Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 19:10
Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?
10. Then saith, &c.] Better, Pilate therefore saith to Him, To me Speakest thou not? Whatever He might do before His Jewish persecutors, it was folly to refuse an answer to the Roman governor.
power ] Or, authority. See on Joh 1:12 and comp. Joh 5:27, Joh 10:18, Joh 17:2. In the best texts ‘to release’ is placed first, ‘to crucify’ second.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Speakest thou not … – This is the expression of a man of pride. He was not accustomed to be met with silence like this. He endeavored, therefore, to address the fears of Jesus, and to appall him with the declaration that his life was at his disposal, and that his safety depended on his favor. This arrogance called forth the reply of the Savior, and he told him that he had no power except what was given him from above. Jesus was not, therefore, to be intimidated by any claim of power in Pilate. His life was not in his hands, and he could not stoop to ask the favor of a man.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 19:10-11
Then said Pilate unto Him, Speakest Thou not unto me?
Pilates response
I. WEAKNESS RAGING IN THE PRESENCE OF POWER.
II. COWARDICE STORMING IN THE PRESENCE OF COURAGE.
III. SIN WRITHING IN THE PRESENCE OF SANCTITY.
IV. MAN BOASTING IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD. (S. S. Times.)
Knowest Thou not that I have power to crucify Thee? Thou couldest have no power at all against Me, except it were given thee from above
All power from God
Men are inclined to think that they have power for good or power for evil because of their wealth, station, or influence. They fail to consider that all their power is a simple trust from God; and that not only are they responsible for the use they make of it, but the power itself is liable to be taken away from them, or held in check at the command of God at any instant. Men are free agents in the use of all their faculties and all their possessions; but their free agency is a gift of God; and God has not surrendered His watch or His control of every free agent in His service or among His opponents. No man has power for good or for evil except as God consents to that mans temporary exercise of power. There is a warning in this thought to those who may have fancied that they could either serve or resist God of their own strength. There is comfort and cheer in this thought to those who are threatened, or who are imperiled, by the hostility of others. A man can, in a sense, help Gods cause by generous giving, or by earnest doing–if God permits man to give help in that way. A man can, in a sense, harm Gods cause by opposing the right, or by withholding the aid that he ought to render–if God permits the man to do harm in that way. But, in the truest sense, no man can render a service to the devil, or harm a hair of a believers head, unless God consents to this exercise of the mans power. But in either case the man is responsible for what he would like to do. By Gods permission he is a free agent there. (H. C.Trumbull, D. D.)
Therefore he that delivered Me unto thee hath the greater sin.
The greater sin
These words are a declaration of the great guilt of the Jewish nation and its rulers in asking Pilate to exercise his God-given authority against the Son of God. Pilate did what he did ignorantly and in unbelief; they knew he knew not. The greater sin was committed by the men who with the Scriptures in their hand called on him who had not those Scriptures to condemn their own Messiah.
I. PILATES POWER WAS FROM ABOVE.
1. As governor. There is no power but of God, &c. The recognition of this lies at the root of all true politics. Earthly crowns are thus linked with the heavenly. Kings and magistrates are by reason of their office responsible to God. Not personally, as other men, merely. It is just because of their office that they are bound to consecrate everything that their office gives them power over to the service of Him from whom they have received their power.
2. As a Gentile governor. The Jews, for their sins, had been given over to Gentile dominion. So that in a double sense Pilates power was not his own, nor from Rome, nor from the people, but from God, and was therefore to be specially used for God. He might not know all this; but Israel knew it, for their prophets, Daniel especially, had taught them it; and therefore they had the greater sin.
II. EVEN A BAD MANS POWER IS FROM GOD. Our Lord affirms this of Pilate when using that power for the perpetration of the greatest crime ever committed. Let no man therefore point to the sins of potentates and say, Can the power of these men be given them from above? Listen to our Lords words here, or St. Pauls when in the days of Nero he said (referring to the words of Christ), Let every soul be subject to the higher powers, i.e., authorities holding from above; and when he proclaims civil government to be the ordinance of God; nay, when he calls the civil ruler the minister of God.
III. THE USE OF GOD-GIVEN POWER FOR A BAD PURPOSE IS ALLOWED OF GOD. Pilate is free to act; but he is responsible to God for his actions. God overrules his wickedness and employs him as an instrument for carrying out His purposes. He ought to use his power for a good purpose; not for condemning the Son of God, but for honouring Him; and when he abuses his authority he is doubly guilty, though that guilt is made use of by God. What a reckoning is at hand with the kings of the earth for the abuse of their power (Psa 82:1-8.)! Like Pharaoh working out Israels deliverance, Pilate here works out the deliverance of the Church, according to the purpose of God. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
Greater and lesser sins
The delivering of Christ to suffer and to die is sometimes spoken of as a good deed (Rom 8:32). And it was no sinful act in God; but was an act of
(1) Love (Joh 3:16).
(2) Infinite justice. When He had taken our debt upon Him, it was just that He should suffer for it. But in Judas it was a wicked act. God delivered Him to Judas, Judas to the priests, the priests to Pilate, and Pilate to death. There was sin in all those, but there was no sin in God.
I. THERE ARE SOME THINGS IN WHICH ALL SINS ARE ALIKE.
1. In the same definition. They are all a breach of the law.
2. In the desert of them (Gal 3:10 : Rom 6:23). Every transgression of the law deserves death.
3. In that the same price is paid to satisfy for them; no little sin is satisfied with less than the blood of Christ.
4. In respect of the possibility of the pardon of them; it was ill-said of Cain, Mine iniquity is greater than can be forgiven (mar. Gen 4:13).
II. IN WHAT RESPECT IS ONE SIN SAID TO BE GREATER THAN ANOTHER? When one sin is said to be little, it is not meant absolutely as if any sin were little, but comparatively. There are three Scripture comparisons.
1. Some sins are called gnats, others camels (Mat 23:24).
2. Some motes, and others as beams.
3. Some pence, and others talents. Note that some sins
(1) Are more displeasing to God than others.
(2) Grieve the conscience more than others.
(3) Procure more plagues and punishments in this world than others.
(4) Sink people lower in belt than others.
(5) Spread more of their infection upon others.
(a) By the example. He that begins m a sin, that sin is greater in him than in others; therefore, Adams sin was great, because we all sinned in him.
(b) In respect of the penal consequence: the sin of David in numbering the people was great; and it appeared, because God did visit it on His people, and slew thousands of them; therefore, all sins are not alike.
III. WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES ONE SIN GREATER THAN ANOTHER. Judass sin was the greater for four reasons.
1. It was a leading sin (Act 1:16). He is called the guide to them that took Jesus. Take heed how you are, any of you, guides to others to sin.
2. That which moved Pilate was fear of Caesar; but it was not fear that made Judas betray Christ, but love of money (cf. Mat 26:14-15 Luk 22:3-5)
. Satan entered into Judas. So, where the love of money is, it is a sign that the devil is entered. There is no sin so great but the love of money will make a man commit it; so it was with Ananias and Sapphira; Satan had filled their hearts.
3. The greatest aggravation of Judass sin was the price–thirty pieces of silver; the price of a common servant (Exo 21:32).
4. The dissimulation that was in it.
(1) Pilate was a heathen, a stranger to Christ.
(2) Pilate did it openly; but Judas did it in the night, when honest people were a-bed.
(3) What Judas did, he did with a kiss, but Pilate did not do so
(Mat 26:1-75.).
5. The deliberation and contrivance that was in it (Luk 22:21). Pilates hand was not there. Every premeditated sin is a great sin (Mic 2:1). It is one thing to be overtaken with a fault, and another thing to overtake it. Conclusion: What happened to Judas for this sin?
1. He died by his own hand despairing.
2. It brought him to his own place.
3. His name stinks to this day. (Philip Henry.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Pilate seemeth something displeased that Christ would be no more free: men in worldly power are too prone to forget from whom they derive it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. Then saith Pilate unto him,Speakest thou not to me?The “me” is the emphaticword in the question. He falls back upon the pride of office,which doubtless tended to blunt the workings of his conscience.
knowest thou not that I havepower to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?said towork upon Him at once by fear and by hope.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then saith Pilate unto him,…. Being angry with him, resenting his silence, and looking upon it as a contempt of him;
speakest thou not unto me? he wondered that he stood in no fear of him, who was the Roman governor, his judge; who had the power of life and death; and that he should make no answer to him, who was in so much dignity, and in so high and exalted a station.
Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? proudly boasting of his authority to do one or the other. The sudden change of the man from fear, to vain and proud boasting, is to be observed; just now he was afraid of the divine power of Christ, lest he should have any divinity in him; and now he boasts and brags of his own power, and menaces and threatens with his authority to punish with death, even the death of tho cross; in which he discovers his wickedness, as a magistrate, to endeavour to terrify one that he himself believed to be innocent: and besides, his assertion is false; for he had no power, neither from God nor man, to crucify innocent men, and release criminals: and moreover, he himself must be self-condemned, who had a power, as he says, of releasing him, and yet did not do it, though he had once and again declared he found no fault in him.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Unto me (). Emphatic position for this dative. It amounted to contempt of court with all of Pilate’s real “authority” (), better here than “power.”
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Then saith Pilate unto him,” (legi oun auto ho Pilatos) “Then Pilate said to him,” in a resentful manner, with a tone of reprimand, as if he had done Jesus a favor that should be appreciated; what a favor, offering to cast Him to the howling wolves, Joh 19:6.
2) “Speakest thou not unto me?” (emoi ou laleis) “Do you not mean to speak to me?” to reply to my question at all? Why speak to one who posed as a friend and then publicly announces to your enemies “you may take Him and crucify Him.”
3) “Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee,” (ouk oidas hoti eksousian echo staurosai se) “Do you not know or recognize that I have authority to crucify you?” If I had chosen to do so, as if Jesus did not know what was in the heart of Pilate, Joh 2:24-25.
4) “And have power to release thee?” (apolusai se kai eksousian echo) “And I have or hold authority to release you, liberate you, or to set you free?” Yet, his authority was used in such a fickle manner, a compromising manner, to lean on Pilate or trust him was to trust a brittle or broken reed, Joh 18:38; Joh 19:4; Joh 19:6; Only Christ has the power to set men free from the chains and penalty of sin; Heb 2:9; Heb 2:15.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
10. Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee? This shows that the dread with which Pilate had been suddenly seized was transitory, and had no solid root; for now, forgetting all fear, he breaks out into haughty and monstrous contempt of God. He threatens Christ, as if there had not been a Judge in heaven; but this must always happen with irreligious men, that, shaking off the fear of God, they quickly return to their natural disposition. Hence also we infer, that it is not without good reason that the heart of man is called deceitful, (Jer 17:9😉 for, though some fear of God dwells in it, there likewise comes from it mere impiety. Whoever, then, is not regenerated by the Spirit of God, though he pretend for a time to reverence the majesty of God, will quickly show, by opposite facts, that this fear was hypocritical.
Again, we see in Pilate an image of a proud man, who is driven to madness by his ambition; for, when he wishes to exalt his power, he deprives himself of all praise and reputation for justice. He acknowledges that Christ is innocent, and therefore he makes himself no better than a robber, when he boasts that he has power to cut his throat! Thus, wicked consciences, in which faith and the true knowledge of God do not reign, must necessarily be agitated, and there must be within them various feelings of the flesh, which contend with each other; and in this manner God takes signal vengeance on the pride of men, when they go beyond their limits, so as to claim for themselves infinite power. By condemning themselves for injustice, they stamp on themselves the greatest reproach and disgrace. No blindness, therefore, is greater than that of pride; and we need not wonder, since pride feels the hand of God, against which it strikes, to be armed with vengeance. Let us therefore remember, that we ought not rashly to indulge in foolish boastings, lest we expose ourselves to ridicule; and especially that those who occupy a high rank ought to conduct themselves modestly, and not to be ashamed of being subject to God and to his laws.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(10) Speakest thou not unto me?The position of the pronoun in the original is strongly emphaticTo me dost Thou not speak? Pilate is true to the vacillating character which now as man trembles before One who may be a Being from the other world, and now as Roman governor expects that Being to tremble before him.
Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?The text of the better MSS. inverts the order, reading,. . . . have power to release Thee, and have power to crucify Thee. This is the more natural order of thoughtThy life is in my power; yea, and Thy death also.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. Power to crucify power to release Roman power may dare if not defy even the supernatural and divine. There is something supreme in her Jupiter Stator, a proud might in her imperial genius, that may venture to threaten even the supernaturals in other parts of the earth.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Pilate therefore says to him, “Do you not speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you and have power to crucify you?” ’
The unearthly silence unnerved Pilate. He could not understand it. Why did this man not plead obsequiously for mercy? Why did He not viciously rail at him? Did He not realise that His life was in the balance. Why did He not say something? Pilate was not used to prisoners who did not try to gain their release by some means or other. Did the man not realise what total power he had over Him? The authority to release or the authority to crucify. What greater authority than that? He could understand defiance, he could understand weeping, but not this. So as he struggled with his conscience and tried to bolster himself up he was confused.
But John knew, and the readers knew, that in this case Pilate had no power at all. Nor had the Judaisers. There was only One Who was making the decisions, and that was Jesus. And as a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth (Isa 53:7).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 19:10-11. Knowest thou not that I have power, &c. See the note on ch. Joh 18:31. To what Pilate urged, our Lord replies, “Thou couldst have no power against me, unless it were given thee from above;from the permission of the God of heaven, whose providence should be acknowledged in all events. Therefore he who has delivered me to thee, even the Jewish high priest, with his council, having far greater opportunities of knowing him and his law, hath the greater and more aggravated sin; yet thou thyself canst not but know, that, on the principles of natural equity, an innocent person ought not to be given up to popular fury.” This gentle rebuke made such an impression upon Pilate, that he went out to the people, and once more declared his resolution of releasing Jesus. See the next verse, and ch. Joh 18:39.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
10 Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?
Ver. 10. Speakest thou not unto me ] No, and yet St Paul saith, he “witnessed a good confession before Pontius Pilate,” 1Ti 6:13 ; because he had said sufficient before, and was now ready to seal up the truth with his blood. But to be delivered he would not once open his mouth to Pilate. So Mr Saunders had so wholly devoted himself to the defence of Christ’s cause that he forbade his wife to sue for his delivery; and when other of his friends had by suit almost obtained it, he discouraged them, so that they did not follow their suit. I pray you let me make labour for you, said one Cresswell to Master Bradford. You may do what you will, said Bradford. But tell me what suit I shall make for you, quoth Cresswell. Forsooth, said the other, what you will do, do it not at my request; for I desire nothing at your hands. If the Queen will give me life, I will thank her; if she will banish me, I will thank her; if she will burn me, I will thank her; if she will condemn me to perpetual imprisonment, I will thank her. Life in God’s displeasure is worse than death; and death in his true fear is true life.
I have power to crucify thee ] To crucify an innocent man? Who gave him that power? But profane persons bear themselves overly bold upon their power, as if they were little gods within themselves. So Caesar told Metellus he could as easily destroy him as bid it to be done. So Caligula, speaking to the consuls, I laugh, said he, to think that I can kill you with a nod of my head, and that this fair throat of my wife’s shall be presently cut if I but speak the word. Rideo quod uno nutu meo iugulare vos possim, et uxori tam bona cervix, simul ac iussero, demetur.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
10. ] As in ch. Joh 18:35 , Pilate at once recoils from his better conscience into the state-pride of office. “Objurgans increpatio timori prcedenti plane contraria.” Lampe. This very boast was a self-conviction of injustice. No just judge has any such power as this, to punish or to loose (see 2Co 13:8 ); but only patiently to enquire and give sentence according to the truth.
, emphatic: it perhaps being implied, ‘Thou hast, I know, refused to reply to others before.’
, first seems most natural, as appealing most to the prisoner: follows, as the alternative in case the other is rejected.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 19:10 . At this silence Pilate is indignant; ; “To me do you not speak?” It is intelligible that you should not count it worth your while to answer the charges of that yelling mob; but do you not know that I have power to crucify you and have power to release you?
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
not. Greek. ou. App-105.
knowest. Greek. oida. App-132.
power = authority. Greek. exousia. App-172.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
10.] As in ch. Joh 18:35, Pilate at once recoils from his better conscience into the state-pride of office. Objurgans increpatio timori prcedenti plane contraria. Lampe. This very boast was a self-conviction of injustice. No just judge has any such power as this, to punish or to loose (see 2Co 13:8); but only patiently to enquire and give sentence according to the truth.
, emphatic: it perhaps being implied, Thou hast, I know, refused to reply to others before.
, first seems most natural, as appealing most to the prisoner: follows, as the alternative in case the other is rejected.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 19:10. , unto me) This was said with severity.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 19:10
Joh 19:10
Pilate therefore saith unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to release thee, and have power to crucify thee?-This was said half as a threat and half as a promise to him. Neither the fear nor the hope moved Jesus. The peace of God was his, so that no fear or promise could disturb.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
the Rejection of the King
Joh 19:10-17
Pilates pride was touched by that silence. In His reply our Lord refers to the relative responsibility of those who shared in His condemnation. It was as if He said, Great as your sin is, in forfeiting your position, it is less than the sin of those who have put Me into your power. Pilate then became aware of the coil of evil in which he was caught. He was dealing with a matter that touched the unseen and eternal, but the threat to report him to Caesar suddenly brought him back to the earthly and human aspects of the case. With ill-concealed irritation he adopted the phraseology of the priests and cried, Behold your King! The Jews touched the lowest depth of degradation when, trampling under foot their national pride, they cried, We have no king but Caesar! Pilate signed the necessary documents and retired to his palace as having been himself sentenced.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
knowest: Joh 18:39, Dan 3:14, Dan 3:15, Dan 5:19
Reciprocal: Gen 31:29 – the power 2Ki 9:3 – I have anointed 2Ki 18:25 – Amos I now 2Ki 18:29 – Let not 2Ch 32:15 – much less Ecc 3:14 – nothing Mar 14:60 – General Mar 15:4 – Answerest
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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Pilate thought Jesus was maintaining silence in contempt. He thought he would goad him into speaking by a sort of “threat of the law.” The self-importance which he felt he possessed was expressed in the words, I have power.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 19:10. Pilate therefore saith unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have power to release thee, and that I have power to crucify thee? There is no trace of spiritual feeling in these words; nothing but the sense of offended dignity, that to one in his position, and possessed of his power, a poor prisoner should decline to reply. Hence the position of to me, at the head of the sentence, and hence the twice repeated power, to emphasize the authority which he possessed. The mention of release comes first, as the consideration most likely to tell upon one in the danger in which Jesus stood. To this remark of Pilate an answer is given.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. How offended Pilate was at Christ’s silence, and how unreasonably he boasts of his power and authority: Have not I power to crucify thee, and power to release thee? It is the great sin and snare of men in power, to forget from whom they derive their power, and to think that they may employ their power as they please.
Observe, 2. The piety and meekness of our Saviour’s answer: Thou couldest have no power against me, except it were given thee from above.
That is, thou hast no power over me, nor couldest thou inflict any punishment upon me, were it not that my Father hath in his wisdom, divine counsel, and for glorious ends, permitted it so to be.
Learn, that Christ’s being under the power of any man, how great and eminent soever, did flow from the peculiar dispensation of God, who in his wise and wonderful counsel so ordered it, and ordained it for the redemption, and salvation of his people; he was above all human power as God, and no ways obnoxious to Pilate’s power, being a perfect innocent man.
Observe, 3. How Christ charges his death more upon Judas and the Jews, than upon Pilate and the Gentiles: He that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. Not that Pilate was excused from sin, in delivering Christ to be crucified: he sinned heinously in abusing his power; but Judas sinned more in delivering him up to the chief priests, and the chief priests in delivering him up to Pilate, than Pilate himself, whom they made a tool to serve their malice and revenge: they had better means of knowing than he; and so sinned against more light than he; and consequently their guilt was greater, and their condemnation heavier, than his.
Learn thence, that the greater means of light and knowledge persons sin against, the more aggravated is their guilt, and the more heightened will be their condemnation: He that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Vv. 10, 11. Pilate says to him: Speakest thou not to me? Knowest thou not that I have power to release thee and power to crucify thee? 11. Jesus answered, Thou wouldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above; therefore, he that delivered me unto thee is guilty of a greater sin.
Pilate feels that there is a reproach in this silence. He reassumes all his haughtiness as judge and Roman governor. Hence the , to me, at the beginning of the clause (to me, if not to others), and the repetition of the words, I have power.
The T. R. places the to crucify thee before the to release thee. Undoubtedly the idea of the impending punishment is that which prevails in the conversation; but the expression becomes still more weighty if it closes with the terrible word to crucify thee. Pilate thinks that he has the disposal of Jesus; he speaks only of his power, without thinking of his dependence and his responsibility. Jesus reminds him that in reality he has not the disposal of anything; for his power is given him.
The word given is opposed to the twofold I have of Pilate. The reading , thou hast, of A, etc., is evidently an error.
This time Jesus speaks; He also assumes His dignity; He takes the position of judge of His judge, or rather of all His judges; and as if He were already Himself seated on His tribunal, He weighs in His infallible scales both Pilate and the Sanhedrim. The , because of this, refers to the word given. Because this position, in virtue of which thou hast power over me, is given theethis is the reason why thou art less guilty than the one who delivers me to thee in virtue of a power which he has arrogated to himself. In fact, God, by subjecting His people to the Roman power, had made it subject to the imperial jurisdiction which was at that moment delegated to Pilate. But the Sanhedrim, by taking possession of the person of their King, notwithstandstanding all the proofs which He had given of His divine mission, and by delivering Him to the pagan authority, arrogated to itself a right which God had not assigned to it, and committed an act of theocratic felony. He who delivered me to thee, therefore, is neither Judas,
Jesus could not, with this meaning, have said: to thee,nor Caiaphas, who only acts in the name of the body which he represents, and who is not named in this whole scene. It is the Sanhedrim, the official representative of the Jewish people, in whose name this body acted.
The explanation of this saying of Jesus which we have just given approaches that of Calvin: He who delivers me to thee is the more guilty of the two, because he makes a criminal use of thy legitimate power. Some interpreters think that Jesus means to distinguish between the function of judging, which is official, and that of accusing, which is voluntary. But the Jews did not merely accuse, they had judged. The other explanations do not account for because of this. Thus the following ones: Pilate is less guilty because he sins through weakness rather than through wickedness (Euthymius);because he has less knowledge than the Jews (Grotius).
Far from being irritated by this answer, Pilate is profoundly impressed by the majesty which breathes in it. Hence the fourth phase of the trial: it is the last effort of Pilate to deliver Jesus, but one which fails before a fourth and last expedient held in reserve by the Sanhedrim. AsHengstenberg observes, it is a bad policy to gain the world, that of beginning by granting it the half of what it asks.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Pilate did not appreciate Jesus’ silence and the superior attitude that it implied. Consequently Pilate threatened Him by reminding Him of his power (Gr. exousia) to take or spare Jesus’ life.