Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him.
Pilate ends his talk with the Prisoner by tossing out a question and walking away before Jesus can answer. In the same breath he gives the only honest verdict of the whole trial. Commentators press two points here: what it means to ask about truth while Truth stands in front of you, and what it means to call the Prisoner innocent and then hand Him over anyway.
Truth in Front of Him
The question was not asked into empty air. One writer puts Pilate's question next to the Lord's own words and calls it a missed chance.
An Outline of Sound WordsPilate's question, so often asked before and since, shows that the world is utterly ignorant of the truth, and this because it is ignorant of the true God... What an opportunity Pilate missed! He asked, "What is truth?" and there before his eyes was Him who had said, "I am… the truth." Such is man in his greatness! Such is the world in its ignorance of God and His truth!
Leaving Before the Answer
The clue to Pilate's state is not the question but what he did next — he broke off and left.
The Bible TreasuryWe may not know exactly what was in the Roman Governor's mind when he asked that question, but his actions show us his attitude to it. He broke off at this point. If he had really wanted to know the truth, an answer would have come from Him who came into the world to bear witness to the truth. If anything but indifference or scepticism had prompted the question, he would surely have waited for that answer. Attitude to the truth and attitude to Christ are much the same.
The Lord's previous sentence had already offered him a way past his own scepticism.
Numerical Bible NotesYet here was a word that could get behind even such defences. If he did not know what truth was, he could at least know whether he was "of" it. And if a man must be true in order to know truth, maybe that lack was what made truth seem out of reach.
The Judge Who Would Not Judge
Pilate sat as judge. Finding the truth was his job, not an optional extra.
F. B. HolePilate held the judge's authority, so his job was to find the truth and judge by it. But he asked, "What is truth?" in a flippant, sceptical tone. That showed how, in his mind, judgment had been cut off from righteousness. As a Roman judge he knew far too much about men and their lies, and he felt that chasing truth was chasing a mirage. That did not excuse his folly. The moment he asked his question, he turned his back on Christ and went out to the lying Jews.
A Verdict That Should Have Opened the Door
The second half of the verse is Pilate's legal finding. Older translations word it "I find no fault in him."
J. T. MawsonPilate questioned Jesus briefly, and his judgment was quick and sure. It was the only one he could have given, for so far there was no evidence of any crime and no charge against Him. So, as the man who administered Roman law, he told the impatient, waiting Jews, "I find no fault in Him at all." If that meant anything, it meant acquittal — the Prisoner released at once and the crowd sent away.
Instead of acting on his own verdict, Pilate looked for a way out.
Numerical Bible NotesIn that case his only duty was to release Him. But instead of giving in to his conscience, he tries to strike a deal with it. Looking for what seems to him an escape from a hard situation, he puts the whole matter into the people's hands. So he makes it almost impossible to return to the right path he has left, and he openly declares himself to be not of the truth.
The World's Verdict on Christ
The religious leaders had already made their decision. Now the ruling power of the nations takes its turn, and the verse records the result.
Hamilton SmithThe religious leaders of the Jewish nation having rejected Christ, the political leaders of the Gentiles are now put to the test. The blessed Lord is led before Pilate, with the result that government, which had been given to the Gentiles for the praise of that which is good, and the execution of judgment upon him that does evil (Romans 13:4), is used to condemn One in Whom, it is confessed, no fault can be found.
Pilate's finding also became one of several unlikely witnesses to Christ's perfection.
W. T. P. WolstonWhat do you think of the moral and spiritual state of a world that can refuse the threefold testimony then given to Jesus, the Man of Sorrows? Pilate says, "I find no fault in him"; the thief says, "This man has done nothing wrong"; the centurion says, "Certainly this was a righteous man." But He is crucified!
The Question Still Asked Today
People still ask Pilate's question, and one writer names the tell-tale sign.
J. N. DarbyPilate's saying, "What is truth?" showed he did not know what truth was. It is just what unbelievers say now. Their minds are always "open to truth," as they say, and that shows one clear thing — they do not have any... And if I have truth, I show my love of truth by keeping it.
Summary
- Truth present. Pilate asked what truth was while the One who said "I am the truth" stood in front of him — the answer was in the room.
- Truth dodged. He walked out before an answer could come. His leaving, not his words, showed indifference or doubt — and attitude to truth is attitude to Christ.
- Truth confessed. He found no fault. That was the only verdict the evidence allowed, and it meant the Prisoner should have gone free at once.
- Truth betrayed. He compromised with his conscience instead of obeying it, pushed the decision onto the crowd, and so showed he was not "of the truth."
- Truth vindicated. The judge, the thief and the centurion all said the same thing: the One they crucified was faultless.