Pilate therefore went forth again, and said to them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that you may know that I find no fault in him.
that ye.
John 19:6 When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.
John 18:38 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.
Matthew 27:4,19,24,54 Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that…
and said to the Jews,
The term "Jews" here refers primarily to the Jewish religious leaders and those who were instigating the call for Jesus' crucifixion. This reflects the complex relationship between the Roman authorities and the Jewish leadership, who were seeking to maintain their religious and social order.
“Look, I am bringing Him out to you
Pilate presents Jesus to the crowd, emphasizing his role as a mediator between Roman law and Jewish demands. This act of bringing Jesus out is symbolic of Pilate's attempt to publicly demonstrate his judgment and to appease the crowd without resorting to execution.
to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against Him.”
Pilate's declaration of Jesus' innocence is significant, as it underscores the unjust nature of the trial. Despite the lack of evidence for any crime under Roman law, the pressure from the Jewish leaders and the crowd ultimately leads to Jesus' crucifixion. This statement fulfills the prophetic theme of the innocent suffering servant, as seen in Isaiah 53:9, which speaks of the Messiah being without deceit or violence.
- Pilate steps outside the Praetorium yet again (John 18:29, 38), showing his repeated attempts to settle the matter without condemning Jesus.
- His movement underscores Rome’s authority intersecting with Jewish leadership, fulfilling Jesus’ own words that He would be “handed over to the Gentiles” (Matthew 20:19).
- Repetition signals Pilate’s growing unease; like his wife’s warning in Matthew 27:19, every new appearance heightens the witness to Jesus’ innocence.
- The phrase identifies the primary audience: the leaders and crowd stirred up by them (Mark 15:11).
- It highlights national responsibility (Acts 2:22-23) while also revealing Pilate’s attempt to shift blame, a theme that will climax when he washes his hands (Matthew 27:24).
- Their presence fulfills Psalm 2:1-2, where “the kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against His Anointed.”
- A call for focused attention—similar to John 1:29 where John the Baptist cries, “Behold, the Lamb of God.”
- Pilate unknowingly invites them to consider Jesus’ true identity; his single word stands as an ironic gospel invitation.
- Revelation 1:7 echoes this summons: “Every eye will see Him”—those who behold Him now in scorn will one day see Him in glory.
- Pilate presents Jesus physically battered (John 19:1-3) as a strategy to evoke pity and avoid execution.
- This public display fulfills Isaiah 53:3—“despised and rejected by men”—and yet also prepares for God’s ultimate public vindication (Acts 3:13-15).
- The scene mirrors the Passover custom of presenting the lamb before slaughter (Exodus 12:3-6), quietly affirming Jesus as the true Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7).
- Pilate’s legal verdict echoes his earlier statement (Luke 23:4) and will be repeated (John 19:6).
- Scripture piles up testimonies to Christ’s sinlessness: 2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 2:22, Hebrews 4:15.
- The judge of Rome declares Him innocent; yet the innocent One will choose the cross, becoming the atoning sacrifice (1 John 2:2).
- Pilate’s words, intended to free himself from guilt, instead strengthen the gospel proclamation that Jesus dies not for His own sins but for ours (Isaiah 53:5-6).
John 19:4 portrays a conflicted Roman governor publicly affirming Jesus’ innocence while handing Him over to a hostile crowd. Each phrase builds the case: repeated appearances reveal Pilate’s reluctance; the address to the Jews highlights national accountability; the invitation “Look” becomes a providential call to behold the true King; the presentation of a wounded but guiltless Christ anticipates His sacrificial death; and the formal declaration of “no basis for a charge” seals the testimony of His sinlessness. Together, the verse magnifies God’s sovereign plan: the spotless Lamb, openly declared innocent, will willingly bear the world’s guilt so that all who truly “look” to Him might be saved.
(4) Pilate therefore went forth again.--He had returned to the palace, and had ordered the scourging in the courtyard (Mark 15:15-16). He now goes forth again with Jesus wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and hopes by the spectacle to move the sympathy of the people, and to prevent the design of the rulers.That ye may know that I find no fault in him.--Comp. Note on John 18:38. Had he found proof of a legal crime he would have ordered His execution, and not have led Him forth in this mock royal attitude to move the feelings of the people.
(4) That the third, sixth, and ninth hours (comp. Matthew 20:3; Matthew 20:5) seem to have been, in common life, rough divisions of the day, corresponding to the watches of the night. An event occurring at ten o'clock might have been spoken of roughly as about the third hour, while it might, on the other hand, be thought of as within the division called the sixth hour.
Verses 4-7. - (e) [Without the Praetorium.] Further protestations by Pilate of Christ's innocence bring out the hitherto-concealed Jewish verdict that he had claimed to be the Son of God. Verse 4. - And Pilate, with grim insouciance, allows the mockery to take place, and then, with his poor derided sham-king at his side, he went forth again from the Praetorium to the public seat, where he kept up the conflict with the accusers and the ever-gathering crowd, and saith to them, with more of passion than before, imagining that this pitiable caricature of a king would reduce the cry of "Crucify him!" into some more moderate and less preposterous demand. Behold, I lead him forth to you, crowned, but bleeding, robed as a king, but humiliated to a condition worse than a slave, that ye may know that I find no crime in him; literally, no charge; i.e. no "crime." Pilate rims renews and varies his testimony to the character of the Holy One! He makes another fruitless appeal to the humanity and justice of the maddened mob. But what a revelation of Pilate's own weakness and shame! He can find no fault, but has connived at, nay, ordered, the worst part of this atrocious punishment. Keim would have us think that Pilate's anxiety to save a Jew is a mere invention made by the second-century fabricator. There is however, nothing incompatible with a Roman official's anxiety not to commit a judicial murder, for his own sake, and perhaps for the honor of his order. The hypothesis is irrational that the entire representation of Pilate's desire to screen or save Jesus from the malice of the Jews was a device of the author, due to his Gentile nationality and proclivities, anxious to put even the Roman officials in the best possible light. Surely Christians had no temptation to mitigate their judgments upon Rome at the time of the persecution under Marcus Antoninus. Thoma, like Strauss, finds the basis of the representation in the prophetic types of Isaiah 53. and Psalm 22.