Who was responsible for the death of Jesus?

Question

In recent times the thesis has often been proposed that only the Romans were responsible for the death of Jesus. Did Jewish authorities have the authority to order the crucifixion of Jesus, given the Roman occupation of the country?

Answer 1

According to the historical accounts preserved in the Bible, Jesus was arrested by the Jews who tried him and found him guilty of blasphemy, a crime that was punishable under their laws by death. But because of the Roman rules, they need the agreement of the Romans to carry out the sentence.

Jesus was taken before the Roman governor Pilate, who after interviewing Jesus, ordered him flogged and released.

The Jews objected to the sentence, and came back before Pilate. During the discussion that followed, it was learned that Jesus was from Galilee, not Judea. That meant the Herod, not Pilate, had jurisdiction over him. So Pilate ordered him taken to see Herod (whose palace was only about a mile away).

Herod also saw and mocked Jesus. He had him beaten by his soldiers. But he refused to permit Jesus' execution, because of the trouble that had followed the execution of Jesus' older cousin John the Baptist. Instead, he released Jesus.

The Jews then returned with Jesus to Pilate's fortress. Their they brought new charges against Jesus, this time claiming he was guilty of treason against Rome. Once more Pilate tried to free Jesus, and was meet with protest from the Jewish leaders.

Realizing that the leaders were jealous of Jesus' popularity with the crowd, Pilate (being a typical politician) next tried to release Jesus under a Roman custom that allowed the release of a single prisoner in honor of a country's religious holiday. Pilate went and offered to the crowd either Jesus or a thug named Barrabus who was in prison for slaughtering a bunch of Jews during an early holiday. As Barrabus was not popular with the people, Pilate figured that the crowd would choose Jesus. However the arrest and trial of Jesus during the night (it was still before 6 AM) had prevented many of Jesus' followers from learning what was happening. So when Pilate went before the crowd, it was mostly the Jewish leaders and their supports. So Jesus lost to them.

Having run out of other options, Pilate called for a basin of water and "washed his hands" of the whole affair. That meant that as the representative of Roman, he officially stepped back and refused to make a judgment, and permitted the Jewish leaders to do as they pleased with no consequences from Rome.

So the Jews had Jesus included with other prisoners who were to be taken out of the city by the Romans and crucified yet that morning.

That is what historically happened. The ones who should be "blamed" are the individuals involved, not any group, religion or race.

Answer 2

This is a good question and the answer varies among people. Particularly is there a little confusion as to whether the Jews could put a man to death themselves under the Roman occupation. At one time, they could put Jews to death for religious offenses. They could even put a Roman to death if he ventured beyond the Gentile courtyard of the temple. Whether the Jews still had this authority when Jesus was on earth is a matter of debate.

However, something in the account gives us a bit of insight. The Jews charged Jesus with, among other things, blasphemy. This was punishable by death under Jewish law. Yet, they shrewedly changed the charge to sedition and treason before the Roman officials. This of course would immediately garner the attention of the Romans who would not take such a thing lightly.

Interestingly enough, at John 19:12-15, the Jews told Pilate that he was not a friend of Caesar if he released Jesus. They told him that any man making himself a king speaks against Caesar (verse 13). That smacks of treason. They capped their little scene with the words at the end of verse 15: "We have no king but Caesar."

Pilate was no fool. Even though he knew Jesus was innocent, he ordered his death.

In the final analysis the responsibility for the murder of Jesus lays at the feet of Judas, Pilate, the Jewish religious leaders and the Jewish people among whom they fomented such behavior. Understand, the entire Jewish world is not responsible - but those spoken of in the scriptures were.

Hannah J Paul

Answer 3

History points out to the Romans being responsible for Jesus' death. You cannot argue with historians and historical facts that.

Also, you don't have to look far and deep in history to know that the Romans' are more than capable of bloodshed. In a recent football match, innocent fans were abused by Roman police.

So my answer to your original question is yes, the Romans are solely responsible for the gruesome death of Jesus Christ.

Answer 4

The Romans my have built the cross, crowned him with thorns, drove the nails, and thrust the spear in His side however the Jew's were right there in the crowd crying Crucify Him Free Barabbas, We have no King but Caesar!
Also from some view points it was the sins of humanity that was responsible for the death of Jesus since some teach Jesus came to die for our sins in our place.

Answer 5

No, the Jews did not have the authority to crucify. In fact, crucifixion was a very Roman practice. They did it to make a public spectacle of execution, mostly to warn the slaves not to rebel.

But as to who was responsible, arguably God was. Jesus was fulfilling the prophecies, and that required a sacrifice. It needed to be a very public sacrifice in order to be witnessed by sufficient people that, once he was risen, plenty of people would be able to say "but I saw him die!"

It could also be argued, on the same basis, that Jesus was himself responsible. He acquiesced. He failed to defend himself. Again, he was willfully fulfilling the prophecies.

Answer 6

Jewish law did not have crucifiction as an option, so they had to appeal to the Romans

On the other hand, He died for all of us, so in fact we are ALL responsible

Answer 7

God the father is responsible for the death of God the son,it was God the fathers will that Jesus gave his life as ransom for lost humanity,but he also gave Jesus the command to take up his life again ,therefore conquering death and it's grip on humans,"no one takes my life but i give it freely,this command i have recieved from the father,to lay down my life and to take it up again"..So it was the fathers will,and Jesus being obedient agreed with God the fathers commands.Also note his arrest in the gospel of john ,you can clearly see from the narrative that he had to take command of his arrest.

Christos Anesti!

Answer 8

Well, the Romans did see Jesus as a threat to their empire and the Jews also saw Jesus as a threat...so they had to get rid of him.

Answer 9

Jesus was. He said Himself that no one takes His life, but He lays it down freely. The Jews and Romans only provided the means.

He suffered for our sins, died, and was resurrected on the third day. He could have stopped it at any point by calling down legions of angels.

He did this so that we could be free of sin, if we were willing to repent.

Answer 10

Jesus was responsible. He broke roman law and payed the price.