Discovery BoxJohn 19:9-11 
Context19:9 and he went back into the governor’s residence 1 and said to Jesus, “Where do you come from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 19:10 So Pilate said, 2 “Do you refuse to speak to me? Don’t you know I have the authority 3 to release you, and to crucify you?” 4 19:11 Jesus replied, “You would have no authority 5 over me at all, unless it was given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you 6 is guilty of greater sin.” 7
1 tn Grk “into the praetorium.”
2 tn Grk “said to him.” The words “to him” are not translated because they are unnecessary in contemporary English style.
3 tn Or “the power.”
4 tn Grk “know that I have the authority to release you and the authority to crucify you.” Repetition of “the authority” is unnecessarily redundant English style.
sn See the note on Crucify in 19:6.
5 tn Or “power.”
6 tn Or “who delivered me over to you.”
sn The one who handed me over to you appears to be a reference to Judas at first; yet Judas did not deliver Jesus up to Pilate, but to the Jewish authorities. The singular may be a reference to Caiaphas, who as high priest was representative of all the Jewish authorities, or it may be a generic singular referring to all the Jewish authorities directly. In either case the end result is more or less the same.
7 tn Grk “has the greater sin” (an idiom).
sn Because Pilate had no authority over Jesus except what had been given to him from God, the one who handed Jesus over to Pilate was guilty of greater sin. This does not absolve Pilate of guilt; it simply means his guilt was less than those who handed Jesus over to him, because he was not acting against Jesus out of deliberate hatred or calculated malice, like the Jewish religious authorities. These were thereby guilty of greater sin.
