Evaluating Jesus' arrest and trial

Question 1

What is the most likely reason for John omitting the sanhedrin trial scene?

Answer 1

Because he wants to emphasise the illegality and corruption of Jesus’ arrest

Question 2

What was Jesus being tried for before Pilate?

Answer 2

Insurrection - the crime of rebelling against Roman rule

Question 3

Why is the trial before Pilate almost definitely true?

Answer 3

It passes the criterion of embarrassment; Christians would never invent a story where their leader was executed by the Romans as a rebel. The fact that Jesus was executed as a criminal was simply too well known to hide

Question 4

Which Roman historian recorded that Jesus was a criminal in 116 CE?

Answer 4

Tacitus

Question 5

What task do all of the gospels face here due to the criterion of embarrassment?

Answer 5

They must present Jesus as being arrested as a political criminal while suggesting that he was really innocent, with the Roman official knowing he was innocent and the whole thing being a miscarriage of justice

Question 6

What are the three different ways Jesus’ trial before Pilate could be interpreted?

Answer 6

• Historically accurate
• Historically distorted
• Symbolic

Question 7

How can Jesus’ trial before Pilate be viewed as historically accurate?

Answer 7

The priests wanted Jesus to be executed for blasphemy. Since blasphemy against YHWH was not against Roman law they had to bully and manipulate the Romans into executing Jesus for insurrection instead

Question 8

How can Jesus’ trial before Pilate be viewed as historically distorted?

Answer 8

The High Priest and Pilate were allies who executed Jesus out of political expediency but the 1st century Christians misunderstood this

Question 9

How can Jesus’ trial before Pilate be viewed as symbolic?

Answer 9

Pilate symbolises the impossibility of compromise when it comes to judging Jesus’ claims (Culpepper’s view)

Question 10

What is the problem with viewing this passage as historically accurate?

Answer 10

All the gospels depict him as weak and indecisive and John suggests that he is afraid once he learns he may be executing the Son of God. This contradicts the historical descriptions of Pilate, with Philo of Alexandria describing him as a man of inflexible, stubborn and cruel disposition

Question 11

Where does the idea that the passage is historically distorted come from?

Answer 11

This is based on form criticism and the idea that this was a later addition to the story by 1st century Christians. The passage is influenced by their own disputes with the Jews and their need to present themselves as a religio licita in the Empire

Question 12

What is redaction criticism?

Answer 12

The idea that 1st century Christians created stories about Jesus to present their religion in a good light to the Roman authorities

Question 13

Explain this passage in terms of redaction criticism

Answer 13

Suggests that Jesus was convicted of insurrection by Pilate in a straightforward manner, but the gospel writers changed the story to absolve Pilate of the blame and make the Jews seem responsible for Jesus’ death

Question 14

Why does Rivkin argue that this passage is inaccurate?

Answer 14

Pilate and the High Priest had been allies and worked together to keep peace in Judea for years. If Caiaphas claimed someone was a political problem, Pilate would need no further arguement to have him executed

Question 15

Why does Rivkin suggest that Pilate’s attempt to have Jesus released by the crowd was empty?

Answer 15

Because if the crowd chose Jesus, soldiers would attack them as rebels who were defying Caesar; the crowd had no choice but to choose Barabbas. Pilate went through this pantomime simply to watch the Jews squirm

Question 16

How does Rivkin explain the religious rather than political focus by the gospel writers in this part of the story?

Answer 16

He says they saw Jesus as exclusively a religious instrument of God and were too naive to see him as a political figure

Question 17

What is the arguement against Rivkin’s view?

Answer 17

The Jews did not have a close relationship with Pilate and had complained about him to the emperor before, with this eventually leading to his removal in 37 CE

Question 18

Why may the gospels presentation of Pilate as tentative and afraid be accurate?

Answer 18

Because killing Jesus could have caused an uprising amongst his followers, but refusing to do so could have led to the Jews complaining to the emperor about him again

Question 19

What symbolic role does Culpepper think Pilate serves?

Answer 19

He represents the people who avoid making a commitment to Jesus despite having the information

Question 20

What was the cost of having a high christology for first centruy Christians?

Answer 20

• Being expelled from synagogues by the Jews
• Being persecuted by the Romans for refusing to worship the Emperor

Question 21

Why is Pilate so significant according to Brown?

Answer 21

He thinks the entire gospel was written for crypto-christians who believed in Jesus but wouldn’t dare come out and say it. Pilate represents them; meaning that if they don’t come out and acknowledge Christ then they are siding with the people who condemned him

Question 22

What is Pilate there to make the reader do according to Culpepper?

Answer 22

It forces the reader to make a decision regarding Jesus, with the gospel exposing the consequences of attempting to avoid the decision

Question 23

What happened to Pilate according to Christian tradition?

Answer 23

Racked with guilt, he supposedly converted to Christianity, he is even a saint in the Coptic Church in Africa

Question 24

Make the arguement that Jesus died out of political expediency

Answer 24

• Historical records from Philo and Josephus show us that Pilate was not hesitant to execute prisoners whether they were innocent or not
• Pilate and Caiaphas had a close relationship and worked together to weed out trouble makers
• The gospel writers were too naive to understand the political calculation Pilate had to make, explaining the religious lense they view the issue through
• Wanted to exonerate the Romans of guilt so they seemed like a friendly religion to the Romans and so twisted the story to shift blame away from Pilate

Question 25

Make the arguement against the idea that Jesus died out of political expedience

Answer 25

• The gospels are accurate in their portrayal of Pilate as being torn between letting Jesus live and risking the Jews complaining to the Emperor, as this had happened before and would happen again
• Pilate was stubborn and would not have executed a holy man purely to appease the Jewish Priests
• The Jewish leaders executed a number of Christians after Pilate left office, which shows that he might have actually been holding them back