John 19:7
The Jews answered him: We have a law; and according to the law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Responderunt ei Judæi : Nos legem habemus, et secundum legem debet mori, quia Filium Dei se fecit.
- Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)
- ἀπεκρίθησαν αὐτῷ οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι· Ἡμεῖς νόμον ἔχομεν, καὶ κατὰ τὸν νόμον ὀφείλει ἀποθανεῖν, ὅτι υἱὸν θεοῦ ἑαυτὸν ἐποίησεν.
The Fathers on this verse
St Augustine Catena Aurea on verses 6-8
The envy of the Jews does not subside at Christ’s disgraces; yea, rather rises: When the chief priests therefore and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, Crucify Him, crucify Him.
St John Chrysostom Catena Aurea on verses 6-8
Pilate saw then that it was all in vain: Pilate says to them, Take you Him, and crucify Him. This is the speech of a man abhorring the deed, and urging others to do a deed which he abhors himself. They had brought our, Lord indeed to him that He might be put to death by his sentence, but the very contrary was the result; the governor acquitted Him: For I find no fault in Him. He clears Him immediately from all charges: which shows that he had only permitted the former outrages, to humor the madness of the Jews. But nothing could shame the Jewish hounds: The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by out law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.
St Augustine Catena Aurea on verses 6-8
Lo, another greater outbreak of envy. The former was lighter, being only to punish Him for aspiring to a usurpation of the royal power. Yet did Jesus make neither claim falsely; both were true: He was both the Only-begotten Son of God, and the King appointed by God upon the holy hill of Sion. And He would have demonstrated His right to both now, had He not been as patient as He was powerful.
St John Chrysostom Catena Aurea on verses 6-8
While they disputed with each other, He was silent, fulfilling the prophecy, He opens not His mouth; He was taken from prison and from judgment.
St Augustine Catena Aurea on verses 6-8
This agrees: with Luke’s account, We found this fellow perverting the nation, only with the addition of, because He made Himself the Son of God.
St John Chrysostom Catena Aurea on verses 6-8
Then Pilate begins to fear that what had been said might be true, and that he might appear; to be administering justice improperly: When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid.
St Bede Catena Aurea on verses 6-8
It was not the law that he was afraid of, as he was a stranger: but he was more afraid, lest he should slay the Son of God
St John Chrysostom Catena Aurea on verses 6-8
They were not afraid to say this, that He made Himself the Son of God: but they kill Him for the very reasons for which they ought to have worshipped Him.
St Augustine The Harmony of the Gospels, Of the Hour of the Lord’s Passion, and of the Question Concerning the Absence of Any Discrepancy Between Mark and John in the Article of the ‘Third’ Hour and the ‘Sixth.’
46. Interrogate John in like manner, and see how strong this hesitancy was on Pilate’s part, and how he shrank from so shameful a service. For this evangelist records these incidents much more fully, although even he certainly does not mention all the occurrences which took up these two hours and part of the sixth hour. After telling us how Pilate scourged Jesus, and allowed the robe to be put on Him in derision by the soldiers, and suffered Him to be subjected to ill-treatment and many acts of mockery (all of which was permitted by Pilate, as I believe, really with the view of mitigating their fury and keeping them from persevering in their maddened desire for His death), John continues his account in the following manner: “Pilate went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. …
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm XXXV
22. “Let not them that are Mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over Me:” for they rejoice over Me because of My chaff. “Who hate Me without a cause;” that is, whom I never hurt; “winking with their eyes” ( ver. 19 ): that is, pretending hypocrites, “For they spake indeed peace to Me” ( ver. 20 ). What is, “winking with their eyes”? Declaring by their looks, what they carry not in their heart. And who are these “winking with their eyes”? “For they spake indeed peace to Me; and with wrath devised craftily.” “Yea they opened their mouth wide against Me” ( ver. 21 ). First winking with their eyes, those lions sought to ravish and devour; first fawning they spake peace, and then with wrath devised craftily. What peace spake they? “Master, we know that Thou acceptest not man’s person, and teachest the way of God in truth. …
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John, John 18.37
Ver. 7 . “We have,” they said, “a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.”
The Fathers are given as they wrote. Where a passage lays the Passion on the Jewish people, the Church teaches that it cannot be charged against all the Jews then living, nor against the Jews of today, and that all sinners were its authors (CCC 597, 598).