Yes they did have the authority…according to the Gospels themselves.
Please tell me where in the Gospels you read about a stoning taking place?
(taking place, not being referred to!)
They stoned people for adultery, blasphemy, etc.
That’s what the Law said. But “Israel” was not independant. It was subject to Rome, and Rome was the only authority which could sentence someone to death.
(The stoning of Stephen has more resemblance to a lynching than a trial)
No need to involve the Romans at all, *if they were punishing someone for a religious offence. *
Yes, because only Rome could sentence someone to death. Of course, they’d have to convince Rome to do so…
The Romans took a very dim view of what they considered sedition. Must have been a little embarrassing for Constantine to admit Messiah was killed by the Romans. I believe that Scripture was edited, perhaps heavily, when Christianity became the official religion of Rome. The purpose: to make the Jews look worse and the Roman authorities look better.
And your evidence for this theory, is…what?
What we know today as the NT can be traced back to the late 1st-early 2nd century. Those are the facts.
Even if Pilate truly washed his hands and claimed “I am innocent of the blood of this man”, that does not exhonorate him!
Indeed, it does not. Your point being?
And since Jesus was greeted by throngs of well wishers when he came into Jerusalem riding on an ***, I’m sure the bulk of the people who had seen him in action or even heard of him, held him in great esteem.
At least at that point. Something changed, though, as we read in the Gospels. When Jesus started to let people know who He really was, they turned on Him - accusing Him of blasphemy. I still don’t see your point.
His very popularity would have been seen as a threat by Roman authorities.
The Romans didn’t give a rat’s behind about Jewish prophets and their popularity. Jesus made no attempt to usurp political power, and the Romans knew this.
Whatever happened, there is no way that the majority of Jews at the time bayed for his blood. If anyone called out “crucify him, crucify him”, they would have been in the service of the collaborators.
It’s altogether unreasonable to think that all Jews were present in the courtyard of the Antonia palace, yes. But your point keeps eluding me (and yourself?)
The fatal words “let his blood be upon us* and upon our children” * have killed millions of Jews down through the ages. I believe no Jew wrote that, it simply doesn’t make any sense.
I do not really care what you think. The most likely theory, based on what we know of the scriptures, and the style in which they’re written, suggests 1st century Jewish authorship of those words.
But a Jew-hating Christian could come up with a detail like that, to justify persecution.
Another problem with that theory of yours is that the Church wasn’t in a position to persecute anyone until Constantine the Great. And to claim that Matthew is from the time of Constantine the Great is utter lunacy.
Care to try again?