Calvary Road Baptist Church
“PILATE’S PRONOUNCEMENT OF OUR LORD’S INNOCENCE”
Luke 23.4; John 18.38
Picture the Lord Jesus Christ standing beside Pontius Pilate. They are in Pilate’s judgment hall in Jerusalem, with hundreds of Roman soldiers nearby and a growing crowd, including the seventy old men in the Jewish Sanhedrin standing just outside.
Nearing the end of the fourth illegal and unjust trial, our Lord has been subjected to, I want to address Pilate’s pronouncement of our Lord’s innocence.
Luke 23.4:
“Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man.”
John 18.38:
“Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.”
Recall that in my recent dealings with these two verses, I have set out to accomplish three goals. First, I explored the notion of truth and how truth can be known. Next, I examined Pilate's actual question (“What is truth?”) before he quickly turned away without waiting for an answer. Finally, I want to address Pilate’s pronouncement of our Lord’s innocence.
First, THELEGALITY OF PILATE'S FINDING.
Keep in mind that in the Roman judgment hall, John 18.28, 33, whatever building Pontius Pilate occupied that morning, the court was in session under Roman law.
Remember, Pontius Pilate was Judea's Roman governor and, therefore, the highest imperial judicial authority representing Rome, Matthew 27.2 and Luke 3.1.
Although specific reference was made to Pilate sitting in the official judgment seat, the bῆma, in Matthew 27.19 and John 19.13, which we have not yet considered, it would hardly be likely that Pilate sat on the judgment seat later but not earlier, especially considering that he had initiated his official inquiry back in John 18.29, and here rendered his official decision.
Look back to John 18.29 to refresh your memory:
“Pilate then went out unto them, and said, What accusation bring ye against this man?”
The Lord Jesus Christ was delivered to Pontius Pilate for a trial of violations of Roman law following His arrest the night before in the Garden of Gethsemane and three trials by the former high priest Annas and the current high priest Caiaphas. Notice how verse 29 begins: “Pilate then went out unto them.” Pilate then asked, “What accusation bring ye against this man?” Pilate’s question effectively convened the legal proceedings. The court was now in session. With formal intentionality, he worded his question using the Greek word kathgorá½·a, the word for a legal accusation in matters of law.[1] Thus, the trial by a Roman authority figure and a request for formal charges began.
There is every indication that the Roman governor was functioning well within the legal parameters of his authority under Roman law.
Next, THE TIMING OF PILATE'S FINDING.
Is it a coincidence that Pilate’s finding was reached after the Lord Jesus Christ admitted to being a king? Is the sovereign of a realm that appears before the Roman governor of no interest to him and no threat to the empire? That is a question to ponder.
One of the Roman Empire’s great legacies was Pax Romana. Centuries of peace throughout the Mediterranean region served as fertile ground for the growth and settlement of culture and civilization and a relatively safe system for travel by sea and Roman roads for the spread of the Gospel.
Another legacy is that Roman law, while not always entirely consistent and sometimes subject to distortion and manipulation to achieve political ends, did provide a vastly friendlier environment for the growth of the economy, the improvement of general health and welfare, and courts of law and the possibility of recourse against injustices suffered by people.
Nothing about the Lord Jesus Christ’s suffering and crucifixion was legal, either in the Mosaic Law system of the Jewish people or the Roman system. The Apostle Paul used his Roman citizenship to salvage several of his ministry opportunities.[2] And Roman law did provide a framework within which the Christian faith spread rapidly.
This understood, let us not be so naive as to imagine Pilate did not twist and manipulate the rules and regulations established under Roman law to suit his purposes. He likely did what bureaucrats have always done and will always do. So, Pilate’s ruling came after he was persuaded by the Lord Jesus Christ that there was no threat to Roman rule at present.
Third, THE AUDIENCE TO PILATE'S FINDING.
Although the Romans liked to take care of their business affairs very early in the morning, scholars agreed that as the minutes passed, the audience standing outside Pilate’s judgment hall would undoubtedly have grown to include far more than the old priests in the Sanhedrin.
Thus, one factor not often considered in commentaries is something we have seen in our culture over the last few years: the application of social and cultural pressure to influence the rulings of those wielding legal or judicial authority.
You might recall President Obama’s challenge to the Supreme Court justices sitting in front of him during a State of the Union address back in January 2010.[3] Also, recall Senator Chuck Schumer’s speech outside the Supreme Court building on March 4, 2020, when he uttered thinly veiled threats to several justices if they did not rule the way he wanted.[4] It even escalated to illegal protests outside the homes of Supreme Court justices on May 3 of last year, with the design of intimidating the Supreme Court’s upcoming Roe v. Wade case and putting them in fear of retaliation if they overturned Roe v. Wade and abortion on demand.[5]
The same kind of pressure that I have related from modern times was brought to bear in response to Pilate’s finding that the Lord Jesus Christ was not guilty, as we will see.
Finally, THE SUBSTANCE OF PILATE'S FINDING.
“Convinced that Jesus is no threat, Pilate declares his innocence (the first of several such Lucan notes: 23:14-15, 22). In Pilate’s view Jesus is a ‘harmless enthusiast.’ The reference to Pilate’s finding ‘nothing’ is emphatic, since oá½dá½²n (ouden) leads off his affirmation of Jesus’ innocence before the chief priests and the crowd. Word had apparently spread about what was happening and a crowd gathered to hear what Pilate would do. His verdict should have ended matters, but it does not. Jesus is portrayed as rebelling against Rome, but the irony is that it is the leadership that is rebelling against God’s chosen one.
The verse is unique to Luke among the Synoptics, but John 18:38 also notes Pilate’s public declaration, declaring the terms eὑrá½·skw (heurisko, I find) and aitioV/aitia (aitios/aitia, reason for punishment; John 18:38; 19:4, 6: Luke 23:14, 22; Acts 19:40). Luke’s more compact account proceeds in Roman legal order, while Mark 15:2–5 = Matt. 27:11–14 has two rounds of questions, with Jesus replying the first time and remaining silent the second time. But Mark 15:3 = Matt. 27:12 agrees in giving the key antagonistic role in this trial to the leadership. Jesus is innocent, but the examination continues as the multitude insists that Jesus must be convicted.”[6]
If Roman law were principled this matter would have concluded with Pilate’s finding and pronouncement. But Roman law, like any system of so-called justice in this fallen world, is vulnerable to feelings over facts.
Why was it so significant for Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, to find the Lord Jesus Christ innocent of all charges against Him? Remember that He would subsequently be judged by Herod Antipas and be found innocent,[7] and would be judged by Pilate again and be found innocent.[8]
After all, the Jewish religious leaders wanted Him crucified. But why? We are told in Matthew and Mark’s Gospel that they wanted Him crucified for envy.[9]
If the Jewish religious leaders were envious of the Lord Jesus, what is to be said about the great majority of Jewish people in Jerusalem at the time? Only a few days before the Lord Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem on the foal of an ass and was greeted by throngs of receptive and delighted people.[10]
What happened between His triumphal entry into Jerusalem and now, standing for trial before Pilate? Might the second time He cleansed the Temple have turned the multitudes against Him?[11] Or could it simply be that most of the population was inattentive and unaware of what transpired?
The crucial point is that the Lord Jesus Christ was demonstrably innocent of wrongdoing. Most Jewish people knew it, the religious leaders knew it but were swayed by envy, Herod the Tetrarch knew it, and Pontius Pilate knew it.
Thus, a man who was innocent of wrongdoing was crucified on a Roman cross. The question is Why? First Peter 3.18 is one of several passages that informs us why:
“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.”
The follow-on question is how might Christ’s suffering for sins, the Just for the unjust, His death followed by His resurrection, bring us to God? It is related to a concept found in the Old Testament and is related to someone identified as a kinsman redeemer. Because of time constraints, let me provide a somewhat superficial review of the role of the kinsman redeemer in Jewish life and the place in that role that Christ’s innocence of any wrongdoing plays.
A kinsman redeemer must meet three qualifications to provide relief for someone. First, the kinsman redeemer had to be a kinsman, a blood relative, of the one needing relief. Next, the kinsman redeemer had to be willing to provide relief. Finally, the kinsman redeemer had to be able to provide relief.
Three qualifications:
First, TO BE QUALIFIED, YOU MUST BE A KINSMAN
This was why the Second Person of the Triune Godhead became a man, born of the virgin Mary, His human mother. We know His lineage.[12] We know the details of His mother’s pregnancy and His birth. We know His place of birth. We know the place of His upbringing. We know of His baptism. We know He slept. We know He hungered. We know He tired. We know He thirsted. We know He died. We know that Jesus was not only declared and shown to be a member of the human family, but He was a member of the house of Israel, of the tribe of Judah, and a direct descendant on His mother’s side of Israel’s King David.
Recall from the book of Ruth that the Moabite widow, Ruth, could be redeemed from her widowhood only by a man who was related to her dead husband, Mahlon.[13] Two men met those qualifications, with Boaz being the one who redeemed Ruth.
Next, TO BE QUALIFIED YOU MUST BE WILLING
You might recall from Ruth 3.12 that Boaz informed Ruth that two men qualified to redeem her, with the other man being a closer relative to Ruth’s late husband than he was. But in Ruth 4.6, we learn that the other man was unwilling to fulfill his obligations as a kinsman redeemer. Boaz, on the other hand, was very willing to serve in that role. A kinsman must be willing to redeem.
The question for us is the Savior’s willingness to redeem. Did He not demonstrate His willingness to redeem us by coming to this earth to redeem us? Did not the Savior say to Zacchaeus, in Luke 19.10,
“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost”?
Did not the Savior direct sinners to come to Him for salvation full and free, Matthew 11.28?
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Did not the Savior willingly suffer the death of the cross? Isaiah 53.11 predicted that He would:
“He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.”
Thus, no indication in Scripture would suggest the Savior did not willingly suffer the death on the cross and willingly become our Sin-bearer.
Finally, TO BE QUALIFIED, YOU MUST BE ABLE
The qualifications of the Lord Jesus Christ to serve as our kinsman redeemer are twofold:
First, the Lord Jesus Christ had to be morally qualified to perform the task of a kinsman redeemer. He was demonstrably moral, as is verified by His innocence of all charges leveled against Him by Pilate, Herod, and Pilate again. Not a single accusation against Him was ever proven. Fundamental to His conduct as a morally qualified kinsman redeemer was His virgin birth. The Lord Jesus Christ was not only innocent of all charges leveled against Him, but He was absolutely without sin.[14] Why was He absolutely without sin? He is the virgin-born Son of God! He has never sinned, not having a sinful nature but a holy nature. This morally qualifies Him to be the kinsman redeemer since one who is himself a sinner cannot qualify to redeem others from sin.
But one must be more than morally pristine to be an able kinsman redeemer. One must be powerful enough to redeem. Might you be powerful enough to redeem if you are powerful enough to turn water into wine?[15] Might you be powerful enough to redeem if you are powerful enough to walk on water?[16] Might you be powerful enough to redeem if you are powerful enough to cast out demons?[17] Might you be powerful enough to redeem if you are powerful enough to cleanse lepers?[18] Might you be powerful enough to redeem if you are powerful enough to raise the dead?[19] Might you be powerful enough to redeem if you are powerful enough to create and sustain all things?[20] Might you be powerful enough to redeem if you rise again after you die?[21]
The Lord Jesus Christ did all of these things and more. So, He is qualified by his ability to redeem, both morally (not being a sinner, He can redeem sinners) and mightily, as evidenced by His astonishing supernatural power.
The Lord Jesus Christ is qualified to be our kinsman redeemer. We know He is our kinsman, being fully human without sin and, at the same time, fully divine. So, in that regard, He is qualified.
As for His willingness to perform the task of a kinsman redeemer, do we indicate His desire? His willingness? Yes! He willingly obeys His Father. He willingly left heaven’s glory to be born of a virgin. He willingly came to seek and save the lost. He willingly bore my sins on the cross, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.
Then there is His ability. He is morally able to redeem, being Himself without sin. He is also powerfully able to redeem, being the omnipotent Creator and Sustainer of the universe, a worker of too many miracles to recount, and victorious over sin, death, Hell, and the grave.
Human speaking, there is only a single issue concerning your personal salvation from sin by Jesus Christ. The issue is not the Savior’s kinship to you since He is fully human. Neither is the issue the Savior’s willingness to save you since He has chosen to do what He has done. That leaves His power to save, which really is beyond dispute.
Pontius Pilate’s pronouncement of the Savior’s innocence is but the capstone of one of three kinsman redeemer qualifications, His moral qualification of the ability to redeem, as shown by His innocence in a Roman court of law.
Thus, if you pass through your time on earth from birth to eternity without being saved from your sins, redeemed, or benefiting in any way by Christ’s accomplishment as kinsman redeemer, it is on you and only you.
The issue will never be about what someone did or did not do to you. The issue will never be whether or not the Savior, as kinsman redeemer, is your near kin. He is fully man, therefore, your blood relative, a human family member.
The issue will never be about His willingness to redeem you. Not only is God not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, but Jesus asserted that He will not cast out anyone who comes to Him, John 6.37:
“... him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”
To conclude, you are enslaved to sin if you do not know Christ. You are dead in trespasses and sins. You are incapable of good doing and have no power or inclination to save yourself. You would not if you could, and you could not if you would.
Meaning? You must have a kinsman redeemer, or you will suffer the eternal torment of the damned, and Jesus Christ is the only kinsman redeemer. Consider Him. Look to Him. Trust Him to save you.
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[1] Rogers, Jr., Cleon L. and Rogers III, Cleon L., The New Linguistic and Exegetical Key To The Greek New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: ZondervanPublishingHouse, 1998), page 223.
[2] Acts 16.35-39; 25.9-12
[3] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alito-winces-as-obama-slams-supreme-court-ruling/
[4] https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/03/schumer-the-supreme-court-and-the-mob/
[5] https://www.foxnews.com/politics/protests-supreme-court-justices-homes-churches-roe-wade-abortion
[6] Darrell L. Bock, Luke Volume 2: 9:51-24:53 - ECNT, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), page 1812.
[7] Luke 23.15
[8] John 19.4
[9] Matthew 27.18; Mark 15.10
[10] Matthew 21.9, 15; Mark 11.9-10; John 12.13
[11] Matthew 21.12; Luke 19.45
[12] Matthew 1.1-17; Luke 3.23-38
[13] Ruth 4.10
[14] Hebrews 4.15
[15] John 2.7, 9, 11
[16] Matthew 14.26
[17] Matthew 4.24
[18] Matthew 10.8; 11.5; Luke 7.22; 17.12
[19] Luke 8.41-55; John 11.1-44
[20] John 1.1-3; Colossians 1.16-17
[21] Romans 4.24, 25; 6.4, 9; 8.11; 1 Corinthians 6.14; 15.17; 2 Corinthians 4.:14; Galatians 1.1; Ephesians 1.20; 1 Thessalonians 1.10; 2 Timothy 2.8
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Pastor@CalvaryRoadBaptist.Church