ hands, his friends were quiet and absent, while his enemies were bold and active. That let the chief priests claim that the whole nation agreed Jesus should be crucified. In their shouting they aimed at two things. First, they tried to stain the prisoner as an enemy of Caesar. Jesus had refused the kingdoms of this world and their glory, and he had said his kingdom was not of this world. Yet they still claimed that he spoke against Caesar. They said he opposed Caesar and threatened his authority. It has always been a trick of religion’s enemies to make it seem harmful to kings and to the public good, when in truth it would greatly benefit both.

(2.) They tried to scare the judge by acting as if they were loyal to Caesar. They said, in effect, “If you let this man go free, you are not Caesar’s friend. That means you are false to your duty, exposed to the emperor’s anger, and in danger of losing your office.” They were threatening to report Pilate and get him removed, and that touched him in a very sensitive place. Yet these Jews should never have claimed concern for Caesar, since they were themselves so badly disposed toward him and his rule. They should not have talked about being friends of Caesar, because they were really his enemies. In this way, a show of zeal for what is good often hides real hatred for something better.

3. When all other ways had failed, Pilate tried to joke the crowd out of their rage. But in doing so, he gave himself away and gave in to the pressure, (John 19:13-15). After holding out for a long time, and seeming ready to resist firmly after this attack, he finally surrendered in a shameful way. Notice, first, what shook Pilate, (John 19:13). When he heard that argument, that he could not be loyal to Caesar and keep Caesar’s favor if he did not put Jesus to death, he thought it was time to protect himself. Nothing they had said to prove Christ was a criminal, or to argue that Pilate had to condemn him, moved him. He still believed Christ was innocent. But when they appealed to Pilate’s own interests, he began to yield. Those who tie their happiness to the approval of people make themselves easy targets for Satan’s temptations.

Notice, second, what was done to prepare for the final sentence. Pilate brought Jesus out, and then he himself took the judge’s seat in full display. We may suppose that he called for his official robes, so he could look important, and then sat down on the judgment seat. Christ was condemned with as much ceremony as possible. First, this was done to help bring us safely before God’s court, so that all believers, being judged in Christ, might be cleared in heaven. Second, it was meant to lessen the fear of public trials, since Christ’s followers would later face such trials for his sake. Paul could stand more boldly before Caesar’s judgment seat because his Master had stood there before him.

Notice also the place and time of Christ’s condemnation, (John 19:14). The place was called the Pavement, and in Hebrew, Gabbatha. It was likely the place where Pilate usually sat to hear cases or judge criminals. Some think Gabbatha means an enclosed place, fenced off from the crowd’s insults, so Pilate felt less need to fear them. Others think it means a raised place, so everyone could see him. The time was the preparation of the Passover, and about the sixth hour.

The day mattered. It was the preparation for the Passover Sabbath, and for the solemn days of that feast, including the days of unleavened bread. This is clear from (Luke 23:54), where it says the preparation was happening as the Sabbath was drawing near. So this was preparation for the Sabbath. Before the Passover, there should have been careful preparation. John mentions this to show how sinful their conduct was. They were persecuting Christ with great hatred and fury at the very time when they should have been removing the old leaven and getting ready for the Passover. The better the day, the worse the deed.

The hour is also mentioned. It was about the sixth hour. Some old Greek and Latin manuscripts read the third hour instead, which fits (Mark 15:25). And (Matthew 27:45) shows that Jesus was already on the cross before the sixth hour. But here the time may be mentioned, not as a precise clock reading, but to add to their guilt. They were pushing the case forward on a holy day, the day of preparation, and from the third to the sixth hour, which was church time as we would call it, they were busy with this wicked work. So on that day, while they were priests, they neglected temple service. They did not leave Christ until the sixth hour, when the darkness began and frightened them away. Some think John is using the Roman way of counting hours, and that the sixth hour means six in the morning, which would be the Jews’ first hour of the day. That is very likely, so Christ’s trial before Pilate was probably at its height about six in the morning, a little after sunrise.