Mark 15:2

Mar 15:2-5. Pilate asked him, Art thou the king of the Jews? — These verses are explained in the notes on Mat 27:11-14. But Jesus yet answered nothing — This is not an accurate translation of the original, (which is, ουκετι ουδεν απεκριθη,) implying, as Dr. Campbell justly observes, “that he had answered nothing to the former question, the reverse of which is the fact, as appears, Mar 15:2. All the Latin translators say rightly, Nihil amplius respondit, he answered nothing more, or what is manifestly equivalent. All the foreign translations give the same sense. Yet, to show how difficult it is to preserve a uniform attention, and how liable at times even judicious persons are to run blindfold into the errors of their predecessors; it may be observed, that Wesley is the only modern translator who has escaped a blunder not more repugnant to the fact, as recorded in the verses immediately preceding, than contradictory to the import of the Greek expression here used. His version is, Answered nothing any more. The rest without exception say, Still answered nothing, or words to that purpose. Yet, in the translation commonly used in Queen Elizabeth’s reign, the sense was truly exhibited, Answered no more at all.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15:2 The phrase king of the Jews is the Gentile equivalent of the Jewish title, “King of Israel” (15:32). • You have said it: Jesus’ reply to Pilate’s question is found in all four Gospels; Jesus clearly understood himself to be a king (10:37-38; 11:9-10; 12:35-37), and Pilate eventually crucified him on this charge (15:26), although Pilate understood that Jesus was not a political threat (John 18:33-39).

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

Mar_15:2-5. See on Mat_27:11-14. Comp. Luk_23:2 f. Matthew has here inserted from the evangelic tradition elsewhere the tragical end of Judas, just as Luke has the discussion with Herod; Mark abides simply and plainly by the main matter in hand; nor has he in the sequel the dream of Pilates wife, or the latters washing of his hands. Doubts, however, as to the historical character of these facts are not to be deduced from this silence; only the tradition had narrower and wider spheres of its historical material.

Mar_15:4. πάλιν] See Mar_15:2.

Mar_15:5. οὐκέτι] At Mar_15:2 he had still answered.

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.

Mar 15:2 . σὺ εἶ ὁ β . Pilate’s question reveals the secret of the morning meeting. The crafty Sanhedrists put a political construction on the confession of Jesus. The Christ , therefore a pretender to the throne of Israel. Vide on Mt.

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

2. And Pilate asked him] This was a private investigation within the prætorium, after the Jews, carefully suppressing the religious grounds on which they had condemned our Lord, had advanced against Him a triple accusation of (i) seditious agitation, (ii) prohibition of the payment of the tribute money, and (iii) the assumption of the suspicious title of “King of the Jews.” This was a political charge, and one which Pilate could not overlook. Having no quæstor to conduct the examination, he was obliged to hear the case in person.

Thou sayest it] St Mark does not mention here what we know from St John, (a) the inquiry of our Lord of Pilate why he asked the question, and (b) His explanation of the real nature of His kingdom (Joh_18:37-38). He brings out our Lord’s acknowledgment of His regal dignity, though Pilate could not understand His meaning.

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.

And Pilate asked him, art thou the king of the Jews?.... Which either he had heard before that it was said by him, and his followers; or was what the Jews now suggested to him as his crime, which they desired sentence of death might pass upon him:

and he answering, said unto him, thou sayest it; which is all one as if he had said, I am; See Gill on Mat 26:25; for so he was in a sense, in which he explained himself to Pilate's satisfaction, Joh 18:36; See Gill on Mat 27:11.

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

2 And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answering said unto him, Thou sayest it.

Ver. 2. {See Trapp on "Mat 27:1"} {See Trapp on "Mat 27:2"} {See Trapp on "Mat 27:3"}

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.

It may be remarked upon this answer of our Lord, that he was not unwilling to answer the questions put to him by the governor, who condemned him contrary to his inclination, though he would not condescend to return an answer to the questions of the high priests, as they were not worthy of the favour. (Theophylactus)

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).

This history of our Saviour’s examination before and condemnation by Pilate, together with the indignities offered him after his condemnation, is recorded in some degree or other by all the four evangelists, by the comparing of which it will appear that Mark hath left out many material circumstances and parts of it. In our notes on Mat 27:11-31, we have compared and considered them all, and shall thither refer the reader; only observing,

1. How much more favour Christ found from a Gentile heathen than from the Jewish high priest, and not favour only, but justice also.

2. How close our Saviour kept upon his guard, not accusing himself.

3. The horrible debauchery of these priests, that they would prefer a murderer, and seditious person, before a most innocent person.

4. The weakness of a corrupt heart to resist an ordinary temptation. Pilate was convinced the prosecution was malicious, that there was no guilt in Christ; yet he must content the people, and is basely afraid of their misrepresenting him to the Roman emperor.

5. That the point upon which Christ was condemned, was his maintaining his spiritual kingdom in and over his church, for he expressly disclaimed any claim to any earthly kingdom before Pilate, as the other evangelists tell us.

6. How punctually the words of Christ are by the providence of God fulfilled; we have now heard how Christ was delivered to the Gentiles, by them mocked, scourged, spit upon, and now going to be killed.

7. How Christ hath made all our bitter waters sweet, sanctifying every cross to us, and taking the curse out of it. He was reviled, imprisoned, mocked, scourged, spit upon, and last of all killed; he hath tasted of all these bitter waters, and by that taste they are made wholesome and medicinal for us; and he hath learned us, that there is no ignominy, shame, and contempt, no indignity and species of suffering, for his sake, in which we may not boast and glory, as being thereby made conformable to the sufferings and death of Christ. And if we suffer with him, we shall be glorified together.

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

Art thou the King of the Jews? It appears from St. Luke (Luk_23:1-5) that when Pilate demanded particularly what the charges against Jesus were, on account of which the Jews urged that he should be crucified, they alleged these three things:

(1) that he perverted the nation;

(2) that he forbade to give tribute to Caesar;

(3) that he said that he was Christ, a King.

Whereupon Pilate, who had heard by many of the blameless life, the pure doctrine, and the famous miracles of Jesus, goes at once to the point, and asks him, "Art thou the King of the Jews? a question which, of course, affected the position of Caesar. Our Lord"s answer, Thou sayest (su legeiv), was in the affirmative, amounting to this "Thou sayest that which is true."

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

The hearing before Pilate:

v. 2. And Pilate asked Him, Art Thou the King of the Jews? And He, answering, said unto him, Thou sayest it.

v. 3. And the chief priests accused Him of many things; but He answered nothing.

v. 4. And Pilate asked Him again, saying, Answerest Thou nothing? Behold how many things they witness against Thee.

v. 5. But Jesus yet answered nothing, so that Pilate marveled.

The question of Pilate indicated in what form the accusation of the Jewish authorities against Christ had come before him. Since the enemies had no tangible evidence against the Lord, they construed His confession concerning His Messiahship in such a way as to give it political significance: The Christ, regarding whom every Jew believed that He would establish a temporal kingdom. They insinuated that this Man was a rebel against the Roman government. That was the meaning of Pilate’s question. He may have thought that he here had a case of a periodic Messianic disturbance, although he had the conviction from the start that there was a great deal of jealousy on the part of the Jews involved in the affair. The answer of Jesus to this direct question was just as brief. But the explanation which He afterwards added, as given by Joh 18:36-37, showed Pilate that the accusation had nothing to do with political affairs and dangers to the government. And the chief priests felt the weakness of their position, since they did not insist upon this one point, but kept bringing other accusations, of a more or less vague character, many of them, their idea being to swamp Pilate with the mass of material and thus to cause his assent to their wishes without making a careful examination of the evidence. Pilate felt the vagueness and uncertainty of the accusers, and in the same strain asked Jesus whether He had no answer to all these charges, since they were made with such vehemence and bitterness. But Jesus observed a majestic silence. Why waste breath when it was perfectly obvious to every sane person that these were nothing but trumped-up charges, without the shadow of a foundation which would stand before any real court of justice in the world. Not so much as a single word did He answer, for He knew also very well that Pilate felt the weakness of the accusers and believed Him to be innocent.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

It is very observable, how readily our Saviour answers before Pilate; Pilate said, Art thou the king of the Jews? Jesus answered, Thou sayest it; or, it is as thou sayest. But to all the accusations of the chief priests, and to all that they falsely laid to his charge before Pilate, our Saviour answered never a word. He answered Pilate, but would not answer the chief priests a word before Pilate, probably for these reasons, because his innocency was such as needed no apology; because their calumnies and accusations were so notoriously false, that they needed no confutation: to shew his contempt of death, and teach us, by his example, to despise the false accusations of malicious men, and to learn us patience and submission, when for his sake we are slandered and traduced; for these reasons our Saviour was a deaf man, not answering the calumnies of the chief priests; but when Pilate asks him a question, which our Saviour knew that a direct answer to would cost him his life, Art thou the king of the Jews? He replies, I am.

Hence, says the apostle, that Jesus Christ before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession 1Ti 6:13. Teaching us, That although we may, and sometimes ought to hold our peace, when our own reputation is concerned, yet must we never be silent when the honour of God and his truth may effectually be promoted by a full confession: For, says Christ, whosoever denies me before man, him will I deny in the presence of my Father, and before all his holy angels.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [CXXIX. First Stage of Roman Trial].

CXXIX. FIRST STAGE OF THE ROMAN TRIAL. JESUS BEFORE PILATE FOR THE FIRST TIME. (Jerusalem. Early Friday morning.) aMATT. XXVII. 11-14; bMARK XV. 2-5; cLUKE XXIII. 2-5; dJOHN XVIII. 28-38.

dand they themselves entered not into the Praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but might eat the passover. [See Joh_12:33, Joh_12:34), but he also gave the details of his trial-- Mat_20:18, Mat_20:19, Mar_10:33, Mar_10:34.] c2 And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this man perverting our nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ a king. [The Jews now profess to change their verdict into a charge, they themselves becoming witnesses as to the truth of the matter charged. They say "We found," thereby asserting that the things which they stated to Pilate were the things for which they had condemned Jesus. Their assertion was utterly false, for the three things which they now mentioned had formed no part whatever of the evidence against Jesus in their trial of him. The first charge, that Jesus was a perverter or seducer of the people, was extremely vague. The second, that he taught to withhold tribute from Cæsar, was a deliberate falsehood. See Joh_6:15.] d33 Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, and called Jesus, a11 Now Jesus stood before the governor [Jesus is called from the guards who have him in custody and stands alone before Pilate that the governor may investigate his case privately]: b2 And Pilate athe governor [705] asked him, dand said unto him, asaying, Art thou the King of the Jews? [The Gospels are unanimous in giving this question as the first words addressed by Pilate to Jesus. The question expresses surprise. There was nothing in the manner or attire of Jesus to suggest a royal claimant. The question was designed to draw Jesus out should he chance to be a fanatical or an unbalanced enthusiast.] And Jesus banswering saith canswered him and said, bunto him, Thou sayest. dSayest thou this of thyself, or did others tell it thee concerning me? [Using the Hebrew form of affirmative reply (see Joh_12:19). They objected to his kingly claims ( Mat_21:15, Mat_21:16, Luk_19:38, Luk_19:39), but Jesus shows Pilate that these kingly claims, however distasteful to the Jews, were no offense to or menace against the authority of Rome. Further than this, Jesus did not define his kingdom, for Pilate had no concern in it beyond this. It was sufficient to inform him that it made no use of physical power even for purposes of defense. Such a kingdom could cause no trouble to Rome, and the bare fact stated by Jesus proved that it was indeed such a kingdom.] 37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. [See Joh_19:7, Joh_19:8.] 38 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? [This question has been regarded as an earnest inquiry (Chrysostom), the inquiry of one who despaired (Olshausen), a scoffing question (Alford), etc. But it is evident that Pilate asked it intending to investigate the case of Jesus further, but, suddenly concluding that he already knew enough to answer his purpose as a judge, he stifles his curiosity as a human being and proceeds with the trial of Jesus, leaving the question unanswered.] And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, cunto the chief priests and the multitudes, I find no fault in this man. dno crime in [707] him. [The pronoun "I" is emphatic; as if Pilate said, "You, prejudiced fanatics, demand his death, but I, the calm judge, pronounce him innocent."] b3 And the chief priests accused him of many things. a12 And when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. [When Pilate left the Prætorium to speak with the Jewish rulers, it is evident that Jesus was led out with him, and so stood there in the presence of his accusers.] b4 And a13 Then bPilate again asked him, asaith unto him, bsaying, Answerest thou nothing? behold how many things they accuse thee of. aHearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? b5 But Jesus no more answered anything; a14 And he gave him no answer, not even to one word: binsomuch that Pilate athe governor bmarvelled. agreatly. [Pilate was irritated that Jesus did not speak in his own defense. He had already seen enough of our Lord's wisdom to assure him that it would be an easy matter for him to expose the malicious emptiness of these charges--charges which Pilate himself knew to be false, but about which he had to keep silent, for, being judge, he could not become our Lord's advocate. Our Lord's silence was a matter of prophecy ( Isa_53:7). Jesus kept still because to have successfully defended himself would have been to frustrate the purpose for which he came into the world-- Joh_12:23-28.] c5 But they were the more urgent, saying, He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Judaea, and beginning from Galilee even unto this place. [The Jews cling to their general accusation of sedition, and seek to make the largeness of the territory where Jesus operated overshadow and conceal the smallness of their testimony as to what his operations were.] [708]

[FFG 704-708]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2. Σὺ εἶ ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων; The question is identical in all four. The Jews themselves say “King of Israel” (Mar 15:32), but to Pilate they would say “King of the Jews.” The σύ is emphatic and expressive of surprise; He certainly did not look like one who would claim kingly power. For ἀποκριθεὶς λέγει see on Mar 3:33 and Mar 8:29.

Σὺ λέγεις. Christ recognizes Pilate’s authority and his right to ask, and His Σύ also is emphatic; “That is thy statement.” Christ neither affirms nor denies it; He gives what Theophylact calls ἀμφίβολος ἀπόκρισις. He could not say that He was not King of the Jews; on the other hand He was not a king in Pilate’s sense. But the reply is probably nearer to assent than to denial; see on Mar 14:62. Σὺ λέγε ς is in all three; not in Jn.

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.

2. σὺ εἶ ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων;—Art thou the king of the Jews? The pronoun is emphatic, and probably disdainful. Pilate ridicules the charge. Σὺ λέγεις—Thou sayest. A Jewish form of assent. In Luk 22:70, Luk 22:71, this formula is treated by the Sanhedrim as assenting to their questions. And in Mar 14:62, ἐγώ εἰμι is given as the equivalent of σὺ εἶπας in Mat 26:64. Nevertheless, the ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι of Luk 22:70, and Joh 18:37, ὅτι βασιλεύς εἰμι, show that it is not the same as if he had merely assented, that the form of assent is such as to admit of adjuncts inappropriate to mere ordinary assent. On the other hand, it does not seem in any of the N.T. passages quoted to differ essentially from assent.5 Here, as in the trial before the Sanhedrim, this is the one question that Jesus answers. It is the only question on which his own testimony is important, and absolutely necessary. Left to the testimony of others, and of his own life, this essential thing, which is the key to the whole situation, would be subject to the ridicule with which Pilate treats it. In spite of all appearances to the contrary, he says, I am King. It is another and entirely different question, whether his kingship interfered with the State, and so made him amenable to its law. And just because that question would have to receive a negative answer, and so would seem to deny kingship in any accepted sense, he had to affirm that claim.

αὐτῷ λέγει, instead of εἶπεν αὐτῷ, Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. א BCD Memph. 1, 127, 209, 258, read λέγει αὐτῷ.

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