"Quid est veritas?" What is the truth about Pontius Pilate?

Gloria Romanorum ^ | April 15, 2017 | Florentius

[Antoninus]

Pilate knew he was innocent, but allowed him to be crucified: a form of punishment only the Roman law could inflict.

Exactly. It was in Pilate's power to stop the whole proceeding. Yet he decided to give the enemies of Christ their way out of cowardice. As someone pointed out above, it is a sin that many if not most of our politicians today are guilty of.

[Teacher317]

Teacher317, I think you are not giving due consideration to Pilate's wife, who is the ONLY person who unambiguously stood up for Jesus and called him innocent at the time of his trial (Matthew 27:19). Pilate knew he was innocent, but allowed him to be crucified: a form of punishment only the Roman law could inflict.

EVERYONE knew he was innocent, and only one person on Earth did anything to prevent/delay/argue against the execution... and that was Pilate (plus his wife)... repeatedly. I will never understand the 2000 years of weekly hate poured on him for that.

Why does Caiaphias, the person who repeatedly started every call for the execution, get an eternal pass? Because his name is too tough?

[Antoninus]

The one person.. the ONLY person... to try to block Jesus's crucifixion... not once, not twice, but THREE times...

He did not "try to block" the crucifixion. He had the power to nullify the whole proceeding -- the lynching of an innocent man. Instead of doing so, he let the lynch-mob have their way and gave it the official imprimatur of the government.

[patriotspride]

Exactly. It was in Pilate’s power to stop the whole proceeding. Yet he decided to give the enemies of Christ their way out of cowardice.

---

Bob Muller the modern day Pontius Pilate..... and Judas. He takes the money, washes his hands of really making an obstruction decision, and turns it over to the modern day “ crucifiers” the Dem congress...

[Mrs. Don-o]

I don't know that Caiaphas got a pass. But Pontius Pilate is the only 100% human person (other than the 100% human person Mary, the Mother of God) is explicitly mentioned by name in the Nicene Creed.

I think that' because, as Pilate himself sid, "Do you not know that I have the power to release you, and the power to crucify you?"

It's because of his power ---plus the fact that he grounds the narrative firmly in history, not myth, because his name is in all the official records --- that he is singled out, I think.

G.E.M. Anscombe, Cambridge philosopher, says that after her study of multiple historic and cultural paradigms of morality, the one value she found was truly seen--- across the civilizations and the centuries --- as an "exceptionless norm" throughout history, is that everyone agreed that the judicial execution of a person known to be innocent, is always (exceptionlessly) evil.

It's accurate to blame Caiaphas as well, of course, as the instigator and Pilate's crime partner.

It's OK to blame yourself,and me too, since Jesus' death for us all was caused by the sins of us all.

[mad_as_he$$]

Politicians haven’t changed.

[Antoninus]

Why does Caiaphias, the person who repeatedly started every call for the execution, get an eternal pass? Because his name is too tough?

Annas and Caiaphas definitely do not get passes, eternal or otherwise. Dante puts Caiaphas in the Eighth Circle of the Inferno. Pilate, meanwhile, is not mentioned at all -- or, as some think, he was among the group of unnamed group of sinners who were refused entrance into hell because they were too cowardly to choose between God and the devil in life.

[Antoninus]

everyone agreed that the judicial execution of a person known to be innocent, is always (exceptionlessly) evil.

That's fascinating.

[impactplayer]

Tertullian invokes Pilate as a witness to the death and resurrection of Christ and of the truth of Christianity—and explains that this is why he is mentioned in the Nicean Creed. St. Augustine saw Pilate as a prophet of the Kingdom of God (cf. sermon 201). Hippolytus draws a parallel between Pilate and Daniel—in so far as both proclaim themselves absolved from the shedding of innocent blood (Daniel 14:40). Other Church Fathers likened Pilate to the Magi, who also recognized Jesus as King of the Jews. Pilate’s wife is honored by the Greek Church on October 27. The Ethiopian Church venerates both Pilate and his wife on June 19.

[Antoninus]

Bump for Good Friday.

[ebb tide]

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