Jesus was not condemned by a Roman Court

THE EDITOR: This is in response to the article by Ahamad Khayyan, carried in the Sunday Newsday of March 28 and entitled “A legal look at the Passion of Christ.” In his eagerness to discredit the biblical accounts of the trials of Jesus Christ (there were six trials), Mr Khayyan does not mention the relevant charges or who sentenced Christ to death. If Jesus was not God, then his sentence of death by the Jewish Sanhedrin Council was just, according to the laws of Moses. It is difficult to state and unfold this argument, without an appearance of irreverence. To charge the divine Jesus with crime, even hypothetically, is grating to the sensibility of devout Christians who love and adore him. However, it must be remembered that the one who is, by the following argument, proven to be chargeable with crime, is the Jesus of Mr Khayyan’s gospel, a mere man, whose character and conduct are to be judged like those of other men.

Jesus was condemned to death by the Jewish Sanhedrin for blasphemy, not by a Roman Court. That council reported to Pilate, “We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.” (John 19:6). On a former occasion, Jesus said unto them: “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” (John 5:17). And they charged him with blasphemy, because he made God his (own) Father, thereby making himself equal with God (v 18). It was in this peculiar sense that the charge of blasphemy was construed. The other two charges cited by Mr Khayyan, sedition and treason were against Rome (Luke 23:2), not against the Jews, and were clearly dismissed by Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor (v 4, 14) as false.

The high priest who was the president of the council, put Christ on his oath, “I adjure thee by the living God;” (Matthew 26:63) and propounded to him two questions. “Art thou the Christ?” (Luke 22:67); and “Art thou the Son of God? (Luke 22:70). It was Jesus’ affirmative reply to these questions, which was the ground of his condemnation by the Jews. Jesus knew the sense in which the question was asked; and was bound, as a pius Jew, to answering the question honestly and truly in the sense in which he knew that the high priest meant. He therefore affirmed on oath, at that tribunal, that he was the Son of God, in this high sense. For this he was condemned to death, and if he was not who he claimed to be (the Son of God), then he was guilty of perjury and consequently responsible for his own death.

Although found guilty by the Council, God justified him (declared him to be not guilty) by raising him from the dead. “....declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” (Romans 1:4) This proved that his condemnation was unjust; and that he was truly who he had claimed to be, the Son of God. The last argument exhibits the importance of his doctrine in a strong light. According to the law of Moses, any one who enticed others to idolatry was to be punished with death (Deuteronomy 13: 1-5). The council before which Jesus was tried, was the court which had cognisance of this offence. This was not a Roman court as Mr Khayyan thinks. A mere man, who should claim divine honour to himself, was guilty of this capital crime; and although the Romans had taken away from the Jews the power of inflicting capital punishment, the council might, with perfect propriety, report to the governor concerning such a man, “By our law he ought to die.” This was their decision, as reported to Pilate, concerning Jesus; and, if as some claim, he was not entitled to the divine honour which he claimed, then the decision was just and legal.

Finally, in claiming that the biblical version of Jonah does not accord with Christ’s resurrection, Mr Khayyan shows himself to be woefully lacking in biblical exegesis. It is only with great violence to the text that one can make Matthew 12:39-40 say anything about Jonah’s death or the cross. These two verses clearly state that just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, so too Christ would be in the tomb for three days and three nights, a clear reference to his burial and resurrection not his death on the cross.

SYLVAN JAMES
Debe