The Biblical Version

The Preamble

     The ten years Pilate was in Jerusalem were filled with turmoil.  First, he brought effigies of Caesar into Jerusalem which enraged the people, next he used sacred money to pay for a new water supply which led to a bloody uprising, he then crucified Jesus, a revered teacher and prophet and who, some said, was the long awaited Christ and finally he had a peaceful group of Samaritans going to collect sacred relics slaughtered.

     This last episode, added to those that had gone before convinced the Roman authorities that Pilate should be relieved of his duties and sent to Rome to justify his actions before a tribunal.

The Last Days

     The only person who could have given a verbatim account of Jesus' trial before Pilate and the private conversation was Pilate himself.

     In the gospel versions of Jesus' last days there are two events described that are crucial to the stories.
1.  The Gospel versions depict Pilate as being forced under pressure from the Jewish authorities to try Jesus on a charge of blasphemy.

     As the account of the death of Stephen (in Acts and James (in Josephus)) shows, such trials were held in public before a court consisting of the High Priest and the Sanhedrin.  If the accused were found guilty the death sentence was carried out by the Jews.  The Romans took no part in the process except to allow the sentence to be carried out.

     When the Jews of Achaia, in Greece, asked the Roman Proconsul, Gallio, to try Paul for blasphemy they were curtly told "that it was a matter of Jewish law, see to it yourselves.  I refuse to judge on the matter."

     A person charged with blasphemy would never have been tried by Pilate.

2.  The Gospel versions depict Pilate as being powerless to prevent the crucifiction of Jesus.

     That Pilate, who had already defied Jewish customs twice, should agree to put to death a man he knew to be innocent and to agree to free a notorious rebel leader and murderer with a large following, because a mob of his supporters clamoured for it seems extremely unlikely.

     The Pilate described by Josephus would never have caved into the demands of a Jewish mob much less one demanding the release of a rebel and murderer.

     Each of these accounts has two things in common:
    1.  They both serve to absolve Pilate of any responsibility for Jesus' death.
    2.  They are both not credible.

     I believe the Biblical accounts of what transpired between Jesus' arrest and when he was delivered up to be crucified were originally based on Pilate's testimony before the Roman tribunal and that that testimony was a complete fabrication designed to convince the members that he was not to blame for crucifying an innocent man.