Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                   Chapter Eighteen

                                                                                                                                              Verses 39-40

Pilate may have thought that Jesus was just some oddball, but he seemed to have liked Jesus, and he sought some way to release Him. The Romans had established a tradition, probably by Pilate himself, that every Passover the Romans would pardon and release a prisoner that they held. The Romans always tried to establish good relations with every people they conquered. They agreed with the Jews to release a prisoner every Passover in order to show that they could be merciful. It stands to reason that the Jews would never have asked for the release of a common criminal because he would victimize some of them, and the Romans would never have offered the release of a zealot under any circumstances. Probably, the type of person the Romans offered and the Jews accepted would be perhaps a Jewish ruler who had protested too loudly against Roman pagan practices or maybe someone who had failed to pay their Roman taxes. Yet, the mob outside yelled for the release of a man named Barabbas who was a murderer whom they knew would probably commit more crimes against them. The mob had to have known that Jesus had always been loving and merciful among them, and yet, they hated Jesus so much that they preferred the release of a common criminal instead of Jesus. Jesus truly said that "They hated me without a cause." John 15:25.

The mob had allowed their evil natures to dominate their lives. All humans have an evil, spiritual death within their inner beings that has been injected into them by the Devil. All humans also have a good nature within created by God. Some people allow their evil natures to dominate their lives, but most people desire that their good natures should dominate their lives. Nevertheless, all humans sin because of the influence of their evil natures. Romans 3:23. Jesus taught in the parable of the tares and wheat, "Let both grow together until the harvest." Matthew 13:24-30. The tares, which represent evil, have been sowed by the Devil, and the wheat, which represents God's creation, has been sowed by Him. Both natures are inside every human, but God annuls the spiritual deaths inside every human saved by grace in their souls and spirits. I John 3:9; John 5:24. But they can still commit fleshly sins. Romans 7:18. All humans, except for small children who have not reached an age where they can know that they are responsible for their sins, at one time or another in their lives allowed their evil natures to cause them to desire to get rid of God and be independent of God's rule and establish their own system of morality which always happens to be the old immorality. Even humans who have never heard of God have felt this evil desire. The Devil has put his own rebellious attitude into the hearts of every responsible, living human. Acts 4:23-28. Every human who knows that they have this evil nature caused Jesus to be nailed to the cross. For this reason, Jesus went to the cross to sacrifice Himself in the place of every human by taking upon Himself all of their sins, evil, and spiritual deaths so that He could purge it all from every living human and from His entire creation so that He can recreate it all to be righteous. John 5:24; Revelation 5:11-14; I Corinthians 3:11-15; John 11:25-26; II Peter 3:9-13; Romans 8:18-23; Colossians 1:15-23; Luke 3:6; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 21:1-5.

Pilate's attitude toward Jesus reflected the Devil's dilemma at that time. On one hand, the Devil influenced Pilate to let Jesus go so that the Devil could retain his evil kingdom in the world, perhaps forever, but then he would have to give up his desire to murder God and get rid of Him. The Devil also influenced Simon Peter in the same way. Matthew 16:21-23. On the other hand, the Devil could influence Pilate to placate the Jews by having Jesus crucified regardless of His innocence and thereby take his chance to murder God and get rid of Him so that he could assume control of God's entire creation. God knew the Devil was greedy. God, who had planned all this, knew that the Devil would choose to try to murder Him, but God turned the table on the Devil, and Christ would retain the innocence of God throughout all of His suffering for the sins, evil, and spiritual deaths of all living humans, and He would rise from the dead with victorious power to purge all evil and spiritual death from His entire creation. Matthew 28:18; Revelation 1:17-18; Revelation 21:1-5; Revelation 22:11-12. Jesus told His disciples that He had all power in Heaven and earth after His resurrection which can only mean that the Devil had entirely lost all of his evil power.