John 18:38, commentary and pictures

Pilate asks what truth is right after Jesus says He came into the world to bear witness to the truth and that all who are of the truth hear His voice, and then without waiting he goes out to the Jews declaring he finds no fault in Him at all. He does not wait for an answer because the rising tumult and impatient cries of the crowd jar upon him and recall him to his place as judge outside the hall. His question comes from a stirred heart and real longing to know what truth is and how it may be obtained amid a divided religious world, yet though convinced by overwhelming evidence that Christ is without deception, his pride and fear of the mob overcome conviction and he yields to condemn the One he has pronounced innocent. That public verdict of no fault at all, repeated three times, stands forever as proof of Christ's sinless life and as rebuke to the false charges of rulers who demand His death. The truth Pilate inquires after is not mere abstract knowledge but saving, practical, present truth bound up with receiving Christ as personal Saviour, obeying His word and keeping God's commandments unto eternal life, revealed clearly in Scripture which must test every creed.

Trial Words and Setting

The question comes immediately after the claim to have come into the world to bear witness to the truth and that everyone who belongs to the truth hears the voice, and it is followed at once by going out to the Jews with the declaration that no fault at all is found in Him. Pilate knows He is innocent and that hatred and prejudice moved the leaders to hand Him over, yet that unjust examination foreshadows the experience believers must pass through with Christ in heaven beholding every circumstance and sustaining those who stand for Him on the elevated platform of eternal truth while every false platform is shaken. He longs to know the truth even as Jesus stands arraigned as a criminal claiming it, but he does not wait for an answer to so important a question. The continually increasing tumult, impatient cries, and demands of the excited crowd jar upon him and recall him to his judicial position and the immediate crisis beyond the door of the hall, so he goes out and in an emphatic voice publicly declares Him innocent and faultless.

The examination takes place after the Jewish leaders bring Jesus to the Roman judgment hall, where He is questioned about being a king to determine guilt of sedition. No sign of guilt appears, but goodness, nobility, and calm dignity under accusation, leading to doubt of the charges, respect for the prisoner, and the decision to ask the leaders what charges they bring. Jesus probes whether the question about kingship comes from Pilate's own desire for truth or from the accusations of others, and pride then overcomes the conviction stirring in the wavering mind. The declaration that He is innocent of seeking earthly kingship affirms faultlessness, and the later memory that a judge pronounced Jesus innocent yet handed Him to mob rule would make hearers question what power controlled them.

The trial is a mock trial from beginning to end, for although the priests try in every way to entrap Christ, their hired, ignorant, coached tools give false testimony that contradicts itself, does not agree, and is worthless, so nothing condemnable is found in Him. Pilate's declaration of innocence, the first of three such declarations that He is worthy of no condemnation, exposes the accusations as false, undermines the case, enrages the Jews, and fulfills the purpose that those delivering Him to death hear testimony to His innocence. Yet Jesus cannot be executed without Pilate's legal confirmation after the Sanhedrin has condemned Him, and instead of protecting the innocent man and earning the reputation of a just and considerate ruler, Pilate gives Him up to the mob, exposing a religion of oppression that exalts valueless tradition and rites above the Word of God while rejecting the Light of the world.

That mock trial in the judgment hall is witnessed by God the Father, Satan and his angels, the heavenly universe, and the unfallen worlds, while the accusers have nothing by which to prove guilt. Behind the lawless mob with hearts filled with a violence only Satan can inspire lies Satan's hatred of Christ for His position in the courts of God, hatred increased by Satan's own dethronement for rebellion and by Christ's pledge to redeem a race of sinners. From the manger to the cross Satan follows Christ striving constantly to gain mastery over Him, filling priests and rulers with hatred and joining his agents disguised in priestly and ruling robes with the lowest and most degraded in the effort to take the life of the Son of God. Under that guidance the trial and crucifixion become a scene of bitter shame and sorrow heaped with all the abuse, ridicule, and malice satanic hate can suggest, exposing how far beings He created and loved so well as to leave heaven for them had fallen in personating Satan against Him. The crowd that once hailed Him as king now reviles Him and cries for His crucifixion, and this reversal prepares the disciples for the trial of their faith.

Pilate's Longing and Failure

Pilate's question comes from great longing to know what truth is and how it can be obtained. His mind has been confused by a disturbed and divided religious world where many voices cry, Here is the truth, so he grasps eagerly at Jesus' words about coming into the world to bear witness to the truth. Though Jesus stands arraigned before him as a criminal claiming to have the truth, the claim stirs Pilate's heart. He does not wait for an answer to so important a question, because the continually increasing tumult and impatient cries of the excited crowd jar upon him and recall him to his judicial position beyond the door of the hall. He goes out to the Jews and declares in an emphatic voice that he finds no fault in Jesus at all.

Overwhelming evidence convinces and convicts him that Christ is no pretender, with not a single trace of deception to be found in His words or deportment. His wavering mind is wrought upon by unseen influences, and he is compelled to confess before all His accusers that He is entirely faultless and innocent of all crime. Yet pride overcomes the conviction stirring in him, leaving him unwilling to yield. When Jesus probes whether his question about kingship comes from his own desire for truth or from the accusations of others, that pride resists the stirring.

He knows Jesus is innocent and that the leaders handed Him over out of hatred, prejudice and envy. Fear of a public disturbance and of the mob rather than God keeps him from doing what he knows is right. Settled conviction requires courage to act by defending Christ before the people, denouncing those seeking His life as murderers, and firmly refusing His crucifixion. Instead his last effort to set Christ free is to plead for the scourge in place of the cross and to appeal to the sympathy of the mob where nothing can be hoped from priests and rulers. He publicly declares Him innocent, even three times, yet has Him scourged, condemns Him, and hands the innocent prisoner over to His murderers and to a shameful, cruel death.

That first faltering after publicly pronouncing Christ innocent is cruel inhumanity, causing needless pain to gratify satanic enmity and hatred against light, evidence, justice and conviction. By moving against light and sacrificing innocence he brings upon himself lasting remorse, guilty conscience and despair, with guilty conscience and lasting infamy. He leaves an example of unjust judgment that many judges have since followed. Those who heard the declaration still remembered that a judge had pronounced Jesus innocent yet gave Him to mob rule, leading them to question what power controlled them. Both the true declaration and the later act of giving the innocent prisoner to scourging and death are shown to his wife in a vision of the night.

Verdict of No Fault

Pilate's question about truth is followed at once by his going out without waiting for an answer, drawn back to his judicial place by the tumult and cries of the crowd, and he then declares openly and emphatically that he finds no fault at all in Jesus. That declaration is the first of three times he pronounces Him innocent and worthy of no condemnation, affirming that no charge can be brought against Him and that He is innocent of seeking earthly kingship. Although the priests tried in every way to entrap Christ through hired, ignorant, coached tools whose contradictory testimony proved worthless, nothing condemnable was found in Him. Pilate knew He was an innocent man, yet instead of protecting Him and earning the reputation of a just and considerate ruler he had Him scourged and gave Him up to the mob and to a cruel death, even the cruelest death devised, proving the trial of the only begotten Son of God a mock trial from beginning to end. That course exposes the religion of the Jewish teachers as a religion of oppression unable to reform them, exalting valueless tradition and rites above the Word of God while rejecting and condemning the Light of the world.

That judgment by a heathen Roman magistrate and Gentile governor rebuked the false accusations of Israel's rulers. It will forever stand as proof to the world that the charges brought against Jesus were base perfidy and falsehood, since even a heathen ruler pronounced Him guiltless. His finding Him without fault exposed the hired witnesses and the falsehood of the accusations. It fulfilled God's purpose that those who delivered Jesus to death should hear testimony to His innocence.

The verdict proves that from the beginning to the close of His earthly ministry no sin appeared in His life and no selfishness marred His words or acts. His life was marked by self-denial and nobility of purpose in continually doing good, in contrast to an inefficient, do-nothing, self-serving life that leads away from Him and is not accepted. Because He lived without fault, His life is the standard for how all must live, by denying self, taking up the cross, and following Him along the pathway of sacrifice.

The verdict confirms He is the innocent and sinless Son of God bearing the sin of the world, the divine Son clothed in humanity. His humanity so veiled His divine glory that even His disciples struggled to believe in Him and no friend dared speak in His defense. Yet neither Satan nor His accusers could find anything in His sinless character to condemn. His spotless life revealed God's character and fulfilled the law, but His work was more than living without fault, for He voluntarily gave His life as sacrifice, because sin can be forgiven only through the shedding of blood. Despite that verdict the priests and rulers had given themselves over to Satan's control, prompted by the one cast out of heaven for rebellion, and under his guidance made His trial and crucifixion a scene of bitter shame and sorrow, heaping upon Him all the abuse and ridicule and malice that satanic hate could suggest.

Despite the verdict of faultlessness, human religious authority demanded His death under its law, and the faultless Christ was condemned by it to a cruel death. Pilate nevertheless handed Him over while the crowd demanded His death, chose Barabbas, and accepted responsibility for His blood. Men thus rejected Him, the divine Son of God and personification of all human goodness, and chose instead a thief and a murderer. This choice testifies to the moral taste of the world and to having no interest in knowing God and being loyal to Him, setting two sides, the side of the world that rejects Christ and the side of Christ, who kept His Father's commandments.

Nature of Saving Truth

Before Christ men asked in vain what truth is because error, superstition, and falsehood covered the earth and deep spiritual darkness covered the people. Even Judea was shrouded in gloom although possessing God's oracles, for the truth of God had been silenced by the superstition and traditions of its professed interpreters. Contention, jealousy, and prejudice divided the professed children of God, while Satan ever seeks to make obscure the truths that are plain.

Amid that moral darkness and gloom a Teacher sent from God, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, came to reveal heaven's pure truth. He presented the pure, rich truth of heaven to shine as spiritual light when God said, Let there be spiritual light, and the light of the glory of God was revealed in the face of Jesus Christ. He ever seeks to open the mind to comprehend every essential truth concerning the salvation of fallen man.

The truth to be sought is not merely abstract knowledge nor speculation about things God has withheld, but practical, saving, present truth to be cherished, loved, honored, and obeyed unto the salvation of the soul. It is bound up with Christ and with receiving Him as a personal Saviour. To learn its answer is to eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God, which means obeying the Word of God and keeping His commandments as the condition of eternal life given by Christ the Son of God and Redeemer. His words are spirit and life, brought into the soul through the understanding to give spirit and life and to show itself in religious experience and words by the food given to mind and heart. True Bible religion and Christian perfection is therefore a sacred, pure, holy, elevated experience fed on precious present and practical truth, with no chaff, fiction, or human speculation. That truth is found in the words of Christ, which are righteousness and truth, and receiving it requires taking His words and humbling the heart in obedience to every requirement.

That precious truth is revealed in God's Word, which speaks clearly and with authority rather than with uncertainty or doubt, and whose prophetic word is sure. Truth is not established by how long a creed has been believed; the Bible must define and test that creed, revealing where it falls short, and each person is to search Scripture and accept its teaching on Scripture's own evidence rather than depend on another to interpret it. The question of what truth is thus tests the foundation on which Christian belief is built, whether firm like rock or shifting like sand. The Word is the test by which character is to be examined for entrance into the kingdom of heaven, requiring human sophistries and sand-like ideas and speculations used to influence others to be put away.

When Christ's teaching stirs people to ask what truth is, even inquiry accompanied by controversy and contention is better than indifference because it can awaken them to search for truth as for hidden treasure. Yet to self-righteous, self-conceited, and self-willed askers He gives no answer and will not undertake to teach them. Only the meek will He guide in judgment and teach His way.

Seeking and Sharing Truth

The question what is truth is a call to inquire with decided interest into the truth for the present time, to cherish, love, honor and obey it. Those who give worldly things their proper place will make that inquiry, following the light as it shines from God's Word, and by daily study of Scripture the light grows ever brighter.

Every soul must answer the question by seeking divine wisdom with open Bible and accepting truth as the standard, bracing every nerve and spiritual muscle for the test to come to all, being clothed with Christ's righteousness, and standing on the Rock of Ages with assurance of victory when all has been done. The answer is to be sought by prayerful, careful study of Scripture, whose truth is given in language to be understood, on the evidence of its own teachings calling for full obedience, rather than by depending on another's interpretation. Knowing the truth comes by following Jesus through good and evil report and by walking in the light as it comes without waiting for every mystery to be solved or every doubt removed, and those who do so come to know the doctrine and understand the advantages of entering the strait gate and walking the narrow way. Refusing the first rays leaves one blind to the greater light ahead, while walking in the light received illuminates the path as one advances, and taking a courageous stand for truth may involve loss or hardship.

Those beginning to inquire about the Bible may find that beliefs long held are mistaken, become perplexed, and raise doubts and objections. Ministers and workers are to learn their difficulties courteously, then meet them with careful, tender, patient instruction, sympathy and support, answering objections from the Bible and helping step by step.

The question reflects the longing of souls wanting what they have not yet received. Those who have received light and truth have the duty to share them earnestly, patiently, perseveringly and lovingly, with hearts softened by God's love, helping spiritually blind people past confusion. The sharing must not be done in a harsh spirit, nor through personal likes and dislikes, inherited traits, or un-Christlike conduct that drives people away, but workers are to be wise and harmless while ready to take a courageous part when called. Truth is being revealed while false teachers turn people away from God's commandments, so receiving and sharing the knowledge given is vital to saving souls whose value is shown by Christ's death.

That earnest, perplexed, anxious asking comes from across the broad ocean, from those pale with anxiety and thirsting for living truth. Their churches have backslidden from God into pride, selfishness and worldliness, and they want the bread of life, to find the old paths and come back to the simplicity of gospel religion. Their cry lays on Christ's followers the God-given responsibility to rouse, to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, to answer who will go, and to give means to send missionaries and multiply publications.

The unjust trial in which the question was asked foreshadows the very experience believers must pass through. Christ is in heaven with every circumstance of life open before Him, and He will sustain those who stand for Him. Believers must therefore stand on the elevated platform of eternal truth while every false platform is shaken to pieces, trusting no man and not afflicting their souls over men's words, but clinging to Jesus with full faith. His Word is truth and power to every humble soul, and strength comes by steadfastly repeating with assurance the truth as it is in Jesus. This life tests whether people obey Christ with love and reverence, and God is fitting those who love Him for the heavenly home He has prepared, for those unwilling to obey Him here would not obey Him in the eternal world.