ACC ~ John 18 v28

INCLUSION OF THE PRAETORIUM EXPLAINED

AUGUSTINE: If they took him to Caiaphas, how is it then that it mentions the Praetorium, the place where the governor Pilate resided? Either, for some urgent reason, Caiaphas went from the house of Annas (where both had met to give Jesus a hearing) to the governor’s Praetorium and had left the hearing of Jesus to his father-in-law. Or Pilate had made his Praetorium in the house of Caiaphas, which was so large as to be able to house both its owner and the governor at the same time. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 114.1. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:421**; CCL 36:640-41.

ATTEMPTED EXPLANATION OF TIME DISCREPANCIES

AUGUSTINE: Here we might suppose either that there had been something imperative requiring Caiaphas’s presence in the hall of judgment and that he was absent on the occasion when the other chief priests held an inquiry on the Lord, or else that the hall of judgment was in his house. So then, from the beginning of this scene they had only been leading Jesus away to the personage in whose presence he was at last actually conducted. But since they brought the accused person in the character of one already convicted, and since it had previously approved itself to Caiaphas’s judgment that Jesus should die, there was no further delay in delivering him over to Pilate with a view to his being put to death. [1] And so it is that Matthew here relates what took place between Pilate and the Lord. HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS 3.7.27. [2]

[1] See Tractates on John 114, where Augustine also attempts to grapple with the difficulty created by reading to Caiaphas instead of from Caiaphas. (The Greek text is “from Caiaphas.”)

[2] NPNF 1 6:191**; CSEL 43:303.

THEY PROVE NOTHING

CHRYSOSTOM: “They lead him therefore from Caiaphas to Pilate.” This was done in order that the number of his judges might show, even against their will, how fully tested his truth was. “And it was early.” He was led to Caiaphas before the rooster crowed, but early in the morning to Pilate. By this the Evangelist shows that though he was questioned all during half the night, he was proved guilty in nothing and that as a result he was sent to Pilate. But leaving what passed then to the other Evangelists, he goes to what followed. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 83.3. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:310**.

A DISTORTED VIEW OF WHAT POLLUTES

CHRYSOSTOM: John speaks of what follows next. Observe the ridiculous conduct of the Jews. They who had seized the innocent and taken up arms do not enter into the hall of judgment “lest they should be polluted.” And tell me, what kind of pollution was it to set foot in a judgment hall where wrongdoers suffer justice? Those who paid tithes of mint and anise did not think they were polluted when bent on killing unjustly, but they thought that they polluted themselves by even treading in a court of justice. And why did they not kill him instead of bringing him to Pilate? In the first place, the greater part of their rule and authority had been cut away when their affairs were placed under the power of the Romans. And besides, they feared lest they should be punished later if they were accused by him. But what does it mean, “that they might eat the Passover”? He had already done this on the first day of unleavened bread. Either he calls the whole feast “the Passover” or means that they were then keeping the Passover, while Jesus had done so one day sooner, reserving his own sacrifice for the preparation day, when the Passover was celebrated of old. But they, though they had taken up arms, which was unlawful, and were shedding blood, are scrupulous about the place and summon Pilate to themselves. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 83.3. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:310.**

THE PREDICTION OF CHRIST’S PASSOVER DEATH

TERTULLIAN: We will prove that it may suffice that the death of the Christ had been prophesied, in order that, from the fact that the nature of the death had not been specified, it may be understood to have been affected by means of the cross and that the passion of the cross is not to be ascribed to any but him whose death was constantly being predicted. … For that you would do such a thing at the beginning of the first month of your new [years] even Moses prophesied when he was foretelling that all the community of the children of Israel were to sacrifice a lamb when evening came and were to eat this solemn sacrifice of this day [that is, of the Passover of unleavened bread] with bitterness.” And then he added that “it was the Passover of the Lord,” [1] that is, the passion of Christ. This prediction was in this way also fulfilled that “on the first day of unleavened bread” [2] you killed the Christ. [3] AN ANSWER TO THE JEWS 10. [4]

[1] See Ex 12:6-11.

[2] See also Mt 26:17; Mk 14:12; Lk 22:7.

[3] See 1 Cor 5:7.

[4] ANF 3:166-67**; CCL 2:1379-80.

ALL OF SCRIPTURE AND THE GOSPELS AGREE

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Accordingly therefore, on the fourteenth day, when also Jesus suffered, the chief priests and scribes, bringing him early in the morning to Pilate, did not enter the Praetorium so that they might not be defiled but instead might without hindrance eat the Passover in the evening. By this precise reckoning of the days all the Scriptures agree, and the Gospels are harmonious. The resurrection also bears further witness. He rose on the third day, which is the first day of the weeks of harvest on which it was ordained that the priest should offer the sheaf. FRAGMENT 28, PASCHAL CHRONICLE. [1]

[1] GCS 17(3): 217.

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