August 22nd, 2026

Things continue on. With the three-year series, this Sunday’s title is the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost, and the Gospel Reading is Matthew 16:13-20, Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah. This text is another significant jump from last week’s text (15:21-28).

With the writings of this website, we have currently been going through the Gospel according to John. It is a significantly different Gospel account when compared to the other three, but it also is one with a lot of good news. Now we are much farther along in that account than Peter’s confession of Jesus. Peter just denied that he knew Jesus three times after his arrest, something Jesus predicted very precisely. And with that, we are getting very close to Jesus on the cross.

With such an important topic, we continue to study the words for more clarity, especially when it comes to the Gospel or a Gospel account. When we take a little bit of a Gospel account at a time, we study it carefully, in the order in which it has been laid out, and we are not skipping any parts.

It should also be mentioned that with these writings we have been going through all four Gospel accounts with a unique translation called an EXTREMELY literal translation. If you are familiar with this style of translation, you may wish to skip the next two paragraphs.​

The first significant thing to mention regarding the description of this type of translation is that the chapter and verse numbers will not be included within the text itself. Both numbers were added quite later after the text was written, and they are certainly useful when someone is searching for a particular text, but the structure they imply is not always helpful. This pair of numerical designations makes the very beginning of the text important. There is always a first verse, and there is not always a twenty-eighth verse. With this structure, the focus tends to be on the beginning of the writing. The act of writing those verses is probably not the most important thing that the writer wants to get across to the reader. The biblical writers basically wanted the readers to focus on God and not on themselves. The words are much more important than the numbers, and often those words lead the reader near the middle and/or the end of the text in some way, to give to the reader some structure to all the words being read. And the end is sometimes EXTREMELY important.

It should also be noted that the words with hyphens occur when more than one English word is used to describe a single word of the ancient Greek. And it should also be noted that some of the words chosen below are meant to point out the close connection that often occurs between the English and Greek languages. It is also important to mention that the order of the words below is also the same order that is in the ancient Greek. This may help to show the important words, especially when another word besides the verb is first in the sentence or phrase. Sometimes this emphasis will be shown with a “(!)”. Recently the things that Jesus has just spoken have been emphasized in this way. The exception to this translation order is that there are just a small number of words (like “therefore” and “now”) that are usually second in a sentence that are meant to be first when translated. And although it should be obvious, it should be said that repetition of words should be noted as another type of emphasis. One more thing to mention is that the verbs in capital letters are called HISTORICAL PRESENTS.  Historical presents are somewhat frequent within all the Gospel accounts, but they are especially frequent in the Gospel according to John. An historical present is when a verb in a past tense is expected, but a verb in the present tense is given. More details regarding the historical presents have been explained elsewhere in these writings, so it may be helpful to read some of the other writings of this website. With all of the above things to consider, it will probably be very helpful to have another translation or a study bible nearby as you read the text below.

What follows is an EXTREMELY literal translation of the second part of the what has been called the eighteenth chapter of the Gospel according to John (18:28-40). These words continue to be important, and they are certainly nice gifts that we have. The previous verses to the text were the fulfillment of Jesus’ prediction regarding Peter, that he would deny that he knew Jesus not once, but three times. So Jesus is on his own. And he is the only one who can save. He is the true rock, the true foundation. Pontius Pilate is a little help. And the “THEY” at the beginning of the text are the Jewish leaders who are leading Jesus. And they seem to be getting their job done. But ultimately it is all God’s doing.

Is it not amazing to see how many people think that they have significant power in the twenty-first century? And it is also amazing to see how many English words have come from the Greek!

Therefore  THEY-LEAD  the  Jesus  from  the  Caiaphas  into  the  praetorium;  now  it-was  pro.  And  they,  not  they-came-into,  into  the  praetorium,  in-order-that  not  they-might-be-defiled,  but-on-the-contrary,  they-might-consume  the  Pascha.   

Therefore  he-came-out,  the  Pilate,  outside  toward  them,  and  HE-RESPONDS,  “What  category  do-you-carry  against  the  anthropoid,  this-one?”
They-answered,  and  they-said  to-him,  “If  not  he-was,  this-one,  evil  doing,  not  would  to-you,  we-would-have-given-over  him.”

Therefore  he-said  to-them,  the  Pilate,  “Take  him,  you,  and  according-to  the  law  of-you,  judge  him.”

They-said  to-him,  the  Jews,  “For-us  not  it-is-permitted  to-kill  no-one,”  in-order-that  the  word  of-the  Jesus  might-be-fulfilled  which  he-said,  signifying  by-what-kind-of  death  he-was-about  to-die.

Therefore  he-came-into  again,  into  the  praetorium,  the  Pilate,  and  he-phoned  the  Jesus,  and  he-said  to-him,  “You,  are-you  the  king  of-the  Jews?”
He-answered,  Jesus,  “From  yourself  you,  this  you-say,  or  others  said  to-you  about  me?”

He-answered,  the  Pilate,  “Not  I,  a-Jew,  am-I?  The  ethnic,  the  your,  and  the  archpriests  gave-over  you  to-me;  what  have-you-done?”

He-answered,  Jesus,  “The  kingdom,  the  my,  not  is  out-of  the  cosmos,  this;  if  out-of  the  cosmos,  this,  was  the  kingdom,  the  my,  the  attendants  would,  the  my,  they-have-agonized,  would,  in-order-that  not  I-be-given-over  to-the  Jews.  Now,  presently,  the  kingdom,  the  my,  not  is  from-here.”

Therefore  he-said  to-him,  the  Pilate,  “Not-really  a  king  are  you?”

He-answered,  the  Jesus,  “You,  you-say  that  a-king  I-am.  I,  into  this  I-have-been-born,  and  into  this  I-have-come  into  the  cosmos,  in-order-that  I-might-martyr  to-the  truth;  all  the  one-being  out-of  the  truth  hears  of-me  the  phone.”

HE-SAYS  to-him,  the  Pilate,  “What  is  truth?”

And  this  having-said,  again  he-came-out  toward  the  Jews,  and  HE-SAYS  to-them,  “I  nothing(!),  I-find  in  him  a-crime.  Now  there-is  a-custom  to-you,  in-order-that  one  I-should-release  to-you  in  the  Pascha;  therefore  do-you-want  I-should-release  to-you  the  king  of-the  Jews?”

Therefore  they-shouted  again,  saying,  “Not  this-one,  but-on-the-contrary,  the  Barabbas.”  Now  he-was,  the  Barabbas,  a-robber.