What Does John 18:35 Mean?
Pilate answered, Am I a Judean? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?THE KEY
The word translated “delivered” means handed over: the verse names how Jesus comes under Pilate’s power before it asks what he has done.
THE MEANING
You can be placed in another person’s power through decisions made by others, while the question of what you have done remains distinct. Pilate’s words hold both facts together: Jesus has been handed over to him, and Pilate still asks what Jesus has done.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being handed over is not, by itself, proof that you are guilty; the transfer and the truth about what you have done are separate questions.
THE ROOT
παρέδωκαν
paredōkan
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give, placing something or someone into another’s hands.
Here παρέδωκαν (paredōkan) means “they handed over,” from παραδίδωμι (paradidōmi), built on δίδωμι (didōmi), “to give.” The word keeps the transfer in view: the nation and priests put Jesus into Pilate’s hands, but that transfer alone does not answer Pilate’s question.
ALSO GROWS
didōmi: To give or place into someone’s hands.
δίδωμι
This is the seed beneath the handover: Jesus is given into Pilate’s custody.
paradidōmi: To hand over, deliver, or betray.
παραδίδωμι
This compound names the transfer made by the nation and chief priests.
metadidōmi: To share or impart.
μεταδίδωμι
The same giving-root can describe sharing; its direction and context shape whether something is handed over or shared.
THE PATTERN
A handover names where someone is placed, while the meaning of that handover depends on what surrounds it.
All of us like sheep have wandered; each has turned to his own way, and the LORD has caused the crookedness of us all to fall upon him.You know that after two days is the feast of the Passover, and the Son of Man is handed over to be crucified.He who did not spare his own Son, but handed him over for us all, how will he not also favor us with all things along with him?THE THREAD
He who did not spare his own Son, but handed him over for us all, how will he not also favor us with all things along with him?Romans uses the same Greek verb for handing Jesus over. In John, the handover places Jesus in Pilate’s custody; Romans surrounds that same verb with the giving of all things, showing how the words around a transfer shape what it means.
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