Bible Commentaries
John 18

Verses 1-2

4 The charge against all mankind is that all sin and are wanting of the glory of God ( Rom_3:23 ). God guarantees to give glory and honor and incorruption to all who endure in good acts. Our Lord is the only one who can claim the reward. He is the only one who glorified God on the earth. He is the only one who accomplished the work God gave Him. Hence it seems perfectly natural for Him to demand glorification. Yet He does not ask for the glory His work deserves, but the glory which He had before the world is. He leaves His reward with God Himself. The saints will be a precious part of it.

6 Hebrew names were usually most expressive of character, life or ministry. Even we speak of a good or a bad "name", referring rather to character than sound or significance. Among the Jews the name of their God was given the honor due to the deity, hence it was never pronounced. Christ manifested God's name by displaying His attributes in His life and conduct. It is a precious thought to consider the disciples as a gift from the Father to His Son. As such, He valued them, not for their own sakes alone, but because of the Giver. It is this interweaving of human lives into the affections of God and His Christ which should give us the greatest cause for confidence and comfort. Our little lives are bound up with the love of God for His Son and the Son's response to the Father. As He says (10), all His belong to God,

and all God's are His. It is a great thing to have a God. But it is a much greater to know ourselves as the valued possession of God and His Beloved.

10 Glory consists in the esteem in which we are held by others. In the world Christ had no glory then, but in His own He was esteemed more than ever was the lot of man, and it has come to pass that, even in the world that rejects Him and repudiates His teaching, His name is placed upon the pinnacle of moral glory.

11 It seems evident that, in spirit, the Lord is beyond the cross. There it was that He finished His work (4), and until then He was still in the world.

19 That holiness, or sanctification, Is not essentially a cleansing from sin Is evident from this statement, for our Lord would not cleanse Himself from His own sin, for He had none, and He was not cleansed from, but bore, the sins of others. When the priest was consecrated, his hands were filled with the sacrifice. Real holiness consists in a positive occupation with the things of God, rather than a negative absence of sin.

22 The unity existing between the Son and the Father is here defined, for He desires the same oneness for His disciples. It is a unity of spirit and a community of interests which characterized the early disciples. This is the unity which exists between the Son and the Father. There is no thought of identity. How distinct they were in will, which is the vital element in personality, was to be seen a little later, in the garden of Gethsemane, where the will of Christ was not in line with God's. The cross was not His will, but the subordination of it to His Father.

23 It is with awed hearts and unshod feet that we enter into the pure precincts of God's love to His Son. We feel most unworthy to listen to such sacred secrets. Before the disruption, before sin or sorrow or a single sigh had sent its shadows across this scene, God's love for His Son had its birth. He came into the world, not to win God's love, but in response to it. His whole ministry was an exhibition of it, and an appeal for a suitable response. Now He reveals its fullest force, when He declares that God loves them as He loved Him. Few of His followers at that time, or even after the enlightening aid of the spirit that He had promised, entered into the fullness of this marvelous manifestation of God's affections.

1 The visits to this garden seem to have been the only pleasure the Lord allowed Himself during His ministry. In the arid East a watered garden is a delightful spot in contrast to its surroundings. How sad that this should witness the awful agony, instead of providing rest and refreshment!

1-3 Compare Mat_26:36-50 ; Mar_14:32-46 ; Luk_22:39-48 .

Verses 3-24

Darkness is the day, for evildoers. The Lord worked in the day. Satan fears the light. Even in the night they need a squad of soldiers and armed deputies to take a gentle, unarmed Man and His timid disciples. His simple words cast them to the earth. He calmly orders them to leave His disciples alone. It would seem that He was in authority, rather than they.

4 We must look behind the scenes to appreciate the tremendous issues involved in this betrayal. The cohorts of darkness were in command of Satan. The one who had deluded Eve in the garden of Eden was hurting the heel of the woman's Seed. He had managed to enlist mankind against Him. Christ Himself had called the Jews children of their father, the Adversary. Satan had actually obsessed Judas, and in him was present as chief actor and spectator. The Prince of light and the Prince of darkness meet in the treacherous kiss of Jud_1:10-14 Compare Mat_26:51-51 ; Mar_14:47-53 ; Luk_22:49-54 .

10 Impulsive Peter has not yet learned the lesson of the cross, and so he does the very worst possible thing. The difficulty with the Lord's enemies was that they had no ears that heard. What use is it to strike off the very thing they lacked? But the Lord has a heart for His enemies even in this time of His sorest distress. Elsewhere we read that He healed the hurt of the one who came to take His life. What a marvelous hint of the blessings to which His sorrows would give birth!

11 The Lord was aware of His enemies' thoughts. He perceived the opposition of Satan, yet He saw behind it all the will of His Father. The cup He was to drain was a bitter one. He had no wish to drink it. He knew what men would do, but did not blame them for it. He prayed for their forgiveness. He knew the craft of Satan, but He also knew that behind all these was, not only the iron will of a sovereign God, but the loving affection of a Father. He received it all from His hands. He not only bends beneath the stroke, but He leaves it all to the Father's love. He could trust, though He slay Him. His was the faith that never failed.

15-21 Compare Mat_26:58-69 ; Mar_14:54-65 ; Luk_22:54-71 .

11 We can imagine what a tumult was in the heart of the impetuous, warmhearted, selfconfident Peter. He would never disown His Lord! He would suffer anything for His sake! He would not believe the Lord's plain prediction of his faithlessness. He was ready to face torture and death-some great thing which would bring him applause -but he was not ready for a simple question from a mere maid. Perhaps he prided himself on following the Lord into the house, but his pride must have suffered severely as he pondered his craven conduct. He was having a practical experience of what the apostle records concerning those who seek to please God in the flesh-"What I am hating, this am I doing" ( Rom_7:15 ). How many since have found that they, too, were like Peter, strong to will, but unable to carry out the desires of their heart. And the best part of such an experience is that it destroys confidence in the flesh and drives us to the ground of grace, where we receive power and ability to carry out the mind of the spirit.

18 Houses in the cities of Palestine are heated by means of a charcoal brazier. It is a copper stand about two feet high, with a chafing dish on top. This pan is filled with ashes and on this the charcoal is placed. It is taken outside and lighted and kindled by the breeze or a fan. Then it is brought into the house.

19 Contrast Peter's craven course with the firm fortitude of his Master. The chief priest, the symbol of holiness and truth, masks his diabolical design by a hypocritical inquiry into the Lord's teachings. But the Lord reads his heart and tears off his mask. There was not the slightest weakness or compromise. It never occurred to Him to deny aught of His teaching or to evade the sufferings which threw their gloomy shadows across His path.

24 Annas was made chief priest by Cyrenius, but was deposed seven years later. After three others had held the office, his son-in-law, Caiaphas, became chief priest, and he always seems to be reckoned as holding the office with him. Luke tells us that both were chief priests ( Luk_3:2 ). This alone shows how little regard they had for God's law, which prescribed a single succession absolutely independent of human interference. They were false, chosen by ungodly alien enemies, He was the true Priest about to offer up the true Lamb. They were supposed to put away the sin of the people. Instead, they are the instigarors of the sin of sins.

Verses 25-40

25-27 Compare Mat_26:71-75 ; Mar_14:69-72 ; Luk_22:58-62 .

28-32 Compare Mat_27:1-2 ; Mar_15:1 ; Luk_23:1 .

28 What insufferable hypocrites they were! Plotting the death of God's holy One, and afraid their bloody feet would be defiled by entering where He was! The law said, "You shall not murder." And their greatest regret was that they could not kill Him themselves! The only accusation they could bring was that they demanded His death.

29 In marked contrast with the high priest is the conduct of Pilate. They were enlightened by the law, but their light had become darkness. He had nothing but the feeble flicker of natural conscience, but he wished to follow it. His first thought, however, was for himself. If possible, he would get out of this dilemma by turning Him over to them. In so doing he would not invite their displeasure and would avoid the immediate responsibility of doing what was undoubtedly an unjust act. But they did not want to try Him. They wanted to murder Him.

33-38 Compare Mat_27:11-14 ; Mar_15:2-5 ; Luk_23:2-12 .

36 Scripture knows of five "worlds", which correspond to the five eons. Before Christ's kingdom will be set up there must be the great judgments which usher in a new eon and a new world. Had the Jews received Him, humanly speaking, the kingdom would have come, but, since they reject Him, He could say " Now is My kingdom not hence." Ever since the crisis in His ministry when it became evident that the nation would not hear, He had put off the kingdom to a distant time. For some time He had not been proclaiming the kingdom, so that

Pilate had no fault to find.

37 Pilate, like many others who have mistaken the Lord's meaning, thought that He denied being a King. Perhaps he thought that He was founding a "spiritual kingdom." But the Lord corrects this false supposition, He solemnly asseverates that He is in very truth a King. This was a very serious matter for Pilate to pass upon, for he was the political head of the people. It is this charge alone that appeals to him, hence he gives our Lord the private investigation noted only in this account. Many zealous impostors arose from time to time among the Jews, proclaiming themselves to be the Messiah, and inciting the Jews to insurrection against the Romans. The real issue between Pilate and our Lord was to settle the question whether He intended to lead an armed resistance to the rule of Rome. In case He did, Pilate perforce must act to suppress the incipient rebellion and to execute the leader. But, as the Lord had no thought of establishing His kingdom in this manner, He convinces Pilate of His innocence in that regard. The other charges were religious and did not interest Pilate, Hence he desired to set Him free.

38-40 Compare Mat_27:15-23 ; Mar_15:6-15 ; Luk_23:13-25 .

40 The people choose Bar-Abbas, which signifies Son-Father. They preferred a son of their own father, the Adversary, a man who was a robber and a murderer, to the Son of the Father, Who not only brought them an untold wealth of blessing but actually brought the dead to life again. What a contrast between these two, whose names are so similar! The Saviour suffers: the sinner is set free! Bar-Abbas is a type of the great mass who will eventually be saved without faith.

1-3 Compare Mat_27:24-31 ; Mar_15:15-20 .

1 The Roman soldiers mock the Messianic hope of Israel by making Him a mimic monarch. The royal purple and the thorny wreath are accompanied by mocking adulation of His imaginary majesty. Some day that bleeding brow will wear its many diadems. But all the regal rank that these reveal will not endear Him to our hearts like the cruel wreath of thorns. It is the symbol of a power and a glory that compels a willing homage and an adoring loyalty.