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Against Pilate's Better Judgment
P
ontius Pilate was
appointed the fifth
Procurator (Governor) ol
Judaea late in A.D. 26.
Roman law gave him the
power ol lile and death with
lull authority to
reverse
capital sentences.
In one case Pilate lailed
lo exercise this prerogative
even though he knew the
man to be innocent. The
case involved Jesus ol
Nazareth.
Many authorities have
judged Pilate rather harshly.
One leading Bible dictionary
says ol him: "The verdict ol
!he New Testament is that
he was a weak man, ready
to serve expediency rather
than principie."
But let us reconstruct
Pilate's action as judge lrom
the pertinent New
Testament documents. In
retrospect the apostle
Peter reminded his
countrymen:
" ... Men ol Israel ...
God ... glorified his servan!
Jesus, whom you delivered
up and denied in the
presence ol Pilate,
when he
had decided lo release him.
But you denied the Holy and
Righteous One. and asked
lor a murderer to be
granted lo you, and killed
!he Author of lile, whom
God raised lrom the dead"
(Acts 3:12-15, excerpts
lrom the Revised Standard
Version) .
Clearly Peter placed as
much ol the responsibility
on his hearers as he did on
Pilate lor the immediate act
itself. Jesus himself had said
lo Pilate: "He who delivered
me lo you has !he greater
sin" (John 19:11).
However calculating Pilate
may have been, his Roman
education lor loreign service
in provincial areas armed
him with a certain
perception in judgment.
The chiel priests and
elders had accused Jesus
ol many unlawful acts (Matt.
27:11-14). Pontius Pilate did
not believe a single one ol
the bogus charges. The
Roman Procurator "knew
that it was
out of envy
that
they had delivered him up"
(verse
18).
Meanwhile the unruly mob
was yelling lor Jesus'
blood. " They shouted all the
more, 'Let him be
crucified.'
"So when Pilate saw that
he was gaining nothing, but
rather that a riot was
beginning , he took water
and washed his hands
belore thE: crowd. saying,
'1
am innoCElnt ol this man's
blood;
se1~
to it
yourselves ' . . . and having
scourged Jesus. delivered
him to be crucified" (verses
23-24, 26).
Pontius Pilate rendered
the final judgment with great
reluctance and most
assuredly
against his better
judgment.
A lull-scale riot by
a satanically influenced mob
was rapidly getting under
way. They knew no
rationale or reason! Pilate
saw his luture in danger. He
bowed to pressure.
Notice now a portien ol
Luke's parallel account in
chapter 23: "Pilate then
called together the chiel
priests and the rulers and
the people, and said to
them, 'You brought me this
man as one who was
perverting the people; and
atter examining him belore
you, behold,
1
did not find
this man guilty ol any ol
your charges against him;
neither did Herod. .. .
Behold, nothing deserving
death has been done by
him;
1
will therelore chastise
him and release him' "
(verses 13-16).
The secular authorities
(both the Roman Pilate and
the Jewish king Herod)
lound Jesus innocent ol the
charges. Jesus was
crucified
against Pilate 's
better judgment.
This present age acts no
differently. This world will
use its nuclear arsenals
against its better judgment.
That's why we announce
that God must intervene in
human affairs lo save us
from ourselves and to bring
us peace at last.
strongly indicates that it was the
man himself who passed the mes–
sage along to the mother of all liv–
ing. The biblical pattern shows that
a man is to be able to instruct his
wife about such matters.
In chapter 3 a spirit being called
Satan
in Hebrew- Satan means
"adversary"- appears under guise
of a serpent. Satan asks Eve about
the fruit t rees in the garden. She
replies: "We may eat the fruit of
the t rees of the garden; but of the
fruit of the t ree which is in the
midst of the garden, God has said,
'You shall not eat it, nor shall you
touch it, lest you die' " (verses 2-
3).
the devi l into consuming
t
he for–
bidden f ruit-and that Adam fol –
lowed sui t in her transgression. But
wbat were the circumstanccs? The
after events shed more light. on our
subject.
God confronted the transgressors
with their crimes one by one, and
typically each blamed someone
else. Adam blamed both God and
E
ve.
we were previously unaware of.
" Then to Adam He [God) said,
' Because you have heeded the
voice of your wife,
and have eaten
from the tree of which
J
com–
manded you, saying, " You shall not
eat of it": cursed is the ground for
your sake; in toil you shall eat of it
all the days of your life.' "
Her answer shows that Adam
inst ructed his wife about God's
commandment
with emphasis.
She
got the message all right. But a
wi ly Satan proved to be too much
for her.
T he subsequent story shows that
t he woman was deceived by Satan
16
Notice what he tells his Creator.
Verse 12: "Then the man said, 'The
woman whom You [God] gave to
be with me, she gave me of the
tree, and 1 ate.' " This verse only
summarizes the story in the brief–
est form. Remember we are getting
only the high spots of what hap–
pened.
It
is when God begins to mete
out t he penalties that we really
begin to get the true picture. First
he passes sentence on Satan, then
Eve, and finally he comes to Adam.
Verse 17 adds the vital dimension
So there was
a conversation
between Adam and Eve
before
his
consumption of the forbidden fruit.
We don' t know how long the con–
versat ion !asted, but Adam finally
capitulated ... against bis better
j udgment. Adam knew better. Eve
was deceived.
The New Testament Evidence
Several New Testament books pro–
vide us fu r ther information.
The apostle Paul-the most pro–
lific New Testament writer- had
as one of his favorite themes the
incident of the forbidden fruit. He
was totally engrossed in its far-
The
PLAIN TRUTH