NOTE I.
Jesus.
Thou couldest have no power at all against me
Were not that power first given thee from above;
He therefore that delivered thee to me
Is the chief culprit, hath the greater sin.
Act IV., Scene VIII.
I have thought it best to leave this passage in its
original semi-obscurity, as given in John's Gospel.
Numberless attempts have been made to throw light
upon its meaning, but none of them seems to me
quite satisfactory. Probably we have not a perfectly
correct report of the actual words used by Jesus upon
this occasion.
“Some have thought that the word ανωθεν, from
above, refers to the situation of the temple, which
stood much higher than the Prætorium; and that it
is as if Jesus had said, ‘I know that whatever thou
dost against me, is only in consequence of the sentence
passed in yonder court held above; so that their
guilt is greater than thine.’ But though this would
very well account for the connexion of the latter part
of the verse, I cannot think it altogether just; for had
Providence permitted Pilate to seize Christ as one
dangerous to Cæsar's dignity, he would have had as
much power of putting him to death as he now had.
It is therefore much more reasonable to suppose it
refers to the permission of God's providence. No
thought was more proper to the occasion; and I
think the interpretation I have given to the latter
clause, in this view, is natural, though not very
common. But if any are not satisfied with it, they
may consider whether
δια τουτο may not be connected
with the beginning of the verse, so that it
might be translated,
Thou couldst have no power at all
against me, unless it were given thee from above for this
purpose.”
—Doddridge.
