Articles
I Find No Guilt In Him - Luke 23
I Find No Guilt In Him - Luke 23
AS Pilate interrogated Jesus, he concluded: “I find no guilt in this man” (Luke 23:4). He did this three times (vs. 14, 22)! I have seen this used to ‘prove’ that Jesus was without sin, but that isn’t the meaning of Pilate’s statement. He wasn’t judging concerning righteousness and sinlessness, he was judging concerning Roman law.
"You brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion, and behold, having examined Him before you, I have found no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you make against Him.” (Luke 23:14)
What the Jewish leaders accused him of: ‘misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King” (vs. 2). They kept insisting that “He stirs up the people, teaching all over Judea, starting from Galilee even as far as this place” (vs. 5).. Pilate then centered his examination on Jesus ‘rebellion’ against Rome and trying to incite people to riot against Rome. To this charge, Pilate found nothing that would compel him to pronounce him guilty and punish Him with death.
But, wasn’t Jesus sinless? YES.
Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
2 Corinthians 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
1 Peter 2:21-22 21 For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, 22 who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth;
Jesus himself challenged the people of his day who had observed Him, looking for that which they could accuse him of: "Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me?” (John 8:46)
Here in Luke 23, we see what they came up with!
- He was a false teacher of the Jewish law (wrong!).
- He forbid the paying of taxes to Rome (wrong!).
- He said He was the Christ (True, but such was not false teaching for He WAS.)
- He said He was a King (True, but his kingdom was not of THIS WORLD:
Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm." (John 18:36)
Jesus was not only not guilty of the charges they presented to Pilate, he was without GUILT even before God. We don’t need to misuse passages in our defense of Jesus.
But, the real question is have YOU examined Him? What did YOU find? He is the Christ, the son of God, the king of Kings, the Lord of Lords!
Hugh DeLong
