or Jesus which is called Christ?” and, “Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?”
193
Nevertheless, as they were in the habit of calling their kings “anointed ones,”1351 and one
might use the one term or the other,1352 it is evident that what Pilate asked them was
whether they would have the King of the Jews, that is, the Christ, released unto them. And
it matters nothing to the real identity in meaning that Mark, desiring simply to relate what
concerned the Lord Himself, has not mentioned Barabbas here. For, in the report which he
gives of their reply, he indicates with sufficient clearness who the person was whom they
asked to have released unto them. His version is this: “But the chief priests moved the people,
that he should rather release Barabbas unto them.” Then he proceeds to add the sentence,
“And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I should do unto
him whom ye call the King of the Jews?” This makes it plain enough now, that in speaking
of the King of the Jews, Mark meant to express the very sense which Matthew intended to
convey by using the term “Christ.” For kings were not called “anointed ones” 1353 except
among the Jews; and the form which Matthew gives to the words in question is this, “Pilate
saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?” So Mark continues,
“And they cried out again, Crucify him:” which appears thus in Matthew, “They all say unto
him, Let him be crucified.” Again Mark goes on, “Then Pilate said unto them Why, what
evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify him.” Matthew has
not recorded this passage; but he has introduced the statement, “When Pilate saw that he
could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made,” and has also informed us how
he washed his hands before the people with the view of declaring himself innocent of the
blood of that just person (a circumstance not reported by Mark and the others). And thus
he has also shown us with all due plainness how the governor dealt with the people with the
intention of securing His release. This has been briefly referred to by Mark, when he tells
us that Pilate said, “Why, what evil hath he done?” And thereupon Mark also concludes his
account of what took place between Pilate and the Lord in these terms: “And so Pilate,
willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he
had scourged Him, to be crucified.” The above is Mark’s recital of what occurred in presence
of the governor.1354
34. Luke gives the following version of what took place in presence of Pilate: “And they
began to accuse Him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding
to give tribute to Cæsar, and saying that he himself is Christ a king.”1355 The previous two
1351 Or, Christs, Christos.
1352 The text gives: et qui dixit illum an illum.
1353 Or, Christs, Christos.
1354 Mark xv. 2–15.
1355 Luke xxiii. 2, 3.
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Of the Absence of Any Discrepancies in the Accounts Which the Evangelists…