Pilate's question came from the charge the leaders brought. The council had condemned Jesus for blasphemy (Matthew 26:65-66), but Luke records a different charge before Pilate: "forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King" (Luke 23:2). Barnes says they "attempted to substitute a totally different accusation from that on which they had professed to find him guilty." A claim to be king could be treated as treason against Caesar, and Pilate asked about that point.

Jesus answered, "Thou sayest" (Matthew 27:11). Gill explains that this is "all one as if he had said, I am." When the chief priests and elders went on accusing Him, "he answered nothing" (Matthew 27:12). John records a fuller exchange in which Jesus told Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36). Barnes says that by explaining this, Jesus showed His kingship "could not be alleged against him as treason."

Matthew calls Pilate "the governor" (Greek hēgemōn). The Jewish council could not carry out an execution: "It is not lawful for us to put any man to death," they told Pilate (John 18:31). So they needed a charge that Rome would punish. In Greek, the question and answer mirror each other: Su ei ho basileus, "You are the king?" and Su legeis, "You say." Mark and Luke record the same reply, "Thou sayest it" (Mark 15:2; Luke 23:3).

Pilate asked the right question for the wrong reason. Jesus is the King of the Jews. At His birth the wise men came asking, "Where is he that is born King of the Jews?" (Matthew 2:2), and at His death the same title was set over His head: "THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS" (Matthew 27:37). Before Pilate, Jesus did not deny it.

Matthew Henry observes that all was so ordered before Pilate "to make it evident that Christ suffered for no fault of his own, but for the sins of his people." The King stood accused, not for any crime of His own, but in the place of His people.