Question: Dear Greg,

Why do we say that the Jews crucified Christ? My Bible tells me that the Romans crucified him and not the Jews. I am under the impression that the Sanhedrin found him guilty but the Romans put him to death. Please explain this for me. Thanks and keep up the good work.

R.L.

Answer: Dear R.L.,

It is technically correct to say both – that the Jews killed him and that the Romans did. Obviously, if we are simply talking about the execution, the Romans did. The Jews had no power to do that, being an occupied country. But they had an advisory role, and could exert pressure. The Bible shows that they did, in having Jesus betrayed, in illegally "trying" him, in choosing Barabbas over Jesus (the crowd was surely composed mainly of Jews).

But your point is also well taken – we all killed Jesus, in the sense that all humanity then alive, those dead, and those not born were "present" inasmuch as we are all sinners, through Adam, and we all therefore rejected Christ. "He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him" (John 1:11).

Hope this helps.

In Christ,

Greg Albrecht