John 18:35

Joh 18:35. Μή τι, I am not a Jew, am I?) That is to say, certainly it is not of myself that I say this: the Jews have told it to me.—τὸ σὸν, Thy own nation) of which Thou art called the King.—ἀρχιερεῖς, the high priests) The chief ministers themselves.—τί ἐποίησας, what hast Thou done?) Pilate glances at the question concerning Jesus being King.

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

Joh_18:35-36. The answer of the procurator, irritated and haughty, gives in μήτι … εἰμι an indirect denial of the first question, and therewith also an affirmation of the second.

μήτι ἐγὼ Ἰουδαῖός εἰμι] ʼΕγώ, with proud emphasis: you do not surely suppose that I, I your procurator, am a Jew? How should I of myself think of trying thee as a Jew and as king of the Jews? The emphasis of ἐγώ, Nonnus denotes by: μὴ γὰρ Ἰουδαῖος κἀγὼ πέλον;the opposite of that: Thine own nation (τὸ ἔθνος τὸ σόν), and especially (καί) the high priests, have delivered thee to me; what hast thou done? No further ceremony!

Jesus now confesses His kingship,[231] but, in the first instance, only negatively (positively: Joh_18:37): The kingdom which is mine does not arise (like other kingdoms) out of this world (which endures only until the establishment of my kingdom); if the kingdom which is mine proceeded out of this world, the servants whom I (οἱ ἐμοί) have would assuredly fight that I should not be delivered (which is done, Joh_19:16) to the Jews (the hierarchical opposition); but as it is (since they do not fight for me), my kingdom is not from thence (ἐντεῦθεν = ἐκ τοῦ κόσμ. τούτου).

Note in this Demonstratio ad oculos the solemn repetition of ἐκ τοῦ κόσμον τ. and of Ἡ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΊΑ Ἡ ἘΜΉ, as well as that ἘΝΤΕῦΘΕΝ, from here, hence, is expressed deictically, as a vivid opposition to that which is coelitus, and, finally, that in ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, not ΤΟΎΤΟΥ, which might also have been omitted, but ΚΌΣΜΟΥ bears the emphasis. The ὙΠΗΡΈΤΑΙ ΟἹ ἘΜΟΊ are not the servants whom He would have in the case supposed (Lücke, Tholuck, Hengstenberg, and several others), but He has His servants, they are His disciples and adherents (not the angels, as Luthardt thinks), Joh_12:26; 1Co_4:1; 2Co_6:4; 2Co_11:23; 1Ti_4:6; but even not from this world (Joh_17:16), they also do not fight, etc. Note how also, in the designation of His own by ὑπηρέται, the kingly consciousness expresses itself.

[231] This confession must, according to Schenkel, have probably teen spoken on another occasion. Groundless supposition. Comp. 1Ti_6:13, and Huther in loc.

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 18:35 . To this Pilate with some heat and contempt replies: Μήτι ἐγὼ Ἰουδαῖός εἰμι ; “Am I a Jew?” How can you suppose that I have any personal interest in such a matter? τὸ ἔθνος τὸ σὸν … ἐμοί . “Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me.” It is their charge I repeat. τί ἐποίησας ; “what hast Thou done?” He scouts the idea that he should take any interest in the Jewish Messiah, and returns to the practical point, “what have you done?”

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

Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests delivered thee to me: What hast thou done?--that is, "Jewish questions I neither understand nor meddle with; but Thou art here on a charge which, though it seems only Jewish, may yet involve treasonable matter: As they state it, I cannot decide the point; tell me, then, what procedure of Thine has brought Thee into this position." In modern phrase, Pilate's object in this question was merely to determine the relevancy of the charge.

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 35. Am I a Jew?] That is, I am not a Jew, and cannot judge whether thou art what is called the Christ, the king of the Jews. It is thy own countrymen, and their spiritual rulers, who delivered thee up to me with the above accusation.

What hast thou done?] If thou dost not profess thyself king over this people, and an enemy to Caesar, what is it that thou hast done, for which they desire thy condemnation?

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

(35) Pilate answered, Am I a Jew?—His question would say, “You surely do not suppose that I am a Jew?” The procurator’s Roman pride is fired at the very thought. He was the governor of the subject race. What did He know, or care to know, of their subtleties and distinctions?

Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me.-” So far from the question coming from me,” his words mean, “It is thine own nation, and especially the chief priests, who have delivered Thee unto me.” And then, weary of the technicalities with which a Roman trial had nothing to do, he asks the definite question, “What hast Thou done?”

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

35. Am I a Jew?] ‘Is it likely that I, a Roman governor, have any interest in these Jewish questions?’

have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?] Better, delivered Thee unto me: what didst Thou do to make Thine own people turn against Thee?

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.

Pilate answered, am I a Jew?.... This he said, in a sort of derision and contempt; who was not a Jew, neither by birth, nor by religion, and so had never imbibed any notions of their King Messiah, nor read anything about him; and knew nothing of his distinguishing characters and properties, by which he was described, and might be known; and therefore it remained, that what he had said, though not expressed, was not of himself, of his own knowledge or observation, but arose from some intimations and suggestions the Jews had given him:

thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me; that is, the men of his nation, his countrymen the Jews, who best understood their own laws and books of prophecy; and what expectations they had formed from thence, concerning their king, and his kingdom; and the principal of the priesthood, who were accounted men of the greatest learning, piety, and integrity, they had brought him bound before him; they had entered a charge against him, and had delivered him up into his hands, as an enemy to Caesar, and a traitor to his government:

what hast thou done? as an occasion of such treatment, and as the foundation of such a charge; surely there must be something in it, or men of such character would never impeach a man altogether innocent, and one of their own country too!

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

35 Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?

Ver. 35. Am I a Jew?] This he asketh in scorn of that nation; hateful among the heathens for their difference from them in religion. Gaius the emperor cast them out with their orator Philo, who came to make apology for them against Appion of Alexandria, their adversary and accuser. Strabo, for mere spite, saith that Judea is a dry and barren country, when the Scripture calleth it a land flowing with milk and honey, plenty and dainty; and Tacitus cannot but grant as much. (Aug. Civ. Dei.) Florus calleth the temple at Jerusalem, impiae gentis arcanum, a sanctuary for rogues, as the Papists say of Geneva. Seneca jeers them for casting away the seventh part of their time upon a weekly sabbath. Juvenal plays upon their circumcision. Plutarch tells a long story of their feast of tabernacles, which, saith he, they keep in honour of Bacchus (συμπος). Tacitus saith, they were called Asinarii, because they worshipped the golden head of an ass. (Annal. xxi.) No wonder though profane Pilate disdain to be held a Jew, when they were thus traduced!

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.

Am I a Jew? - Am I likely to be influenced by Jewish prejudices and partialities? Am not I, being a Roman, likely to judge impartially, and to decide on the accusations without being blessed by the malignant charges of the accusers?

Thine own nation ... - In this Pilate denies that it was from anything that he had observed that Jesus was arraigned. He admits that it was from the accusation of others; but then he tells the Saviour that the charge was one of moment, and worthy of the deepest attention. It had come from the very nation of Jesus, from his own countrymen, and from the highest authority among the people. As such it demanded consideration, and Pilate besought him to tell him what he had done - that is, what there had been in his conduct that had given occasion for this charge.

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

It pleased God, that Christ, who was to die both for the Jews and the Gentiles, should be betrayed by the one, and put to death by the other. (Bristow)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The sum of this is no more than that he did not devise this captious question, for he was no Jew, not concerned in nor regarding what they had in their books of the law and the prophets; but he was accused to him by those of his own nation, and he was desirous to find out the truth, and to know what he had done.

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

35. Am I a Jew?—Pilate replies in a tone of irritated pride at the suspicion that he makes any nice distinctions in a Jewish quarrel.

Thine own nation— He has taken the case as he finds it, and cannot afford to meddle in Jewish niceties.

What hast thou done?—Dismissing all talk of royalty, what are the facts? Pilate here acts in the same spirit with which Gallio (Act_18:17) subsequently acted: the Roman spirit of evading the religious quarrels of the subjected people so long as their own political supremacy was secured.

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

Pilate answered, with the proud and haughty tone of a Roman military judge or procurator, Am I a Jew? The egw is very emphatic, and the force of the question requires a negative. You know that it would be insult to me to make such a supposition. The nation that is thine, not mine, and the chief priests, delivered thee to me. An unequivocal statement that he had no reason of his own to assume that Jesus was a political aspirant. Whatever inner reasons these Jews had to malign Jesus and confuse Pilate"s mind with the ambiguity of the title, the governor is innocent as yet of any such theocratic or religious meaning in the charge. More than this, the humiliation of the Divine Lord of men, the King of Israel, is grievously aggravated by the very use of the word. "Thy own nation has delivered thee up, has betrayed thee to me." The crime of Judas has been adopted by the religious authorities and the patriotic leaders of the people. "He came unto his own, and his own people received him not." Christ frequently anticipated this result of his ministry; and he regarded it as the climax of his indignity, (see especially Luk_9:44; and cf. the language of St. Peter, Act_3:13) that the anointed King should by his own people be "delivered" up to lawless Gentile hands to be crucified and slain. Pilate assures him that, if he is now in his hands, the cause of it is simply that his own people had utterly repudiated his claims, whatever they may have been. What didst thou do to transform into thy bitter enemies those who would naturally condone or favor any such claim as that of being a seditious rival to the Roman Caesar?

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

35. ‘Is it likely that I, a Roman governor, have any interest in Jewish questions? Am I likely to call Thee King? It was Thine own nation (double article; see next note) that delivered Thee to me. What made them do it?’

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

35.] Pilate at once repudiates the idea of his having any share in Jewish expectations, or taking any personal interest in Jewish matters: all his information he has derived from the public accusation of the people and chief priests. Then in τί ἐπ. is implied, ‘There is no definiteness in their charge: let me have thine own account, thy ex-parte statement, that I may at least know something definite of the case.’

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

35. But Pilate will not bandy words with an accused prisoner. What could he know about Jesus except what he had been told? “Am I a Jew?”

For the form of the question Μήτι ἐγὼ …; see on 4:29.

“Thy nation (for ἔθνος, cf. 11:48-52) and the chief priests have delivered Thee to me,” the chief priests representing the leaders of the Sanhedrim (cf. 11:57, 12:10).

τί ἐποίησασ; “What did you do? ” That was the point which Pilate wished to find out. What action of Jesus had provoked this fierce hostility? Was it an action which ought to be punished, from Pilate`s point of view, with death?

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

Am I a Jew ? As if Jesus ' question implied that Pilate had been taking counsel with the Jews.

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