John 19:6

Joh_19:6

When the chief priests therefore and officers saw Him

Pilate at bay

I.

THE CLAMOUR. Crucify Him!

1. Its occasion: the presentation of Christ therefore. One would have expected, as Pilate doubtless did, that revenge would be satiated by the bleeding form of One who had offended them by His teaching, and by the humiliation of One whom they had charged with kingly ambition. Here surely was an end of His prestige--the people would never listen to Him again, or shout hosannahs any more. Instead of this, these human tigers having tasted bleed, only thirsted for more.

2. Its nature.

(1) Cowardly, inasmuch as its object was an innocent defenceless prisoner.

(2) Ferocious, for it called for a death, of all deaths the most humiliating and cruel. To have cried Drown! Behead! Pelson! would have argued some relic of pity; for these would have been comparatively painless means of putting their victim out of His misery.

3. Its accordance with the Divine plans. This was the form of death deliberately chosen and predicted by Jesus. Hence the clamour was an unconscious means of helping to fulfil His prophecies of being lifted up. He causeth the wrath of man to praise Him.

II. PILATES RESPONSE TO THE CLAMOUR. Take ye Him, &c. A response

1. Contemptuous: showing the governors repugnance to being the dirty tool of an unscrupulous and fanatical mob. All the Romans sense of right and pride of race come out here.

2. With a merciful design. It meant I have nothing to crucify Him for; crucify ye Him if ye dare! It was something like the reply of a British officer in India to a Brahmin who consulted him with reference to a Sutee. It was represented that the burning of a certain widow was in conformity with the laws of their religion. Very good, said the officer, you carry out your laws and I will execute mine. According to mine, to burn a widow is murder, and I will hang every man connected with the murder. Pilate doubtless thought that this would be an end to the matter. He little knew, apparently, those with whom he had to deal.

III. THE GROUND FOR PILATES RESPONSE, I find no fault in Him. This is the third time that Pilate made this confession. It should go for something, for it came from an experienced Roman judge--after a personal examination; after a trial, when all the odds were against the prisoner; after excruciating torture; and was made to a people whom Pilate had every reason to desire to propitiate. The only inference that can be drawn is that there was no fault in Jesus. And if Pilate found no fault in Him can we? (J. W. Burn.)

I find no fault in Him.

The faultlessness of Jesus

I. OF WHOM THIS IS SAID.

1. The Man Christ Jesus. Behold the Man! Can you find any fault

(1) With His character, which was holy, harmless, &c. Which of you convinceth Me of sin?

(2) With His words, which were untainted by falsehood, malice, wrath (except for hypocrisy and evil doing), but were full of grace, love, and truth.

(3) With His actions, which were all straightforward, righteous, beneficent.

2. The Teacher. Will you find fault with

(1) The matter of His teaching. Produce its like from pagan sages or even inspired prophets!

(2) The manner: so tender, illustrative, interesting, forceful. Never man spake as this Man.

3. The Saviour. Can you find fault with

(1) His power to save. He is able to save to the uttermost.

(2) His willingness. Come unto Me. This Man receiveth sinners--now.

4. The King. No fault can be found with One the principle of whose government is to cause all things to work together for His subjects good.

II. BY WHOM THIS IS SAID.

1. Pilate, the Roman judge, after the most careful examination. What would Pilate not have given had it been possible to find fault, and so extricate himself.

2. Judas His betrayer. I have shed innocent blood. What would not that guilty conscience have given to have found one flaw on that spotless innocence.

3. The saved sinner who has trusted in Him and found mercy.

4. The afflicted believer who finds His grace sufficient.

5. The dying saint. Yea, though I walk through the valley, &c.

6. Angels and glorified spirits. Worthy is the Lamb.

What then is the conclusion to be drawn from all this?

1. All other men--the most wise and the most saintly--are faulty somewhere. But this Man had no fault.

2. Upon no other man has this verdict been passed. Friends or enemies, or himself, have found some fault. But neither friend nor foe could find fault with Jesus. Nor did He find fault with Himself. Was He not then the Holy One of God? (J. W. Burn.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19:6 Pilate knew that a riot could happen when a man popular with the masses was executed, so he shifted responsibility to crucify Jesus to the Temple leaders.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Joh 19:6. Ὅτε, when) Pilate had wished to move their compassion, but he only augments (exasperates) their cruelty.—λέγοντες, σταύρωσον, saying. Crucify Him) Mat 17:22. For they rejected one appeal of Pilate to them after another, with this cry (common party-cry or watch-word), “Crucify Him.” [From the scourging that had taken place, according to the received custom (which made scourging to precede crucifixion), they draw the conclusion of crucifixion.—V. g.]

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

Joh_19:6-8. Of the presence of the people (who perhaps kept silence, Lücke thinks; comp. Luthardt, according to whom the high priests desired to forestall any possible expressions of compassion on the part of the people) the text says nothing; the Ἰουδαῖοι, Joh_18:31; Joh_18:38, were just pre-eminently the ἀρχιερεῖς of the present passage.

ὅτε οὖν εἶδον] The spectacle, instead of calming their bitterness, goads them on.

λάβετε αὐτὸν ὑμεῖς, κ.τ.λ.] A paradox, amounting to a peevish and irritated refusal, since the Jews did not possess the right of execution, and crucifixion was certainly not a Jewish capital punishment. Crucify him yourselves, if you will have him crucified!

Now, however, they introduce the authority of their law, according to which Jesus (as being a blasphemer, namely, of God, Lev_24:16; Mat_26:63-64) must die. They thus prudently give to their demand another legal basis, to be respected by the procurator in conformity with Roman policy, and to the accusation the corresponding religious sanction. An admission, however, that their political suspicion of Jesus had only been a pretext (Steinmeyer), is not contained in this; it is only another turn given to the charge.

ἡμεῖς] With haughty emphasis, opposed to the preceding ἐγὼ … αἰτίαν. On ὅτι υἱὸν, κ.τ.λ., comp. Joh_5:18, Joh_10:33.

μᾶλλον ἐφοβ.] His fear only became the greater (μᾶλλ., see Joh_5:18), namely, of suffering Jesus to be executed. To the previous fear of conscience was now, in truth, added the fear of the vengeance of a God, namely, of Jehovah, the God of the Jews, in case the assertion mentioned should turn out to be true. He explained to himself the υἱὸς θεοῦ after the analogy of pagan heroes, like the centurion, Mat_27:54. That he was moved by the idea of the unity of God (Hengstenberg) has nothing to support it; nay, viewed in the light of the wanton words, Joh_18:38, very improbable.

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 19:6 . Instead of allowing him to release the prisoner, “the chief priests and their officers,” not “the people,” who were perhaps moved with pity (Lücke), “roared” ( ἐκραύγασαν ) “Crucify, crucify”; “To the cross”. To this demand Pilate, “in angry sarcasm” (Reynolds), but perhaps rather merely wishing strongly to assert, for the third time, that he for his part would not condemn Jesus to death, “If He is to be crucified, it is you who must do it,” retorts, Λάβετε … αἰτίαν , “Take ye Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him”.

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

They will have him crucified, whom by an old custom of theirs, they should have stoned and hanged up as convict of blasphemy: but they desire to have him crucified after the manner of the Romans.

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

When the chief priests . . . saw him, they cried out--their fiendish rage kindling afresh at the sight of Him.

Crucify him, crucify him--(See Mar 15:14).

Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him; for I find no fault in him--as if this would relieve him of the responsibility of the deed, who, by surrendering Him, incurred it all!

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 6. Crucify HIM] αυτον, which is necessary to the text, and which is wanting in the common editions, and is supplied by our version in Italics, is added here on the authority of almost every MS. and version of importance. As it is omitted in the common editions, it affords another proof, that they were not taken from the best MSS.

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

6. Take you him. He did not wish to deliver Christ into their hands, or to abandon him to their fury; only he declares that he will not be their executioner. This is evident from the reason immediately added, when he says that he finds no guilt in him; as if he had said, that he will never be persuaded to shed innocent blood for their gratification. That it is only the priests and officers who demand that he shall be crucified, is evident from the circumstance that the madness of the people was not so great, except so far as those bellows contributed afterwards to kindle it.

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.

(6) When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him.—Comp. Joh_18:3. The spectacle, so far from moving their pity, excites their passionate hatred, and they frustrate any other cry which may arise by that of “Crucify Him!” (Comp. Mat_27:22.)

Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.—Comp. Notes on Joh_18:31; Joh_18:38. “Crucify Him,” the words mean, “if you dare to do so; there is no charge on which I can condemn Him; and I will be no party to your act.”

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

6. and officers] Better (as in Joh_18:18), and the officers. The leaders take the initiative, to prevent any expression of compassion on the part of the crowd. The sight of ‘the Man’ maddens rather than softens them.

cried out] The verb (kraugazo) expresses a loud cry, and (excepting Mat_12:19; Act_22:23) occurs only in this Gospel in N.T. Comp. Joh_11:43, Joh_12:13, Joh_18:40, Joh_19:12; Joh_19:15.

Crucify him] Omit the pronoun, which is not in the Greek. The simple imperative better expresses the cry which was to give the cue to the multitude. According to all four Evangelists the demand for crucifixion was not made at first, but after the offer to release Jesus in honour of the Feast.

Take ye him] Better, Take Him yourselves, as in Joh_18:31. We may admit that it ought to have been beneath the dignity of a Roman judge to taunt the people with a suggestion which he knew that they dare not follow; but there is nothing so improbable in it as to compel us to believe that the Jews had the power of inflicting capital punishment (see on Joh_18:31). Pilate is goaded into an exhibition of feeling unworthy of his office.

for I find] As in Joh_18:38, the ‘I’ is emphatic; ‘for I do not find in Him a ground of accusation.’

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.

When the chief priests therefore, and officers, saw him,.... In this piteous condition, in his mock dress, and having on him all the marks of cruel usage, enough to have moved an heart of stone: and though they were the principal men of the priesthood, and who made great pretensions to religion and piety, and the officers were their servants and attendants, and all of them used to sacred employments; which might have been thought would have at least influenced them to the exercise of humanity and compassion to fellow creatures; yet instead of being affected with this sight, and wrought upon by it, to have agreed to his release, as Pilate hoped,

they cried out, saying, Crucify him, Crucify him; which was done in a very noisy and clamorous way; and the repetition of their request shows their malignity, vehemence, and impatience; and remarkable it is, that they should call for, and desire that kind of death the Scriptures had pointed out, that the Messiah should die, and which was predicted by Christ himself.

Pilate saith unto them, take ye him, and crucify him, for I find no fault in him. This was not leave to do it, as appears from the reason he gives, in which the innocence of Christ is again asserted; nor did the Jews take it in this light, as is evident from their reply; and it is clear, that after this Pilate thought he had a power either to release or crucify him; and he did afterwards seek to release him; and the Jews made a fresh request to crucify him; upon which he was delivered to be crucified: but this was said in a way of indignation, and as abhorring the action; and is an ironical concession, and a bitter sarcasm upon them, that men that professed so much religion and sanctity, could be guilty of such iniquity, as to desire the death of one that no fault could be found in; and therefore, if such were their consciences, for his part, he desired to have no concern in so unrighteous an action; but if they would, they must even do it themselves.

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

6 When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.

Ver. 6. Crucify him, crucify him] So afterwards the primitive persecutors cried out, Ad bestias, ad bestias, Christianos ad leones, To the beasts, to the beasts, Christians, to the lions, imputing the cause of all public calamities to them, as Tertullian testifieth. So they cried out at Geneva against Farellus, when the bishop first convented him, In Rhodanum, in Rhodanum, Into the Rhone River, into the Rhone, as the Papists still cry out against the professors of the truth, Ad ignem, ad ignem, to the fire with them, to the fire with them. Tollantur sacrilegi, tollantur. Let the wicked be destroyed, destroyed. Indeed in the form and style of their own sentence condemnatory, they pretend a petition to the secular power, In visceribus Iesu Christi ut rigor iuris mitigetur, atque ut parcatur vita; In the body of Jesus Christ so softened the rigour of the law and so that life was spared, so they will seem outwardly to be lambs, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Witness that chancellor of Salisbury, Dr Jeffery, who was not only contented to give sentence against certain martyrs, but also hunted after the high sheriff, not allowing him to spare them, though he would. So Harpsfield, archdeacon of Canterbury, being at London when Queen Mary lay dying, made all post-haste home to despatch those six whom he had then in his cruel custody; and those were the last that suffered for religion in Queen Mary’s reign.

I find no fault in him] No wonder! For he was (as Peter saith) "A lamb without blemish" (of original sin), "and without spot" (of actual sin), 1Pe 1:18. Neither was it without a sweet providence of God that he should be so often absolved from the desert of death, that thereby we might escape the manifold deaths that we had so well deserved.

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.

They cried out, saying, Crucify him ... - The view of the Saviour’s meekness only exasperated them the more. They had resolved on his death; and as they saw Pilate disposed to acquit him, they redoubled their cries, and endeavored to gain by tumult, and clamor, and terror, what they saw they could not obtain by justice. When men are determined on evil, they cannot be reasoned with. Every argument tends to defeat their plans, and they press on in iniquity with the more earnestness in proportion as sound reasons are urged to stay their course. Thus sinners go in the way of wickedness down to death. They make up in firmness of purpose what they lack in reason. They are more fixed in their plans in proportion as God faithfully warns them and their friends admonish them.

Take ye him ... - These are evidently the words of a man weary with their importunity and with the subject, and yet resolved not to sanction their conduct. It was not the act of a judge delivering him up according to the forms of the law, for they did not understand it so. It was equivalent to this: “I am satisfied of his innocence, and shall not pronounce the sentence of death. If you are bent on his ruin - if you are determined to put to death an innocent man - if my judgment does not satisfy you - take him and put him to death on your own responsibility, and take the consequences. It cannot be done with my consent, nor in the due form of law; and if done, it must be by you, without authority, and in the face of justice.” See Mat 27:24.

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

Our Lord finds more compassion from Pilate, though a heathen, than he found from those of his own nation; yea, those that pretended highest to religion amongst them: Pilate would have saved him; they cry out for his blood. Pilate leaves another testimony behind him, that what he did, at last overborne with a great temptation, he did contrary to the conviction of his own conscience, and as yet declineth the guilt of innocent blood.

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

6. They cried… Crucify him—As Jesus stands the representative of suffering for sin, so these are the representative sinners. All our sins have cried, in the words of these men, “Crucify him, crucify him.”

Take ye him—Crucify him then yourselves, Pilate in effect says, for I cannot perpetrate the deed. There is a tone of impatience in the words that shows how indignantly the Roman felt their exacting and obstinate cruelty.

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

When then the chief priests and the officers saw him, they stifled every movement of possible sympathy by "loud harsh cries" (ekraugasan). They cried out, Crucify, crucify him! Scourging and mockery do not meet the case, nor exhaust the curse and the verdict they have already pronounced. He must die the doom of the vilest. He must be done to death as a slave. Pilate saith unto them, certainly not granting to them permission to take the law into their hands, irrespective of the Praetorian court and against his will, but in angry sarcasm, and with an unconcealed threat, Take him, ye yourselves, and crucify; that is, if you dare. Go, do your deed of blood by your own hands, take all the responsibility; for I find no crime in him. Pilate thus derides their powerlessness, and repeats his verdict of acquittal. (see Joh_18:31) At this moment the so-called trial might have ended, so far as Pilate was concerned, with a frank and immediate release. It would seem as though the governor had decided, and there could be no more discussion. But

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

6. οἱ ἀρχ. κ. οἱ ὑπ. Repeat the article as in Joh 11:47. The leaders take the initiative, to prevent any expression of compassion on the part of the crowd. The sight of ‘the Man’ maddens rather than softens them. For κραυγάζω see on Joh 18:40.

σταύρ. σταύρ. Crucify, crucify. The imperative without an accusative better expresses the cry which was to give the cue to the multitude. According to all four Gospels the demand for crucifixion was not made until after the offer to release Jesus for the Feast.

λαβ. αὐ. ὑμεῖς. Take Him yourselves, as in Joh 18:31. We may admit that it ought to have been beneath the dignity of a Roman judge to taunt the people with a suggestion which they dared not follow; but there is nothing so improbable in it as to compel us to believe that the Jews had the power of inflicting capital punishment (see on Joh 18:31). Pilate is goaded into an exhibition of feeling unworthy of his office. The ἐγώ again (Joh 18:38) contrasts his verdict with that of the Jews.

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.

6.] This had been cried before, see Matt. ver. 22 and parallels. Possibly St. John had not heard the cry. According as men have been in different parts of a mob, they will naturally report differently, according as those nearest to them cried out.

λάβ. αὐτ. ὑμ.] The words of Pilate shew vacillation between his own sense of the innocence of Jesus and his fear of displeasing the Jews and their rulers. He now, but in ironical mockery, as before, ch. 18:31, delivers the matter entirely into their hands: perhaps after having received the message from his wife, Matt. ver. 19.

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

6. ὅτε οὖν ἴδον αὐτὸν οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς κτλ. The common people are not mentioned; the chief priests were the important persons whom Pilate wished to move from their purpose. But the sight of Jesus only angered them; and they, with their satellites (οἱ ὑπηρέται), raised the shout of “Crucify!” It has been implied throughout that this was the death which they had designed for Jesus, but the word σταύρωσον is used now for the first time. Cf. Mat 27:22.

For ἴδον (אADsuppLNW) the rec. with BΘ has εἶδον. After ἐκραύγασαν (cf. 18:40), the rec. adds λέγοντες with ABDsuppNWΘ (cf. 7:37); but om. א. Again, after σταύρωσον bis אABDsuppNΘ add αὐτόν (as at v. 15); but om. BL.

Λάβετε αὐτὸν ὑμεῖς καί κτλ. “Take Him yourselves, etc.” Pilate repeats this suggestion, which had disconcerted the priests when he made it before (18:31, where see note). He now adds “and crucify Him,” although he and they both knew that the Sanhedrim could not legally do this. He also says for the third time that he can find no just cause for a death sentence (cf. 18:38 and v. 4). Jn., like Lk. (23:4, 14, 22), is careful to record that Pilate three times affirmed his conviction of Jesus’ innocence.

6. Τετέλεσται (Joh 19:30). That after He had assuaged His thirst, Jesus uttered a loud cry, just before the end, is recorded Mar 15:37, Mat 27:50; cf. also Luk 23:46. But the spectator upon whose testimony Jn. is dependent not only heard the cry, but identified the word spoken. This, for Jn., who sees all through the Passion the predestined march of events to the fulfilment of God’s purposes,1 is the Great Word. Everything had happened as it did happen, in order that the Divine purpose, as foreshadowed in the O.T., might be accomplished (τελειωθῇ 19:28). And τετέλεσται marks this Consummation.

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

They cried out. See on 18 40.

Crucify. The best texts omit Him.

Take ye Him [λαβετε αυτον υμεις] . According to the Greek order, "take Him ye." Rev., take Him yourselves. See on 18 31.

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