Sign in
JOHN 19:21 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
John 19:20John 19:22
“Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.”
Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, 'Do not write, "The King of the Jews," but rather, "This man said, I am King of the Jews."' — The leaders' objection to Pilate's phrasing reveals they sense the inscription's ambiguity: it could assert Jesus' actual kingship (Pilate's statement of fact) or merely report Jesus' claim (false assertion). They demand the inscription be changed to indicate these are Jesus' words, not Pilate's verdict. Their sensitivity to the wording suggests discomfort with any ambiguity that might suggest their king was truly executed.

Church Fathers on John 19:21

As letters are inscribed on a trophy declaring the victory, so Pilate wrote a title on Christ’s cross. And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross: thus at once distinguishing Christ from the thieves with Him, and exposing the malice of the Jews in rising up against their King: And the writing was, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.

Chrysostom · 4th century

Wherein was strewn that His kingdom was not, as they thought, destroyed, but rather strengthened.

Bede · 8th century

But was Christ the King of the Jews only? or of the Gentiles too? Of the Gentiles too, as we read in the Psalms, Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Sion; after which it follows, Demand of Me, and I will give you the heathen for your inheritance. So this title expresses a great mystery, viz. that the wild olive-tree was made partaker of the fatness of the olive-tree, not the olive-tree made partaker of the bitterness of the wild olive-tree. Christ then is King of the…

Augustine · 4th century
Read all 8 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
Publish a reflection on this verse
No reflections on this verse yet. Be the first to write one!