Abstract
The question of potestas gladii in Jesus' trial, i.e., who had the legal authority to put him to death has been for a long time one of the puzzles of the New Testament scholarship. The present article resolves the question with a balanced view that even if the ultimate potestas gladii belonged to the Roman procurator, the Jewish Sanhedrin possessed the right to condemn and execute Jesus to death on charges of the Temple offences and blasphemous utterances. However, Jesus´ activity encompassed more than just a religious threat. The Jewish representatives feared also a public tumult and uprising if they had tried to put Jesus to death by themselves. They also did not want to be publicly blamed by the masses for killing a prophet type of a person and thereby adding to their negative public reputation. Therefore they handed Jesus to Pilate even though they could execute him by themselves on the basis of blasphemy.
Highlights
Jesus’ trial before the Jewish Sanhedrin and Pontius Pilatus presents numerous puzzles for the New Testament scholarship (Mk 14:53-15:15; par.)
The verbal interchange between the representatives of the Sanhedrin and Pontius Pilate over the arrested Jesus is recorded as follows: “Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law!” The Jews replied, “We are not permitted to put anyone to death” (Jn 18:31)
It is clear that the right belonged primarily to the Roman procurator
Summary
Jesus’ trial before the Jewish Sanhedrin and Pontius Pilatus presents numerous puzzles for the New Testament scholarship (Mk 14:53-15:15; par.). The Jews in Palestine in the times of Jesus of Nazareth (first half of the 1st century CE) were under the rule of the Roman Empire Their governing body (the Sanhedrin with the high priest in the lead) was not independent in its decisions and sentences and had to report to the Roman procurator - the representative of the Roman rule. This double type of rule is reflected at Jesus’ trial who as a victim faced both sides: the Jewish first and the Roman. In the following lines we will turn to them and investigate them
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