Passages · John 18:33-38
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"Of this world" in John 18:36 translates the Greek ek tou kosmou toutou, and ek means out of, or from. Jesus is telling Pilate where his kingdom comes from. The verse says so twice: "not of this world," and then, in plainer words, "not from here." He does not say he has no kingdom, and in the next verse he does not refuse the word king. In the prayer of the chapter before, he uses the same phrase of his disciples, "not of the world," while asking that they not be taken out of it (17:15-16).
ἐκ ek, Greek — translated "of" — out of, from; it says where something comes from (John 18:36)
18:33 Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, called Jesus, and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 18:34 Jesus answered him, “Do you say this by yourself, or did others tell you about me?” 18:35 Pilate answered, “I’m not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me. What have you done?” 18:36 Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I wouldn’t be delivered to the Jews. But now my Kingdom is not from here.” 18:37 Pilate therefore said to him, “Are you a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this reason I have been born, and for this reason I have come into the world, that I should testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 18:38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” When he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no basis for a charge against him.
18:33 Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews? 18:34 Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me? 18:35 Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done? 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. 18:37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. 18:38 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.
The scene is the Praetorium, the Roman governor's headquarters in Jerusalem, early on the morning of the crucifixion (18:28). Pilate's question is a political one: "Are you the King of the Jews?" The charge that matters to him is spelled out later by Jesus' accusers: "Everyone who makes himself a king speaks against Caesar" (19:12). The word "kingdom" is rare in this Gospel. It appears in chapter 3 and then three times in this one verse.
"Not of this world" (18:36) — ek (out of, from). The word names a source. The last sentence of the verse restates the first with a different word, enteuthen (from here): "my Kingdom is not from here." Read together, the two lines say where the kingdom comes from. By themselves they do not say where it is at work.
"They are not of the world" (17:16) — the same phrase, ek tou kosmou, in the prayer of the chapter before. There it describes people who are plainly still in the world: "I pray not that you would take them from the world" (17:15). The same three Greek words do both jobs in these verses: "take them from the world" is also ek tou kosmou. To be "of" the world is to come from it and belong to it; to be taken "from" it is to leave. Verse 37 has the first sense again: "everyone who is of the truth."
"My servants would fight" (18:36) — hypēretai (officers, attendants) and agōnizomai (struggle, contend). Hypēretai is the word this chapter has used for the officers who came with weapons to arrest Jesus (18:3, 18:12) and for the one who struck him (18:22). A kingdom from here, Jesus says, would have its officers fighting. The evidence he offers is that no one is fighting. When Peter drew a sword at the arrest, he was told to put it away (18:10-11).
"You say that I am a king" (18:37) — Jesus neither takes the title in Pilate's sense nor refuses it. He says what he was born for: "that I should testify to the truth." The verb is martyreō (bear witness), related to the English word "martyr." Alētheia (truth) comes three times in two verses, and Pilate's "What is truth?" is left without a reply.
"Not of this world" and "not from this world" — the King James Version and most others keep "of." The New Revised Standard Version (1989) reads "My kingdom is not from this world," and the New International Version (2011) ends the verse "my kingdom is from another place." All of these translate ek and enteuthen. "Of" could mean "from" in older English. Today "not of this world" is often heard as "nothing to do with this world," which is more than the Greek word says.
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