John Calvin Commentary John 18:30

"They answered and said unto him, If this man were not an evildoer, we should not have delivered him up unto thee." — John 18:30 (ASV)

If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him to thee. They indirectly complain about Pilate, implying that he does not sufficiently trust their integrity. “Why do you not, without further concern,” they say, “consider it certain that the person whom we prosecute deserves to die?”

This is how wicked people, whom God has raised to a high degree of honor, blinded as it were by their own greatness, allow themselves to do whatever they choose. Such, too, is the intoxicating nature of pride.

They wish that Christ should be reckoned a malefactor, for no other reason than because they accuse him.

But if we come to the truth of the matter, what deeds of a malefactor will we find in him, except that he has cured every kind of disease, driven the devils out of people, made the paralyzed and the lame walk, restored sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and life to the dead? These were the real facts, and those men knew them well; but, as I said a little while ago, when people are intoxicated with pride, nothing is more difficult than to arouse them to form a sound and correct judgment.