John 19:4 Commentary

See commentaries for: John 19:1, John 19:2, John 19:3, John 19:23, John 19:33-37

John 19:4

Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt (αἰτίαν) in him.”--John 19:4

Ἐξῆλθεν οὖν πάλιν ἔξω ὁ Πιλάτος, καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς, Ἴδε, ἄγω ὑμῖν αὐτὸν ἔξω, ἵνα γνῶτε ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ οὐδεμίαν αἰτίαν εὑρίσκω. --John 19:4 (Byzantine Majority text) 

Καὶ ἐξῆλθεν πάλιν ἔξω ὁ Πειλᾶτος καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς Ἴδε ἄγω ὑμῖν αὐτὸν ἔξω, ἵνα γνῶτε ὅτι οὐδεμίαν αἰτίαν εὑρίσκω ἐν αὐτῷ.  --John 19:4 (Alexandrian/Westcott and Hort text) 

Ἐξῆλθεν πάλιν ὁ Πειλᾶτος ἔξω καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· ἴδε ἄγω ὑμῖν αὐτὸν ἔξω, ἵνα γνῶτε ὅτι αἰτίαν οὐχ εὑρίσκω. --John 19:4 (Tischendorf)

As my commentary on John 19:1 mentions, Pilates' name refers to holding a javelin. 

This was the second of the 3 times Pilate says he finds no fault (αἰτίαν) in Christ, yet this does not stop the crucifixion. Similar to Peter who denied Christ three times, Pilate three times admits to Christ's lack of fault, rather than do the honest and just thing to do. Eventually, when Christ would be crucified the "fault" or "charge" against Christ would be identified:

And over his head they put the charge (αἰτίαν) against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”--Matthew 27:37

In this passage after tormenting and humiliating Christ, Pilate admits Christ is innocent, implying he knew the punishment was far was unwarranted.  

He confesses the wrong he had done, and is not ashamed. For he admitted that he had scourged Him without a cause, and declares that he will show Him unto them, supposing that he would glut their savage passion by so pitiable a spectacle, and well-nigh accuses them henceforth, and that publicly, of putting Him to death unjustly, and of compelling him openly to be a law-breaker, who, if he transgressed his own laws, could not escape scot free. The saying was fulfilled in Christ, and shown to be true, that the prince of this world cometh, and he will find nothing in Me. For observe how Satan, after throwing everything into confusion, finds nothing at all cast out from God, and ranked under the power of sin, which he might, perhaps, if it had been referred to the Saviour Christ, have caused to be rightly condemned and implicated in his accusations. Just as; then, in Adam he subdued the whole human race, showing it to be subject unto sin, so now was he vanquished by Humanity. For He That was truly God, and had no sin in Him, was yet Man; and just as the sentence of condemnation for transgression went forth over all mankind, through one man, the first Adam, so likewise, also, the blessing of justification by Christ is extended to all through One Man, the Second Adam. Paul is our witness, who says: As through one the judgment came unto all men to condemnation; even so through One the free gift came unto all men to justification of life. We therefore are diseased through the disobedience of the first Adam and its curse, but are enriched through the obedience of the Second and its blessing. For He that was Lord of the Law as God came among us, and kept the Law as Man. Yea, we find Him saying unto us: He that loveth Me will keep My commandments; even as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love. Note how He, as Lawgiver and God, has enjoined upon us the keeping of His commandments; and how, as keeping the Law while a Man among men, He declares that He Himself also kept the commandment of His Father.--St Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel According to John, Book XII, on John 19:4