Bob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Luke 23:1

Bob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Luke 23:1 - 23:5

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Bob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Luke 23:1 - 23:5

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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Luk_23:1-5

¹Then the whole body of them got up and brought Him before Pilate. ²And they began to accuse Him, saying, "We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King." ³So Pilate asked Him, saying, "Are You the King of the Jews?" And He answered him and said, "It is as you say." ⁴Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, "I find no guilt in this man." ⁵But they kept on insisting, saying, "He stirs up the people, teaching all over Judea, starting from Galilee even as far as this place."

Luk_23:1 The NJB puts this verse as the conclusion of the paragraph beginning in Luk_22:66. This is because "the whole body" refers to the Sanhedrin (cf. Mat_26:59), who met early in the morning in an attempt to legitimatize their judicial proceedings of the night before.

Luk_23:2 "they began to accuse Him, saying" Although Jesus was condemned by the Sanhedrin for blasphemy, the charges they brought before Pilate relate to sedition:

1. corrupting the nation

2. forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar

3. claiming to be a king himself (the Jewish Messiah, see Special Topic at Luk_2:11)

Luk_23:3 "Pilate asked Him, saying 'Are You the King of the Jews?' And He answered him and said, 'It is as you say’" Jesus answered in the affirmative, but with qualifications (in a sense similar to His answer to the High Priests in Luk_22:70). Pilate (see Special Topic at Luk_3:1) would have understood this as a "no" to the political charge of sedition. One of the main purposes of Luke and John is to show that Jesus and His followers are no threat to Roman authority (cf. Mat_26:25; Joh_18:36-37).

Luk_23:4

NASB     "I find no guilt in this man"

NKJV     "I find no fault in this Man"

NRSV     "I find no basis for an accusation against this man"

TEV      "I find no reason to condemn this man"

NJB      "I find no case against this man"

Luke emphasizes this truth over and over, as does John, that Jesus was not treasonous and that Pilate understood this (cf. Luk_23:14-15; Luk_23:22; Joh_18:38; Joh_19:4; Joh_19:6).

Luk_23:5

NASB     "but they kept on insisting"

NKJV     "but they were the more fierce"

NRSV     "but they were insistent"

TEV      "but they insisted even more strongly"

NJB      "but they persisted"

This is an imperfect active indicative. The Greek term epischuô appears only here in the NT, but is used twice in the Septuagint (cf. 1Ma_6:6; Sir_29:1) in the same sense. The other Gospel writers use the term katçgoreô (cf. Mat_27:12; Mar_15:3; Joh_18:29; even Luke in Luk_23:10). Luke often uses his own vocabulary even when following Mark's Gospel. The doctrine of inspiration must include the Holy Spirit's using the vocabulary of the individual NT authors. Their words are directed by God, but not dictated. The NT authors were not typewriters.

NASB, NKJV,

NRSV     "He stirs up the people"

TEV      "he is starting a riot among the people"

NJB      "He is inflaming the people"

Here Luke uses the same verb as Mark (Luk_15:11). This word is not found in the Septuagint.

▣ "starting from Galilee" The Jewish authorities added this to further condemn Jesus as a traitor to Rome. Galilee was a hotbed of seditious activity. However, Pilate used this as an opportunity to pass the judicial responsibility to Herod (cf. Luk_23:6-7).