Morris is caught up with this passage and notes, “In a scene full of dramatic power John pictures for us the lowly majesty of Jesus confronting the proud majesty of Rome’s representative.” What this confrontation is going to bring out is the Kingship of Christ. Jesus is compared with Caesar and the supreme royalty of Jesus shines forth in all of its glory.

Interestingly, there is no mention of Pilate having an interpreter. With what we know of Pilate, it seems highly unlikely that he would have taken the trouble to learn Aramaic, so he and Jesus are probably conversing in Greek. Thus Jesus probably spoke Greek and we have His exact words recorded here.

Pilate had to try Jesus himself because of the charges the Jews were bringing against Him (Luke 23:2). The essential question was whether Jesus was the king of the Jews or not. Pilate’s question along these lines is recorded in all 4 gospels (Matt 27:11, Mark 15:2, Luke 23:3), emphasizing the question’s importance. Jesus did indeed claim to be the spiritual King of Israel by His not rejecting the title in (John 1:49, 12:13) but the Sanhedrin wanted Pilate to see this claim to be in the physical realm which would have made Jesus a rival to Caesar which was exactly what some of the Jews wanted but which Jesus had earlier rejected (John 6:15). It is to be noted that the Jewish leaders had rejected Jesus as spiritual Messianic King of Israel (Matt 21:15-16, Luke 19:38-39).

Luke 23:2  And they began to accuse him, saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king.”

Matthew 27:11  Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied.

Mark 15:2  “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate. “Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied.

Luke 23:3  So Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied.

John 1:49  Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”

John 12:13  They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the King of Israel!”

John 6:15  Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

Matthew 21:15-16  But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.  “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, “‘From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise’?”

Luke 19:38-39  “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”  Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

Pilate had entered his hall to question Jesus. The Jews could not follow Pilate without making themselves unclean, so Pilate had effectively made his part of the questioning of Jesus very private.

A.N. Sherwin-White observes that “The trial of Christ was peculiar in that the accused made no attempt to defend himself. This was rare in Roman courts, but to prevent any miscarriage of justice, there was a usage by which the direct question was put three times to the defendant before his case was allowed to go by default. Hence it was a correct technicality in Mark and Matthew, and also in John, when Pilate repeated his question to the silent Christ.” (Historicity and Chronology in the New Testament, S.P.C.K. Theological Collections no. 6, London, 1965, p. 105).

The “you” in Pilate’s question is emphatic. Pilate was incredulous. How could this simple man standing before him possibly have thoughts of royalty? From what he had been told the previous night so as to enlist his help in the form of troops to apprehend Jesus, Pilate was probably expecting a revolutionary, who had set himself up as monarch and had a large force of heavily armed men following him, and yet it was too fantastic to believe that this man could possibly fit that role.