John 19:8

When Pilate therefore heard this saying, he was the more afraid.

Pilate had many fears, fearing for his relations with Herod, his reputation with the emperor, the outbreak of violence in his city, the implications of his wife's dream; and now, typical pagan that he was, this injection of Jesus' claim to be the Son of God thoroughly moved him, but not toward any good conclusion. Skepticism and fear go hand in hand. Herod, it will be recalled, who would have scoffed at the doctrine of the resurrection, nevertheless feared that Jesus was John the Baptist (whom he had beheaded) risen from the dead! Therefore, Pilate may have believed that "the wondrous Being before him was enshrouded in a mystery of supernatural portent that he could not fathom, and before whom he trembled."[7]