[B-Greek] John 18:37
Harold Holmyard
hholmyard at ont.com
Mon Jan 8 08:39:43 EST 2007
Dear list,
I should add something to what I wrote at the
bottom. Jesus explained that as a king he was born
to bear witness of the truth. He went on to say:
"Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice."
PAS hO WN EK THS ALHQEIAS AKOUEI MOU THS FWNHS
In Hebrew, and I assume Greek, the words "hear the
voice" can imply to obey the one speaking (in
Greek AKOUW by itself can mean "obey").
You see something of this sense in John 10:3:
John 10:3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep
hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by
name, and leadeth them out.
And possibly Rev 3:20:
Rev. 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock:
if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I
will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he
with me.
So Jesus would have shown Pilate that his kingship
was in the realm of truth (thus not a political
kingdom) because everyone who was of the truth
submissively heard his voice.
_______________________________________
So Jesus would be
answering Pilate, "You are right that I am a
king." He went on to
explain that his function in the world was to bear
witness to the truth.
Pilate's question was incited by Jesus' earlier
statement, "My kingdom
is not of this world" (Jn 18:36), so it would be
natural for Jesus'
answer to Pilate's question to involve an
admission that he was a king.
After all, he had already admitted that he had a
kingdom.
Yours,
Harold Holmyard
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