The Son of God

 

John 19:7

The purpose of John's gospel is unambiguous. It is to show that Jesus is the Son of God. This he took the opportunity to impress upon his readers every time he had the opportunity. As we see in verse 7 here, the leaders of the people had handed him to Pilate and on his part, Pilate after scourging him, brought him back the leaders hoping that the disfigured and bleeding body of Christ after the punishment would change their minds. He was shocked by what he heard, that Jesus made himself the Son of God. Pilate understood the statement very well just like the leaders of the people, they understood that Jesus was making himself to be equal with God. His query of Jesus after the incidence with the leaders made his issue worse, this was not what he bargained for. This testimony about the deity of Jesus is found in other places in the gospel according to John. The testimony of the actors in the text within the context of their time and culture shows that they understood that Jesus was not just talking about being a son in the sense that a male child is the progeny of his father, he was talking about something deeper and higher than that. That in a unique way he was unlike other sons but the son, He is God.