Killing Christ: The Lord Jesus Before Pilate

Ecce Homo: Behold the Man

By Mike Robinson

Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, “Behold the Man!” Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him” (John 19:4-6).

Pilate had Christ scourged and then appealed to the pity of the Jewish leaders as Christ was mocked again by soldiers. Pilate went out to the Jews with Jesus beaten and dressed as a burlesqued king. Pilate announced yet again, that Christ is innocent. He offered Christ to the people and proclaimed, "Behold, the man!" This was met by the crowd’s shouts, "Crucify him, crucify him." Pilate took Christ into the palace and asked, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer (John 19:9). Exasperated at His quietness, Pilate told Him that he had total power over Him. The mysterious answer of Jesus as to the source of power still further alarmed him, and he made new efforts to secure His discharge.

The Jewish Elder’s Threats Secure Christ’s Death

You never hear Jesus say in Pilate's judgment hall one word that would let you imagine that He was sorry that He had undertaken so costly a sacrifice for us. When His hands are pierced, when He is parched with fever, His tongue dried up like a shard of pottery, when His whole body is dissolved into the dust of death, you never hear a groan or a shriek that looks like Jesus is going back on His commitment (Charles Spurgeon).

Pilate was often capricious, unfair, and cruel, but the elders were mindful that he was extremely careful to not alarm or displease the emperor. Thus the Jewish leaders told Pilate, "If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend: every one that makes himself a king speaks against Caesar" (John 19:12). The idea of being accused of supporting or showing weakness regarding treason was too much for the dithering judge to bear. Jesus was brought out and Pilate sat again and asked, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests blasphemed and cried out, "We have no king but Caesar" (John 19:15). Lastly Pilate capitulated to their pressures and outcry as he decreed Christ be crucified. Nonetheless, he retaliated by posting on the cross the inscription "The king of the Jews" and then washed his hands. The people then bellowed a curse-full malediction, "His blood be on us, and on our children" (Matthew 27:24-25). Then Jesus was transported to be crucified.

How far were these proceedings in accordance with the Roman law under which they had been taken and conducted? In the first place, Pilate, as procurator, was the proper officer to try the charges brought against Jesus. History observes that Pilate was no saint, he was absolutely ruthless. But here, probably due to his wife’s terrible warning, he attempted to serve justice at different points. However his preliminary blunder, which gave rise to all the following injustice, was in not acquitting and releasing Jesus immediately, once he had declared that he found no fault in Him. The imposing of an unjust sentence in such hostile and bias conditions was jurisdictive murder.

For their part, Jews will be drawn to the Talmud’s view that the most famous critic of halakhah’s formality, and the person who accused the rabbis of favoring legal technicalities over justice and mercy, was the only person for whom those same formalities proved of no avail. Presenting Jesus as the sole exemplar of halakhic execution, the Talmud poetically argues that the mercy, grace, and compassion that Jesus sought outside the law are found within the halakhah* itself (Chaim Saiman**).

The Jewish elders did not try Him for treason, but they convicted Him of blasphemy. They changed the indictment when they came to Pilate’s judgment seat. There they turned it into treason because with Rome death is automatic for those found guilty of treason.

Scholars demonstrate, with different levels of indignation, outrage, and sadness, the myriad ways in which the trial violated those procedures. The timing, the location, the manner of interrogation of the witnesses and of Jesus himself, the manner of the decision, the unanimity of the verdict—the list is long, and most of the violations seem grave. In contemporary language, this was not a harmless error but a colossal denial of due process.¹

Christ and His Grace: A Powerful Framework for the Christian Life

It’s something too good not to believe (Vince Gilligan: producer of Breaking Bad).

Christ was unlawfully and unjustly sentenced to death by crucifixion. Nonetheless, His death is the means of salvation for believers. People need a clear message concerning the distinctions and interrelations between the law and gospel; duty and grace. Various churches unwittingly confuse the law and the gospel. Some churches fall into legalism. Others may affirm the opposite by stating that teaching moral duties is legalism.

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*Halakhah: Jewish law. The comprehensive body of rules and customs that Jews are bound to follow, including biblical commandments, rules instituted by the rabbis, and binding obligations.

**Professor of law at Villanova Law School, the Gruss Professor of Talmudic Law at University of Pennsylvania Law School.

The Holy God

Sin is a very serious matter, and it is taken seriously by God, though men often make light of it.  It is not only a transgression of the law of God, but an attack on the great Lawgiver Himself, a revolt against God.  It is an infringement on the inviolable righteousness of God, which is the very foundation of His throne, and an affront to the spotless holiness of God, which requires of us that we be holy in all manner of living (Louis Berkhof).

The Bible does not reveal a manageable god—a god who is only there to meet the believer’s needs. At times it seems that much of the Christian world appears to be embarrassed by the true God, and they try to change Him into a more user-friendly deity. An almighty sovereign God, full of awe and righteousness, is not what the world wants. But He is the God all people need. The Bible reveals that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). The Bible teaches that one is saved by grace alone, through faith alone because of Christ alone. Yes, one is saved through faith alone, but not a faith that remains alone (Phil. 2:8-10). When Jesus saves someone, a real Christian loves Jesus and wants to follow Him. The Christian follows the Lord and obeys His law. He doesn’t do this to find a way to make it to heaven by his works, but because he loves Jesus. We obey God out of gratitude forasmuch as Christ died to save us. Obedience is a fruit of salvation, but our works in no way get us to heaven.

That's who Jesus Christ is. He became the final Priest and the final Sacrifice. Sinless, he did not offer sacrifices for himself. Immortal, he never has to be replaced. Human, he could bear human sins. Therefore he did not offer sacrifices for himself; he offered himself as the final sacrifice. There will never be the need for another. There is one mediator between us and God. One priest. We need no other. Oh, how happy are those who draw near to God through Christ alone.²

Churches are to teach their members the commandments of God. They are to instruct their members in the ways of the Lord and exhort them to teach their family God’s moral code. Preachers are to make the clear distinction between justification (Rom. 4) and sanctification (Heb. 10) as well as grace and law. All Christians must understand that keeping God’s law doesn’t save their soul, but grace through faith in Christ alone saves them. And the Christian is to follow God’s law out of gratitude because Jesus died in their place.

If you love Me, you will keep My commandments (Jesus: John 14:15).

I … believe that I am, by Christ, freely and fully justified and acquitted from all my sins … yet, methinks, I find my heart more willing and desirous to do what the Lord commands … than ever it was before I did thus believe.³

The Christian is to be taught that obedience should be motivated by gratitude and love. The believer is to follow God’s law because he loves God and his fellow man. God is good and loving. This truth infuses obedient love into the believer’s heart, by the power and person of the Holy Spirit, through faith. If you love Jesus, you are called to follow His moral law. If a church loves Jesus, it is going to instruct and admonish its members to follow God’s law.

In the Book of Titus, Paul reminds believers that we are already justified, so we must earnestly strive to do good works.

But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men (Titus 3:4-8, italics mine).

Bavinck on The Crucified and Glorified Lord

 

Sin is guilt, pollution, and misery: a breach of the covenant of works, a loss of the image of God, and submission to the domination of corruption. Christ redeemed us from all three: by His suffering, by His fulfillment of the law, and by His conquest of death. Thus Christ’s benefits consist in the following:

1.      He restores our right relation to God and all creatures (the forgiveness of sins, justification, the purification of our conscience, acceptance as children, peace with God, Christian liberty, and so on);

2.      He renews us after God’s image (regeneration in the broad sense, renewal, re-creation, sanctification);

3.      He preserves us for our heavenly inheritance and will someday free us from all suffering and death and grant us eternal blessedness (preservation, perseverance, glorification). …

It is Christ Himself, the crucified and glorified Lord, who by His Word directs our faith to His sacrifice, by His Spirit incorporates us into His fellowship, and by both Word and Spirit prepares and preserves us for heavenly blessedness.⁴

for a more in-depth study see my new E-book "Killing Christ: Contesting Trendy Critics Regarding the Death & Resurrection of Jesus" HERE 

or in paperback HERE

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NOTES

1.        Weiler, J.H.H. First Things, The Trial of Jesus, July 2010.

2.        Piper, John. The Passion of Jesus Christ.

3.        Fisher, Edward. Notes by Thomas Boston: Marrow of Modern Divinity: Covenant of works & Grace: The Ten Commandments.

4.        Bavinck, Herman. Reformed Dogmatics, Volume 3: Sin and Salvation in Christ.

The Unjust Arrest and Illegal Trials of Jesus Christ

The Arrest and Trials of Jesus Christ

by Mike Robinson 

In the spring of 30 AD, just 40 years before the destruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, embodiments of oppressive religion such as Annas, Caiaphas, and Pilate deliberated in the porch of the governor’s palace, as a mob mocked, pelted, and otherwise rallied for the death of a man falsely accused of controverting crimes. Prosecution of alleged capital criminals, records the Talmud, had largely ceased in Israel since Rome appropriated civil and capital authority from the Jewish people just a few decades earlier. Yet, men with long robes and stiff necks passionately pressed the Roman governor to execute Jesus Christ. And as such, Christ was crucified at Calvary.

Today, 2000 years after the crucifixion of Christ, numerous non-Christians are again pondering the killing of Jesus Christ. The case illustrates the complexity of construing a new theory in modern contexts (e.g., Alsan, Ehrman, O'Reilly, etc.) that are devoid of the cultural, linguistic, and religious environment that was so unique during first century Israel.

Christ’s death surely had something to do with the serious legal abuse He suffered, since the priests were complicit in His arrest and brutal execution. Yet in the case of Christ, death was not the end of the story.

Plato, in positing an idealist-victim in the death of the Socrates, did not need to see a risen philosopher, since the sage came to discuss wisdom and not provide atonement. In contrast, Christ’s killing was essentially about securing the salvation of sinners through His death on the cross and His subsequent resurrection.

The Night Arrest of Jesus Christ

The ancient Hebrews forbade the use of accomplice testimony . . . The arrest of Jesus was ordered upon the supposition that He was a criminal: this same supposition would have made Judas, who had aided, encouraged, and abetted Jesus in the propagation of His faith, an accomplice. If Judas was not an accomplice, Jesus was innocent, and His arrest … therefore was illegal.¹

The apprehension of Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane occurred at around midnight of the 14th day of Nisan, according to the Hebrew calendar (April on the Roman calendar). The Jewish people typically began their day at sundown. The men who arrested Jesus were part of the temple guard, a Roman military detachment that policed the temple grounds because Jewish riots often erupted in the vicinity.

The opposition (the Jewish leadership in Judea) against the Galilean, Jesus ben Joseph, had intensified towards the end of Christ’s ministry. Selected elements within the Jewish leadership were determined to arrest Christ during the Feast of Tabernacles. They authorized temple-guards to seize Him while He was preaching in the temple, however, after hearing His words they declined inasmuch as no man ever spoke in the manner Christ did (John 7:32-7:46). Later, Jesus’ friend Lazarus died and was in the grave for a total of four days signifying the corruption of his body. Then Jesus called him from the grave and Lazarus emerged alive again. This miracle incensed the priestly leadership and they became even more determined to kill Christ. The chief priest Caiaphas** lobbied it was beneficial that one man should die for the people so that the nation would survive as a whole (John 11:47-54).

Following a prayer, Christ awoke the disciples and taught them how to pray so that they could overcome temptation. At this time a throng composed of troops, Pharisees, and officers of the Sanhedrin* went marching up to arrest Jesus—and Judas was with them.

Then Judas, having received a detachment of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, "Whom are you seeking?” They replied: "Jesus of Nazareth." Christ answered: "I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground (John 18:3-6).

Jesus by the power of the divine name (“I am” in Greek is ego eime; Exodus 3:14, LXX) blew the whole mob back to the ground in one sudden movement. Christ could have smote the whole lot and called on an angelic host to instantly pulverize His enemies. Instead, Christ purposed towards the cross.

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* The Sanhedrin was the Jewish Supreme Court in the time of Jesus. It was also called the Council of Seventy.

 **The name "Caiaphas" means "the oppressor."

                                           

Jesus Held Unlawfully

The proper manner, taught by the academy of soldiering in Rome, was to take the accused by the right wrist, twist his arm behind him so that his knuckles touched between his shoulder blades, and at the same time, jam the heel of the boot down on the right instep. And they tied the other arm with a loose noose around the neck.²

According to Hebrew law (the Mishnah and first century Jewish law), the arrest of Jesus was highly illegal on at least three counts:

1. All legal measures, including arrests and detentions, were prohibited at night. Moreover, it was an exacting rule of Hebrew law that arrests and trials regarding capital crime could not occur at night.

2. The use of an accomplice (Judas in this case) in securing an arrest was prohibited by Jewish law (Leviticus 19:16-18).

3. According to Hebrew law, it was illegal to shackle a man before he was found guilty and afterward sentenced (John 18:12-13).

Jewish and Roman Trials

Hebrew law provided that false witnesses should suffer the penalty provided for the commission of the crime which they sought by their testimony to fix upon the accused. This rule is based on Deuteronomy 19:18-21.³

For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together. And there arose certain, and bare false witness against him, saying, we heard Him say, “I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.” But neither so did their witness agree together (Mark 14:56-59).

After Christ’s arrest there were endless interrogations, Jewish trials, and Roman trials. The documentation for Christ’s trial begins with the New Testament. No thoughtful person has legitimately questioned the actuality of the trial of Jesus, or that sentences of guilt were declared by Israel and Rome. Moreover, His enemies haughtily admit that the Romans executed Christ. The accepted Gospels as well as the Talmud often refer to the trial and the crucifixion. The ambiguities are of minutiae, not material, apropos the facts of the trials. In details, the synoptic Gospels agree extraordinarily well with one another and form a consistent portrayal regarding the trial of Christ. In the vehemence of its conviction, modern Orthodox Judaism agrees with the rabbinical application of justice that was applied to Christ by the hands of the Romans. Orthodox Judaism’s revulsion of Jesus Christ is so severe that by Mishnahic strictures, some contemporary Jewish fundamentalists would send Christ to Pilate a second time, should they be given the opportunity.

Despite the prejudices and theological preconceptions of the Romans and the Sanhedrin, the trials of Christ record many incidents that demonstrate Christ’s trials were illegal. The trial by night, the false witnesses, and the court’s secrecy—no one appraising these passages could ever doubt the reality of the illegal actions, malfeasance, and subterfuge.

The Fashionable Critics

Today, a variety of skeptics have come forth with best-selling books to dispute the biblical accounts of the arrest, trial, and death of Christ. Some claim that Jesus was a revolutionary or a Zealot—others claim He was a tax protester. But the reader can be supremely confident, even have complete assurance, scripture and its account of Christ are true. On reflection, one will find that skepticism regarding Christ’s life and death are overturned using arguments from ultimate criteria (the Christian worldview vs. a non-theistic worldview) which has a mutable non-universal foundation.

The skeptic accepts the reality of historical analysis, the necessary condition of which is God. This problem seems to be disabling for the semi-skeptical program of Aslan, Ehrman, and other similar biblical fallibilists. This is the case not merely because of skepticism’s dubious coherence, but because of its ontological limitation—it lacks a source that is lofty and majestic enough to provide universal immutables utilized in historical analysis. In rational pursuits, including historical investigation, there is no ontic cheating: you either have the goods or you do not. If one’s worldview lacks the resources to account for the universal operating features of reason, it is incapable of underwriting such an enterprise altogether.

God furnishes all the a priori essentials; the necessary epistemic equipment utilized in all analytical pursuits. God has the ontic attributes of omniscience, immutability, and omnipotence (He has universal reign) thus enabling Him to be the ground for the universal and immutable laws of logic that are utilized in all thought and analysis. Any position that rejects the true God, as the epistemic (knowledge) base, not only leaves an unnerving fissure, but hopelessly fails. Consequently, whatever evidence one discovers must be discerned and processed with the rational implements that arise from Christian theism and the worldview that emanates from God. The immaterial, transcendent, and immutable God supplies the indispensable pre-environment for the use of immaterial, transcendent, universal, and immutable laws of truth. Skeptical thought, because it rests upon mutable and non-universal ground, cannot furnish the necessary preconditions for the immutable universal laws of truth utilized in historical analysis; therefore it results in futility because of its own internal weakness. 

This topic of Christ's death is of distinctive interest, not only on account of its intrinsic importance, but more particularly on account of its depiction of stark injustice. Additionally, this inquisitiveness leads directly up to what is both the greatest miscarriage of justice as well as the most marvelous redemptive act performed in the history of mankind: the death of Jesus Christ. On exhibit in the New Testament narratives are two of the most significant legal systems in antiquity: Roman and Talmudic Judaism. We will discover the reason for the six night trials in Part Two.

His Arrest Led to Salvation

Our sins are debts that none can pay but Christ. It is not our tears, but His blood; it is not our sighs, but His sufferings, that can testify for our sins. Christ must pay all, or we are prisoners forever (Thomas Brooks).

Jesus was unjustly arrested and illegally tried. Nonetheless, His arrest resulted in His death—a death that provided atonement for sinners. Jesus is the Captain of salvation for He overmastered sin, death, and the grave. He turned the darkness of death into the dazzling glory of the Resurrection. With Jesus no one needs religion to escape death’s grip; no one needs religion to be loved and accepted: Jesus is alive and He loves His own to the end.

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him (1 John 3:1).

Jesus is all-wise, omnipotent, omniscient, and He is everywhere present; He is blessed and radiant in power and glory. He propitiates God’s judgment and wrath as He offers unconditional love to all His people. Jesus saves, redeems, protects, delivers and leads His people. Jesus, as God, accomplished the supreme purpose as the conqueror of darkness and wickedness. Jesus is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Contemplate the glory of Christ. Rejoice in the wonder of His person. Delight in His friendship. Thank Him for His forgiveness and love Him for His loveliness. With Jesus you do not need manmade religion. So focus on Jesus, live upon Jesus, walk with Jesus, and follow hard after Jesus as you obey His word out of gratitude; moreover, love Him for all He is and all that He has done for you.

When you have done your best, and have not succeeded, bring out this last hammer—the cross of Christ. I have often seen on pieces of cannon, in Latin words, this inscription, “The last argument of kings.” That is to say, cannons are the last argument of kings. But the cross is the last argument of God. If a dying Savior does not convert you, what will? (Charles Spurgeon).

 For a more exhaustive exposition of the arrest and numerous trials of Jesus see my new book

"Killing Christ: Contesting Trendy Critics Regarding the Death & Resurrection of Jesus" HERE

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1. Chandler, Walter. The Trial of Jesus, vol. 1.
2. Bishop, Jim. The Day Christ Died.
3. Chandler.