Why Was Jesus Executed?

Why Did the Romans Kill Jesus?

Why was Jesus crucified?As in, how did he get himself killed?How did Jesus find himself being sentenced to death by the Roman government?

  • The crucifixion is central to the Christian story.
  • If Jesus hadn’t been crucified, the symbol of the cross would not only hold entirely different connotations, it wouldn’t enjoy its ubiquity in western art and culture.
  • The character of Christianity itself would be totally unrecognizable, assuming it would still exist at all.

So how did Jesus end up in the Roman version of the electric chair?Just as there are vast differences between the historical Jesus and the Jesus worshipped by Christians, there are vast differences between the mythology surrounding the death of Jesus and the most responsible historical interpretation of the evidence surrounding the death of Jesus.So let’s compare the two.

What’s the mainstream Christian story about Jesus’s execution?If you ask an apologist or a pastor, how would they respond to the question, “Why was Jesus crucified?” There’s a tendency stretching back to the early church into the present to blame the Jews for the death of Jesus.Jews have been labeled “Christ-killers” for centuries, and this has contributed to pogroms, and incited the murder of Jews during the Crusades, the Inquisition, and the Holocaust.Jesus ran afoul of the deicidal Jewish leaders, who eventually had him crucified to shut him up, the common Christian narrative goes.Matthew 27:24-25, “Pilate … took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.’ And all the people answered, ‘His blood is on us and on our children!’” You know, how crowds chant.

  • This passage has been cited to support the concept of Jewish deicide: that the Jews as a people are Christ-killers, not just the individual Jews who supposedly pushed for the execution.
  • As a Christian, I believed the Jews had Jesus killed because they considered him a blasphemer.
  • I remember watching (and participating in) Easter dramas put on by the church every year as a kid, and that’s what was depicted.
  • It wasn’t really the Roman authorities; it was the Jews!
  • A big problem with this common narrative is that the Romans were the ones to dole out executions.

Crucifixion was a Roman punishment, carried out by the Roman government for violating Roman laws — not a Jewish punishment carried out by Jewish authorities for violating Jewish laws.If Jesus was crucified, it was because he ran afoul of the Romans, not the Jews.

Jesus Smuggling

The fact that we must not mix the mainstream Christian, embellished Jesus with the real Jesus is a vital flag to plant, and one that must be planted in any talks about Jesus.However, while Christians are fond of quoting historians who firmly argue for the reality of Jesus, the historical Jesus bears little relation to the image of Jesus held in the minds of the typical churchgoing Christian.They’re engaged in Jesus Smuggling: they make arguments about the historical Jesus and various facts about his life, and at some point, they’ve switched from a historically responsible, scholarly view of Jesus to a personalized, modern, embellished version of Jesus, usually without providing any justification for their change of heart.

  • Jesus was crucified, and we may safely accept this as truth without invalidating a single aspect of the Christian mythology surrounding Jesus’ death and resurrection, such as the involvement of the Jews or Jesus’ flight into the clouds.
  • I grew raised as an evangelical Christian.
  • Perhaps if I had attended a more liberal church, the story of Jesus’ life and death would have been told in a different way.

Perhaps he would be shown as a compassionate rabbi who just taught that we should love one another; or as a type of Jewish Diogenes, free of the burdens of worldly possessions.The question is, if that was the case, why was he murdered?On the basis of these readings of Jesus’ life and teachings, the question ″Why was he executed?″ is not so simple to respond to.

If a scholar attempts to explain Jesus’ life in a way that does not make much sense in light of his death, as historian of early Christianity Bart Ehrman puts it, ″that should be the first signal that something is wrong.″ Furthermore, according to Ehrman, ″Jesus’ crucifixion by the Romans is one of the most secure facts we know concerning his life.″ It is widely acknowledged that Jesus was crucified by the Romans, but orthodox Christian doctrines do a poor job of explaining why.You may argue about why Jesus would have been targeted by the Roman authorities whether you’re an evangelical or a unitarian, but the answer isn’t quite apparent.

I fought the law and the law won

So, what was the logic behind the Romans’ decision to execute Jesus?For the second time, crucifixion was a Roman punishment that was carried out by the Roman government in response to transgressions of Roman law.As previously stated, it was not a religious penalty administered by Jewish officials for breaching Jewish rules, and the Roman government was not under Jewish influence.

  • It’s worth noting that there’s a Jewish conspiracy at the center of this narrative that doesn’t seem to get much attention.
  • Many Christians believe that Jesus committed blasphemy or opposed the theological orthodoxy of the Jewish authorities of his day, the Pharisees and the Sadducees of the Sanhedrin, and that the Roman authority, for whatever reason, complied with their wishes and executed their sentence.
  • However, the Romans were unconcerned by Jewish blasphemy laws or the endless debates about Jewish theory and practice, which were common at the time.

Why would they do that?In one important regard, the mainstream Christian perspective is consistent with the mainstream historical understanding: Jesus was effectively executed because he dared to speak his mind.The allegations, on the other hand, were political in origin rather than religious in nature.

The culture of ancient Rome was significantly different from that of now.Because Jesus had been referring to himself as ″the king,″ the Romans believed this had caused them to be offended.″He didn’t mean it in a spiritual sense, and the Romans didn’t interpret it in a spiritual way,″ Dr.Ehrman explains.Having the title ″King″ implied that one was the political head of the people of Israel.

  • And the only people who could be king were the Roman governor or someone nominated by the Romans (such as Herod).
  • Someone claiming to be king was considered to be usurping Roman prerogatives and was therefore considered a threat, or, if not a threat, at the very least a public annoyance.
  • Lower-class peasants who were troublemakers and public nuisances were dealt with in a variety of ways by the Romans.
  • ″They nailed them on a cross.″ Keep in mind that this was a civilization that was significantly different from our own.
  • Liberal concepts such as the separation of religion and state, as well as freedom of expression, were non-existent at the time.

That the title ″King of the Jews″ was to be interpreted purely religiously and not in any way politically implies a degree of separation between the two things that didn’t actually exist until a few centuries ago, when the title was given to the monarch of Israel.The proclamation by Jesus that he was King of the Jews was completely removed from any political significance requires a secular mind to even consider such a possibility.Furthermore, Jesus was an apocalyptic preacher who prophesied the end of the world.Possibly, the authorities found his teachings on such topics as the arrival of Christ, God’s Kingdom, the rule of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, and his overall apocalyptic vision to be offensive.

Although Rome was a superstitious pagan civilization that was controlled by other superstitious pagans, this fact complicates the Romans’ calculations even further.After all, what if Jesus’ irritation sparked something that the Romans would prefer not to deal with in the first place?Any challenge to the fragile security that the Romans had achieved was met with a vengeance by the Roman army.Because the logic of crucifixion was to make a highly public example of anyone who wanted to transgress the law, it served as a deterrence.The Roman authorities found Jesus to be a nuisance, and they dealt with him as they did with all other nuisances.Jesus battled against the law, and the law prevailed.

  • According to the available evidence, the Romans did not punish people who insulted the religious sensibilities of Jews.
  • Consider the implications of their actions: why on earth would they do anything like that?
  • Why would they be interested?
  • For what reason would the Roman authority put someone to death for breaking Jewish law?
  1. It is perhaps possible that Jesus was not a person who unquestionably broke Jewish law; rather, Jesus was a rabbi who had a different understanding of the law.
  2. The spectrum of feasible explanations of Jesus’ death is significantly reduced if we accept that he was crucified, as we have done.
  3. In this case, the mainstream Christian perspective, which is the one I acquired in Sunday School, is no longer valid.
  4. Rather than the Jews, the Romans were in charge of the crucification, and they were not under their supervision.
  5. As a result, Jesus must have come into conflict with the Romans in some way.
  6. Jews were not being crucified by Roman pagans for blasphemy or for breaking the sabbath at the time.

There was no justification for the Roman government to act in this manner, and there is no indication that they were in the practice of acting in this manner.Anyone who posed a danger to the Roman political system was killed by the Romans.It’s not as if there was any freedom of expression at the time.When it came to resisting Roman control, the Romans had a strict zero-tolerance policy in place.He predicted that Rome would collapse during his disciples’ lifetime and that he would take over as the new leader, with his disciples reigning alongside him.

According to both Mark and John, Jesus was accused of proclaiming himself to be the King of the Jews, prophesying the coming fall of Rome, and conspiring to destroy the Roman government in both the trial and the execution scenes.Jesus had been referring to himself as ″the king″ all along.It’s possible that Jesus began to have a sneaking suspicion that he would eventually get into difficulty with the authorities.When Jesus is anointed by an unidentified woman in the book of Mark, he makes a subtle allusion to his own impending death.

Of course, any detail like that may have been made up, but it could also have been true in certain cases.His predecessor, John the Baptist, was put to death by beheading.Other prophets were subjected to the same fate as well.

There’s no reason to believe that Jesus wouldn’t have been able to foresee that a similar destiny would strike him in the future.Nevertheless, one could argue, if it was inevitable that Jesus would be crucified for claiming to be the King of the Jews, why on earth would he do so in such a prominent manner.Why would he make a public declaration that he intends to steal the throne if doing so would put him and his family in danger?He most likely didn’t, to be honest.He did, however, instruct his followers in secret, including one by the name of Judas, who was one of his disciples.So, as a Christian, how do you reconcile the death of Jesus with your beliefs?

Whenever the narrative is told, it invariably goes something like this: ″He declared himself God″ (which the actual Jesus did not do), or ″He was continually dunking on the Jewish authorities, owning them with facts and arguments.″ They were at a loss for what to do, so they murdered him to put him out of his misery.″ The Romans, on the other hand, are strangely inactive.Examples include the Gospel of Luke, where Pilate and Herod both deem Jesus to be guilty of the crime of beheading.For Christians, the question is how to make sense of the Bible’s account of Jesus’ crucifixion, which suggests that it was not the Romans but the Jews—and potentially the Jewish people as a whole—who were to blame for Jesus’ murder.The truth is that the Romans couldn’t have given a damn about how the Jews felt in their own country.As a result, if Jesus was crucified, it was because the Roman rulers desired that he be executed.

It’s far simpler to perceive the inflated role of the Jews as a consequence of early Christian anti-semitism than it is to see an accurate recounting of historical events as they transpired in the first place (especially when you consider details like a crowd shouting that they accept that the blood of Jesus will be on their descendants).For the third time, Dr.Ehrman says, ″It is intriguing how you organize the Gospels.″ As time progresses, Pontius Pilate’s guilt for sentencing Jesus to death is gradually seen to be unfounded.

From the beginning to the finish, Pilate was probably definitely responsible for Jesus’ death, according to historical records…If the Jewish authorities delivered Jesus over to Pilate, he was the one who made the decision of what to do with him, without the assistance of local authority…″ In other words, ″the Romans did not murder anyone for no cause at all or for upsetting the religious sensibilities of other Jews,″ according to the author.CA73 / / / / / / / / / What Was the Reason for Jesus’ Death?Previous Easter episodes include: CA48 William Lane is a fictional character created by author William Lane.Craig’s Four Resurrection Facts (in no particular order) CA26 Christianity’s Expansion is a fascinating story.CA25 ″Who would die for a lie?″ you may wonder.

If Jesus rose from the dead, is there any historical proof for this?This is where Craig lies about Joseph of Arimathea on a consistent basis.What Was the Reason for Jesus’ Death?Anti-Judaism in the Gospels is a common theme.

Visit our sister program, Walden Pod, to hear more of our stories.Please rate the program on iTunes by clicking here.Please consider supporting us on Patreon.Subscribe to the CA and Walden Pod on YouTube by visiting this link.

To keep up with me, follow me on Twitter @waldenpod or visit linktr.ee/emersongreen.

Why was Jesus killed?

The 30th of November, 1999 From the beginning of his ministry, Jesus was at odds with his fellow citizens as well as with the Jewish officials, and he was eventually crucified by Pilate as a political renegade.Each gospel presents a unique point of view on the life and teachings of Jesus.James Mc Polin, SJ, provides an explanation.

  • The Gospels make it quite plain why Jesus was crucified.
  • Like so many others before and after him, he was slain because of the sort of life he led, because of what he said, and because of what he did, among other reasons.
  • The fact that it was the Son of God who was slain gives the tragedy of his death an incomparably greater depth of meaning.

The four Gospels all affirm the brutality of his death in the most unequivocal way.They devote the greatest amount of time and attention to Jesus’ suffering and death – to the point that they are nothing more than an extended introduction to the account of the Passion.The Gospels, on the other hand, contain episodes of danger and persecution that occur early in Jesus’ public existence, long before these tales of the Passion are recorded.

Conflicts arose early on.Luke narrates the first severe attack against him as it occurs in the context of the commencement of his ministry in support of the impoverished and destitute (Luke 4).The focus of the conversation is on Jesus’ signs in his home territory of Nazareth, where he is adamant about not repeating the marvels he had performed in the previous district of Capernaum.Early in the story, we are informed that ″no prophet is accepted in his hometown″ (Luke 4:24), but by the end of the story, his fellow villagers have already thrown him out of town and have expressed a desire to toss him from a cliff.A threat to the powers that be In the first place, it goes without saying that Jesus’ preaching and activities posed an existential danger to the religious authorities of his day (and, indirectly, to every repressive authority) from the outset, and that such a power was forced to respond accordingly.

  • Jesus was, at his core, a man in conflict, and as a result, he was persecuted and crucified.
  • The man got in the way of the procession, and in the words of Archbishop Romero of El Salvador, ″those who get in the way get slain.″ Jesus, who was surrounded by turmoil, became a stumbling block.
  • In stating that hatred and popularity had been a part and parcel of Jesus’ existence from the beginning, it is highly likely that the Gospel stories are historically true.
  • Disputes with authority figures At contrast to the episode in Nazareth, which is more local and akin to a village fight, Mark discusses the persecution of Jesus very early in his Gospel, which is a significant distinction.
  • He recounts five disagreements that occurred between Jesus and the religious authorities.

He then goes on to describe the fifth debate, which occurred when Jesus healed people on the Sabbath, and the reaction: ‘The Pharisees rushed out and quickly planned with the Herodians (followers of Herod) against him, how to murder him…’ They were keeping an eye on him to see if he would cure him on the Sabbath so that they could blame him.(Chapter 3 is highlighted.) Those who are accountable The evangelists relate how the Scribes and Pharisees put Jesus to the test just before his triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the last day of his life.He has no sooner arrived at the Temple in Jerusalem than the Scribes and senior priests are on the lookout for him in order to assassinate him (Luke: Chs.19, 20).Once Jesus arrives in Jerusalem, the number of schemes against him grows exponentially, and the officials, particularly the chief priests, are desperate to have him removed from the city.

The Gospel of John (Chapters 2 to 11) is the one that most vividly demonstrates – with the greatest amount of detail – that Jesus is persecuted during his entire life and ministry.Because of Jesus’ ongoing and rising persecution, the Gospels reveal that his death was not an accident, but rather the climax of a necessary process.They accuse a variety of individuals of being responsible for the persecution, including Pharisees, Scribes, Sadducees, Herodians, and the top priests of Israel.In the list of individuals who were responsible for the persecution, there is no mention of the regular people, the masses, whom Jesus picked as his audience.They may disagree over whether or not they comprehended Jesus’ teaching correctly, but they do not persecute him.They, on the other hand, provide security for Jesus, as ‘fear of the people’ is described as an impediment to his arrest on a number of times.

  • Although there is no indication that the people betrayed Jesus or wanted his murder, there is no indication that they did so either.
  • The crescendo The dispute escalates during Jesus’ final week in Jerusalem, during the religious trial, demonstrating the rising enmity of the Jewish officials, particularly those in charge of the priesthood, against him.
  • They want to ‘put him to death’ and have come to the conclusion that ‘he deserves to die’ (Mark: Ch.
  • 14).
  1. It is critical to understand why.
  2. The Sanhedrin or Council (elders of the prominent families, high priests, and Scribes) convicts him and hands him over to the Romans once the trial is over.
  3. They believed he was a false prophet because he claimed to be the Messiah and placed himself alongside the God of Israel; they believed he wanted to destroy the temple because he criticised certain aspects of this institution and offered people a distinct and opposite alternative which implied that the temple would no longer be the center of Israel’s political, religious, social, and economic life; they believed he was a false prophet because he declared himself to be the Messiah and placed himself alongside the God of Israel; and they believed they were right.
  4. Pilate and the Romans are in a tight spot.
  5. Even though Jesus had been condemned before the Council on theological grounds, Pontius Pilate sentenced him to death on the Cross as a political dissident.
  6. Because of the Holocaust, we must be more circumspect when it comes to the ‘guilt’ of the Jews today, especially in the aftermath of the event.
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There is no way that the entire Jewish people should be held accountable for their rejection of Jesus.In fact, the Jewish leaders of the period do not carry complete blame for the events of the Holocaust.A coalition of Jewish and Roman authorities, together with Judas, one of Jesus’ own disciples, was responsible for bringing the Messiah to his death.Take a look at the gentleman.Every year during Holy Week, we are treated to two lengthy descriptions of Jesus’ Passion: on Passion Sunday, or Palm Sunday, we hear the Passion according to Matthew (Year A), Mark (Year B), or Luke (Year C), and on Good Friday, we hear the Passion according to John (Year C).

The four tales are identical in that they all center on the same Jesus.They portray Jesus as suffering from every kind of humiliation, including groundless arrest, desertion by his closest friends, betrayal by a member of his own inner circle, inhuman interrogation and cruel tortures, false accusations and perjuries, the political shifting of blame onto the shoulders of an innocent and defenceless man, condemnation as a law-breaker and a criminal, death on the cross, physical collapse under the weight of the cross, derision, defamation, and the expulsion We are instructed to ‘have a good look at the man’ (Jn 19:5).Take a look at what humans are capable of and what they are capable of suffering.Mark and Luke are two of the most famous people in the world.

Each evangelist depicts a different aspect of this suffering guy and paints a different image of the individual in question.Because Matthew’s picture of Jesus during the Passion is only marginally different from Mark’s, we may distinguish between three separate images of Jesus: those of Mark, Luke, and John.Mark depicts Jesus’ desertion, which is dramatically reversed by God (by the breaking of the temple curtain) at the conclusion of the book.

From the moment Jesus ascends to the Mount of Olives, the behavior of the disciples is depicted in a more unfavorable light than previously.The apostles fall asleep three times while Jesus is praying.As a result of Judas’ betrayal, Peter curses, claiming he has no knowledge of him.All of them flee.Jesus is nailed to the crucifixion for six hours, three of which are spent being mocked by his fellow humans.″My God, my God, why have you left me?″ is the sole thing that Jesus says from the crucifixion.

The disciples are shown in a more sympathetic light in Luke’s Gospel than in Mark’s.When Pilate realizes that Jesus is not guilty, he realizes that the people are on Jesus’ side.Jesus is continually thinking of others, comforting the ladies who accompany him and curing the slave’s ear, to name a couple of examples.He expresses gratitude to those who crucified him.He assures the repentant thief that he will enter Paradise.

The crucifixion becomes the occasion for heavenly forgiveness and caring to be extended to the world.Jesus dies peacefully, asking, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit,’ according to the Bible.John According to John’s narrative, Jesus is in complete command of the situation.

Throughout the circumstances that led to his death, he maintains control, is aware of what is going on, and takes the initiative in order to prevent his death.When someone is being interrogated, it is he who asks the questions and takes the lead in the conversation (John: Chs.18-19).When Jesus comes down from the cross, his final words are triumphant: ‘My job is accomplished’ (John: Ch.19).This trio of testimonies ‘have been given to us by the inspired Spirit, and none of them exhausts the significance of Jesus’, according to the Bible.

(From R.Brown.) An earlier version of this essay appeared in The Messenger (March 2002), a journal published by the Irish Jesuits.Jesus, Theology, and other related terms

Why was Jesus crucified?

Answer to the question There is an earthly cause for Jesus’ death, as well as a heavenly motive for his death.Simply expressed, the worldly explanation for this is that mankind is a bad bunch of people.God is good, and this is the heavenly reason for this.

  • The reason Jesus was crucified on this world was because mankind is bad.
  • Men of evil plotted against Him, falsely accused Him, and assassinated Him.
  • The officials of Israel had a variety of motives for wanting Jesus to be put to death on the cross.

They were envious of His adoring audience (Matthew 27:18).Because they were concerned that Jesus would garner an excessive following, the Roman authorities may descend on the nation, forcing them to lose their positions, they sought to prevent this from happening (John 11:48).They despised the fact that Jesus brought out their wrongdoing in such a prominent manner (Matthew 23).

And when He claimed to be the Son of God, they felt He was blaspheming (Luke 22:66–71).However, all of these arguments were only manifestations of their fundamental disbelief (John 5:46).Because the Romans were in charge of carrying out Jesus’ crucifixion, he was crucified rather than stoned, hung, drowned, or otherwise punished.The Roman Empire used the crucifixion as a means of execution to make a public spectacle of someone and to dissuade others from committing the same sin.It was customary to affix the accusations against the condemned to the cross of the condemned.

  • Pilate placed the accusation “King of the Jews” on Jesus’ crucifixion (Matthew 27:37).
  • (Matthew 27:37).
  • The Jewish leaders had concocted this claim to goad the Roman ruler into murdering Jesus.
  • John 19:12 reports, “From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, ‘If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar.
  • Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.’” Pilate could not afford to be seen as tolerating a rival to Caesar.

The heavenly reason Jesus was crucified: God is good.God had a plan to save sinners, and Jesus was the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29).(John 1:29).Even though the act of crucifying Jesus was evil, the crucifixion was still the plan of God to make atonement for sin.

“Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen” (Acts 4:27–28).The crucifixion was not a case of evil getting out of control.Jesus told Pilate, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above” (John 19:11).(John 19:11).The powers of darkness were given divine permission to act (Luke 22:53).

  • (Luke 22:53).
  • God allowed the hatred, the conspiracy, the false accusations, the sham trials, and the murder of His Son.
  • In the crucifixion of Christ, God used the evil desires of evil men to accomplish the greatest good: the provision of salvation for mankind.
  • “It was the LORD’s will to crush Him and to cause Him to suffer” (Isaiah 53:10); the result was glorious: “He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (verse 12).
  1. (verse 12).
  2. There is nothing in Old Testament prophecy that explicitly mandates that the Messiah be crucified.
  3. At the same time, there are hints of the manner of His death in the Law and the Prophets.
  4. In Galatians 3:13, Paul applies Deuteronomy 21:22–23 to the death of Christ.
  5. Crucifixion allowed for the “piercing” mentioned in Zechariah 12:10 (cf.
  6. John 19:37).

(cf.John 19:37).Crucifixion results in the shedding of blood, necessary for a sacrifice (Hebrews 9:22; cf.Leviticus 17:11).(Hebrews 9:22; cf.

Leviticus 17:11).In crucifixion, the breaking of bones can be avoided (Exodus 12:46; cf.John 19:36).(Exodus 12:46; cf.

John 19:36).And the crucifixion of Christ perfectly fits the description of the anguish David faced in Psalm 22.We all have committed sins, and we are all worthy of death, but Christ took our place.

He was publicly executed, and His blood was shed on our behalf, as Paul explains in Romans 3:25–26: “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” In the final analysis, the reason that Jesus was crucified is the answer that each of us must come to understand and embrace by faith: Jesus was crucified to pay for my sin so that I can be forgiven and be made right with God.Return to: Questions about Jesus Christ Why was Jesus crucified?

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Why was Jesus crucified?

Faith-based

A historical perspective.

Among the other articles in Slate, Patton Dodd examines violent Passion performances, and Michael Sean Winters provides a behind-the-scenes look at the preparations for Holy Week at a Catholic church.Traditional Christian creeds include the assertion that Jesus was crucified ″under Pontius Pilate,″ which is a basic statement in the faith.However, the vast majority of Christians have only the vaguest understanding of what the term means, and the vast majority of non-Christians are unlikely to comprehend why it is such an important component of Christian faith.

The phrase ″Crucified under Pontius Pilate″ establishes the most evident connection between the Jesus tale and the rest of human history.Pilate was a historical character who served as the Roman procurator of Judea.He was recorded in various historical records of the period and was even named in an inscription discovered at the site of ancient Caesarea in Israel, which was dedicated to him.It is the argument that Jesus was a genuine person, rather than a mythical or legendary character, that is represented by linking Jesus’ execution with Pilate.Beyond that, the term expresses in a succinct manner some rather significant details about that particular historical event.

For starters, the assertion says that Jesus was not just slain; rather, he was executed.A young guy died in agony and public disgrace, not in a quiet manner at the conclusion of an extended lifespan.Furthermore, this was not a mob action.Not lynched, but executed, it is said, and this was done by the lawfully appointed administrative power of Roman Judea, not by the mob.

  • There was some form of hearing, and the official in charge of civic order, Roman peace, and justice sentenced Jesus in the presence of the crowd.
  • This indicates that Pilate discovered something so terrible that it warranted the imposition of the death sentence.
  • However, there was a unique type of death punishment in this case.
  • The Romans had a variety of methods for carrying out a judicial death; some, such as beheading, were quicker and less severe than crucifixion, while others, such as beheading, were more painful and time-consuming.
  • Death by crucifixion was only reserved for specific crimes and specific social levels in medieval times.
  • Censorship was meant to be reserved for those who had earned their citizenship by genuine Roman citizenship, however they may still be executed by other ways.

The crucifixion was widely viewed as not just the most horrifyingly agonizing but also the most dishonorable of all possible death.Primarily, it was reserved for those who were perceived to be raising their hands against Roman rule or those who in some other way appeared to be challenging the social order—for example, slaves who attacked their masters, and insurrectionists, such as the large number of Jews crucified by Roman Gen.Vespasian during the Jewish revolt of 66-72.As a result, the accusation that was affixed to Jesus’ cross in the Gospels, ″King of the Jews,″ reflects the most likely offense for which Jesus was crucified: ″King of the Jews.″ To put it another way, either Jesus personally declared himself to be the Jewish royal messiah, or his disciples made the same assertion.It would be a shame to be crucified by the Romans, wouldn’t it?

  1. Indeed, one criteria that might be used more rigorously in current academic arguments concerning the ″historical Jesus″ is what we can term the condition of ″crucifiability″: the condition of ″crucifiability″ is the ability to be crucified.
  2. You should create an image of Jesus that explains how he came to be crucified on the cross.
  3. Urging people to be friendly to one another, arguing for more flexible interpretations of Jewish law, and even denouncing the Temple and its leadership are all offenses that are unlikely to have resulted in crucifixion, according to historical evidence.
  4. For example, the first-century Jewish writer Flavius Josephus talks of a man who prophesied against the Temple and was killed as a result of his predictions.

Instead of sentencing him, the governor determined that he was harmless, despite the fact that he was slightly insane and irritating to the Temple priests.As a result, he was freed after being flogged.The argument that Jesus was a royal messiah would also assist to explain why Jesus was crucified but his disciples were spared.This was not a plotting cell in the traditional sense.

The problem was with Jesus himself.Furthermore, Pilate received a great deal of criticism for being a little too aggressive in his approach to Jews and Samaritans who were just protesting his policies in a loud and organized manner.Pilate most likely determined that publicly murdering Jesus would snuff out the messianic zeal of his followers while not accumulating an excessive number of Jewish bodies in the process.Of course, the Gospels also link Jewish religious authorities—specifically, the priestly leaders who operated the Jerusalem Temple under a Roman government-issued franchise—in the events that occurred.In Jesus and Judaism, E.P.Sanders concludes that the Temple officials were most likely engaged in Jesus’ coming to the notice of Pilate, which is supported by many other academics.

After all, the high priest and his entourage were able to maintain their positions by proving their continued commitment to the Roman Empire.If they came to the conclusion that Jesus posed a threat to Roman authority, they were obligated to repudiate him publicly.For the same reason, it is not so difficult to accept the Gospels’ claim that the Temple authorities were at least partly motivated by resentment over Jesus’ criticism of their administration of the Temple, as may be seen in the account of Jesus reversing the tables of the money-changers who were permitted to operate in the premises by the high priest.However, Jesus was not crucified by Jewish officials.The phrase ″Crucified under Pontius Pilate″ refers to the Roman authority, which bears responsibility for the execution.

It’s very obvious what St.Paul was getting at when he said that ″the preaching of the cross is folly″ to the majority of people in his day.As Martin Hengel demonstrated in his book Crucifixion in the Ancient World and the Folly of the Message of the Cross, authors of the Roman era considered crucifixion to be the harshest penalty imaginable, a sentence of awful humiliation.Celsus, a Roman adversary of Christianity, scoffed at Christians for treating someone who had been crucified as if he were a divine being.

It is well-known among historians who study the historical period for its anti-Christian graffito, which displays a crudely drawn crucified man with a donkey’s head underneath a human figure, with the words ″Alexamenos worships his god″ scrawled beneath the image in scornful cursive.Overall, announcing a crucified savior in a context where the practice of crucifixion was an everyday occurrence had little benefit.The crucifixion of Jesus was avoided by some early Christians, while others favored one or more alternative scenarios.Apocryphal Christian texts provide many versions of the story, one of which has the soldiers mistaking a bystander for Jesus and crucifying him instead, with Jesus appearing to chuckle at their mistake.

  1. This notion is believed to have been echoed subsequently in the Muslim story that a member of the crowd was wrongly crucified while Jesus fled.
  2. A large number of faithful Muslims think that Jesus was a legitimate prophet, and it is thus unfathomable that God would have permitted him to suffer the kind of death that he did.
  3. There’s no doubt that at least some early Christians felt the same way as we do.
  4. In truth, the crucifixion of Jesus presented a slew of issues that may have caused difficulties for early Christians.
  5. It implied that the state execution that lay at the foundation and core of their religion had occurred, and that their cherished messiah had been tried and pronounced guilty by a representative of Roman imperial power at the time of his death.
  1. Many people were probably left wondering whether the Christians weren’t part of some sort of serious subversive organization as a result of this.
  2. The group was, at the very least, not the type of organization that would easily appeal to individuals who were concerned about their social status.
  3. A confrontation between the person of Jesus and Roman political power resulted in his death, which was a clear liability for early Christian efforts to spread their beliefs throughout the world.
  4. Despite this, they managed to pull it off somehow.
  1. Years of Christian tradition have made the picture of Jesus being crucified so ubiquitous that the offensiveness of the act that it depicts has almost totally faded away from public consciousness.

Why Was Jesus Executed – 994 Words

What was the reason for Jesus’ execution?We must first examine the circumstances that led up to his arrest and, eventually, his death in order to address this issue in historical terms.We know that Jesus overturned the money changers’ tables in the temple in order to conduct the symbolic gesture of ″cleaning″ the temple, and most people feel that this act was symbolic of destruction rather than purity.

In the words of Paula Fredrickson, author of From Jesus to Christ, ″Through this disruptive gesture, Jesus symbolically performed the impending apocaleptic destruction of the Temple…that God’s kingdom was on the verge of being established.″ To put it simply: according to Fredrickson, his action ″would have been plainly recognized by any Jew observing as a statement that the Temple was going to be demolished by God, and as a result that the current system was about to be ceded to the Kingdom of God.″ As a result of his actions, Jesus undoubtedly enraged a large number of people.The chief priests in the temple were the most obvious targets because he did it during Passover (one of the holiest holidays), knowing that Pontius Pilate would be present to keep the crowds under control, and knowing that to announce so liberally that the freedom of their people was at hand would incite a threat to Rome’s stronghold.It is well known that Pontius Pilate was not a pleasant guy to begin with, and he was not pleased to find himself in Jerusalem during the busiest period of the year.Passover is a Jewish festival that commemorates the Jews’ emancipation from slavery, thus he was on hand to keep the crowds under order.During an interview, Paula Fredrickson stated that ″he had a reputation for crucifying untried inmates…

Pilate had a legal obligation to be in Jerusalem at a time when the city was at its busiest.He was already in a foul mood when he arrived in town…hearing that someone was a troublemaker would have been enough to put him in a bad attitude.″ Therefore, all he needed to do was locate someone on whom he could vent his anger.Then there’s Jesus.He was essentially turned up to Pilate by the priests.

  • The priests accuse Jesus of being a blasphemer in the gospel of Luke.
  • Was he deceived?

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Why did the Romans crucify?

Crucification was meant to be a gory sight, the most agonizing and humiliating death possible, and it was meant to be a show. Abolitionists, pirates, and other enemies of the state were punished with it. The punishment for a slave who kills his or her master was the crucifixion of all of the slaves under the master’s command, according to ancient Roman law.

Why was Jesus of Nazareth executed by the Romans?

To his Christian followers, Jesus of Nazareth, also known as Jesus Christ, was the spiritual founder of the religion of Christendom. His ideas were considered heretical by the Jewish leadership and politically hazardous by the Roman authorities, and he was famously crucified in Jerusalem as a result of this collaboration between the two.

What was Jesus charged with by the Romans?

Instead of beginning with the conviction for blasphemy, Caiaphas asserted that Jesus was guilty of sedition, which was later overturned. Caiaphas said that Jesus believed himself, or that his supporters believed, or that people believed that he was the King of the Jews. The crime against Rome was a capital offense, and Pilate was obligated to deal with it, whether he wanted to or not.

Could Jesus have survived the crucifixion?

To begin the trial, instead of convicting Jesus of blasphemy, Caiaphas asserted that Jesus had committed sedition.Caiaphas said that Jesus believed in himself, or that his supporters believed, or that people believed that he was the King of the Jews, and that this was the case.The crime against Rome was a grave offense, and Pilate was obligated to deal with it regardless of his feelings toward it.

Why did Jesus have to die for us?

They believed that Jesus’ death was a necessary element of God’s plan to rescue humanity. The death and resurrection of this one man is at the very center of the Christian faith, and his story is told throughout the Bible. People’s shattered connection with God is repaired, according to Christians, as a result of Jesus’ death on the cross. The Atonement is the term used to describe this.

What did the Romans do to the Jews?

The First Jewish–Roman War began in the year 66 CE. Veselagian and Titus, who would become the future Roman emperors, put down the rebellion. During the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE, the Romans demolished much of the Temple in Jerusalem and, according to some sources, looted treasures from the Temple, including the Menorah, for their own use.

Who was the high priest when Jesus was crucified?

Instead, Jesus was carried immediately to the mansion of the high priest Joseph Caiaphas, which was located in Jerusalem.

How long does it take to die on the cross?

When you’re in that situation for 10 minutes to half an hour, it’s almost hard to breathe, says Ward. ″It’s virtually impossible to breathe under those conditions.″ Someone who is nailed to a cross with their arms extended out on each side should expect to survive no more than 24 hours if they do not die.

Did Jesus write a gospel?

When you’re in that situation for 10 minutes to half an hour, it’s nearly hard to breathe, adds Ward. One may expect to live no more than 24 hours if they are nailed to a crucifix with their arms spread out on either side of the body.

How long were the nails used in crucifixion?

They were long and square in shape (about 15cm long and one-fourth inch thick) were used to secure victims to a crossbar by driving them into their wrists or forearms. It is possible to nail the feet to either side of the upright or to the crossbar once it has been installed in the frame.

Why Did Pontius Pilate Have Jesus Executed?

″What is truth?″ Pontius Pilate asks Jesus of Nazareth in the Gospel of John, and Jesus responds with a question.It’s a question that may be raised regarding Pilate’s own personal background as well.As told in the New Testament of the Christian Bible, the Roman ruler of Judea appeared to be a shaky judge who originally exonerated Jesus before bowing to public pressure and executing him on the orders of the mob.Non-Biblical sources, on the other hand, present him as a barbaric commander who wilfully rejected the traditions of the Jewish people under his command.Which version of the truth was correct?WATCH: JESUS: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Vault

Pilate’s early life is a mystery.

Before his time as Roman governor of Judea, from 26 and 36 A.D., nothing is known about Pilate’s early life and career.It is believed that he was born into an equestrian family in Italy, however some tales indicate that he was actually born in Scotland, rather than Italy.From the Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria emerges one of the earliest—and most damning—accounts of Pilate’s reign as governor.Around the year 50 A.D., he denounced the prefect for ″briberies, insults, robberies, outrages and wanton injuries, executions without trial, constantly repeated, endless and extremely severe brutality,″ among other things.The early Christian historian Stephen J.Patterson, who teaches early Christianity at Willamette University and is the author of several books including The Forgotten Creed: Christianity’s Original Struggle Against Bigotry, Slavery, and Sexism, says that Philo describes Pilate’s rule as ″corrupt and full of bribery.″ Although such behavior would not have been out of the norm in the case of a Roman emperor, Pilate appears to have done so with greater ruthlessness than usual.″ But, as Helen Bond, dean of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Divinity and author of Pontius Pilate in History and Interpretation, points out, it’s difficult to determine how historically accurate Philo’s tale truly was in the first place.

″Philo is a really dramatic writer,″ she observes, ″and one who has very apparent biases: persons who maintain Jewish rules are documented in highly favorable ways, whereas people who do not uphold Jewish laws are represented in quite bad ways.Given Pilate’s resistance to Jewish law, Philo depicts him as ″very severe″ in his description.READ MORE: The Bible Claims That Jesus Was a Real Person.Is there any further evidence?

Pilate clashed with the Jewish population in Jerusalem.

As part of his account, Philo claims that Pilate allowed a pair of golden shields emblazoned with the name of the Roman Emperor Tiberius to be brought into King Herod’s former residence in Jerusalem, in defiance of Jewish tradition.Writing more than a half-century later, the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus related a similar story, claiming that Pilate let troops bearing military standards with the likeness of the emperor into Jerusalem, despite Jewish law prohibiting the carrying of images in the holy city.A large number of people journeyed to the Judean city of Caesarea to express their displeasure, and they laid prostrate outside Pilate’s palace for five days until he finally yielded.Because Josephus was born in Jerusalem the year Pilate resigned, Bond believes he would have had ″pretty good information,″ according to the historian.This account has the ring of a rookie governor experimenting with his powers and entirely underestimating the depth of local opposition to graven images.However, Bond points out that the incident demonstrates his readiness to back down and to heed public opinion in the long run.

Josephus related another event, this one with a bloodier conclusion, in which Pilate used cash from the Temple treasury to construct an aqueduct to provide water to Jerusalem.When demonstrators gathered again, Pilate despatched plain-clothed soldiers to enter the mob.They were successful.When he gave the signal, they withdrew clubs disguised in their clothing and beat many of the demonstrators to death with the clubs they had removed.

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The Gospels portray an indecisive Pilate.

Josephus also referred to Pilate’s well-known role in agreeing to Jesus’ death, which he had played previously.After being profoundly concerned about the danger that Jesus’ teachings posed to the Jewish people, the Sanhedrin, an elite council of priestly and lay elders imprisoned him during the Jewish holiday of Passover, according to the Gospels.They hauled Jesus before Pilate to be prosecuted for blasphemy, accusing him of claiming to be the King of the Jews, which they said was false.And they exerted pressure on Pilate, the only person who had the authority to sentence someone to death, to order his crucifixion.In contrast to Philo and Josephus’ portrayals of Pilate as a ruthless dictator, the four Gospels show him as a vacillating judge who is unable to make a decision.According to the Gospel of Mark, Pilate intervened on Jesus’ behalf before caving in to the demands of the mob.

Because he wrote the Gospel during the failed Jewish Revolt against Roman rule, which took place between 66 and 70 A.D., Patterson theorizes that Mark had an ulterior motive, given that the Christian sect was undergoing a bitter break with Judaism at the same time as it was seeking to attract Roman converts.MORE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND AT: Discovering the Early Christian Church’s Conversion Tactics from Within ″Mark’s goal isn’t truly historical in nature,″ Patterson explains.″Its purpose is to throw a specific light on the Jewish War.Mark blamed the Jewish rulers in Jerusalem for the city’s collapse since the high priests and officials had turned their backs on Jesus when he had arrived in the city.

It is less about Pilate in Mark’s portrayal of the tale of Jesus’ trial than it is about transferring responsibility on the Jewish leaders.″ Following this, according to the Gospel of Matthew, Pilate washed his hands in front of the assembled throng before declaring, ″I am innocent of this man’s blood; take care of yourself.″ When the Jewish people heard this, they yelled out, ″His blood be on us and our children.″ For millennia, it would be used to punish the Jewish people, and it is still being utilized now.As Bond explains, ″Matthew claims that, while Romans were accountable for carrying out the action, the Jews were liable—a line of thought that, of course, has had fatal ramifications ever since.″ When Jesus was making problems during a gathering like Passover, when the city was packed to capacity, I don’t believe Pilate would have spent much time worrying about what to do with him.What happened next was totally up to the governor, and after hearing the evidence, he no probably concluded that removing Jesus from the picture was the wisest course of action.″ The offer by Pilate to commute the death sentence of a prisoner by popular vote, which according to the Gospel writers was an annual Passover practice, is yet another part of the New Testament tale that has not been proven historically accurate to the present day.

  • According to the Gospels, the people preferred the criminal Barabbas than Jesus.
  • The so-called custom of freeing a prisoner on Passover has been investigated by scholars, but so far, according to Patterson, ″they have not discovered anything in regard to this so-called ritual.″ READ MORE: New research demonstrates that early Christians did not always interpret the Bible literally.

Pilate disappears from history after his rule.

After employing disproportionate force to quell a possible Samaritan uprising, according to Josephus and the Roman historian Tacitus, Pilate was dismissed from office and exiled to the city of Rome.Pilate vanished from the historical record as soon as he arrived in Rome.His execution by the Emperor Caligula or his suicide, with his body being thrown into the Tiber River, are two theories that have been floated around.In fact, the early Christian author Tertullian said that Pilate had become a disciple of Jesus and had attempted to convert the emperor to Christian beliefs.Archaeologists in Caesarea uncovered concrete proof of Pilate’s presence in 1961, according to the Associated Press.A portion of a carved stone with Pilate’s name and title etched in Latin on it was discovered face down in an antique theater, where it had been used as a stair.

According to the evidence available, the ″Pilate Stone″ was initially intended to be used as a dedication plaque for another construction.According to a November 2018 article in the Israel Exploration Journal, improved photography showed Pilate’s name engraved in Greek on a 2,000-year-old copper alloy ring found at Herodium, which was previously thought to be a Roman coin.

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