John 18:32

Joh 18:32. Εἶπε, He spake) ch. Joh 12:32-33, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me. This He said signifying what death He should die.”—ποίῳ, by what kind of) viz. such a death as the Romans were wont to inflict. The Jews would have stoned Him [that being the punishment of blasphemy among them].

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh_18:32. The aim ordained in the divine purpose, why the Jews, in consequence of having lost the right of life and death, were obliged to answer ἡμῖν οὐκ ἔξεστιν, κ.τ.λ. Otherwise, Jesus, as a false prophet and blasphemer of God, would have been stoned (like Stephen, and comp. Joh_8:59, Joh_10:31), but would not have been visited with the Roman punishment of crucifixion, namely, as one guilty of high treason, as He, with His pretensions as Messiah, could not but appear to be before the Roman courts; and the word of Jesus, Joh_12:32, would have remained unfulfilled.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 18:32 . This, however, they decline to do, because it is the death penalty they desire, and this they have no right to inflict: ἡμῖν οὐκ ἔξεστιν ἀποκτεῖναι οὐδένα . In the Roman provinces the power of life and death, the jus gladii , was reserved to the governor. See Arnold’s Roman Prov. Administration , pp. 55, 57; and Josephus, Bell. Jud. , ii. 8, 1, who states that when the territory of Archelaus passed to the provincial governor, Coponius, the power of inflicting capital punishment was given to him, μέχρι τοῦ κτείνειν λαβὼν παρὰ τοῦ Καίσαρος ἐξουσίαν . See also Stapfer’s Palestine , p. 100. By being thus handed over to the Roman magistrate it came about that Jesus was crucified , a form of capital punishment which the Jews never inflicted even when they had power; and thus the word of Jesus was fulfilled which He spake intimating that He would die by crucifixion, Joh 12:32-33 .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For Christ had foretold that he should be crucified.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

That the saying . . . might be fulfilled which he spake, signifying what death he should die--that is, by crucifixion (Joh 12:32-33; Mat 20:19); which being a Roman mode of execution, could only be carried into effect by order of the governor. (The Jewish mode in such cases as this was by stoning).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 32. That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled] Or, thus the word was fulfilled. God permitted the Jews to lose the power of life and death, in the sense before stated, that according to the Roman laws, which punished sedition, c., with the cross, Christ might be crucified, according to his own prediction: Joh 12:32; Joh 3:14.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

32. That the word of Jesus might be fulfilled. Finally, the Evangelist adds, that it was necessary that this should be done, in order that the prediction which Christ had uttered

might be fulfilled, The Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of the Gentiles, (Matthew 20:19.)

And, indeed, if we wish to read with advantage the history of Christ’s death, the chief point is, to consider the eternal purpose of God. The Son of God is placed before the tribunal of a mortal man. If we suppose that this is done by the caprice of men, and do not raise our eyes to God, our faith must necessarily be confounded and put to shame. But when we perceive that by the condemnation of Christ, our condemnation before God is blotted out, because it pleased the Heavenly Father to take this method of reconciling mankind to himself, raised on high by this single consideration, we boldly, and without shame, glory even in Christ’s ignominy. Let us therefore learn, in each part of this narrative, to turn our eyes to God as the Author of our redemption.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(32) That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled.—Comp. Note on Joh_18:9.

Signifying what death he should die.—Better, signifying by what manner of death He should die. (Comp. Note on Joh_10:32.) For the prediction of the manner of death, comp. Joh_3:14; Joh_12:32; and Note on Mat_20:19. If the Jews had possessed the power to put Him to death, they would have condemned Him on the technical charge of blasphemy, for which the punishment was stoning. (Comp. Joh_8:59; Joh_10:31; and Act_7:51 et seq.) Crucifixion was not a Jewish punishment, and it was in the fact that He was executed, not by Jewish authority and on the charge of blasphemy, but by Roman authority and on a charge of Majestas (high treason), that His own prophecy of the manner of His death was fulfilled.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

32. the saying] Or word, Joh_12:32; Mat_20:19.

what death] Rather, by what manner of death, as in Joh_12:33 and Joh_21:19. So in Joh_10:32 the Greek means ‘for what kind of a work,’ not merely ‘for which work.’ Comp. Mat_21:23; Mat_22:36; Luk_6:32; Luk_24:19. Had the Sanhedrin executed Him as a blasphemer or a false prophet, He would have been stoned. The Jews had other forms of capital punishment, but crucifixion was not among them.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled,.... That he should be delivered by the Jews to the Gentiles, to crucify him; and that he should be lifted up from the earth, and as the serpent upon the pole:

which he spake, signifying what death he should die; Mat 20:19 and which was brought about this way, by the providence of God conducting this whole affair; and was cheerfully submitted to by Christ, in great love to his people, to redeem them from the curse of the law, being hereby made a curse for them.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

32 That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what death he should die.

Ver. 32. Signifying what death he should die] This shows that the Jews had power to put to death, but by a providence he was brought to Pilate, that according to the manner of the Romans he might be crucified; that kind of death being not, otherwise, in use among the Jews. Hence our Lord is said to have been crucified at Rome, Rev 11:8.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That the saying of Jesus ... - To wit, that he would be delivered into the hands of the Gentiles and be crucified, Mat 20:19. Neither of these things would have happened if he had been put to death in the way that the Jews first contemplated, Mat 26:4. Though it should be admitted that they had the power, in religious cases, to do this, yet in such a case it would not have been done, as Jesus predicted, by the Gentiles; and even if it should be admitted that they had the right to take life, yet they had not the right to do it by crucifixion. This was particularly a Roman punishment. And thus it was ordered, in the providence of God, that the prediction of Jesus in both these respects was fulfilled.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Christ had before this time told his disciples that he should die, and that by the death of the cross, as we read, Mat 20:19. God by his providence ordereth things accordingly, to let us know that the Scripture might be fulfilled to every tittle. Crucifying was no Jewish but a Roman death; had the Jews put him to death, they would have stoned him; but he must remove the curse from us, by being made a curse for us, being hanged on a tree, which was looked upon as an accursed death, Gal 3:13. The Jews therefore knowing nothing of this counsel of God, yet execute it by refusing themselves to put him to death, and putting it off to Pilate, though possibly their design was but to avoid the odium of it. Thus God maketh the wrath of men to praise him.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

32. Take ye him—Pilate does not see in Jesus a proper candidate for an ignominious death. Availing himself, therefore, of their soft word malefactor, he turns Jesus back upon their own hands for trial and punishment. This compelled, on their part, the humiliating confession of their subjection to the Roman power. Their nation had been deprived of judicial authority over life and death.

32. That… might be fulfilled—This singular fact of the loss by the Jewish nation of the right of inflicting death, brings about the great result foreseen and accepted in the divine plan, that Jesus should accept death from Gentile hands. Had the Jews inflicted death upon him on their charge of blasphemy, the method would have been by stoning; a death they came near inflicting upon him in a burst of passion, (Joh_8:58,) and did inflict upon Stephen.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In order that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying by what manner of death he was about to die. Thus the very political order of the world, the whole process by which Judaea became a Roman province, was part of the wondrous plan by which Jew and Gentile should together offer up the awful sacrifice, and all the world be guilty of the death of its Lord. The manner of the death had been foretold by our Lord. In Joh_3:14 he spoke of being lifted up(uqwyhai), in Joh_8:28 he charged the Jews with the intention of so lifting him up to die (otan uqwshte), implying a method of capital punishment which was contrary to their ordinary habits; and in Joh_12:32 he declared that this lifting up of the Son of man would create part of his sacred and Divine attraction to the human race. In the synoptists he is said to have repeatedly spoken of his staurov ; (Luk_14:27 Mar_8:34 Mat_10:38 Mat_16:24) but in Mat_20:19 he had clearly predicted his crucifixion by the Gentiles. (cf. Luk_9:22, Luk_9:23) The manner or kind of death was full of significance; it provided opportunity for the royal demission of his own life; it gave conditions for much of the sublime self-manifestation of the closing hours; it has proved, notwithstanding all the shame and curse of the proceeding, eminently symbolic of the compassion with which he embraced the human race in all its defilement and all the variety of its need. We are not surprised to find that the evangelist saw, in the complicated relations of Jewish and Roman authority, a divinely ordered arrangement, and a clearly foreseen and predicted consummation. Luk_23:2 shows that the charge brought against Jesus was made to receive a coloring likely to prejudice the Roman governor against him: "We found this Man perverting our nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King." The uproar and the false and malicious charge would be more likely than any other to move Pilate against him; and thus the synoptic narrative, being presupposed, gives an explanation of the first question which John, as well as the synoptists, represents Pilate as first of all pressing upon the Divine Sufferer. Without Luke"s statement, Pilate"s question is abrupt and in. explicable; but it must be admitted that there is in John"s narrative no direct hint of Luke"s addition; and Christ"s counter-question to the inquiry of Pilate (which last is given in the same form by all four evangelists) implies that he had not overheard the false charge which the Jews had brought into the court. The Lord was within the Praetorium. Pilate and the Jews were on the open, external space, where the altercation proceeded. We may also, with Steinmeyer, observe that nothing could appear more anomalous to Pilate than that these bigoted and rebellious priests, who perpetually resisted the claims of Roman governors to enforce tribute, should now hypocritically pretend that a prophet-leader of their own had been guilty of such a charge. Instead of resisting, the Pharisees would have fostered a demagogue who had taken such a disloyal part. Pilate would at once have suspected that there was something ominous in the very charge itself, when tumultuously pressed by a party who were accustomed to regard such proceedings as patriotic; and he saw with shrewdness that the Jews had merely cloaked their real antagonism by presenting an incrimination which, under ordinary circumstances, they would have treated as a crowning virtue.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Signifying what death he should die - For crucifixion was not a Jewish, but a Roman punishment. So that had he not been condemned by the Roman governor, he could not have been crucified. Chap. iii, 14.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

32.] See Mat 20:19 al.: ch. 12:32, 33. Had the Jews taken Him and judged Him, He would have been stoned, not crucified. And this whole section, vv. 28-32, serves to shew how the divine purpose was accomplished.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

32. In this, the evangelist, as is his wont, sees the fulfilment of a saying of Jesus. If the Jews had put Jesus to death by stoning, His death by crucifixion, of which He had already spoken (12:33), would not have taken place; and stoning was the Jewish penalty for blasphemy, of which the Sanhedrim had found Him guilty. Jn. has told nothing as yet of the charge of blasphemy, and he gives no particulars of it, merely indicating at a later point in the narrative (19:7) that it was reported to Pilate (see on v. 19 above).

ἵνα ὁ λόγος τοῦ Ἰησοῦ πληρωθῇ. Cf. v. 9 for the phrase ἵνα πληρωθῇ, introducing another saying of Jesus, and see Introd., p. clv, for Jn.`s doctrine that the words of Jesus were predestined to fulfilment, even as the words of the O.T. Scriptures. The saying to which allusion is made here is, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, etc.” (12:32, where see note). There, as here, Jn. adds the comment σημαίνων ποίῳ θανάτῳ ἤμελλεμν (see on 6:71 for this verb) ἀποθνήσκειν. See Introd., p. clv, for the comments which Jn. is accustomed to make on his narrative; and cf. 3:14 for the predictions by Jesus of His death.

The First Examination of Jesus by Pilate (vv. 33-37)

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

By what death [ποιω θανατω] . More correctly, by what manner of death. So Rev. Compare Joh 12:32; Mt 20:19. Crucifixion was not a Jewish punishment.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.