So Pilate said, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Don’t you know I have the authority to release you, and to crucify you?” Jesus replied, “You would have no authority over me at all, unless it was given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of greater sin.”
John 19:10-11 NET
After the Jewish leaders had interrogated Jesus, they took him to Pilate. Pilate questioned Jesus, found no fault in him, and attempted to have him released. But the Jewish leaders pushed back, demanding his crucifixion. So Pilate questioned him again, hoping to find a way to release Jesus without weakening his own position as governor.
But Jesus was no help to him, refusing to answer any more questions. So Pilate, seemingly in exasperation, pointed out to Jesus that he had the authority to release Jesus or to crucify him.
Jesus acknowledged that Pilate had authority. But Pilate’s authority was not his own; it came from elsewhere. Pilate may have agreed with that, thinking his authority came from Caesar. But Jesus was telling him that the source of his authority was God. Pilate’s authority, while real, was a delegated authority.
Along with authority comes responsibility. Pilate was answerable to God for how he exercised his authority. By condemning an innocent man, Pilate would have to answer to God. But Jesus told him that the one who had delivered Jesus to Pilate was guilty of an even greater sin.
Like many other accounts in the Scripture, this brief exchange illustrates the intersection of God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. Pilate’s authority was derived from the sovereign God. But he was responsible for what he did with the authority given to him.
What is true of Pilate here is true of each of us as well. God, in his sovereignty, gives each of us a certain amount of authority. That authority may be limited to the decisions I make for myself. Or it may involve other people. But regardless of the scope of the authority delegated to me, I am responsible to God for what I do with it.
