Verse 31
Pilate therefore said unto them, Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law. The Jews said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death.
Take him yourselves ... This was the first effort of Pilate to avoid sentencing Jesus. It was the equivalent of his saying, "This case is not under my jurisdiction; handle it yourselves."
Not lawful for us to put any man to death ... According to Clarke, the Jews had the right of putting to death in matters of a wholly ecclesiastical nature. He wrote:
The power of life and death was taken from the Jews, as far as it concerned matters of state ... They only applied to Pilate to persuade him that they were proceeding against Christ as an enemy of the state, and not as a transgressor of their own laws.[6]
Clarke was surely wrong in this opinion. See John 19:7.
Be the first to react on this!
