All religions recognize the twofold nature of man. As we are body and soul, the requirements of religion respect both these parts of our being. The heart is the spring of conduct, and actions are the manifestation of the spiritual nature. It is obvious that an opening thus exists for hypocrisy; it is possible that there may be the outward form where the inner reality is lacking. Such was the case with those Jews - chiefly priests and Pharisees - whose conduct is described in the text. They felt no scruple in defiling their conscience with the crime of shedding the blood of the innocent; but they would on no account enter the Praetorium, where leaven might be present in some of the rooms, lest they should be polluted, and unfitted for taking part in the solemnities of the approaching Passover.

I. CEREMONIAL DEFILEMENT MAY BE AVOIDED WHILST REAL DEFILEMENT OF THE SOUL IS CONTRACTED. The heathen religions of antiquity were in no vital way connected with morality. A man might be a very religious, and yet a very bad, man; and that without any inconsistency. But the faith of the Hebrews was based upon revelation, and combined belief of the truth with practice of righteousness. It was culpable in a high degree in men who enjoyed revelation so clear and full, to be led aside from the ways of justice at the very moment when they were carefully observing the requirements of the ceremonial law. It is an evidence of their depravity, and at the same time of their blunted sensibilities to what was right and reasonable, that they should so act. How much more deserving of condemnation are professed Christians, who, whilst scrupulously observing the ordinances of religion and the regulations of their Churches, at the same time are guilty of serious infractions of the moral law! Yet men are found who keep with outward strictness the day of rest, who partake of the holy Eucharist, and yet are not ashamed to act unjustly, to speak slanderously, and to cherish a selfish and worldly spirit.

II. CEREMONIAL DEFILEMENT MAY BE CONTRACTED WHILST REAL DEFILEMENT OF THE SOUL IS AVOIDED. There are many cases in which "to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." As David ate the showbread, as the disciples of Jesus plucked the ears of corn, and Jesus himself healed the sick on the sabbath, so men may often be justified in transgressing the letter of a commandment in order to keep the spirit of the law. The claims of humanity are rightly to be preferred to the requirements of an external character, which nevertheless have their place and their use. And good men may even frequent the society of the vicious, the criminal, the degraded, when, by so doing, they may make an opportunity for bringing the gospel of Christ's love before the minds of those to whom nothing but the gospel can bring rescue, salvation, and eternal life. Many methods may upon this principle be justified which would not on their own account be accepted and practiced by the sensitive and fastidious. Salus populi suprema lex. If it is so in politics, surely in the religious life we may well be, like the apostle, "all things to all men, if by any means we may Will some.' - T.

I. COMMON. How many religionists are afraid to enter certain places lest they should receive a taint! Papists stand aloof from all Protestant scenes of worship; Protestants from Catholics; Anglicans from Nonconformists; Dissenters from Episcopal. Who are these men of spurious sanctity? Are they lawyers who never take advantage of their clients; merchants who never practise dishonesty on their customers; doctors who never impose on their patients; servants who never cheat their masters; aristocrats who are never haughty and licentious? I trow not. The chances are that they belong to those classes. For no order had Christ a profounder contempt, "Woe unto you," &c.

II. IRRATIONAL. It is founded on an absurd idea of —

1. Localities — it presupposes that some places are more holy than others. Is St. Peter's holier than St. Paul's? or St. Paul's than any other sanctuary? Nay, every spot is "holy ground" since God made it, and is prisent with it. True, the purpose for which a certain place has bee set apart may be good or bad, but the place is the same.

2. Human obligation. It supposes that a man is bound to be more holy in one place or time than in another, more holy in church, and on the Sabbath, than elsewhere on any other day — a preposterous fiction. Man, though of complex elements, is but one being and moral in all. "Whatever he does" is bound to be to "the glory of God."

3. Mind. It supposes that the mind is some passive substance that can be defiled by some outward element or agent irrespective of its own choice and effort — a piece of stone you can daub or wash. But it is not so. Nothing outward can effect the mind independently of itself. It can make itself filthy in scenes and services supposed to be the most holy; it can keep itself pure in places the most vile. The body when in a healthy state can appropriate everything that is necessary from nature and to expel what is pernicious. The soul has a power analogous to this. Let us use it as Noah did, who amidst a foul generation "walked with God," and fulfilled a noble destiny; as Paul used it at sceptical Athens or dissolute Corinth, and who proved that "all things work together for good," &c.

III. PERNICIOUS.

1. It is a positive injury to its subject. The religionist who moves about the world with the dread of having his soul defiled, is like a man who enters a sick room afraid of inbreathing disease. He is nervous, and loses his brightness and buoyancy. The spurious saint lacks naturalness and elasticity of soul. Afraid of being defiled, he shuns the scenes of innocent recreation, and trembles all over in the presence of schismatics and heretics.

2. It is a calumny on true religion. The religion of Christ is happiness, and these spurious saints are the greatest obstructions to the progress of Christianity.

(D. Thomas, D. D.)

I. SCRUPLES. The Jewish hierarchs were afraid of —

1. Ceremonial defilement. Good! they had not otherwise been faithful Jews.

2. Exclusion from the feast. Good again! it was a mark of true religion to observe the ordinances.

II. NO SCRUPLES. The rulers were not afraid —

1. To send in Christ to Pilate's house. They could not risk contamination, but he might, if indeed He could be more defiled then he already was.

2. To plot the murder of the Son of God. Yet they were the leaders of religious society in their day! Heaven's favourites if any were. Lesson: Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

(T. Whitelaw, D. D.)

The sentence is an extraordinary example of the false scrupulosity of conscience which a wicked man may keep up, about forms and ceremonies and trifling externals in religion, at the very time he is deliberately committing some gross and enormous sin. The notorious fact that Italian bandits and murderers will make much of fasting, keeping Lent, confession, absolution, Virgin Mary worship, saint worship, and image worship, at the very time when they are arranging robberies and assassinations, is an accurate illustration of the same principle. The extent to which formality and wickedness can go side by side is frightful, and little known. The Jews were afraid of being defiled by going into a Gentile's house, at the very moment when they were doing the devil's work, and murdering the Prince of Life! Just so, many people in England will attach immense importance to fasting and keeping lent and attending saints'-day services, while they see no harm in going to races, operas, and balls, at other times! Persons who have very low notions about the Seventh Commandment, will actually tell you it is wrong to be married in Lent! The very same persons who totally disregard Sunday abroad will make much ado about saints'-days at home! Absurd strictness about Lent, and excess of riot and licentiousness in carnival, will often go together. Peele remarks, "Nothing is more common than for persons over zealous about rituals to be remiss about morals."

(Bp. Ryle.)

How much more particular men are to seem clean outside than to be clean inside. Very few men, or women, will go to church in their working dress, or with untidy garments of any sort; but a great many men and women will go to church without any mental or spiritual preparation for the services there. Ten times more attention is commonly paid on a Sunday morning to blacking boots, and to arranging hair, and to putting on one's best clothing in the showiest way, than to family prayers and to private devotions, in "getting ready for church." It is a very rare thing for a person to go to church without washing the face and hands in advance of the start from home. It is not as rare for one to go to church without an attempt to clean up — inside. Very often a mother will tell a teacher that her little boy or little girl doesn't come to Sunday school because of a lack of decent clothing. More rarely does a mother admit that her boy or girl is so viciously disposed as to endanger the morals of the other scholars in her child's class. Is there such a great difference, after all, in the spirit of our neighbours — not to include ourselves — nowadays, and the spirit of those Jews who would plan to crucify Jesus, but would shrink from going to their religious services with soiled hands and defiled garments?

(H. C. Trumbull.)

In Sir Fowell Buxton's account of his visit to the prison at Civita Vecchia (Life, c. 29.) may be found the following curious illustration: — "It is odd enough that Gasparoni is very religious now: he fasts not only on Friday, but adds a supererogatory Saturday... But, curious as his theology now is, it is still more strange that, according to his own account, he was always a very religious man. I asked him whether he had fasted when he was a bandit? He said, 'yes,' 'Why did you fast?' said I. 'Perche sono della religions della Madonna. 'Which did you think was the worst, eating meat on a Friday or killing a man?' He answered without hesitation, 'In my case it was a crime not to fast, it was no crime to kill those who came to betray me.' With all his present religion, however, he told the Mayor of the town the other day, that if he got loose, the first thing he would do would be to cut the throats of all the priests: and the Mayor said in this he perfectly believed him, and if he were now to break out, he would be ten times worse than ever. One fact, however, shows some degree of scrupulosity. The people of the country bear testimony that he never committed murder on a Friday!"

is introduced without any further characterization as a well-known personage, the name Pontius Pilate showing that he was connected with the Geus Pontia, and that one of his ancestors or himself had received the cognomen Pilatus, adorned or furnished with a javelin (Virgil AEn. 12:121), on account of meritorious services. Called "the governor" (Matthew 27:2; Tacit. Ann.15:44), he was the fifth Roman procurator of Judaea, his predecessors having been Caponius, Marcus Ambivius, Annius Rufus, Valereius Gratus. Pilate had held the office for ten years during the reign of Tiberius. His arbitrary conduct in introducing Caesar's ensigns into Jerusalem, and in bringing water into the city for which he paid with money belonging to the Temple, led to successive risings amongst his subjects (Jos. "Ant." and "Wars"). Philo accuses him of "bribery, violence, robbery, cruelty, insult, continual executions without semblance of justice, endless and unendurable atrocities." If this, perhaps, as the testimony of an enemy is too strong, it is certain that Pilate was a Roman governor of the regulation type, who acted without the slightest regard for the peculiarities (especially religious) of the provinces over which he ruled, and punished every opposition to his arbitrary conduct with the greatest severity. It would not be easy to find another man so well fitted to drive the Jewish nation to desperation. Accused before Vitellus, the preces of Syria, he was deposed, and sent to Rome to answer for his administration.

(T. Whitelaw, D. D.)

Pilate was a thorough and complete type of the later-Roman man of the world. Stern, but not relentless — shrewd and world-worn — prompt and practical — haughtily just — and yet, as the early writers correctly observed, self seeking and cowardly — able to perceive what was right, but without moral strength to follow it out — the Procurator of Judaea stands forth a sad and terrible instance of a man whom the fear of endangered self-interest drove not only to act against the deliberate convictions of his heart and conscience, but further to commit an act of cruelty and injustice, even after those convictions had been deepened by warnings and strengthened by presentiment.

(Bp. Ellicott.)

I. THE SITUATION.

1. The place — the praetorium or palace of Pilate.

2. The time — Friday morning, after day-break.

3. The prisoner — Jesus sentenced and bound.

4. The prosecutors.

(1)Their personal dignity — the Jews, members of the Sanhedrim, through their servants and the soldiers.

(2)Their religious scruples.

(3)Their murderous zeal — hurrying before the governor with their victim at the first approach of dawn (Proverbs 1:16).

5. The judge — Pilate.

(1)His office — procurator or governor of Judaea.

(2)His character — unjust, tyrannical and cruel.

II. THE PROCEDURE.

1. An indictment demanded (ver. 29). Pilate's motive may have been —

(1)Contempt of the Jews.

(2)Pity for Jesus, or —

(3)Respect for Roman law (cf. Acts 25:16).

2. An evasion attempted (ver. 30). A formal indict ment was —(1) Not convenient for the Jewish leaders. To have asserted that they had condemned Jesus as a blasphemer for calling Himself God's Son, to a heathen like Pilate, familiar with the notion of God's appearing on the earth, would probably have led to Jesus' liberation as a harmless fanatic, as well as to their expulsion from the judgment seat (Acts 18:16). Hence they urged that it was —(2) Not necessary for the governor. The circumstance that they had come to him was proof enough that Christ was no mere every-day offender.

3. A concession offered (ver. 31). Pilate was unwilling to accede to their illegality and to stoop before their insolence. If he was to be executioner he must also be the judge; if they were to be the judges they could be their own headsmen, and withdraw the case from Roman jurisdiction altogether, and finish it up at their own tribunals. Pilate saw that the Jewish hierarchs intended murder, for which he was not inclined, and with exquisite irony, knowing their impotence to inflict death, tells them to go as far as their law will allow.

4. An admission made (ver. 31). Brought to bay, the human sleuth hounds were obliged to divulge their secret, viz., that they intended to take the life of their victim, but could not do so without his assistance.

III. THE ISSUE.

1. The purpose of Pilate fixed. He would not stir without an accusation.

2. The design of the Jews frustrated. They had purposed to cut their prisoner off without troubling the world with any explanation of His offences.

3. The counsel of God fulfilled (ver. 32).Lessons:

1. The debasement of conscience seen in the Jewish hierarchs.

2. The instincts of justice, operating even in a bad man — exemplified in Pilate.

3. The impossibility of defeating God's counsel — observed in the actions of both.

(T. Whitelaw, D. D.)

THE FIRST APPEAL (ver. 29). What response was made (ver. 30)? Here we have —

1. Baseless calumny. "If He were not aa evil-doer — meaning that that was a well-attested fact. But what evil had He done? The calumny was implied rather than expressed, and thus it generally works. Assuming wrong in the character traduced, it expresses it in oblique innuendo, a nod of the head, a shrug of the shoulders," &c.

2. Arrogated superiority. "If he had not," &c., we could not have done such a thing — so vital is our sympathy with rectitude — we, oh no, not for the world. There is a good deal of social influence in arrogated superiority. Let a man assume that he is a great thinker, or scholar, or pre-eminently holy, and credulous fools will believe him. As a rule our contemporaries take us not for what we are, but for what we assume to be.

3. Crouching sychophancy. "To thee" — the great judge — deeming it an honour to Pilate. Corrupt men always work out their best designs by crawling servility to men in power.

II. THE SECOND APPEAL (ver. 31). The response showed that —

1. They were animated by a mortal malice — nothing but Christ's death would satisfy them.

2. Thus mortal malice was restrained by Providence.(1) Public law. They would have inflicted capital punishment had not the law taken away that power.(2) A Divine decree (ver. 32). Had it been left to the Jews, Christ would have been stoned. Sinners live under a grand system of restraints, otherwise the world would be a Pandemonium.

(D. Thomas, D. D.)

Annas, Barabbas, Caiaphas, Jesus, Judas, Malchus, Peter, Pilate, SimonJerusalem, Kidron, NazarethAccordingly, Accusation, Bring, Bringing, Charges, Forth, Inquired, Pilate, Question1. Judas betrays Jesus.
6. The officers fall to the ground.
10. Peter cuts off Malchus' ear.
12. Jesus is taken, and led unto Annas and Caiaphas.
15. Peter's denial.
19. Jesus examined before Caiaphas.
25. Peter's second and third denial.
28. Jesus arraigned before Pilate.
36. His kingdom.
40. The Jews prefer Barabbas.

John 18:29

     5201   accusation

John 18:28-31

     7505   Jews, the
     7565   Sanhedrin

John 18:28-32

     2585   Christ, trial
     8729   enemies, of Christ

John 18:29-19:16

     5203   acquittal

March 24 Evening
God hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.--I THES. 2:12. My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, . . . but now is my kingdom not from hence.--Expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.--Thou hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.--I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

November 23 Evening
My kingdom is not of this world.--JOHN 18:36. This man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his enemies may be made his footstool.--Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. He must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.--He raised him from the dead, and set …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

Jesus Before Caiaphas
'And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple: that disciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest. But Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple, which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter. Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this Man's disciples? He saith, I am not. And the servants and officers stood there, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI

Art Thou a King?
'Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover. Pilate then went out unto them, and said, What accusation bring ye against this Man? They answered and said unto him, If He were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered Him up unto thee. Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye Him, and judge Him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI

Christ and his Captors
'As soon then as He had said unto them, I am He, they went backward, and fell to the ground. Then asked He them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am He: if therefore ye seek Me, let these go their way: That the saying might he fulfilled, which He spake, Of them which Thou gayest Me have I lost none.'--JOHN xviii. 6-9. This remarkable incident is narrated by John only. It fits in with the purpose which he himself tells us governed his selection …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI

Calvary: victory. Matthew 26:47-27:61. Mark 14: 43-15:47. Luke 22:47-23:56. John 18:1-19:42.
Yielding to Arrest: the betrayal--protecting the disciples--checking Peter's violence--the arrest--the disciples forsake Him--except two, John 18:15, 16. The Real Jewish Ruler: Annas the intriguer--an unrebuked insult--the case settled at once--before Caiaphas--difficulty in fixing a charge--the dramatic question and solemn answer--second condemnation--gross insults. Held Steady by Great Love: Peter gains entrance through John, John 18:16.--the stammering denial--the bolder--with oaths and …
S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks about Jesus

Kingship.
Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king! To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth: every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.--John xviii. 37. Pilate asks Jesus if he is a king. The question is called forth by what the Lord had just said concerning his kingdom, closing with the statement that it was not of this world. He now answers Pilate that he is a king indeed, but shows him that his kingdom …
George MacDonald—Unspoken Sermons

First Stage of Jewish Trial. Examination by Annas.
(Friday Before Dawn.) ^D John XVIII. 12-14, 19-23. ^d 12 So the band and the chief captain, and the officers of the Jews, seized Jesus and bound him, 13 and led him to Annas first; for he was father in law to Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. [For confusion in the priesthood, etc., see pp. 64 and 528.] 14 Now Caiaphas was he that gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people. [See p. 528. John restates this fact to remind the reader that Jesus was about …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Thursday Night - Before Annas and Caiaphas - Peter and Jesus.
IT was not a long way that they led the bound Christ. Probably through the same gate by which He had gone forth with His disciples after the Paschal Supper, up to where, on the slope between the Upper City and the Tyropoeon, stood the well-known Palace of Annas. There were no idle saunterers in the streets of Jerusalem at that late hour, and the tramp of the Roman guard must have been too often heard to startle sleepers, or to lead to the inquiry why that glare of lamps and torches, and Who was the …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Shadow of Death
196. Of the garden of Gethsemane it is only known that it was across the Kidron, on the slope of the Mount of Olives. Tradition has long pointed to an enclosure some fifty yards beyond the bridge that crosses the ravine on the road leading eastward from St. Stephen's gate. Most students feel that this is too near the city and the highway for the place of retreat chosen by Jesus. Archaeologically and sentimentally the identification of places connected with the life of Jesus is of great interest. …
Rush Rhees—The Life of Jesus of Nazareth

A Review and a Challenge
The Social Principles of Jesus Demand Personal Allegiance and Social Action DAILY READINGS First Day: The Social Mission of Christians Ye are the salt of the earth.... Ye are the light of the world.--Matt. 5:13, 14. "Jesus speaks here with the consciousness of an historic mission to the whole of humanity. Yet it was a Nazarene carpenter speaking to a group of Galilean peasants and fishermen. Under the circumstances, and at the time, it was an utterance of the most daring faith--faith in himself, …
Walter Rauschenbusch—The Social Principles of Jesus

The Arrest.
"When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the brook Kidron, where was a garden, into the which He entered, Himself and His disciples. Now Judas also, which betrayed Him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with His disciples. Judas then, having received the band of soldiers, and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went …
Marcus Dods—The Expositor's Bible: The Gospel of St John, Vol. II

Peter's Denial and Repentance.
"So the band and the chief captain, and the officers of the Jews, seized Jesus and bound Him, and led Him to Annas first; for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, which was high priest that year. Now Caiaphas was he which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people. And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Now that disciple was known unto the high priest, and entered in with Jesus into the court of the high priest; but Peter was standing …
Marcus Dods—The Expositor's Bible: The Gospel of St John, Vol. II

Jesus Before Pilate.
"They led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the palace: and it was early; and they themselves entered not into the palace, that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover. Pilate therefore went out unto them, and saith, What accusation bring ye against this man? They answered and said unto him, If this man were not an evil-doer, we should not have delivered Him up unto thee. Pilate therefore said unto them, Take Him yourselves, and judge Him according to your law. The Jews said unto him, …
Marcus Dods—The Expositor's Bible: The Gospel of St John, Vol. II

Comparison Between the False Church and the True.
1. Recapitulation of the matters treated in the previous chapter. Substance of the present chapter--viz. Where lying and falsehood prevail, no Church exists. There is falsehood wherever the pure doctrine of Christ is not in vigour. 2. This falsehood prevails under the Papacy. Hence the Papacy is not a Church. Still the Papists extol their own Church, and charge those who dissent from it with heresy and schism. They attempt to defend their vaunting by the name of personal succession. A succession …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

The Arrest of Jesus
Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.--Now he that betrayed him …
Richard Newton—The Life of Jesus Christ for the Young

The Betrayal.
Leaving the Upper Room, Jesus and his disciples went out into the moonlit night, for there was full moon at the passover, and took their way through the streets out of the eastern gate, across the Kedron, to the garden of Gethsemane, about a half mile from the city walls, near the western base of Mt. Olivet. The Garden, or orchard, takes its name from a word meaning oil press, and doubtless was shaded by the olive trees, from which the hill takes its designation. Still the traveler meets on this …
B.W. Johnson—The New Testament Commentary Vol. III: John

The Trial Before the High Priest.
"Reading the Gospels side by side, we will, with care and study, see how all they tell us falls accurately into its proper position in the general narrative, and shows us a six-fold trial, a quadruple decision, a triple acquittal, a twice repeated condemnation of Christ our Lord. We soon perceive that of the three successive trials which our Lord underwent at the hands of the Jews, the first only--that before Annas--is related to us by John; the second--that before Caiaphas--by Matthew and Mark; …
B.W. Johnson—The New Testament Commentary Vol. III: John

Christ Before Pilate.
John only gives the detailed account of the private examinations of Jesus by Pilate during the civil trial recorded in 18:33-37. He probably went within Pilate's palace as he would not be deterred by the scruples of the Jews, having eaten his passover, and he was therefore a personal witness. His account aids much in explaining Pilate's language to the Jews and to Christ, which is recorded in the other Gospels. The trial before Pilate divides itself into the following acts: 1. Without the Prætorium. …
B.W. Johnson—The New Testament Commentary Vol. III: John

Messiah Despised, and Rejected of Men
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrow, and acquainted with grief. T he heathen moralists, ignorant of the character and perfections of God, the true dignity and immorality of the soul, and the root and extent of human depravity, had no better foundation, for what they call virtue, than pride; no higher aim in their regulations, than the interests of society, and the conduct of civil life. They expressed, indeed, occasionally, some sentiments of a superior kind; but these, however just …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

Messiah Rising from the Dead
For Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption. T hat the Gospel is a divine revelation may be summarily proved from the character of its Author. If an infidel was so far divested of prejudice and prepossession, as to read the history of Jesus Christ, recorded by the Evangelists, with attention, and in order to form his judgment of it, simply and candidly, as evidence should appear; I think he must observe many particulars in his spirit and conduct, …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

The Greatest Trial on Record
Brethren, as the Lord gave commandment concerning even the ashes and offal of the sacrifices, we ought to think no matter trivial which stands in connection with our great burnt offering. My admonition is, "Gather up the fragments which remain, that nothing be lost." As goldsmiths sweep their shops, to save even the filings of the gold, so every word of Jesus should be treasured up as very precious. But, indeed, the narrative to which I invite you is not unimportant. Things which were purposed of …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 9: 1863

Of the Matters to be Considered in the Councils.
Let us now consider the matters which should be treated in the councils, and with which popes, cardinals, bishops, and all learned men should occupy themselves day and night, if they loved Christ and His Church. But if they do not do so, the people at large and the temporal powers must do so, without considering the thunders of their excommunications. For an unjust excommunication is better than ten just absolutions, and an unjust absolution is worse than ten just excommunications. Therefore let …
Martin Luther—First Principles of the Reformation

John 18:29 NIV
John 18:29 NLT
John 18:29 ESV
John 18:29 NASB
John 18:29 KJV

John 18:29 Bible Apps
John 18:29 Parallel
John 18:29 Biblia Paralela
John 18:29 Chinese Bible
John 18:29 French Bible
John 18:29 German Bible

John 18:29 Commentaries

Bible Hub