Pontius
Male
probably connected with the Roman family of the Pontii, and called "Pilate" from the Latin pileatus, i.e., "wearing the pileus", which was the "cap or badge of a manumitted slave," as indicating that he was a "freedman," or the descendant of one. He was the sixth in the order of the Roman procurators of Judea (A.D. 26-36). His headquarters were at Caesarea, but he frequently went up to Jerusalem. His reign extended over the period of the ministry of John the Baptist and of Jesus Christ, in connection with whose trial his name comes into prominent notice. Pilate was a "typical Roman, not of the antique, simple stamp, but of the imperial period, a man not without some remains of the ancient Roman justice in his soul, yet pleasure-loving, imperious, and corrupt. He hated the Jews whom he ruled, and in times of irritation freely shed their blood. They returned his hatred with cordiality, and accused him of every crime, maladministration, cruelty, and robbery. He visited Jerusalem as seldom as possible; for, indeed, to one accustomed to the pleasures of Rome, with its theatres, baths, games, and gay society, Jerusalem, with its religiousness and ever-smouldering revolt, was a dreary residence. When he did visit it he stayed in the palace of Herod the Great, it being common for the officers sent by Rome into conquered countries to occupy the palaces of the displaced sovereigns." After his trial before the Sanhedrin, Jesus was brought to the Roman procurator, Pilate, who had come up to Jerusalem as usual to preserve order during the Passover, and was now residing, perhaps, in the castle of Antonia, or it may be in Herod's palace. Pilate came forth from his palace and met the deputation from the Sanhedrin, who, in answer to his inquiry as to the nature of the accusation they had to prefer against Jesus, accused him of being a "malefactor." Pilate was not satisfied with this, and they further accused him (1) of sedition, (2) preventing the payment of the tribute to Caesar, and (3) of assuming the title of king ( Luke 23:2 ). Pilate now withdrew with Jesus into the palace ( John 18:33 ) and examined him in private (37,38); and then going out to the deputation still standing before the gate, he declared that he could find no fault in Jesus ( Luke 23:4 ). This only aroused them to more furious clamour, and they cried that he excited the populace "throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee." When Pilate heard of Galilee, he sent the accused to Herod Antipas, who had jurisdiction over that province, thus hoping to escape the difficulty in which he found himself. But Herod, with his men of war, set Jesus at nought, and sent him back again to Pilate, clad in a purple robe of mockery ( Luke 23:11 Luke 23:12 ). Pilate now proposed that as he and Herod had found no fault in him, they should release Jesus; and anticipating that they would consent to this proposal, he ascended the judgment-seat as if ready to ratify the decision ( Matthew 27:19 ). But at this moment his wife (Claudia Procula) sent a message to him imploring him to have nothing to do with the "just person." Pilate's feelings of perplexity and awe were deepened by this incident, while the crowd vehemently cried out, "Not this man, but Barabbas." Pilate answered, "What then shall I do with Jesus?" The fierce cry immediately followed. "Let him be crucified." Pilate, apparently vexed, and not knowning what to do, said, "Why, what evil hath he done?" but with yet fiercer fanaticism the crowd yelled out, "Away with him! crucify him, crucify him!" Pilate yielded, and sent Jesus away to be scourged. This scourging was usually inflicted by lictors; but as Pilate was only a procurator he had no lictor, and hence his soldiers inflicted this terrible punishment. This done, the soldiers began to deride the sufferer, and they threw around him a purple robe, probably some old cast-off robe of state ( Matthew 27:28 ; John 19:2 ), and putting a reed in his right hand, and a crowd of thorns on his head, bowed the knee before him in mockery, and saluted him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" They took also the reed and smote him with it on the head and face, and spat in his face, heaping upon him every indignity. Pilate then led forth Jesus from within the Praetorium ( Matthew 27:27 ) before the people, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, saying, "Behold the man!" But the sight of Jesus, now scourged and crowned and bleeding, only stirred their hatred the more, and again they cried out, "Crucify him, crucify him!" and brought forth this additional charge against him, that he professed to be "the Son of God." Pilate heard this accusation with a superstitious awe, and taking him once more within the Praetorium, asked him, "Whence art thou?" Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate was irritated by his continued silence, and said, "Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee?" Jesus, with calm dignity, answered the Roman, "Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above." After this Pilate seemed more resolved than ever to let Jesus go. The crowd perceiving this cried out, "If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend." This settled the matter. He was afraid of being accused to the emperor. Calling for water, he washed his hands in the sight of the people, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this just person." The mob, again scorning his scruples, cried, "His blood be on us, and on our children." Pilate was stung to the heart by their insults, and putting forth Jesus before them, said, "Shall I crucify your King?" The fatal moment had now come. They madly exclaimed, "We have no king but Caesar;" and now Jesus is given up to them, and led away to be crucified. By the direction of Pilate an inscription was placed, according to the Roman custom, over the cross, stating the crime for which he was crucified. Having ascertained from the centurion that he was dead, he gave up the body to Joseph of Arimathea to be buried. Pilate's name now disappears from the Gospel history. References to him, however, are found in the Acts of the Apostles ( 3:13 ; 4:27 ; 13:28 ), and in 1�Timothy 6:13 . In A.D. 36 the governor of Syria brought serious accusations against Pilate, and he was banished to Vienne in Gaul, where, according to tradition, he committed suicide.
Named in 54 verses
- Matthew 27:2 They bound him, led him away, and delivered him up to Pontius Pilate, the governor.
- Matthew 27:13 Then Pilate said to him, “Don’t you hear how many things they testify against you?”
- Matthew 27:17 When therefore they were gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?”
- Matthew 27:22 Pilate said to them, “What then shall I do to Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said to him, “Let him be crucified!”
- Matthew 27:24 So when Pilate saw that nothing was being gained, but rather that a disturbance was starting, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “
- Matthew 27:58 This man went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given up.
- Matthew 27:62 Now on the next day, which was the day after the Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees were gathered together to Pilate,
- Matthew 27:65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard. Go, make it as secure as you can.”
- Mark 15:1 Immediately in the morning the chief priests, with the elders, scribes, and the whole council, held a consultation, bound Jesus, carried him away, and delivered
- Mark 15:2 Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” He answered, “So you say.”
- Mark 15:4 Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer? See how many things they testify against you!”
- Mark 15:5 But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate marveled.
- Mark 15:9 Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”
- Mark 15:12 Pilate again asked them, “What then should I do to him whom you call the King of the Jews?”
- Mark 15:14 Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they cried out exceedingly, “Crucify him!”
- Mark 15:15 Pilate, wishing to please the multitude, released Barabbas to them, and handed over Jesus, when he had flogged him, to be crucified.
- Mark 15:43 Joseph of Arimathaea, a prominent council member who also himself was looking for God’s Kingdom, came. He boldly went in to Pilate, and asked for Jesus’ body.
- Mark 15:44 Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead long.
- Luke 3:1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip t
- Luke 13:1 Now there were some present at the same time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
- Luke 23:1 The whole company of them rose up and brought him before Pilate.
- Luke 23:3 Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” He answered him, “So you say.”
- Luke 23:4 Pilate said to the chief priests and the multitudes, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”
- Luke 23:6 But when Pilate heard Galilee mentioned, he asked if the man was a Galilean.
- Luke 23:11 Herod with his soldiers humiliated him and mocked him. Dressing him in luxurious clothing, they sent him back to Pilate.
- Luke 23:12 Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before that they were enemies with each other.
- Luke 23:13 Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people,
- Luke 23:20 Then Pilate spoke to them again, wanting to release Jesus,
- Luke 23:24 Pilate decreed that what they asked for should be done.
- Luke 23:52 This man went to Pilate, and asked for Jesus’ body.
- John 18:29 Pilate therefore went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?”
- John 18:31 Pilate therefore said to them, “Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law.” Therefore the Jews said to him, “It is illegal for us to put anyone t
- John 18:33 Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, called Jesus, and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
- John 18:35 Pilate answered, “I’m not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me. What have you done?”
- John 18:37 Pilate therefore said to him, “Are you a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this reason I have been born, and for this reason I have com
- John 18:38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” When he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no basis for a charge against him.
- John 19:1 So Pilate then took Jesus and flogged him.
- John 19:4 Then Pilate went out again, and said to them, “Behold, I bring him out to you, that you may know that I find no basis for a charge against him.”
- John 19:5 Jesus therefore came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment. Pilate said to them, “Behold, the man!”
- John 19:6 When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw him, they shouted, saying, “Crucify! Crucify!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him,
- John 19:8 When therefore Pilate heard this saying, he was more afraid.
- John 19:10 Pilate therefore said to him, “Aren’t you speaking to me? Don’t you know that I have power to release you and have power to crucify you?”
- John 19:12 At this, Pilate was seeking to release him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If you release this man, you aren’t Caesar’s friend! Everyone who makes himself a k
- John 19:13 When Pilate therefore heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called “The Pavement”, but in Hebrew, “Gabbatha.”
- John 19:15 They cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but
- John 19:19 Pilate wrote a title also, and put it on the cross. There was written, “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
- John 19:21 The chief priests of the Jews therefore said to Pilate, “Don’t write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘he said, “I am King of the Jews.”’”
- John 19:22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
- John 19:31 Therefore the Jews, because it was the Preparation Day, so that the bodies wouldn’t remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a special one), ask
- John 19:38 After these things, Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked of Pilate that he might take away Jesus’ body. Pil
- Acts 3:13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when
- Acts 4:27 “For truly, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed
- Acts 13:28 Though they found no cause for death, they still asked Pilate to have him killed.
- 1 Timothy 6:13 I command you before God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who before Pontius Pilate testified the good confession,