John 19:7,8 - He was even more afraid

19:7

The Jews (meaning the Jewish religious leaders) then revert back to talking about the Law. This was the real reason they objected to Jesus, or at least the excuse they were using against Jesus. He was claiming to be the Son of God. The real reasons they were objecting to Jesus and wanted to kill Him was that His righteousness highlighted their sinfulness, and that He threatened their position, their pride. And there were many other things mixed in with this. Now it is interesting why they brought this matter up to Pilate, because the “religious arguments” were of no interest to Pilate. Perhaps they were just showing him that they could not be easily bought off.

19:8

We then read that Pilate was “even more afraid”. Now why was this? Was it just that he was fearful of trouble from the Jews (which would lead to trouble from his Roman bosses if things got out of hand)? Or was it because he had heard that Jesus was claiming to be the Son of God? As an aside, there are many who try to make out that the divinity of Jesus was a much later addition, made up by the church. There really is no evidence for this at all. The gospels are clear that Jesus thought He was the Son of God, and the Jewish leaders thought He was claiming to be the Son of God. Why might this make Pilate afraid? Although he obviously was not a Jew, the Romans could be very superstitious and feared that he was dealing with spiritual forces (which, of course, he was, but in a very different way to what he imagined).