ILLEGITIMATE PROCESS

John 18:19-24
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust.

The High Priest Questions Jesus

19 Inside, the high priest began asking Jesus about his followers and what he had been teaching them. 20 Jesus replied, “Everyone knows what I teach. I have preached regularly in the synagogues and the Temple, where the people gather. I have not spoken in secret. 21 Why are you asking me this question? Ask those who heard me. They know what I said.”

22 Then one of the Temple guards standing nearby slapped Jesus across the face. “Is that the way to answer the high priest?” he demanded.

23 Jesus replied, “If I said anything wrong, you must prove it. But if I’m speaking the truth, why are you beating me?”

24 Then Annas bound Jesus and sent him to Caiaphas, the high priest.


In Jewish law, sentencing and trials were required to be held on separate days. These two high priestly examinations, Annas – a former high priest disposed years earlier by the Roman authorities and Caiaphas, the current high priest, may have been conducted to legitimize an illegal process being carried out against Jesus.

Despite the illegitimate process, the plans of the Jewish leaders or the Roman authorities, we know that all this was carried out under the sovereignty of God. These Jewish leaders and Roman authorities – even Judas – were only pawns in God’s divine plan for the salvation of mankind. There was no illegitimacy in God’s plan.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”