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PILATE

So, when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather 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!’ 

Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.  (Matthew 27:24-26)

The Gospel merely calls the prefect (or governor) of Judaea by the cognomen ‘Pilate’; in Greek, Πιλᾶτος (Pilatos), transliterated from the Latin pilatus, which means skilled with the pilum, the military spear of the Roman Army.

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AUTHORITY

And the devil took (Jesus) up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, ‘to you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.  If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’  (Luke 4:5-7)

‘Authority’ is ἐξουσία exousia and it means licensed power, the right to act, to have charge of, or dominion over.

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RELIGION

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.  (James 1:27)

The word translated ‘religion’, is θρησκεία (thréskeia) and while the underlying sense is reverence, its usage conveys worship as expressed in ritual acts.  And it is in the context of action that James exhorts his brethren to be ‘doers of the word’, adding, ‘a doer who acts…will be blessed in his doing’.

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PARTY (or sect)

But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy, they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.  (Acts 5:17-18)

The word ‘party’ translates the Greek noun αἵρεσις (hairesis) and stands for people who strongly self-identify with each other (the verb hairéomai means ‘to personally select’), in other words to cohere as a sect or a religious or philosophical group.

The Romano-Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, writing in the second half of the first century AD, identified four distinct groupings of Jews.  For ‘party’, it is best not to consider them in modern terms like political parties, or even organisations (with rules and membership) rather imagine a cross between a faction and a coterie or socio-religious affiliations, although ‘sect’ can certainly be applied in one instance.

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HATE (mortality)

 ‘Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.’  (John 12:25).  

The word ‘hate’ translates the verb μισέω miseó and it embraces both the unconditional: ‘detest’ and comparative: ‘love less than’.

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CUP (of wrath)

But God is the Judge:
He puts down one,
And exalts another.

For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup,
And the wine is red;
It is fully mixed, and He pours it out;
Surely its dregs shall all the wicked of the earth
Drain and drink down.  (Psalm 75:7-8)

The Hebrew word translated ‘cup’ is כּוֹס kowc, which is a small owl (possibly with saucer-like eyes).  The cup of judgment is figure used employed by Jesus and later John.

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SELF-INTEREST (and altruism)

Do nothing according to self-interest or according to vain conceit, but in humility be esteeming one another surpassing themselves. (Philippians 2:3; Berean Literal)

The word in Greek is ἐριθεία eritheia, and means mercenary or self-seeking.  At a casual glance, this might rule out self-interest as Godly, but a fuller quotation suggests otherwise:

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others… (ibid 2:3-4 ESV)

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DELIBERATE (SIN)

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgement, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.  (Hebrews 10:26-27)

Humanity is in an adversarial relationship with God, that is our natural state.  The writer of Hebrews says that once that realisation has dawned, in other words, been revealed by God, the soul is in a parlous position.  For thereafter continuing to behave as we have been has dire consequences which are eternally lethal.

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PLEASING (GOD)

without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)

The verb that is translates ‘to please’ is εὐαρεστέω euaresteó and means ‘to be well-pleasing’, which be extension could be ‘to render good service’.  This verse reads literally:

and apart from faith it is impossible to please well, for it behoveth him who is coming to God to believe that He is, and to those seeking Him He becometh a rewarder.  (YLT)

The writer of Hebrews clarifies an eternal truth, that the unregenerate, that is anyone that is not granted salvatory faith, can never do anything to gain to God’s favour. 

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