Who Killed Jesus Christ? Who is Responsible for His Death?

Who is responsible for Jesus’ death?  Was it the Romans, the Jews, all of us or someone else?

Was it the Romans?

Many people claim that is was the Romans who actually killed Jesus because they were the ones who crucified Him but didn’t Pontius Pilate wash his hands of the whole affair?  Pilate didn’t want to put Jesus to death.   As was the custom of the Passover, Pilate offered to release Jesus and so he intentionally found the most unworthy of all the prisoners to release; Barabbas.  He said “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ” (Matt 27:17)?  Pilate knew that the Jews wanted Jesus killed because “it was out of envy that they had delivered him up” (Matt 27:18).  Sadly, the Jews answered “Barabbas” (Matt 27:22) but Pilate shouted “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified” (Matt 27:23)!  Pilate saw “that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.”  And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children” (Matt 27:24-25)! So were the Romans responsible for Jesus’ death?

Was it the Jews?

The Jews had secretly wanted to kill Jesus for a very long time but they feared the people. For this reason “Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him” (John7:1).  When Jesus had healed a man on the Sabbath day the Jews “tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:18).  Jesus even rebuked them by saying “Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me” (John 7:19)?  He said “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word” (John 8:37) and “you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things” (John 8:40).  When  Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead it was “from that day on they plotted to take his life” (John 11:53) so was it the Jews who were responsible for Jesus’ death?

Was it Judas Iscariot?

Some feel that is was Judas who was responsible for Jesus death but when Judas betrayed Jesus, he never thought they’d kill Him which is why “when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood” (Matt 27:3-4).  Jesus knew Judas would betray Him because this was meant “to fulfill this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me’” (John 13:18).  This was the fulfilling of Psalm 41 and specifically verse 9 which says “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.”  But was it really Judas who was responsible for Jesus death?

Who Killed Jesus?

I submit to you that it was not the Jews, nor Pilate, or even Judas who were ultimately responsible for Jesus death.   Judas declared that Jesus was actually innocent (Matt 27:3-4) and Pilate testified “I find no guilt in this man” (Luke 23:4) but was it mankind; that is was it you and I in particular that were guilty of Jesus’ killing, even though we weren’t actually there?  No, although Jesus died for sinners it was in fact the Father that killed Jesus by allowing Him to go to the cross.  Jesus prayed 3 times in the Garden of Gethsemane to have this cup removed from Him but knew that it was the Father’s will that He die (Luke 22:39-46).  Clearly “it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt” (Isaiah 53:10a). Knowing that God is sovereign over all that happens and not even a sparrow falls to the ground outside of His divine knowledge or will (Matt 10:29), God intentionally sent Jesus to die for sinners…to make “his soul…an offering for [our] guilt.”  It was God’s will “to crush him” and to “put him to grief.”   Jesus said that He came “to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45) and that “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father” (John 10:18).  There it is. Jesus knew He came to die for sinners. It was the Father’s will or as Jesus said the “charge I have received from my Father.”  No one took His life, meaning no human took Jesus life. He volunteered to come and die and to ransom or take back those who had been held captive all their lives and “by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Heb 2:14b-15).

Conclusion

It wasn’t the Jews, the Romans, including Pontius Pilate, the Jews, or even us who killed Jesus. It was the Father because He loved us so much.  How much?  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17) for surely “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). It was “at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom 5:6b) for “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8) and “while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Rom 5:10).  What greater love is there?

Another Reading on Patheos to Check Out: What Did Jesus Really Look Like: A Look at the Bible Facts

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book  Blind Chance or Intelligent Design available on Amazon