Pilate recognized that Jesus’ kingdom was in a different sphere. Pilate was not threatened by a kingdom of truth, and so he went out and said to the Jews that he found no fault in Him. But then the religious leaders shifted the complaint by saying that Jesus still ought to die under the Jewish laws against blasphemy because Jesus claimed to be the Son of God (19:7).
That statement affected Pilate. Although he certainly did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God, Pilate would have known there were thought to be half-divine, half-human beings in the Roman world. Maybe Jesus was somebody like that, and He might do something to Pilate if he does not handle this trial in the right way. At this point Pilate became afraid, and he went back in to talk to Jesus again.
Pilate tried to find out more about where Jesus was from. Who was Jesus really? I think Pilate wanted to know if he had any reason to be afraid of Jesus. But Jesus made no reply, and when you read this part of the story it seems as if Pilate is rattled by Jesus’ silence. Pilate then said to Jesus, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you” (v. 10)?
Then Jesus said what I believe is the most significant statement in all the Bible concerning the legitimacy of human government and its limitations: “You would have no power [the word Jesus uses is better translated as “authority”] if it were not given to you from above. Therefore, the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin” (v. 11).
Isn’t that interesting? By talking about authority rather than mere power, Jesus is referring to something which is given or delegated by the greater to the lesser. He was really saying that God is the authority. He has given some authority to Pilate in his role within the Roman government, but it is a limited authority Pilate has received. And if Pilate pronounces a wrong judgment, it is sin before God. That is very important for us to remember in our day. Christians sometimes make the mistake of undermining the state as if the state has no legitimate authority at all. And when we do that, we do so at our peril. We need the state because God has established the state for the purpose of justice and defense.
On the other hand, if we do what the world does, that is, make the state absolute and deny that the authority of the state and its courts comes from God, then there is no check upon the government. At that point laws cease to serve as a human attempt to administrate the eternal law of God, but rather they become arbitrary, where the majority vote, or perhaps in some systems even the decision of a small body of people, determines the morality of the land.
At the very end of this, Paul begins to talk about how Christians must live. These are strong words, and yet sometimes there is a tendency to attempt to water them down. People say, “Well we believe in justification by faith and we don’t want to mix human works in with justification.” Certainly it is true that we do not want to mix those two together in terms of how we come to have a right relationship with God. But notice how Paul says it at the beginning of verse 9: “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?” He did not say, “The unjustified will not inherit the kingdom of God,” but “the wicked.”
