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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - John 18:19 - 18:24
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NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Joh_18:19-24
19The high priest then questioned Jesus about His disciples, and about His teaching. 20Jesus answered him, "I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret. 21Why do you question Me? Question those who have heard what I spoke to them; they know what I said." 22When He had said this, one of the officers standing nearby struck Jesus, saying, "Is that the way You answer the high priest?" 23Jesus answered him, "If I have spoken wrongly, testify of the wrong; but if rightly, why do you strike Me?" 24So Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
Joh_18:19 "The high priest then questioned Jesus about His disciples, and about His teaching" This refers to Annas, not Caiaphas. Annas was the power behind the throne. He reigned from a.d. 6 to 15. He was immediately followed by his son-in-law and later his five sons and a grandson. Annas, who owned the commercial rights in the temple area, was probably anxious to interrogate the one who cleansed the Temple (possibly twice). It is interesting that Annas was concerned about Jesus' disciples as well as His teachings.
Joh_18:20 It is certainly true that Jesus taught publicly. However, it is also true that many of His teachings were veiled to the public (cf. Mar_4:10-12). The real issue was spiritual blindness on the part of His hearers.
Jesus' words and methods of teaching are recorded differently between the Synoptic Gospels and John. The Synoptics have no "I Am. . ." statements. Jesus teaches in parables; John records no parables. It seems to me that the differences may be explained by the Synoptics recording the public teachings of Jesus and John recording the private sessions.
Joh_18:21 "Why do you question Me" In Joh_18:20 Jesus asserts the public nature of His teaching ministry. Jesus was pointing out to Annas that his questions were illegal according to Jewish law and also were public knowledge.
Joh_18:22 "the officers standing nearby struck Jesus saying" This term originally meant "to slap" or "beat with a rod." It came to mean "a slap with the open hand." This is an allusion to Isa_50:6. Jesus asserts that if He had done anything wrong, accuse Him; otherwise, why was He being hit?
Joh_18:23 "If. . .if" These are two first class conditional sentences which are assumed to be true from the author's perspective or for his literary purposes. Here the first one is a literary way to accent a false reality. Jesus is challenging Annas to bring forth his evidence.
Joh_18:24 The order of these trials is reversed in the Synoptic Gospels.
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Joh_18:25-27
25Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, "You are not also one of His disciples, are you?" He denied it, and said, "I am not." 26One of the slaves of the high priest, being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, said, "Did I not see you in the garden with Him?" 27Peter then denied it again, and immediately a rooster crowed.
Joh_18:26 "One of the slaves of the high priest, being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, said" There is some discrepancy among the four Gospels as to who asked the questions of Peter.
1. in Mark, it is a maid who asked the first question (cf. Mar_14:69)
2. in Matthew it is another servant girl (cf. Mat_26:71)
3. in Luk_22:58 it is a man
4. in John a slave/servant of the High Priest
It is obvious from the historical setting that one person asked the question around the fire and the others joined in (cf. Joh_18:18).
Joh_18:26 "Did I not see you in the garden with Him" Unlike the first two questions in Joh_18:17; Joh_18:25, this grammatical form expects a "yes" answer.
Joh_18:27 "Peter then denied it again" We understand from Mar_14:71 and Mat_26:74 that Peter denied it by cursing and swearing.
▣ "immediately a rooster crowed" The chronology of events from all four Gospels implies this occurred between 12:00 and 3:00 o'clock in the morning. The Jews did not allow chickens inside the city limits of Jerusalem so it must have been a Roman rooster.
Luk_22:61 asserts at this point that Jesus looked at Peter. It is assumed that Annas and Caiaphas lived in the same house and the guards were moving Jesus from His meeting with Annas to His meeting with Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin. It was in this movement when Jesus looked at Peter. This is all conjecture because we do not have enough historical information to be dogmatic about the sequence of events of these night trials.