Church Fathers Commentary John 19:19-22

"And Pilate wrote a title also, and put it on the cross. And there was written, JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title therefore read many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city; and it was written in Hebrew, [and] in Latin, [and] in Greek. The chief priests of the Jews therefore said to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews. Pilate answered, What I have written I have written." — John 19:19-22 (ASV)

St. John Chrysostom: As letters are inscribed on a trophy declaring a victory, so Pilate wrote a title on Christ’s cross. He wrote a title and put it on the cross, at once distinguishing Christ from the thieves with Him and exposing the malice of the Jews for rising up against their King. The writing was: Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.

The Venerable Bede: In this, it was shown that His kingdom was not destroyed, as they thought, but was instead strengthened.

St. Augustine of Hippo: But was Christ the King of the Jews only, or of the Gentiles also? He was King of the Gentiles also, as we read in the Psalms, Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion. After this, it follows, Ask of Me, and I shall give you the nations for your inheritance. So this title expresses a great mystery: namely, that the wild olive tree was made a partaker of the richness of the olive tree, not the olive tree made a partaker of the bitterness of the wild olive tree. Christ, then, is King of the Jews according to the circumcision not of the flesh but of the heart; not in the letter but in the spirit. Therefore, many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city.

St. John Chrysostom: It is probable that many Gentiles, as well as Jews, had come for the feast. So the title was written in three languages so that all might read it: And it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.

St. Augustine of Hippo: These three were the most well-known languages there: Hebrew, on account of its use in the worship of the Jews; Greek, as a result of the spread of Greek philosophy; and Latin, because the Roman Empire was established everywhere.

Theophylact of Ohrid: The title written in three languages signifies that our Lord was King of the whole world—the practical, the natural, and the spiritual. The Latin denotes the practical, because the Roman Empire was the most powerful and best-managed one; the Greek denotes the natural, as the Greeks were the foremost natural philosophers; and finally, the Hebrew denotes the theological, because the Jews had been made the depositories of religious knowledge.

St. John Chrysostom: But the Jews resented this title for our Lord. The chief priests of the Jews then said to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that He said, I am King of the Jews. For as Pilate wrote it, it was a plain and simple declaration that He was King. However, adding the words "that He said" would have turned it into a charge against Him of arrogance and vainglory. But Pilate was firm. Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.

St. Augustine of Hippo: O, the ineffable working of divine power, even in the hearts of ignorant men! Did not some hidden voice sound from within—and, if we may say so, with a clamorous silence—saying to Pilate in the prophetic words of the Psalm, Do not alter the inscription of the title? But what do you say, you mad priests? Will the title be any less true because Jesus said, "I am the King of the Jews"? If what Pilate wrote cannot be altered, can what the Truth spoke be altered? Pilate wrote what he wrote because our Lord said what He said.