Pilate wanted a formal charge before he would judge the case. A Roman governor did not condemn a man simply because others brought him in. Gill says Pilate asked so as "to have the matter stated, the cause opened, and evidence given," which was agreeable to Roman law. Matthew Henry counts this among the things commendable in Pilate, showing "his diligent and close application to business." Pilate also came outside to them, since they would not come in (John 18:28).

They did not name a charge. They answered, "If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee" (John 18:30). Gill says they were "filled with indignation that they should be so interrogated." Pilate told them, "Take ye him, and judge him according to your law," and they replied, "It is not lawful for us to put any man to death" (John 18:31). Luke records the charges they did bring: "perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King" (Luke 23:2).

The "hall of judgment" was, as Barnes explains, the place where the Roman governor heard and decided cases. The accusers would not enter because they believed going into a Gentile's house would defile them before the passover (John 18:28). Gill points out the contrast, using Jesus' own words: they "strain at a gnat and swallow a camel" (Matthew 23:24). Gill also takes "eat the passover" here to mean the feast offering eaten during the festival rather than the lamb itself; that is his view.

The word for "accusation" is kategoria, a formal criminal charge. Barnes says the leaders seem to have hoped Pilate would simply approve their sentence, but Pilate, "evidently contrary to their expectations," chose to hear the case himself.

Behind the legal maneuvering, John shows God's purpose being worked out. The accusers' answer to Pilate led to a Roman death rather than a Jewish one, and John says this happened "That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what death he should die" (John 18:32). Jesus had spoken of being "lifted up from the earth" (John 12:32-33). Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary notes, "If the Jews had judged him by their law, he had been stoned; crucifying never was used" among them.

The scene also exposes the human heart. The accusers guarded their ceremonial purity while seeking an innocent man's death. Matthew Henry observes, "Many fear the scandal of an ill thing, more than the sin of it."