Daily Bible Nugget #352, John 19:11

The Nugget:

John 19:11 Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.

My Comment:

The sovereignty of God is the seventh attribute of God in this series of forty or more attributes ascribed to God in the Bible. Divine Sovereignty is a most controversial subject in theology. I won’t get into any of those details. I understand that Arthur Pink some years ago wrote a book on the subject. I have only the modern reprints of that book in my print library, and those leave out his most controversial chapter. It is important to maintain a careful balance in our teaching, a balance that carefully reflects the emphasis given to the subject in the Bible itself. I suspect that some Calvinists have gone overboard on this particular attribute and Bible theme and interpret just about everything else in the Bible in the light of this subject. That won’t work when it comes to arriving at the truth as taught in the Bible. There is a harmony of the attributes taught in the Bible, and a careful study of all the attributes of God certainly does not lead to an over-emphasis upon one of the attributes or qualities or characteristics which describe God.

I have keyed the attribute, the sovereignty of God, to John 19:11. This verse is a very profound passage. As given in the Greek text, the grammar of this verse involving the word except is most interesting, and significant. In the New Testament, the word “if” in Greek comes in four different forms, grammatically speaking. That includes some other words as represented in our English translations, including the word except. This grammatical condition conveys the idea of impossible or contrary to fact. This makes for a most interesting series of studies for this class of “if,” meaning “impossible or contrary to fact,” which is found in some rather interesting passages. I am not aware of any English translation that conveys this important insight to English readers. I placed a complete set of notes on this matter in my first book, The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, and retained these notes in my second book, Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible at the same places.

The cross references given below probably furnish the most comprehensive listing of Bible passages which pertain to the Sovereignty of God to be found anywhere.

For those who desire to DIG DEEPER into this subject:

(1) Consult the cross references given in Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible on pages 1206-1207 for John 19:11.

(2) Consult the cross references given in The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge on page 1224 or in Logos 5 or 6 Bible software for John 19:11.

(3) Consult the cross references given in the original Treasury of Scripture Knowledge on page 80 of the NT or on line at www.blueletterbible.org for John 19:11.

(3) Most people today do not have access to those three print resources, so I have posted cross references for this passage as I have developed them even more completely for your study as given below:

John 19:11. Jesus answered. *1 Tim 6:13. Thou couldest have no power. Jn 3:27. *Jn 7:30. **Jn 10:17, 18. Ge 31:29. 45:7, 8. Ex 9:14-16. 2 K 18:25. *1 Ch 29:11, 12. Ps 39:9. 62:11. Je 27:5-8. La 3:37. Da 4:17, 25, 32, 35. 5:21. Mic 2:1. Mt 4:5. +*Mt 6:13. 21:44. **Mt 26:53, 54. Lk 22:53. Ac 2:23. *Ac 4:28. Ro 11:36. *Ro 13:1-7. James 1:17. Re 6:4. *Re 13:7. except. FS184B3, +Mt 23:30. +Ge 18:25n, point 7, Sovereignty of God. Jn 10:29. Ex 15:18. Dt 4:39. 1 Ch 29:11, 12. 2 Ch 20:6. Jb 9:2-12. 25:2. 33:12, 13. Ps 29:10. 47:2. 59:13. 82:1, 8. 83:18. 89:11-14. 93:1, 2. 97:1-6, 9. 103:19. 105:7. 113:3-5. 135:5-21. 145:11-13. +*Is 36:10. 40:12-31. 66:1. La 3:27. 5:19. Da 2:20. 4:35. 6:26. Mic 4:7, 13. Mt 6:10, 13. 11:25. Lk 10:21. Ac 7:48-50. 12:3. 17:24-31. Ro 9:19-33. 11:33-36. He 1:1-14. Re 4:11. 19:6. given. Ge 9:6. 31:29. Ex 21:25. Jg 3:12. 1 S 15:28. 2 K 5:1. 9:3. Da 2:21, 37. 5:19. Lk 8:32. Ro 13:4. Re 9:5. from above. Jn 3:3, 7, 31. 2 K 18:25. Ezr 6:22. Jb 1:12. 32:13. Ec 3:14. Is 54:16. he that. i.e. Caiaphas. Judas had delivered Him to the Sanhedrin, the Sanhedrin to Pilate. Jn 11:49, 50. *Jn 18:3, +Jn 18:14, 28-32. Mt 26:65. 27:2. +Mk 10:33. 14:44. Ro 13:1, 2. delivered. See on ver. Jn 19:30, “gave up” (CB). Jn 18:35. Mk 10:33. Lk 9:44. 23:34. the greater. +Jn 9:41. 15:22-24. 2 K 17:21. +Mt 10:15. +*Mt 11:22. Lk 7:41, 42. 10:11-14. +*Lk 12:47, 48. **Ro 2:12. *He 6:4-8. **James 4:17.