Charles Ellicott Commentary John 18:37

"Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end have I been born, and to this end am I come into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." — John 18:37 (ASV)

Are you a king then?—The sentence is both a question and an inference from the word “kingdom” of the previous verse. There is a strong emphasis, and it may be sarcasm, expressed in the pronoun: “Does it not follow then that You are a king?”

You say that I am a king.—Or, perhaps, You say; for I am a king. .

To this end I was born, and for this cause I came into the world.—Better, To this end I have been born, and to this end I have come into the world. Our translators have rendered the same Greek words by different English words—“To this end,” “for this cause”—intending probably that the first phrase should be understood of the words which precede, and the second of those which follow: “To this end (that I may be a king) I was born, and for this (that I may bear witness to the truth) I came into the world.”

Had this been the meaning, it would have been almost certainly expressed by the usual distinction in Greek; and in the absence of any such distinction, the natural interpretation is, To be king I have been born, and to be a king I came into the world, in order that I may bear witness to the truth.

The birth and the entrance into the world both refer to the Incarnation, but make emphatic the thought that the birth in time of Him who existed with the Father before all time, was the manifestation in the world of Him who came forth from the Father. This thought of “coming into the world” is frequent in St. John. (John 16:28).

That I should bear witness to the truth.—Compare Note on John 1:8. He has indeed a kingdom, and He came into the world to be a king; but His rule is that of the majesty of Truth, and His kingdom is to be established by His witness of the eternal truth which He had known with His Father, and which He alone could declare to man. (Compare Notes on John 1:18; John 16:13).

He came to be a witness—a martyr—to the truth, and to send forth others to be witnesses and martyrs to the same truth, through the Holy Spirit, who should guide them into all truth.

Such was His kingdom; such the power by which it was to rule. It was not of this world: it possessed neither land nor treasury, neither senate nor legions, neither consuls nor procurators; but it was to extend its sceptre over all the kingdoms of the earth.

Everyone that is of the truth hears my voice.—He has spoken of His kingdom. Who are its subjects, and what is its power over them?

Everyone is included who, following the light which God has placed in his soul, comes to the true Light which lighteth every man. Also included is everyone who, made in the image of God and with capacities for knowing God, truly seeks to know Him. Indeed, everyone who, in an honest and true heart, is of the truth, therefore hears the voice of Him who is the Truth.

The thought is familiar to us from the earlier chapters of the Gospel. (Compare, for example, John 3:21; John 7:17; John 8:47; John 10:16).