The Meaning of John 19:22 Explained

John 19:22

KJV: Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.

YLT: Pilate answered, 'What I have written, I have written.'

Darby: Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written.

ASV: Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Pilate  answered,  What  I have written  I have written. 

What does John 19:22 Mean?

Context Summary

John 19:18-24 - "they Crucified Him"
Just outside the city gates, beside the main road, was a little conical eminence, which from its resemblance to a skull was called in Aramaic, Golgotha, and in Latin, Calvary. As we speak of the brow of a hill, they called the bald eminence a skull. The three languages in which the inscription was written stand for religion, government, and science. Note that every one of us is unconsciously writing his verdict about Jesus Christ; and when once it is written, there is no altering it. We may be forgiven, but the past cannot be obliterated.
The clothes of the crucified were the perquisite of the soldiers. But Christ's were so poor that they were not worth keeping entire, except the inner tunic, the gift of someone's-it may well have been His mother's-love. What a contrast! Above, the consummate evidence of love working out the plan of eternity; below, the appeal of ignorance and brutality to chance. [source]

Chapter Summary: John 19

1  Jesus is scourged, crowned with thorns, and beaten
4  Pilate is desirous to release him,
15  but being overcome with the outrage of the crowd, he delivers him to be crucified
23  They cast lots for his garments
25  He commends his mother to John
28  He dies
31  His side is pierced
38  He is buried by Joseph and Nicodemus

Greek Commentary for John 19:22

What I have written I have written [ο γεγραπα γεγραπα]
With emphasis on the permanence of the accusation on the board. Pilate has a sudden spirit of stubbornness in this detail to the surprise of the chief priests. Technically he was correct, for he had condemned Jesus on this charge made by the chief priests. [source]

What do the individual words in John 19:22 mean?

Answered - Pilate What I have written
Ἀπεκρίθη Πιλᾶτος γέγραφα

Ἀπεκρίθη  Answered 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Passive, 3rd Person Singular
Root: ἀποκρίνομαι  
Sense: to give an answer to a question proposed, to answer.
  - 
Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
Πιλᾶτος  Pilate 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: Πειλᾶτος 
Sense: the sixth Roman procurator of Judah and Samaria who ordered Christ to be crucified.
γέγραφα  I  have  written 
Parse: Verb, Perfect Indicative Active, 1st Person Singular
Root: γράφω 
Sense: to write, with reference to the form of the letters.