When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid;
The saying that made Pilate more afraid was the charge of the Jewish leaders and priests that by their law Jesus ought to die because He made Himself the Son of God. The verse belongs to Jesus' trial before Pilate in the judgment hall, where Jesus' calm and noble and kingly bearing amid mockery and suffering made a favorable impression on Pilate and filled him with awe. There Pilate remembered reports of His miracles, including the raising of Lazarus, as he pressed to learn what charges were brought against Him.
Pilate had no clear understanding of Christ and His mission, having only an indistinct belief in God and in beings above humanity. Hearing the charge sharpened his suspicion and wondering whether Jesus might be a divine personage, so that he trembled with awe before Him and at His presence and bearing. He came to believe Christ was divine, and as conviction grew he felt increasing fear and self-condemnation. His increased fear sent him back into the judgment hall to ask Jesus where He came from, but Jesus gave him no answer.
Though he declared Jesus innocent and faultless, his fear did not keep him from condemning Him. He asserted his power to release Him or to crucify Him, yet failed to use his appointed authority to administer justice, and to save his own position handed Him over to be crucified. That boast of power made him responsible for the unjust sentence and condemnation of Christ, for the cruel scourging, and for the insults allowed before any wrong was proved against Him, because he had been chosen and appointed to administer justice yet dared not do it. Had he used the power he claimed to protect Christ, whom he himself declared innocent, he would not have been held guilty for His death, though Christ still would have been crucified.
The trial and condemnation surrounding the verse was the great test Jesus had prepared His disciples to face while He was still with them to comfort and strengthen them. When their Lord was betrayed and humiliated and condemned and reviled by a crowd that had once hailed Him, weak and undecided followers might have yielded to fear and disappointment and drawn others into apostasy. Because faithful disciples had already seen the fickleness of those who turned from Jesus, they were not wholly surprised when professed followers abandoned Him in His trouble, and they did not abandon Him themselves, draw others into apostasy, or rest their faith on the world's changing approval.
The saying that made Pilate more afraid was the charge of the Jewish leaders and priests that by their law Jesus ought to die because He made Himself the Son of God. The verse belongs to Jesus' trial before Pilate in the judgment hall, where Jesus' calm and noble and kingly bearing amid mockery and suffering made a favorable impression on Pilate and filled him with awe. There Pilate remembered reports of His miracles, including the raising of Lazarus, as he pressed to learn what charges were brought against Him.
Pilate had no clear understanding of Christ and His mission, having only an indistinct belief in God and in beings above humanity. Hearing the charge sharpened his suspicion and wondering whether Jesus might be a divine personage, so that he trembled with awe before Him and at His presence and bearing. He came to believe Christ was divine, and as conviction grew he felt increasing fear and self-condemnation. His increased fear sent him back into the judgment hall to ask Jesus where He came from, but Jesus gave him no answer.
Though he declared Jesus innocent and faultless, his fear did not keep him from condemning Him. He asserted his power to release Him or to crucify Him, yet failed to use his appointed authority to administer justice, and to save his own position handed Him over to be crucified. That boast of power made him responsible for the unjust sentence and condemnation of Christ, for the cruel scourging, and for the insults allowed before any wrong was proved against Him, because he had been chosen and appointed to administer justice yet dared not do it. Had he used the power he claimed to protect Christ, whom he himself declared innocent, he would not have been held guilty for His death, though Christ still would have been crucified.
The trial and condemnation surrounding the verse was the great test Jesus had prepared His disciples to face while He was still with them to comfort and strengthen them. When their Lord was betrayed and humiliated and condemned and reviled by a crowd that had once hailed Him, weak and undecided followers might have yielded to fear and disappointment and drawn others into apostasy. Because faithful disciples had already seen the fickleness of those who turned from Jesus, they were not wholly surprised when professed followers abandoned Him in His trouble, and they did not abandon Him themselves, draw others into apostasy, or rest their faith on the world's changing approval.