John 18:38Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

“And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, ‘I find no fault in Him.’” To the condemnation of the impiety and cruelty of the Jews, a man who could not boast of divine instruction sets before them the knowledge of justice and duty. He was a guardian of human laws and honored only the ordinances of those from whom he had received the gift of authority. If the leaders of the Jewish people had resolved to act or think in the same way, they would very likely have escaped the snare of the devil. They would have turned aside from the most loathsome of all evils, by which I mean the murder of Christ. Therefore Pilate refuses to condemn Christ, who had been caught or convicted in no transgression. He says that One entirely remote from every fault ought not, of course, to be subjected to punishment. He also firmly affirms that this wholly contradicts his laws, pagan and Roman though they were. Thus he puts to shame the terrible madness of the Jews against the divine law. He thought that those who presented themselves as heralds of justice and legality should at once be persuaded by the presentation of what was just and proper.

Perhaps the noble politician, by his question about truth, and still more by the tone in which he pronounced it, wished to give the accused a new hint of caution. It was as though he said, “You are ready to sacrifice everything to truth. But what is truth? Until now no philosopher has not only found it, but even defined it. Think not of truth, but of life.” Such a way of thinking can fully be ascribed to Pilate. In his time, the favorite philosophy in Rome was the teaching of the Academics. They affirmed nothing in the realm of truth, but destroyed everything and subjected everything to doubt. In any case, when he came out of the Praetorium, Pilate firmly declared to the Jews that, on the basis of the interrogation, he found Jesus Christ entirely innocent.

In any case, this was the only defense that the Accused is known to have presented during the whole trial over Him. Pilate immediately went out from the praetorium and announced his verdict, perhaps even from the judgment seat.

But this utterance, as later became clear, was only the first step in that ever-accelerating movement of weakness so well known in the world.

That movement begins with indecision and softness. Then it passes successively through self-exaltation and the desire to ingratiate oneself.

It passes through persuasion, wavering, protest, compromise, superstitious fear, struggle with conscience, cautious duplicity, and finally complete moral cowardice.

This Roman has remained forever the type of the unjust judge who decides cases "contrary to his better conviction."

The apocryphal Acts of Pilate, after reporting this conversation with remarkable accuracy, adds several expressions to it. In reality, they simplify the preceding sayings and indicate the particular meaning Jesus' words may have had in the governor's mind.

"Pilate said to Him, What is truth? Jesus said, Truth is from heaven. Pilate said, Then there is no truth on earth?

Jesus said to Pilate, Believe that truth exists on earth among those who, when they have authority to judge, are governed by truth and judge righteously."

As an educated Roman, Pilate in his youth had surely been carried away by similar dreams, the discovery for himself of the truth of all things. For this purpose he had visited philosophical schools.

But he came away only with the conviction that the more philosophers dealt with the question of truth, the more they obscured it. At last some came to complete despair of the very possibility of finding truth at all.

And not only in philosophy, but in life as well, truth is only a dream, an empty delirium. Such matters do not befit a Roman dignitary, especially one forced to deal with the most false and treacherous people in the world.

Therefore, apparently twisting his clean-shaven face sarcastically and waving his hand impatiently, Pilate pronounced with contempt, "What is truth?"

In exegesis there have been many attempts to explain the meaning of this question of Pilate. Quid est veritas? Or in Greek, Ti estin aletheia? In Hebrew, Ma-hi ha-emet? "What is truth?" (Jn 18:38).

In view of the circumstances, the explanation given seems to us most consistent with the tone of the question itself. It was evidently asked not in order to resolve it, but as a direct expression of doubt.

He doubted the very possibility of resolving it, and the practical significance of such subjects in general. Then, turning, he went out from the praetorium and publicly pronounced his acquitting verdict: "I find no guilt in Him."

But this open acquittal of the Prisoner whom the elders hated only enraged His enemies still more. So much effort had been spent, and so many sleepless nights passed, to capture Him.

Here is a man, he probably thought, who wants to found something He calls a Kingdom upon a dream, a phantom, some supposed truth. No, he concluded, such a dreamer is not guilty of the charge brought against Him. He is not guilty of treason. This he directly stated to the accusers: “I find no fault in Him” (cf. note on Lk 23:4). This declaration must have deeply wounded the self-love of the Sanhedrin. By it its members were made to understand that their judgment of the Accused was biased and, in any case, unjust. Here John’s account must be supplemented by the accounts of the first three Evangelists, which he omits. Having heard Pilate’s opinion of the Lord’s innocence, the accusers began insistently to accuse Him of many things. But the Lord remained silent at all their accusations, to Pilate’s amazement (Mt 27:12-14; Mk 15:3-5; Lk 23:5). Then Pilate sent the Lord to Herod (Lk 23:6-12). After the Lord returned from Herod, Pilate again declared to the accusers that, in his judgment and Herod’s, the Accused was not worthy of death. Then he proposed to release Him to them (Lk 23:13-16).

He leaves this occupation to others, whom he considers dreamers. “What is truth?” he asks half mockingly. Philosophers, he thinks to himself, have not found truth. Jewish teaching is not worth attention. An intelligent man is perhaps a skeptic. He said to them, “I find no fault in Him.” Pilate was convinced that Jesus was innocent before Caesar. He tells this to the Sanhedrin so that it too might soften its hostility toward Jesus.