The Gospel According to Saint John
John 19
Chapter XIX · Vol. IV, pp. 245–249
1 Christ is scourged, crowned with thorns, and beaten. 4 Pilate is desirous to release him, but being overcome with the outrage of the Jews, he delivereth him to be crucified. 23 They cast lots for his garments. 26 He commendeth his mother to John. 28 He dieth. 31 His side is pierced. 38 He is buried by Joseph and Nicodemus.
2 And the soldiers platted ba crown of 1thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe,
b Mat.27.29,30. Mar.15.16-19. Is.50.6. Ps.22.6.
1 See note on Mat.27.29.—C.
3 And said, Hail,2 King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands.
2 Hail!—equivalent to 'health!' 'success!' 'prosperity!'—C.
4 Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that cI find no fault in him.3Cited in HC 38
5 Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!4
4 Behold the man! From this example, as well as in ch.18.38, it is apparent that Pilate was a sententious and laconic speaker, nor is it easy in either case precisely to pronounce upon his meaning. The Scriptures have left us not a single trace of the personal appearance of our Lord; yet it is not improbable that Pilate saw in the countenance of our Lord such evident marks of sincerity, guileless simplicity, and innocence, that he makes this appeal to the compassion of the Jews—as if he had said, 'Behold the man you have accused, and let his meek, subdued, patient, and innocent aspect, excite your pity, while I pronounce his release!'—Note, While such was, probably, the secret thought of Pilate, Providence overrules it to make him still further a witness for, and, as it were, a preacher of Jesus.—C.
6 Whend the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.
d ver.15. Ac.3.13,14;2.22,23;13.27,28.
7 The Jews answered him, eWe have a 5law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.
8 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid;6
6 His previous fear does not seem to have arisen from the danger of condemning an innocent man, for of that he afterwards showed himself perfectly capable; but he must have heard of Jesus as a worker of miracles, and stood in awe of his power; or, being convinced that he was king of the Jews, he may have dreaded some tumult of his partisans, in the event of his crucifixion.—C.
9 And went again into the judgment-hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? gBut Jesus gave him no answer.
10 Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? hknowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee
h ch.18.39.
11 Jesus answered, 'Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore jhe that delivered me unto thee hath the kgreater sin.Cited in WSC 83 · WLC 150 · WCF 3.1
12 And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, lIf thou let this man go, thou art not Cæsar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Cæsar.Cited in HC 38
13 Whenn Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment-seat, in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.7Cited in HC 38
14 And it was othe preparation of the passover,8 and about the 9sixth hour:1 and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!Cited in HC 38
o Le.23.5-8. Nu.28.16,17. Mar.15.42. Mat.27.62. ver.31,42. Lu.23.54.
8 The preparation of the passover means here the Friday of the paschal week, which was the 15th of the month:—the preparation day for the paschal Sabbath. Taken in this sense an apparent discrepancy between John and the other evangelists regarding the date of the crucifixion is removed.—P.
9 Noon-tide, Mar.15.25,33.
1 According to this statement it was the sixth hour when Jesus stood before Pilate in the Hall of Judgment; but Mark (ch.15.25) says he was crucified—i.e. nailed on the cross at the third hour; and the three first evangelists agree in the statement that Christ being upon the cross 'from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.' Mat.27.45. Mar.15.33. Lu.23.44. The solution of this difficulty may be either that by a mistake of an early copyist the numeral letter for six may have been inserted instead of three; or John may have here reckoned by Roman time, which was the same as ours; while the other evangelists reckoned by eastern time, which counted from six o'clock in the morning.—P.
15 Butp they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him! Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, qWe have no king but Cæsar.Cited in HC 38
p Mat.27.22-25. Mar.15.11-15. Lu.23.21-26. Ac.3.13,14;13.28. ver.6.
q ch.18.31. Ge.49.10. Eze.21.26,27.
16 Thenr delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.Cited in HC 38
17 And he bearing his cross went sforth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew, Golgotha:
19 Andu Pilate wrote a title,2 and put it on the cross. And the writing was, Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews.3
u Mat.27.37. Mar.15.26. Lu.23.38.
2 See note * below.
3 A public notification of his Messiahship, instead of a charge against him.
* Each evangelist gives, as it were, a different edition of this superscription. Are they, therefore, contradictory? No. There were, at least, three inscriptions, in three different languages, and each evangelist copied that which the Spirit directed. But how shall we account for the fourth, as given by Mark? Simply by observing, that it is a part of the first, as given by Matthew, and therefore, though incomplete, as his description, is yet perfectly true, as it is the superscription of his accusation.—C.
20 This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.4
21 Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.
22 Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.
23 Thenv the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam,5 woven6 from the top throughout.
24 They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, xThey parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.
x Ps.22.18.
25 Nowy there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas,7 and Mary Magdalene.
26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple8 standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!
A.M. cir. 4037. A.D. cir. 33.
8 i.e. John, ch.13.23;21.7,20,24, with 2.4.
27 Then saith he to the disciple, zBehold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his aown home.
z Ps.68.5;146.9. 1 Ti.5.2,3. Ge.47.12.
a ch.16.32.
28 After this, Jesus, knowing bthat all things were now accomplished,9 cthat the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.
b Lu.24.27,44. Ge.3.15. Ps.2.1-3;22.1-21;69.1-21. Is.50.6;52.13;53.
9 All things were accomplished. Satan had now tempted Judas to sell, the council to purchase, the people to demand, Pilate to concede, and the soldiers to execute.—'All things' conducting our Lord to that final act of 'obedience unto death, even the death of the cross,' whereby he became at once a sacrifice and a Saviour.—C.
c Ps.69.21.
29 Nowd there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop,1 and put it to his mouth.
30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, eIt is finished:2 and ghe bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.Cited in HC 80
e ch.17.4. Mat.3.15. Da.9.24. Is.42.21. Ro.10.4. He.9.11,12;10.1-14. Ec.12.7.
2 It is finished. Not redemption, as it stands in a ransom price (1 Co.6.20. 1 Pe.1.19), for that was not paid while he yet lived; but as it stood in the work of active obedience (ch.17.4), whereby he 'magnified the law and made it honourable,' Is.42.21.—C.
g Mat.27.50. Mar.15.37. Lu.23.46. ch.10.11,15,17,18. 1 Th.5.10. Is.53.10,12. He.2.14,15.
31 The Jews therefore, because it was the hpreparation,3 ithat the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath-day, (for that sabbath-day was an jhigh day,4) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
h ver.42.
3 See note on ch.19.14.—P.
i De.21.22,23.
j Ex.20.8;12.18. Nu.28.17,18. Is.1.13. Le.23.7,8.
4 It was a high day because it was a triple festival. 1. It was the weekly sabbath. 2. It was the paschal-sabbath; i.e. the sabbath which occurred during the paschal week, and which was regarded with special veneration. 3. Being the day after the first day of the passover; i.e. being the 16th of Nisan, it was the day when the first-fruits were solemnly presented to the Lord in the temple. Thus the words of John are strikingly illustrated.—P.
32 Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.
33 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:
34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out kblood and water.5Cited in WLC 49
k He.9.22,23. 1 Jn.5.6,8. 1 Pe.3.21. 1 Co.1.30. Is.45.24.
5 The flowing of the 'water' was a proof that all the blood had previously been expelled through the extremity of torture; an evidence, perhaps, necessary to prove that, as life (the shedding of the blood, Le.17.11) was necessary to the remission of sins (He.9.22), the blood of our Lord had all been shed, and his life most certainly offered as a sacrifice for all.—C.
35 Andl he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, nthat ye might believe.
l ch.21.24. 1 Jn.1.1-3. Ac.10.39-41.
n ch.17.21,23;20.31. Ro.15.4.
36 For these things were done, othat the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.
38 Andq after this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but rsecretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.Cited in HC 41
q Mat.27.57-60. Mar.15.42-46. Lu.23.50-54.
r ch.3.2;12.42;9.22. Pr.29.25.
39 And there came also Nicodemus, (which at the first came to Jesus sby night,) and brought ta mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.Cited in HC 41
s ch.3.1,2;7.50.
t 2 Ch.16.14. Lu.23.56.
40 Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in ulinen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.Cited in HC 41
u Ac.5.6. ch.20.6.
41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a vgarden; and in the garden xa new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.Cited in HC 41
Notes
Ver. 11. Therefore, &c. To discover the grounds of this conclusion has greatly perplexed commentators. Might we venture to suggest one additional solution, it would be this:—Take the words 'Thou couldst have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above' as parenthetical, and consider the words 'Therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin' as a reply to Pilate's assertion of despotic authority, 'I have power to crucify thee, and I have power to release thee,' and the reply is most applicable—'Therefore he that delivered me' to a judge determined to assert and act upon power, and not upon justice and mercy; 'has the greater sin'—his own sin aggravated by that of the judge his accomplice. C.
Ver. 14. Mark says 'it was the third hour, and they crucified him,' ch. 15. 25; John says 'it was about the sixth hour,' even before he was delivered to his enemies. The most common method of reconciliation is that of Eusebius, who states that the Hebrew numeral for 'the third' was mistaken by the early transcribers for the Greek numeral for 'the sixth.' In this reading seven of the best MSS. concur; it is also supported by several of the early fathers, and adopted by the most learned modern commentators. But, in opposition to all these authorities, the early versions of this Gospel have all 'the sixth hour'—an evidence of authenticity scarcely to be overborne. Perhaps a better solution of the difficulty may be found in the difference between the Jewish and Roman modes of commencing the numeration of hours. The Jewish numeration commenced at sunrise, the Roman at midnight; so that, 'about the' Roman 'sixth hour' corresponded with the time about the Jewish first hour—most probably half-past the Jewish one o'clock A.M., at which time, according to John, Jesus was 'delivered to be crucified,' ver. 16. Now, as it is evident from Mat. 20. 12 that the Jews counted their hours from their commencement, and not from their conclusion, this would leave barely an hour and a half till the Jewish 'third hour.' And considering the slowness with which the mass of spectators could emerge from the hall and advance through the crowded streets; and allowing a sufficient time for the procession to Calvary, which lay without, though near to the city (He. 13. 12; Jn. 19. 20; and Robinson's Geography, pp. 64-80); and adding the time necessary for completing the cruel preparations for the crucifixion—it will be easy to perceive how this hour and half would be occupied, and the accounts of Mark and John perfectly harmonized. C.
Reflections.—What struggles are there in the breasts of carnal men between the convictions of their conscience and their care of their secular interests—as between the terrors of God and the fears of men! But indulged lusts dreadfully bear down all religion, truth, and equity.—How shocking is it to behold the men of Israel persecute their divine King with outrage, indignity, and barbarity! Yet more amazing to behold the God of heaven giving up his only begotten Son into the hands of such vile and savage miscreants! But, lo! even the marks of disgrace proclaim his character and spread his renown! Astonishing is his meekness, patience, and holy fortitude, under all his sufferings. Remarkable his filial regard to his mother, and his dying trust in his heavenly Father. And while his hypocritical persecutors pretend ceremonious scruples of conscience amidst their obstinate violation of important precepts, the blood and water streaming from his heart verify the scripture, mark him really dead, and figure out our justification by his blood, and sanctification by his Spirit. And to magnify the grace of God, fulfil the predictions of the prophets, and honour the crucified Redeemer, disciples who had long been timorous and afraid to own him are emboldened at such an important crisis to give him an honourable interment.—Now, my soul, behold the God-man who was falsely accused that I might be honourably acquitted—was wounded and scourged, that by his stripes I might be healed—was clothed with a robe of derision, that I might be clothed with robes of righteousness and garments of salvation—was crowned with thorns, that I might wear a diadem of glory—had his royalty insulted, that I might be made a king unto God—was condemned, that I might be justified—bore his own cross, and was crucified on it, that he might bear my sins and carry my sorrows—was numbered with transgressors, that I might have a cup of salvation, joy, and praise—and finished transgression and suffering, that I might be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation!