John 18:37Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

How fitting is it that, when Christ endured so much for you, you often cannot endure even words? He is spat upon, while you adorn yourself with costly garments and rings. If you do not hear praise from everyone, you count life as no life at all. He endures reproach, mockery, and shameful blows upon the cheeks. But you want everyone to honor you, and you cannot bear the reproach of Christ. Do you not hear what Paul says? "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ" (1 Cor 11:1). Therefore, if anyone begins to mock you, remember your Master. They worshiped Him in mockery. They dishonored Him by words and deeds, and laughed at Him greatly. Yet He not only did not repay them in kind. For all this He gave the opposite in return, meekness and patience. Let us imitate Him. Through this we shall also be able to be delivered from every insult. Indeed, the cause of an insult is not the one who insults, but the one who becomes fainthearted and grieved by the insult. Such a man gives it its sting. If you were not grieved, the insult would not be an insult to you. To feel grief from insults depends not on those who inflict them, but on those who undergo them. Why should you be grieved? If you were insulted unjustly, then it is most fitting not to be indignant, but to pity the offender. If the insult was just, then all the more you must remain calm. If someone calls you rich while you are poor, such praise has nothing to do with you. Rather, it serves as mockery for you. So also, when the one insulting you says something that is not true, his censure has nothing to do with you. But if your conscience reproaches you for what the offender has said, then do not be grieved by his words. Correct yourself in your deeds. I say this about real insults. But if someone reproaches you for poverty or humble birth, laugh at him. This is a dishonor not for the one who hears it, but for the one who says it, since he does not know how to philosophize. But you will say, when this is said before many who do not know the truth, the wound becomes unbearable. On the contrary, then it is especially bearable, when a multitude of witnesses stands before you. They praise and approve you, while they rebuke and mock him. Among sensible people, the one who takes revenge is not held in honor, but the one who says nothing in reply to an offense. If there is not one sensible person among those present, then laugh still more at your offender. Rejoice in the heavenly spectacle, for there all will praise you, applaud you, and approve you. Meanwhile, even one angel is enough in comparison with the whole universe. And why do I speak of angels, when the Lord Himself will glorify you? Let us train ourselves in such thoughts. There is no harm at all when we keep silence in the face of insult. On the contrary, it is harmful to avenge an insult. If it were truly harmful to endure insulting words in silence, Christ would not have said, "Whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also" (Mt 5:39). Therefore, if anyone says falsehood about us, let us pity him. He draws upon himself the punishment and torment appointed for slander. He even becomes unworthy to read Holy Scripture. "But to the sinner God says: What right have you to recite My statutes, or take My covenant in your mouth?" "You sit and slander your brother" (Ps 49:16, 20). And even if he has spoken the truth, in this case too he is worthy of pity. The Pharisee also spoke the truth. Yet by this he did not harm the one who heard him at all. On the contrary, he even benefited him. But he deprived himself of countless blessings, suffering shipwreck through that condemnation. Thus, in either case, the one who insults you suffers harm, not you. On the contrary, if you are attentive, you will gain a double benefit. On the one hand, you will propitiate God by your silence. On the other, you will become much more modest. You will find in the words spoken about you an occasion to correct your deeds. You will learn to despise the glory of men. For our grief also arose from this, that many are excessively attached to human opinion. If we wish to philosophize in this way, we shall clearly learn that all human things are nothing. Let us learn this, then. Considering our faults, let us begin little by little to correct them. Set yourself to correct one fault in the present month, another in the next, and a third in the month after that. Thus, ascending as by certain steps, we shall reach heaven by Jacob's ladder. It seems to me that this ladder, together with the vision Jacob saw, also signifies the gradual ascent by the ladder of virtue. By this one may ascend from earth to heaven, not by sensible steps, but through the correction and improvement of morals. Let us therefore undertake this journey and this ascent, that we may reach heaven. There may we enjoy all good things, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen. Long-suffering is a wondrous thing. It sets the soul as though in a quiet harbor, delivering it from waves and harmful winds. Christ always taught us patience, but especially now, when He is judged and led from place to place. Thus, when He was brought to Annas, He answered with great meekness. To the servant who struck Him on the cheek, He spoke words able to destroy every pride. From there He went to Caiaphas, then to Pilate. Having passed the whole night in this way, He showed great meekness everywhere and in all things. When they said He was an evildoer, though they could not prove it, He stood silent. But when He was asked about the Kingdom, He answered Pilate, in order to teach him and raise him to higher thoughts. But why does Pilate conduct the examination not in the presence of the Jews, but privately, after entering the praetorium? He had a rather high opinion of Christ. Therefore he wished to learn everything exactly, away from the disturbance of the Jews. When he asked, "What have You done?" Christ said nothing about this in His answer. Instead, He spoke about what Pilate chiefly desired to hear, namely His Kingdom: "My Kingdom is not of this world." That is, I am truly a King, but not such as you imagine. I am far more glorious. By these and the following words He already makes clear that He has done no evil. Indeed, He who says of Himself, "For this I was born, and for this I have come, to bear witness to the truth," shows that He has done no evil. Then, by saying, "Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice," He draws Pilate's attention. He inclines him to become a hearer of His words. If anyone, He says, is true and loves the truth, he will certainly hear Me. By these few words He truly captivated Pilate so greatly that he said, "What is truth?" (v. 38).

“Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Wishing by this to attract Pilate’s attention and incline him to listen to His words, He says, “Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Therefore you also, Pilate, if you are a child of truth and love it, will hear My voice. You will believe that I am King, but not such as the kings of this world. I have authority not acquired, but natural, belonging to Me by My very birth from God and King. Here He also hints that the Jews are not of the truth, because they do not wish to hear His voice. If they are not of the truth, then without doubt they have falsely invented everything against Him. He is truly not guilty of death.

Yet He again showed the power of the truth, which compelled even Pilate, unwillingly, to proclaim the glory of the One being judged. You have said, He says, “that I am King.” For this very purpose, He says, He was born and came into this world, when He became man, “to bear witness to the truth.” That is, He came to remove falsehood from the world and overthrow the demon who tyrannized by deception. He came to reveal the truth reigning over all, or the Nature truly and naturally royal. The power of authority and dominion over heaven and earth, and over all things brought into being, belongs to this Nature. It is not His by violence, nor acquired, nor given from without, but belongs to Him naturally and essentially. Again, to show that He knows Pilate’s coarse unbelief and his disinclination to right understanding, He usefully adds, “Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” The word of truth is acceptable to those who have already known and loved it, but not to those who are otherwise. Thus also the prophet Isaiah said to certain people, “If you will not believe, neither will you understand” (Is 7:9).

I came into the world to teach this truth, that being the eternal King, I was incarnate for eternal reign over those who believe in Me. “Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Everyone who is of the truth, who loves the truth, hears My voice and believes My teaching.

The expression, ‘You say that I am a King,’ is equivalent to the words, ‘Yes, I am King.’ I do not deny this, because it is the truth. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to bear witness to this truth, whatever danger this witness may involve. Everyone to whom this truth is dear will believe Me.”

“For this I was born,” He continued, as though justifying His firmness in using a dangerous but true title. “And for this I came into the world, to bear witness to the truth,” whatever danger this witness may involve. “Everyone who is of the truth,” for whom it is dear, and who has a sense of truth in his soul, “hears My voice.” Even the Apostle Paul called this confession, by which the Lord declared Himself King at Pilate’s judgment, the witness of the good confession (1 Tim 6:13). Indeed, it showed the highest degree of self-denial, and at the same time of wisdom. By the words, “For this I was born, to bear witness to the truth,” the Lord showed, among other things, that Pilate’s hidden hint was utterly unworthy of Him. Pilate had hinted that He should refrain from calling Himself King, as this was very dangerous. But He truly is King in the most exalted sense of the word, the one eternal King. Meanwhile, by these very words the nature of Christ’s Kingdom became entirely manifest, as did its harmlessness toward Roman power. The Roman equestrian was not capable of understanding all this in a Christian sense, of course, but only in a philosophical one. The Romans, especially the Roman nobles, were at that time acquainted with Stoic philosophy. According to its teaching, the true wise man and virtuous man is a king. Horace’s saying, “You are a king, if you act rightly,” had become almost a popular proverb in Rome. Perhaps one thing displeased the governor. The king and sage subject to his judgment was stubborn not only in his thoughts, but even in his dangerous expressions. He considered this the ordinary defect of enthusiastic sages, who know nothing of politics.

He “witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate” (1 Tim 6:13) concerning the existence of a Kingdom true and real, though not of this world. Yet this addition to the former words had a deeper meaning than simply affirming the existence of a spiritual kingdom separate from the worldly one. It proclaimed the existence of that which is the foundation of every human virtue and justice. In recent ages this had become foreign to Roman hearing. It proclaimed the existence of an eternal world of truth outside man, a universal divine order of things. This order stands above every local or national tradition, and certainly above all human beliefs and desires. Men have no power over this objective truth. Their highest privilege consists in acknowledging and confessing it. The one who already has a kindred attraction toward this central truth acknowledges it, namely, “everyone who is of the truth.” The last words of Him who now claimed the dignity of witness and King of this great world of truth were: “Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” To recover from his confusion. Pilate again seized upon the word “kingdom.” The Prisoner apparently wished to explain His Kingdom in some other way. Yet a kingdom still presupposes a king. Pressing this point, Pilate insistently asks again, “So You are a king?” “Yes, a King,” Jesus answered, using a distinctive affirmative expression. Pilate could not but be astonished by so strange an answer. By it the Prisoner Himself exposed Himself to the terrible danger of being accused of treason. Under Roman law, the confession of a criminal was sufficient for conviction. Yet Pilate’s expression, astonished and severe, could not fail to soften when he heard the Prisoner’s further answer. He said, “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” This is the sense in which I am King, and these are My followers. Such an answer positively dispelled all Pilate’s doubts about the Prisoner. He became convinced that this Prisoner was not at all a rebel of the usual kind. He was simply some entirely harmless dreamer, like the Greek philosophers and their Roman imitators. He was wholly occupied with questions of truth and similar lofty but fruitless matters, which had nothing to do with Roman power.

“Everyone who is of the truth” means everyone capable of attending to the truth, everyone who has a sense for the truth. This is the same as being drawn by the Father (Jn 6:44 and following), or given to the Son by the Father (cf. Jn 8:47). “Hears My voice”: cf. the note on Jn 10:27 and parallels.

Men had partly turned this truth into falsehood by the arbitrariness of mind and heart. They were partly unable to know it without heavenly aid (Rom 1:21-28; 1 Cor 1:21). The best philosophers said of themselves that they seek the truth and strive toward the truth. They had no right to say more than this about themselves. But He who came down from heaven bears witness to the truth. He reveals the truth as fully known to Him and speaks of it as its eyewitness. Jesus spoke of Himself in this way also in the hearing of the Jews (Jn 3:11, 32). This title is accessible to no one else. Yet it leaves undisturbed the rights and authority of earthly kings. If it touches them at all, it does so only to drive the darkness of falsehood and error from all human societies. Therefore it serves the good of kingdoms and peoples. Hence the subjects of Jesus are not armed soldiers, nor citizens who pay tribute. Those who are of the truth hear Christ Jesus and submit to Christ Jesus. They have kinship with truth, and love for truth has been awakened in them from above (Rom 11:8). The Lord also spoke of this to the Jews: “Why do you not understand My speech? You are of your father the devil. He is a liar and the father of lies. He who is of God hears the words of God” (Jn 8:43, 44, 47). “My sheep hear My voice” (Jn 10:27). Thus Pilate could also understand why the Sanhedrin hated Jesus.