Jesus of Nazareth | ||
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
188
—Doddridge.
Jesus of Nazareth | ||