What Does Luke 23:14 Mean?
He said to them, You brought this man to me as one who turns the people away. And look, I, having sifted him before you, found no fault in this man concerning the things you accuse him of.
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
Said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him:THE KEY
An accusation names what someone claims; examination asks whether there is any cause for it in the person accused.
THE MEANING
The charge against you does not become your nature merely because it is voiced before authority. What is claimed can be examined against the person standing there, and the finding is direct: no cause for those charges is found in him. The verse holds accusation and evidence apart.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A confident accusation is proof of guilt.
THE ROOT
αἴτιον
aition
GROWS FROM
αἰτι-
aiti-
Cause, reason, or ground of charge; what makes someone accountable.
English “fault” can sound like a flaw in character; this word reaches toward a cause or ground that can be laid to someone’s charge. Accusers do speak against him, yet the ground for their charge is absent from the finding.
ALSO GROWS
aitia: Cause, reason, charge
αἰτία
This branch links what accounts for something with the ground alleged in a charge.
aitiaomai: Accuse, blame
αἰτιάομαι
This branch names the act of laying blame; the word family makes Pilate’s finding concern the ground an accusation would need.
ἀνακρίνας
anakrinas
GROWS FROM
κρίνω
krinō
Distinguish, decide, or judge.
“sifted” in this verse is anakrinas. English “examined” can sound like a mere check; Greek places it in the family of discerning and judging. The finding comes after inquiry, not from the allegation alone.
ALSO GROWS
anakrinō: Examine, investigate
ἀνακρίνω
This is the verb in the verse: the charge is put under inquiry.
krisis: Judgment, decision
κρίσις
This branch shows how examination belongs to the work of reaching a judgment.
ἀποστρέφοντα
apostrephonta
GROWS FROM
στρέφω
strephō
Turn.
“turns ... away” in this verse is apostrephonta. The accusation describes an alleged turning-away of the people, not a vague blemish. That makes the contrast precise: a directional charge is spoken, then no ground for it is found.
ALSO GROWS
apostrephō: Turn away
ἀποστρέφω
This branch carries the specific direction named in the accusation.
epistrephō: Turn back, return
ἐπιστρέφω
This related branch shows how the same root can describe a change of direction back toward something.
THE PATTERN
An accusation is a claim whose grounds remain subject to examination.
And the judges shall search well; and, behold, if the witness is a witness of lies, and has answered a lie against his brother;The aligned one at the head of his own contention seems straight, but his neighbor comes and searches him out.Concerning whom, when the accusers stood up, they carried no charge of such painful things as I had supposed.THE THREAD
Pilate said to him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again to the Judeans, and said to them, I find no cause in him at all.The two verdicts use the same word family, whose sense reaches from cause to the ground of a charge. John repeats the finding more plainly, making Pilate’s statement here a question of what can be established about the accused.
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