Albert Barnes Commentary Luke 23:2

"And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this man perverting our nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ a king." — Luke 23:2 (ASV)

Regarding the phrase This fellow, the word fellow is not in the original text. It conveys a sense of contempt, which they undoubtedly felt, but this contempt is not expressed in the Greek, and it is not proper for it to be expressed in the translation. It could be translated as, "We found this man."

Concerning the charge, Perverting the nation, this means inciting them to sedition and tumults. This was a purely groundless accusation, but it was plausible before a Roman magistrate for the following reasons:

1. The Galileans, as Josephus testifies, were prone to seditions and tumults.
2. Jesus drew multitudes after him, and they thought it was easy to show that this was, in itself, promoting tumults and seditions.

Regarding the charge of Forbidding, and so on, they were very cautious and cunning about their charges.

They did not claim that he taught that people should not pay tribute—that would have been too flagrant a charge and easily refuted. Instead, it was an inference they drew, arguing it followed from his doctrine.

Since he professed to be a king, they inferred that if he were indeed a king, he must maintain that it was not right to acknowledge allegiance to any foreign prince.

And if they could establish this, they supposed that Pilate would have to condemn him as a matter of course.

The term Tribute means taxes.

Caesar refers to the Roman emperor, who at that time was also called Tiberius. The name Caesar was common to the Roman emperors, just as Pharaoh was to the Egyptian kings. All the kings of Egypt were called Pharaoh, or the Pharaoh; similarly, all the Roman emperors were called Caesar.

Forbidding to give tribute (Matthew 17:27; Matthew 22:21; Mark 12:17).

He himself is Christ a king (John 18:36; John 19:12).