What was the purpose of Jesus' scourging?

• A. To humiliate him publicly
• B. To fulfill a prophecy
• C. To please the Jewish leaders
• D. To test his endurance

Answer: (C)

The main point is that Jesus’ scourging is understood in the Gospel accounts as both a brutal Roman prelude to crucifixion and, for the writers, a fulfillment of Scripture about the suffering Messiah. Roman authorities used scourging as a severe punishment and a way to intensify the punishment before execution. But for Christian writers, this painful event is also linked to prophecy about the suffering servant who bears our sins and by whose wounds we are healed. So the act is presented not as an act intended to humiliate the Jewish leaders or simply to test Jesus’ endurance, but as part of God’s redemptive plan—the Messiah’s suffering foretold in the prophets is enacted in the events leading to the crucifixion.