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John 18 General Notes
Structure and formatting
Verse 14 says, "Now Caiaphas was the one who had given the advice to the Jews that it would be better that one man die for the people." The author says this to help the reader understand why it was to Caiaphas that they took Jesus. You might want to put these words in parentheses. (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/writing-background)
Special concepts in this chapter
"It is not lawful for us to put any man to death"
The Roman government did not allow the Jews to kill criminals, so the Jews needed to ask Pilate, the governor, to kill him (John 18:31).
Jesus's kingdom
No one knows for sure what Jesus meant when he told Pilate that his kingdom was not "of this world" (John 18:36). Some people think that Jesus means that his kingdom is only spiritual and that he has no visible kingdom on this earth, Other people think that Jesus meant that he would not build and rule his kingdom by force, the way other kings build theirs. It is possible to translate the words "is not of this world" as "is not from this place" or "comes from another place."
King of the Jews
Pilate asked Jesus if he were the King of the Jews (John 18:33) to see if Jesus were claiming to be like King Herod, whom the Romans were permitting to rule Judea. When he asked the crowd if he should release the King of the Jews (John 18:39), he was mocking the Jews because the Romans and Jews hated each other. He was also mocking Jesus, because he did not think that Jesus was a king at all. (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-irony)