John 19:11
Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”
Jesus’ reply to Pilate’s claim to authority seems straight forward and easy enough to follow but as with many things in Scripture, what appears simple has many layers.
First there is the issue of authority. Jesus doesn’t deny that Pilate has authority. He doesn’t say, “You’re wrong. You have no power over me.” Rather, he points out that Pilate’s actual authority came from sources beyond his (Pilate’s) control. Above even Caesar, there is the will of God. Thus, this in no wise cancels out human institutions and authority structures. God has ordained real authority on earth to fulfill His will, just has He has made many classifications and boundaries in the natural world. God’s world is a world of authority. Jesus doesn’t tell Pilate that he’s a narcissistic dreamer with delusions of power, he tells him that God is the ultimate authority.
Then, Jesus says something even more compelling – he points out that Pilate is committing a grievous sin and yet this sin isn’t greater than the one committed by the person who handed him over in the first place. There’s no way to know if Jesus is talking about Judas, or Caiaphas, or Annas – all of which had a role in his arrest and deliverance to Pilate. What is clear is that Jesus is saying that there are greater and lesser degrees of guilt in this life.
So, we again run headlong into the issue of God’s ultimate authority and yet that of human responsibility. There is much debate about this in Christianity today and yet it’s clear that the Bible teaches both. To push the view that humans have ultimate responsibility and that their choices cannot be influenced beyond themselves puts them into the camp with Pilate, for this is surely what the Roman believes. He sees himself as a moral free agent, free of outside influence; he’s his own man. But Jesus tells him that he has nothing that his Father has not given him. And, yet, Pilate – just like Judas and the rest of the Jews – are responsible for their sin. It is unbiblical to persist that God’s sovereignty strips man of moral responsibility simply because here we see Jesus saying that such isn’t the case. Why does Jesus say this? Why is it so? Because God is the ultimate authority. Pilate may have replied after Jesus said this, “But if he’s the ultimate authority, why does he still find fault?” Of course, the Scripture answers this exact question so we don’t have to guess at what would have been Jesus’ answer. It says, “But who are you, o man, to answer back to God?”
Does God ultimately determine what is happening to you? Yes. Are you making choices and are you, indeed, accountable for those choices? Yes and yes again. What are we to say to this? Is it illogical? Of course not, though it is deep and we are very shallow, very human and cannot see how far it goes. It is a mystery and the deep truth of it should cause us to say in reverent awe,
“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom of God!
How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”
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