Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Mark 15:26 - 15:26
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
26. ἦ ἡ ἐπιγραφὴ τῆς αἰτίας αὐτοῦ ἐπιγεγραμμένη. A titulus, stating the crime for which he was to suffer, was commonly fastened to the criminal’s neck before he was taken to execution, but we lack evidence as to its being fastened to the cross. The space above the head would be likely to be used in this way.
Just as no two authorities agree as to the words used at the Institution of the Eucharist, or as to the prayers in Gethsemane, or as to Peter’s denials, so no two Gospels agree as to the wording of the title on the Cross. All four, however, have Ὁ Βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων. St John had gazed at it and read it repeatedly, and he is doubtless accurate in stating that these words were preceded by Ἰησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖος, and that the inscription was in the two languages of the country, Aramaic and Greek, as well as in the official Latin. The Gospel of Peter gives the improbable wording, “This is the King of Israel.” Pilate would know no such expression; cf. Mar 15:32.