- XXA
- <
- 17
- >

When did Jesus leave Annas?
17
John 18:24
After Jesus was taken prisoner in the Garden, only John mentions that He was taken first to Annas; all the others only mention His being taken to Caiaphas, where the recorded proceedings took place, although of the three only Matthew actually names him (Matthew 26:57, Mark 14:53, Luke 22:54).
So far, so good, but the difficulty begins with John 18:15, that takes up Peter's denials without further ado; but Peter's denials took place at Caiaphas' house, not Annas'. Then verses 19-23 have the high priest questioning Jesus, still at Caiaphas'. Then comes verse 24: NKJV reads, “Then Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest”; NIV reads, “Then Annas sent him, still bound, to Caiaphas the high priest” (but a footnote offers, “Now Annas had sent him”); TEV reads, “So Annas sent him, still bound, to Caiaphas the High Priest”; while NASB reads, “Annas therefore sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest”. All four of these versions have John 18:15-23 occurring in Annas' house, rather than that of Caiaphas—the NIV footnote points to the correct rendering.
It would appear that all four of the versions follow the so-called ‘critical’ (read ‘eclectic’) text, that follows some 9% of the Greek manuscripts in adding a conjunction, ‘then’ or ‘therefore’ (ουν), after the initial verb, thereby creating the ‘problem’. Following the 90%, including the best line of transmission, I render, “(Annas had sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.)”. The use of parenthetical comments, or historical/cultural asides, is standard procedure for John; for a partial list see: 1:44, 2:6, 4:2,9,44, 6:4,64, 7:50, 9:14, 11:2,18-19,30-31, 12:1,6,16, 13:2,11,28-29 (there are at least a dozen more). I take it that verse 24 here is just one more instance; it is as if at this point John realizes that the reader could think that the proceedings were still going on at Annas' house. 8:25 resumes with Peter's denials. Following the correct Text, and the correct understanding thereof, John's record is not at variance with that of the other three Gospels.

- XXA
- <
- 17
- >

© 2016 Wilbur N. Pickering, ThM, PhD