Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 23:32
And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death.
32. two other ] Perhaps followers of the released Barabbas. They were not ‘thieves,’ but ‘robbers’ or ‘brigands,’ and this name was not undeservedly given to some of the wild bands which refused Roman authority. See Isa 53:9.
malefactors ] Kakourgoi. The same English word is used in Joh 18:30, where it is literally “doing evil.”
See the notes at Mat 27:35, Mat 27:38. Verse 32. Two other malefactors] , should certainly be translated two others, malefactors, as in the Bibles published by the King’s printer, Edinburgh. As it now stands in the text, it seems to intimate that our blessed Lord was also a malefactor. Mark saith here, The scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors. We met with this before, both in Matthew and Mark. See Poole on “Mat 27:33“, See Poole on “Mat 27:38“. See Poole on “Mar 15:27-28“. And there were also two other malefactors,…. Not that Christ was one, though indeed he was looked upon and treated as one by the Jews; but as the words may be read, there were also two others that were malefactors; really such, two thieves, who had been guilty of theft and robbery, and were condemned to die: and these were led with him; for the greater ignominy and reproach of Christ, that it might be thought he was equally a malefactor, and as deserving of death as they:
to be put to death; the death of the cross, which was the death the Romans put slaves, thieves, and robbers, and the worst and basest of men to.
The Crucifixion. 32 And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death. 33 And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. 34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. 35 And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God. 36 And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar, 37 And saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself. 38 And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. 39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. 40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. 42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. 43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. In these verses we have, I. Divers passages which we had before in Matthew and Mark concerning Christ’s sufferings. 1. That there were two others, malefactors, led with him to the place of execution, who, it is probable, had been for some time under sentence of death, and were designed to be executed on this day, which was probably the pretence for making such haste in the prosecution of Christ, that he and these two malefactors might be executed together, and one solemnity might serve. 2. That he was crucified at a place called Calvary, Kranion, the Greek name for Golgotha–the place of a skull: an ignominious place, to add to the reproach of his sufferings, but significant, for there he triumphed over death as it were upon his own dunghill. He was crucified. His hands and feet were nailed to the cross as it lay upon the ground, and it was then lifted up, and fastened into the earth, or into some socket made to receive it. This was a painful and shameful death above any other. 3. That he was crucified in the midst between two thieves, as if he had been the worst of the three. Thus he was not only treated as a transgressor, but numbered with them, the worst of them. 4. That the soldiers who were employed in the execution seized his garments as their fee, and divided them among themselves by lot: They parted his raiment, and cast lots; it was worth so little that, if divided, it would come to next to nothing, and therefore they cast lots for it. 5. That he was reviled and reproached, and treated with all the scorn and contempt imaginable, when he was lifted up upon the cross. It was strange that so much barbarity should be found in the human nature: The people stood beholding, not at all concerned, but rather pleasing themselves with the spectacle; and the rulers, whom from their office one would take to be men of sense and men of honour, stood among the rabble, and derided him, to set those on that were about them to do so too; and they said, He saved others, let him save himself. Thus was he upbraided for the good works he had done, as if it were indeed for these that they crucified him. They triumphed over him as if they had conquered him, whereas he was himself then more than a conqueror; they challenged him to save himself from the cross, when he was saving others by the cross: If he be the Christ, the chosen of God, let him save himself. They knew that the Christ was the chosen of God, designed by him, and dear to him. “If he, as the Christ, would deliver our nation from the Romans (and they could not form any other idea than that of the Messiah), let him deliver himself from the Romans that have him now in their hands.” Thus the Jewish rulers jeered him as subdued by the Romans, instead of subduing them. The Roman soldiers jeered him as the King of the Jews: “A people good enough for such a prince, and a prince good enough for such a people.” They mocked him (Luk 23:36; Luk 23:37); they made sport with him, and made a jest of his sufferings; and when they were drinking sharp sour wine themselves, such as was generally allotted them, they triumphantly asked him if he would pledge them, or drink with them. And they said, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself; for, as the Jews prosecuted him under the notion of a pretended Messiah, so the Romans under the notion of a pretended king. 6. That the superscription over his head, setting forth his crime, was, This is the King of the Jews, v. 38. He is put to death for pretending to be the king of the Jews; so they meant it; but God intended it to be a declaration of what he really was, notwithstanding his present disgrace: he is the king of the Jews, the king of the church, and his cross is the way to his crown. This was written in those that were called the three learned languages, Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, for those are best learned that have learned Christ. It was written in these three languages that it might be known and read of all men; but God designed by it to signify that the gospel of Christ should be preached to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, and be read in all languages. The Gentile philosophy made the Greek tongue famous, the Roman laws and government made the Latin tongue so, and the Hebrew excelled them all for the sake of the Old Testament. In these three languages is Jesus Christ proclaimed king. Young scholars, that are taking pains at school to make themselves masters of these three languages, should aim at this, that in the use of them they may increase their acquaintance with Christ. II. Here are two passages which we had not before, and they are very remarkable ones. 1. Christ’s prayer for his enemies (v. 34): Father, forgive them. Seven remarkable words Christ spoke after he was nailed to the cross, and before he died, and this is the first. One reason why he died the death of the cross was that he might have liberty of speech to the last, and so might glorify his Father and edify those about him. As soon as ever he was fastened to the cross, or while they were nailing him, he prayed this prayer, in which observe, (1.) The petition: Father, forgive them. One would think that he should have prayed, “Father, consume them; the Lord look upon it, and requite it.” The sin they were now guilty of might justly have been made unpardonable, and justly might they have been excepted by name out of the act of indemnity. No, these are particularly prayed for. Now he made intercession for transgressors, as was foretold (Isa. liii. 12), and it is to be added to his prayer (John xvii.), to complete the specimen he gave of his intercession within the veil: that for saints, this for sinners. Now the sayings of Christ upon the cross as well as his sufferings had a further intention than they seemed to have. This was a mediatorial word, and explicatory of the intent and meaning of his death: “Father, forgive them, not only these, but all that shall repent, and believe the gospel;” and he did not intend that these should be forgiven upon any other terms. “Father, that which I am now suffering and dying for is in order to this, that poor sinners may be pardoned.” Note, [1.] The great thing which Christ died to purchase and procure for us is the forgiveness of sin. [2.] This is that for which Christ intercedes for all that repent and believe in the virtue of his satisfaction; his blood speaks this: Father, forgive them. [3.] The greatest sinners may, through Christ, upon their repentance, hope to find mercy. Though they were his persecutors and murderers, he prayed, Father, forgive them. (2.) The plea: For they know not what they do; for, if they had known, they would not have crucified him, 1 Cor. ii. 8. There was a veil upon his glory and upon their understandings; and how could they see through two veils? They wished his blood on them and their children: but, had they known what they did, they would have unwished it again. Note, [1.] The crucifiers of Christ know not what they do. They that speak ill or religion speak ill of that which they know not, and it is because they will not know it. [2.] There is a kind of ignorance that does in part excuse sin: ignorance through want of the means of knowledge or of a capacity to receive instruction, through the infelicities of education, or inadvertency. The crucifiers of Christ were kept in ignorance by their rulers, and had prejudices against him instilled into them, so that in what they did against Christ and his doctrine they thought they did God service, John xvi. 2. Such as to be pitied and prayed for. This prayer of Christ was answered not long after, when many of those that had a hand in his death were converted by Peter’s preaching. This is written also for example to us. First, We must in prayer call God Father, and come to him with reverence and confidence, as children to a father. Secondly, The great thing we must beg of God, both for ourselves and others, is the forgiveness of sins. Thirdly, We must pray for our enemies, and those that hate and persecute us, must extenuate their offences, and not aggravate them as we must our own (They know not what they do; peradventure it was an oversight); and we must be earnest with God in prayer for the forgiveness of their sins, their sins against us. This is Christ’s example to his own rule (Mat 5:44; Mat 5:45, Love your enemies); and it very much strengthens the rule, for, if Christ loved and prayed for such enemies, what enemies can we have that we are not obliged to love and pray for? 2. The conversion of the thief upon the cross, which is an illustrious instance of Christ’s triumphing over principalities and powers even when he seemed to be triumphed over by them. Christ was crucified between two thieves, and in them were represented the different effects which the cross of Christ would have upon the children of men, to whom it would be brought near in the preaching of the gospel. They were all malefactors, all guilty before God. Now the cross of Christ is to some a savour of life unto life, to others of death unto death. To them that perish it is foolishness, but to them that are saved it is the wisdom of God and the power of God. (1.) Here was one of these malefactors that was hardened to the last. Near to the cross of Christ, he railed on him, as others did (v. 39): he said, If thou be the Christ, as they say thou art, save thyself and us. Though he was now in pain and agony, and in the valley of the shadow of death, yet this did not humble his proud spirit, nor teach him to give good language, no, not to his fellow-sufferer. Though thou bray a fool in a mortar, yet will not his foolishness depart from him. No troubles will of themselves work a change in a wicked heart, but sometimes they irritate the corruption which one would think they should mortify. He challenges Christ to save both himself and them. Note, There are some that have the impudence to rail at Christ, and yet the confidence to expect to be saved by him; nay, and to conclude that, if he do not save them, he is not to be looked upon as the Saviour. (2.) Here was the other of them that was softened at the last. It as said in Matthew and Mark that the thieves, even they that were crucified with him, reviled him, which some think is by a figure put for one of them, but others think that they both reviled him at first, till the heart of one of them was wonderfully changed, and with it his language on a sudden. This malefactor, when just ready to fall into the hands of Satan, was snatched as a brand out of the burning, and made a monument of divine mercy and grace, and Satan was left to roar as a lion disappointed of his prey. This gives no encouragement to any to put off their repentance to their death-bed, or to hope that then they shall find mercy; for, though it is certain that true repentance is never too late, it is as certain that late repentance is seldom true. None can be sure that they shall have time to repent at death, but every man may be sure that he cannot have the advantages that this penitent thief had, whose case was altogether extraordinary. He never had any offer of Christ, nor day of grace, before how: he was designed to be made a singular instance of the power of Christ’s grace now at a time when he was crucified in weakness. Christ, having conquered Satan in the destruction of Judas and the preservation of Peter, erects this further trophy of his victory over him in the conversion of this malefactor, as a specimen of what he would do. We shall see the case to be extraordinary if we observe, [1.] The extraordinary operations of God’s grace upon him, which appeared in what he said. Here were so many evidences given in a short time of a blessed change wrought in him that more could not have been given in so little a compass. First, See what he said to the other malefactor, Luk 23:40; Luk 23:41. 1. He reproved him for railing at Christ, as destitute of the fear of God, and having no sense at all of religion: Dost not thou fear God? This implies that it was the fear of God which restrained him from following the multitude to do this evil. “I fear God, and therefore dare not do it; and dost not thou?” All that have their eyes opened see this to be at the bottom of the wickedness of the wicked, that they have not the fear of God before their eyes. “If thou hadst any humanity in thee, thou wouldest not insult over one that is thy fellow-sufferer; thou art in the same condition; thou art a dying man too, and therefore, whatever these wicked people do, it ill becomes thee to abuse a dying man.” 2. He owns that he deserves what was done to him: We indeed justly. It is probable that they both suffered for one and the same crime, and therefore he spoke with the more assurance, We received the due reward of our deeds. This magnifies divine grace, as acting in a distinguishing way. These two have been comrades in sin and suffering, and yet one is saved and the other perishes; two that had gone together all along hitherto, and yet now one taken and the other left. He does not say, Thou indeed justly, but We. Note, True penitents acknowledge the justice of God in all the punishments of their sin. God has done right, but we have done wickedly. 3. He believes Christ to have suffered wrongfully. Though he was condemned in two courts, and run upon as if he had been the worst of malefactors, yet this penitent thief is convinced, by his conduct in his sufferings, that he has done nothing amiss, ouden atopon—nothing absurd, or unbecoming his character. The chief priests would have him crucified between the malefactors, as one of them; but this thief has more sense than they, and owns he is not one of them. Whether he had before heard of Christ and of his wonderous works does not appear, but the Spirit of grace enlightened him with this knowledge, and enabled him to say, This man has done nothing amiss. Secondly, See what he said to our Lord Jesus: Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom, v. 42. This is the prayer of a dying sinner to a dying Saviour. It was the honour of Christ to be thus prayed to, though he was upon the cross reproached and reviled. It was the happiness of the thief thus to pray; perhaps he never prayed before, and yet now was heard, and saved at the last gasp. While there is life there is hope, and while there is hope there is room for prayer. 1. Observe his faith in this prayer. In his confession of sin (v. 41) he discovered repentance towards God. In this petition he discovered faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. He owns him to be Lord, and to have a kingdom, and that he was going to that kingdom, that he should have authority in that kingdom, and that those should be happy whom he favoured; and to believe and confess all this was a great thing at this time of day. Christ was now in the depth of disgrace, deserted by his own disciples, reviled by his own nation, suffering as a pretender, and not delivered by his Father He made this profession before those prodigies happened which put honour upon his sufferings, and which startled the centurion; yet verily we have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. He believed another life after this, and desired to be happy in that life, not as the other thief, to be saved from the cross, but to be well provided for when the cross had done its worst. 2. Observe his humility in this prayer. All his request is, Lord, remember me. He does not pray, Lord, prefer me (as they did, Matt. xx. 21), though, having the honour as none of the disciples had to drink of Christ’s cup and to be baptized with his baptism either on his right hand or on his left in his sufferings when his own disciples had deserted him he might have had some colour to ask as they did to sit on his right hand and on his left in his kingdom. Acquaintance in sufferings has sometimes gained such a point, Jer 52:31; Jer 52:32. But he is far from the thought of it. All he begs is, Lord, remember me, referring himself to Christ in what way to remember him. It is a request like that of Joseph to the chief butler, Think on me (Gen. xl. 14), and it sped better; the chief butler forgot Joseph, but Christ remembered this thief. 3. There is an air of importunity and fervency in this prayer. He does, as it were, breathe out his soul in it: “Lord, remember me, and I have enough; I desire no more; into thy hands I commit my case.” Note, To be remembered by Christ, now that he is in his kingdom, is what we should earnestly desire and pray for, and it will be enough to secure our welfare living and dying. Christ is in his kingdom, interceding. “Lord, remember me, and intercede for me.” He is there ruling. “Lord, remember me, and rule in me by thy Spirit.” He is there preparing places for those that are his. “Lord, remember me, and prepare a place for me; remember me at death, remember me in the resurrection.” See Job xiv. 13. [2.] The extraordinary grants of Christ’s favour to him: Jesus said unto him, in answer to his prayer, “Verily I say unto thee, I the Amen, the faithful Witness, I say Amen to this prayer, put my fiat to it: nay, thou shalt have more than thou didst ask, This day thou shalt be with me in paradise,” v. 43. Observe, First, To whom this was spoken: to the penitent thief, to him, and not to his companion. Christ upon the cross is like Christ upon the throne; for now is the judgment of this world: one departs with a curse, the other with a blessing. Though Christ himself was now in the greatest struggle and agony, yet he had a word of comfort to speak to a poor penitent that committed himself to him. Note, Even great sinners, if they be true penitents, shall, through Christ, obtain not only the pardon of their sins, but a place in the paradise of God, Heb. ix. 15. This magnifies the riches of free grace, that rebels and traitors shall not only be pardoned, but preferred, thus preferred. Secondly, By whom this was spoken. This was another mediatorial word which Christ spoke, though upon a particular occasion, yet with a general intention to explain the true intent and meaning of his sufferings; as he died to purchase the forgiveness of sins for us (v. 34), so also to purchase eternal life for us. By this word we are given to understand that Jesus Christ died to open the kingdom of heaven to all penitent obedient believers. 1. Christ here lets us know that he was going to paradise himself, to hades–the invisible world. His human soul was removing to the place of separate souls; not to the place of the damned, but to paradise, the place of the blessed. By this he assures us that his satisfaction was accepted, and the Father was well pleased in him, else he had not gone to paradise; that was the beginning of the joy set before him, with the prospect of which he comforted himself. He went by the cross to the crown, and we must not think of going any other way, or of being perfected but by sufferings. 2. He lets all penitent believers know that when they die they shall go to be with him there. He was now, as a priest, purchasing this happiness for them, and is ready, as a king, to confer it upon them when they are prepared and made ready for it. See here how the happiness of heaven is set forth to us. (1.) It is paradise, a garden of pleasure, the paradise of God (Rev. ii. 7), alluding to the garden of Eden, in which our first parents were placed when they were innocent. In the second Adam we are restored to all we lost in the first Adam, and more, to a heavenly paradise instead of an earthly one. (2.) It is being with Christ there. That is the happiness of heaven, to see Christ, and sit with him, and share in his glory, John xvii. 24. (3.) It is immediate upon death: This day shalt thou be with me, to-night, before to-morrow. Thou souls of the faithful, after they are delivered from the burden of the flesh, immediately are in joy and felicity; the spirits of just men are immediately made perfect. Lazarus departs, and is immediately comforted; Paul departs, and is immediately with Christ, Phil. i. 23. Were led (gonto). Imperfect passive of , were being led. Malefactors (). Evil (), doers (work, ). Old word, but in the N.T. only in this passage (Luke 23:32; Luke 23:33; Luke 23:39) and 2Ti 2:9. Luke does not call them “robbers” like Mark 15:27; Matt 27:38; Matt 27:44. To be put to death (). First aorist passive infinitive of , old verb, to take up, to take away, to kill. Two other. The possible omission of a comma before malefactors in the A. V. might make a very awkward and unpleasant statement. Better Rev., two others, malefactors. Put to death [] . Lit., to take up and carry away; so that the Greek idiom answers to our taken off. So Shakespeare : “The deep damnation of his taking off.” MacBeth, 1, 7. “Let her who would be rid of him, devise His speedy taking off.” Lear, 5, 1.
1) “And there were also two other, malefactors, led,” egonto de kai heteroi kakourgoi duo) “Then there were also two other kind of criminals led,” called also robbers, or thieves, Mat 27:38; Mat 27:44; Mar 15:27. They were perhaps insurgents who had rebelled against Roman rule. Two others led up who were malefactors is the idea.
2) “With him to be put to death,” (sun auto anairethenai) “in close company with him (with Jesus) to be killed,” for He was to be numbered with transgressors, Isa 53:9; Isa 53:12; Mar 10:45; Mar 15:28; Luk 22:37.
CRITICAL NOTES
Luk. 23:32.Malefactors.Called by St. Matthew and St. Mark robbers. Probably they were insurgents against Roman rule, who had been more like brigands than patriots.
Luk. 23:33. Calvary.Rather, The Skull. The Greek word is simply kranion, a rendering of the Hebrew Golgotha; our A.V. adopts the Latin word for the same thing. There is no reason for speaking of the place as a mount; it was probably a knoll of ground somewhat like a skull in shape. The idea that it derived its name from the skulls of persons who had been executed, lying on the ground, is erroneous. The Jews scrupulously buried the dead.
Luk. 23:34. Then said Jesus.Probably during the act of crucifixion; and the words referred primarily to the Roman soldiers who nailed Him to the cross. St. Luke records three of the seven sayings from the crossLuk. 23:34; Luk. 23:43; Luk. 23:46. This saying is strangely omitted in some very ancient MSS., but there can be no doubt of its genuineness. Parted His raiment.The clothes of the criminal in most countries being appropriated by the executioners.
Luk. 23:35. Stood beholding.Though the attitude tells nothing of their state of mind, there is no reason to believe that any reaction in popular feeling had set in, or that those who demanded His death now abstained from deriding Him. With them.Omit these words: omitted in R.V. If He be Christ.Rather, if this is the Christ of God, His chosen (R.V.). The word translated this implies contempt.
Luk. 23:36. Soldiers.Four in number (Joh. 19:23), with a centurion. Vinegar.I.e., sour wine; probably forming part of their midday meal.
Luk. 23:38. A superscription.A titulus written in black letters on a board smeared with white gypsum. It was usual to put such a board over the head of a crucified person. In letters of Greek, etc.Omitted in R.V. Perhaps the words are taken from the parallel passage in Joh. 19:20. This the King, etc.The title on the cross is variously given, probably because of the varying forms of expression in the three languages used. One evangelist may have in his mind the Hebrew rendering, another the Greek, another the Latin, and another may give us the general substance of all three.
Luk. 23:39. One of the malefactors.St. Matthew and St. Mark say that those crucified with Jesus reviled Him; but they evidently speak of classes of persons who did sothose that passed by, chief priests, scribes, elderseven the robbers; though, of course, it is possible that both of His companions in death at first joined in the derision, and that after a time one of them repented of having done so. If Thou be Christ.Rather, Art not Thou the Christ? (R.V.).
Luk. 23:40. Dost not thou? etc.Rather, Dost thou not even fear God? (R.V.).
Luk. 23:41. For we receive, etc.Lit., for we are receiving back things worthy of what we did.
Luk. 23:42. Into Thy kingdom.More correctly, in Thy kingdoma consummation in the far-distant future.
Luk. 23:43. To-day.This is the emphatic word: immediate instead of far-off reward, Paradise.This is a Persian word for park, or garden; used in LXX. of Eden (Gen. 2:8). In 2Co. 12:4 it is used as equivalent to the third heaven; in Rev. 2:7 it is the same as the restored Eden figured in Revelation 21, 22 as the New Jerusalem. The language is figurative, but no doubt in accordance with the truth concerning the unseen world (Speakers Commentary).
Luk. 23:44. Sixth hour.I.e., midday. All the earth.R.V. the whole land. This darkness could not have been an eclipse, as it was now (Passover) full moon.
Luk. 23:45. The sun was darkened.R.V. follows the reading, the suns light failing; which seems more like a gloss to explain the darkness than the original text. Veil of the Temple.I.e., the veil that divided the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place.
Luk. 23:46.Father, into Thy hands, etc.From Psa. 31:5. Gave up the ghost.None of the evangelists use the words He died, but say He breathed forth, or gave up His spirit.
Luk. 23:47. Glorified God.A notice characteristic of St. Luke (Luk. 2:20, Luk. 5:25, Luk. 7:16, Luk. 13:13, Luk. 17:15, Luk. 18:43) (Farrar). A righteous man.I.e., innocent, just; and as Jesus had, in his hearing, twice spoken of God as His Father (Luk. 23:34; Luk. 23:46), he was persuaded He must be a Son of God. The latter is given as the saying of the centurion in St. Matthew and St. Mark.
Luk. 23:48. Smote their breasts.I.e., in token of penitence. They were now, to some extent, repentant for the actions into which they had been goaded by the priests.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Luk. 23:32-49
Three Words from the Cross.Seven words, in all, Christ spoke from the cross; St. Luke records only the prayer He offered for His murderers, His promise to the penitent, and the last cry in which He commended His spirit into the hands of His Father.
I. Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.Notice:
1. The invocation. The first utterance of Jesus was a prayer, and His first word Father. Was it not an unintentional condemnation of those who had affixed Him there? It was in the name of religion they had acted, and, in the name of God; but which of them was thus impregated through and through with religion? Which of them could pretend to a communion with God so close and habitual? It is a suspicious case when, in any trial, especially an ecclesiastical one, the condemned is obviously a better man than the judges. The word Father, further, proved that the faith of Jesus was unshaken by all through which He had passed, and by that which He was now enduring. Great saints have been driven, by the pressure of pain and disappointment, to challenge Gods righteousness in words which it is not lawful for a man to utter. But when the fortunes of Jesus were at the blackest He still said Father.
2. The petition. Our hearts burn with indignation at the treatment to which He was subjected. The comment of Jesus on it all was, Father, forgive them. Long ago, indeed, He had taught men, Love your enemies, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And here He practised what He taught. He is the one teacher of mankind in whom the sentiment and the act completely coincide. His doctrine was the very highest; too high, it often seems, for this world But He proved that it can be realised on earth when He offered this prayer. Perhaps nothing is more difficult than to forgive. Even saints in the Old Testament curse those who have persecuted and wronged them, in terms of uncompromising severity. Had Jesus followed these, who would have ventured to find fault with Him? Even in that there might have been a revelation of God, because in the Divine nature there is a fire of wrath against sin. But how poor would such a revelation have been in comparison with the one which He now made! It told that God is love.
3. The argument. This allows us to see further still into the Divine depths of His love. The injured are generally alive only to their own side of the case, and they see only those circumstances which tend to place the conduct of the opposite party in the worst light. But at the moment when the pain inflicted by His enemies was at the worst Jesus was seeking excuses for their conduct. It is true of every sinner, in some measure, that he knows not what he does. And to a true penitent, as he approaches the throne of mercy, it is a great consolation to be assured that this plea will be allowed. God knows all our weakness and blindness; men will not make allowance for it, or even understand it, but He will understand it all, if we come to hide our guilty head in His bosom.
II. To-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise.There was probably malice in the arrangement by which Jesus was hung between the two thieves. Yet there was a Divine purpose behind the wrath of man. Jesus came to the world to identify Himself with sinners; He had lived among them, and it was meet that He should die among them. It gave Him, too, an opportunity of illustrating, at the very last moment, both the magnanimity of His own character and the nature of His mission. As the parable of the Prodigal Son is an epitome of the whole teaching of Christ, so is the salvation of the thief on the cross the life of Christ in miniature. There is no reason to doubt either that this thief was a great sinner or that he was suddenly changed. And therefore his example will always be an encouragement to the worst of sinners when they repent. It is common for penitents to be afraid to come to God, because their sins have been too great to be forgiven; but those who are encouraging them can point to cases like Manasseh, and Mary Magdalene, and this, and assure them that the mercy which sufficed for these is sufficient for all: The blood of Jesus Christ, Gods Son, cleanseth us from all sin. How complete the revolution was in the penitent is shown by his own words. St. Paul, in one place, sums up Christianity in two things: repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And both of these we see in this penitents words. It is worth noting that it was not by words that Jesus converted this man. He did not address the penitent thief at all till the thief spoke to Him. The work of conviction was done before He uttered a word. Yet it was His work. It was by the impression of His patience, His innocence, His peace, and His magnanimity, that Jesus converted the man. Yet His words, when He did speak, added immensely to the impression. He accepted the homage of His petitioner; He spoke of the world unseen as of a place native and familiar. He gave him to understand that He possessed as much influence there as he attributed to Him. This great sinner laid on Christ the weight of his soul, the weight of his sins, the weight of his eternity; and Christ accepted the burden.
III. Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.
1. The final words of the dying Saviour was a prayer. It was not by chance that this was so, for the currents within Him were all flowing Godward. While prayer is appropriate for all times, there are occasions when it is singularly appropriateat the close of day, in moments of mortal peril, at the Communion Table, and before death. On this last occasion it is more in its place than anywhere else. Then we are, perforce, parting with all that is earthly. How natural to lay hold of what alone we can keep hold of! And this is what prayer does; for it lays hold of God. Yet, natural as prayer is at that time, it is only so to those who have learned to pray before. It had long been to Jesus the language of life, and it was only the bias of the life asserting itself in death when, as He breathed His last, He turned to God.
2. The last word of the dying Saviour was a quotation from Scripture. If prayer is natural to the lips of the dying, so is Scripture. In the most sacred moments and transactions of life there is no language like that of the Bible. Especially is this the case in everything connected with death. In this supreme moment Jesus turned to the Psalms. This is undoubtedly the most precious of all the books of the Old Testament. It is a book penned as with the life-blood of its author; it is the record of humanitys profoundest sorrows and sublimest ecstasies; it is the most perfect expression which has ever been given to experience; it has been the vade-mecum of all the saints; and to know and to love it is one of the best signs of spirituality.
3. It was about His spirit that the dying Saviour prayed. Dying persons are sometimes much taken up with their bodies, or with their worldly concerns. Nor did Jesus altogether refrain from bestowing attention on these things, for one of his sayings on the cross had reference to His bodily necessities, and another to His mothers future comfort. But His supreme concern was His spirit, to the interests of which He devoted His final prayer. He placed it in the hands of God. There it was safe. Strong and secure are the hands of the Eternal. They are soft and loving too. With what a passion of tenderness must they have received the spirit of Jesus.
4. His last word revealed His view of death. The word used by Jesus in commending His spirit to God implies that He was giving it away in the hope of finding it again. He was making a deposit in a safe place, to which, after the crisis of death was over, He would come and recover it (cf. 2Ti. 1:12). Death is a disruption of the parts of which human nature is composed. But Jesus was looking forward to a reunion of the separated parts, when they would again find each other, and the integrity of the personal life be restored. His dying word proves that He believed for Himself what He taught to others. Not only, however, has He, by His teaching, brought life and immortality to light; He is Himself the guarantee of the doctrine; for He is our immortal life. Because I live, He has said, ye shall live also.Stalker.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luk. 23:32-49
Luk. 23:32. Two others.Probably these had been former associates of Barabbas, in whose place Jesus was crucified. They were, as it were, assigned as subjects to the King of the Jews, in order to mock His claims. Yet one of them did actually become His subject. God added fresh glory to His Son by causing the wrath of men to turn to His praise.
Luk. 23:33. One on the right hand.The very cross was the tribunal of Christ, for the Judge was placed in the middle; one thief, who believed, was set free; the other, who reviled, was condemned: which signified what He was already about to do with the quick and dead, being about to set some on His right hand, and some on the left.Hall.
Christ Crucified.
I. There they crucified Him.
II. There they crucified Him.
III. There they crucified Him.
IV. There they crucified Him.Young.
The Three Crosses.
I. We shall look at the two crosses upon which the malefactors suffered.
1. We consider the crucifixion of the malefactors as the protest of human society against rebellion, in the vindication of its own life, and of the sacredness of its own laws. This was a terrible punishment, even to malefactors, who were evidently men of the lowest type. They were looked upon as the recognised enemies of human society. The worst punishment civilisation could inflict upon, and the most terrible weapon it could use toward, those who, by their desperate conduct, had forfeited existence, was the cross. We know of what type these malefactors werenot thieves, as the A.V. gives it, but robbers or brigands; men who never considered aught binding in their war with their fellows. These men belonged to that terrible class which becomes the pest of oppressive governments or ill-regulated human communities, just as epidemics are the outcome of bad sanitation, or the neglect of the first laws of health. These belonged to a class of men who represent all the desperation of which grinding poverty is capable, and all the degradation which irresponsibility can produce. Thus in these two crosseslosing sight for the present of the great central Crosswe have human societys vindication of its own life and its own laws.
2. We also find here the triumph of justice over rule and rebellious force. This is so far gratifying. Thus the crosses upon which the malefactors were crucified were the safety of society and the vindication of law. In those crosses we see the due reward of human criminality, the last weapons that society, and the justice of the community, could use. Justice, having failed to restore, can only destroy. Justice can do no more. Thus in these two cases we have the triumph of human society and human government over men who otherwise would lay the earth waste, and make countries a devastation.
II. We next view the central cross, upon which Christ died.That cross taught a very different lesson from that which was taught by the other crosses. The other crosses revealed the criminality of those who suffered, but
(1) That central cross revealed the sinfulness and criminality of those who crucified the Innocent One.
2. This cross bears a relationship with every man. Since He who died upon it died not as a criminal, not even as one who was falsely condemned, or as a martyr only, but as one who was vindicated by His own judge, who found no fault in Him, and vindicated by the very man who betrayed Him, and who exclaimed, I have betrayed innocent blood. One who did no crime against manyea, no sin against God: He did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth.
3. This, too, was a death which He voluntarily accepted, though He had the power to escape it. It was not the infliction of death upon one who could not withstand the power that inflicted it. It was the death of One who beforehand said, and gave this as the clue to His disciples of the nature of His Cross and passion, I lay down My life, that I might take it again. I accept, then, that central Cross, as telling of sin; but as telling of it in a very different way from the other crosses.
4. In the Cross of Christ I find the greatest condemnation of sin. I find there the greatest and most awful revelation of the possibilities of human sinfulness.
5. But it also tells of more than that. As the Cross was the condemnation of man and the revelation of human guilt, so was it the revelation of a Divine love that triumphed over all the guilt, ingratitude, and hatred, of men in a sacrifice that knew of no reserve, even the death of the Lords Anointed One.
III. And now let us look at the relationship between that cross and the two other crosses.There was one man who died impenitentone man who sank deeper and deeper into the iniquity in which he had already sunk so low, and defied every sacred influence; one, moreover, who was not overcome by those things that overcame the centurion who presided over the execution; and, finally, one who was not touched by the protest of that fellow-sufferer who, though as sinful as himself, could no longer resist, but pleaded with him in the earnestness of a fresh convictionpleaded in tones which quivered alike with the agony of suffering and with the earnestness of a new belief, but died an impenitent and hardened sinner. There was another cross, upon which was to be seen the penitent one, who at first found expression in the blasphemy which came from both malefactors, but who at length paused as he felt the drawing power of Him who died on that central Cross, and then at every risk became the first vindicator of that great Sufferer in the presence of the chief priests and scribes who mocked, and an angry multitude who beat like a furious storm around those crosses. He became the first to rebuke blasphemy in the presence of the Cross, and then in the additional light that comes to every man who acts up to the light that he has already received, turned to the crucified Christ and exclaimed, Lord, remember me when Thou comest in Thy kingdom. Thus, there are exhibited here two typical attitudes towards Jesus Christ. Now, the world to-day is represented by the one or the otherthe impenitent, who is still untouched; and the penitent, who breaks down in the presence of the Cross. There is no third class.Davies.
Luk. 23:34. Father.With this name both the first and the last (seventh) saying upon the cross opens.
Father, forgive.A model prayer.
I. God addressed as Father. Ignorance is
(1) a plea for forgiveness; The First Word.
I. Sin needs forgiveness.
II. Forgiveness is obtainable.
III. The great Intercessor pleads for it.Ireland.
I. His first word was no cry of pain.
II. His first word pleads for His murderers.
III. His first word was the beginning of an intercession that is still going on.
IV. His first word teaches us a great lesson on Christian forgiveness.Miller.
Ignorance in Doing Wrong.Father, forgive them; they know not what they do. These words, so full of pathos and Christian spirit, are the words of our Christ while He was being fastened to the cross, or while in agony upon it. They breathe the noble spirit of love to man, even to bitterest enemies, whose cruel acts spoke the hatred of their hearts. Forgive them! How deep must have been the love of that noble heart! They know not what they do. How clear was the spiritual vision of that great soul! That heart knew sorrow, but not hatred. That soul saw the right, and knew that no temporal eclipse could put wrong on the everlasting throne. It has been well said that the brave only know how to forgive. The power of forgiving flows only from a strength and greatness of soul. These words may apply to the peoplethe unthinking mass, easily led for good or bad. They may apply to the obedient tools of powerthe Roman soldiersthose who were His immediate crucifiers. Or Pilate may have been most prominent in Jesus mind,poor, weak creature, with the semblance of greatness, but without the real thing. His outward exterior belied the weak soul within. Perhaps it is Caiaphas who needs the prayerthe man who ought to speak the word of truth and justice; the really strong man, with a fixed purpose, and with means to attain that purpose. Jesus meant all. All were men in error and sin. But did not these, one and all, know what they were doing? How far the people knew it is difficult to say. They gave little time to any careful thought over the matter. Their leaders demanded the life of this Jesus. Right or wrong, they followed their leaders. Small aims, little policies, poor, superficial reasons, satisfied them. The immediate present was all they saw. The Roman soldiers were trained to obey: this was their first duty. Not for them to reason why, but to do. They were, as are all soldiers, mere instruments of higher powers. They were the brute and blind means by which the higher powers maintained themselves. But, for all this prayer, these people and soldiers knew better than they acted; they did not live up to what little Divine light they had. They must stand in judgment, and receive their well-merited stripes. Pilate did know what he was doing. He knew he was twisting, in his weakness, the Roman law (which had some bit of justice in it) to please the Jews, whose governor he was. He trembled before the cry of the priests: If thou let this man go, thou art not Csars friend. He sought outside, not inside, approval. He thought more of public opinion, of the opinion of the great, than of the opinion he could have of himself. He sacrificed moral integrity on the altar of power. Let Pilate be Csars friend at all cost, though to be so he violated Csars law. Pilate thus far knew what he was doing, He was thinking of his own hold on the governorship of Juda. Those in power know what they are doing. We need waste no pity on them. They know that the one thought is not the benefit of man or country, but how to maintain themselves in powerful places. There is no need to ransack historyto tell of the deeds of tyrants, of their trampling down by their soldiers the mass of human kind, of their courts and judgments. History is full until it flows over with examples. We must get power, we must hold on to power, by all means. Let God and man, and country and justice, and truth and integrity, go. Let all that is held to be principle be crucified. You cannot pray, Forgive them: they know not what they do. They do know. And that is the worst of it. Caiaphas and the hierarchy knew what they were doing. This gentle rabbi, Jesus, who would get at the spirit under the ceremony, who laid so little stress on form, who would have men come direct to God as children, was really a destroyer of the Temple worship and of priestly power. He represented the new, larger, freer thought; they, the old, outgrown thought. He stood for progress, they for stagnation. They were wise men; they would use the enactments of men to thwart the laws of God. If they did not enforce these ordinances, the Temple would go, the service would go, the people would no longer worship the God of their fathers, Moses would be dishonoured, the prophets despised, and holy Judaism, purchased at fearful cost, would be a thing forgotten. Let, therefore, this young man be silenced, and, if it must be, by death. Let the old crush this destroying new. They knew well what they were doing. In the same sense the men who, all along our trail of blood called history, have sent their fellows to death, knew what they were doing. They knew what they were doing, or, to be more exact, they thought they knew. But did they know, after all? Let us see. In the broad sweep of the question, did they know? Of course, the blind mass did not know. Nor do they know now; and, in their ignorance, they commit crime and do acts of folly. Those who do know suffer through the ignorance of the ignorant. When one stops and thinks that he is the product of his agehis age with all its blindness, folly, and sin; when he thinks that his soul and its everlasting destiny is being moulded by his surroundings, and that his surroundings include the besotted, the knaves, the brutish, and the brutal,he may bestir himself to improve these surroundings, to make better his age. He feels the great solemnity of the prayer of Jesus when applied to these darkened masses. Father, forgive them; they know not what they do. They know not the real nature of sin or the majesty of Divine justice. Nor did the soldiers know what they were doing. They thought they were carrying out the law, whereas they were the blind instruments of cruelty and injustice. It is a sad picture, this yielding up of will and moral responsibility to a supposed superior. It is a most dangerous thing, and it has ever, in the end, proved a terrible thing to the weak. It is something to make one pause when one really takes in the thought of thousands, hundreds of thousands, of men yielding up to another will their wills and consciences. It gives food for reflection when these thousands practically say, Think for me. Be responsible to humanity and God for me. I will act. I will dye my hands in blood, guilty and innocent. Only be thou responsible. They did not know that, no matter what may be the customs and ordinances of nations, no man can shift to another his responsibility to man and God. Pilatedid he really know what he was doing? In one way, yes; but, in a deeper way, no. He fancied he was upholding Roman power. The majesty of human law asserted itself in him. He thought that human ordinances were final. He knew not that at the back of these arose, as clouds of threatening darkness and as clouds of approving light, the everlasting principles of justice. Pilate was a lawyer, and most naturally confounded the judgments of men with the wisdom of God. He thought that to apply human ordinances was the only way to order and good government. He forgot, or never knew, that government is a means, not an end. In the interest of his earthly empire he was blinded to the deeper interest of the kingdom of God. He saw the Roman army, the Roman power, the Roman law. He did not see higher powers and Diviner principles than had then or have now found their way into human ordinances. Poor, blinded man. And Caiaphas! Oh, we pity him! His name and memory have suffered. His deed has brought down upon the heads of noble men, pure women, and innocent children the curses and cruelties of the ignorant and bigoted. Poor priest, of a once great religion, the one who was to lead to hope, to faith, to duty, leads to hate, death, and destruction. He fancied that religion was a thing of the outer man, not the living principle of the soul. He did not see that God can uphold His own cause. He needs no mans crime to assist Him. He called for the death of one greater than the Temple, greater than all the Temples ritual, greater than Moses,a new man, with a new, large word from the God in heaven and the God in the human soul. He knew not what he did. When we think of Pilate and Caiaphas, the men in power, on whose will the lives of their fellows depended; when we think of their dense ignorance;we pity our humanity, and them with it. Men find it a most difficult lesson to learn that you may slay men, but you cannot thus take the life of God out of those deep, fundamental principles on which all life rests, and by which all life is sustained,those fundamentals that make thought possible, that regulate the moral universe. These are as eternal as God is eternal. Men may come, men may go; but these abide for ever. So runs the law of God, Oh, how real, then, the prayer, Father, forgive them; they know not what they do! These men, one and allpeople, soldiers, governor and priestsknew and did not know. They knew better than they lived up to, but they were ignorant of the great fact that Gods laws are eternal. Their ignorance is their excuse. It is also their crime. God pities mans ignorance, but Gods law punishes that same ignorance. We do not know. Let Him forgive. But we ought to know. Ignorance is often our own fault as well as our only excuse. But, ignorant or wise, there is mercy. Beneath and above the blindness of the people, the submissive obedience of the soldiers, the folly of the governor, and the bigotry of the priest, is the Divine pity. Oh, the mighty heart which, with its flowing blood, cried out for this forgiveness to its enemies! From it we may gather, not all its grandeur, but a small portion of its power of love to man.Walkley.
The Calmness and Justice of Christ upon the Cross.Dying is just a part of livingsometimes a long part, often a hard part. With Christ, life and death were all of a piecesimple and calm. Even on the cross He took up things in order, and gently. His first word was about His enemies.
I. Forgiveness is His first thought in death.The ruling thought of His mission, mens need of it, and how they could have it.
II. Pain shakes the sense of justice.Christ suffered agony unspeakable. But His sense of justice was unaffected. He judged as scrupulously as He will from His white throne. He apportioned degrees of guilt.
III. The men who nailed Him had little knowledge of Him.They were nearly as much instruments, we might say, as the nails they hammered. But even the smallest knowledge of Christ brings responsibility. How much more a full knowledge! With what measure shall those be judged who claim a true and just acquaintance with Christ?Nicoll.
The Unselfish Christ.His voice is heardnot of anger or resentment, but of pleading intercession.
I. He finds an excuse for those who pierced Him.The most glorious instance of a Divine unselfishnessof an absolute self-sacrifice. His self-sacrifice rises into the sublimer region of a literal self-forgetfulness: enough, surely, of itself, to explain how Jesus Christ, coming to minister to all the diseases of humanity, has a right to undertake the treatment and cure of this particular disease of selfishness.
II. How does He heal us of this malady of selfishness?Is not the question half answered in the asking? He was unselfishness. Selfishness and He cannot co-exist. In the heavenly glory He still forgets Himself in the sorrows of His brethren.
III. To see Him, to be united to Him, to be one with Himthis is to be a Christian.This is to be like Him in His unselfishness. When Christ came to bear our sins, He not only took away by His cross the mid-wall of guilt between each man and his God; He also took away the mid-wall of selfishness between each man and his brother. He made that possible in all cases to Christian love which was impossible before in any case to the natural. Selfishness is done away with by the introduction of a new self which embraces and comprehends us all.Vaughan.
The Forgiveness of the Cross.
I. One thing is not said here, nor anywhere else, by the Saviour.There is no confession of sin, and no cry for personal forgiveness. He neither did, nor could, pray for His own forgiveness. He did pray for the pardon of others.
II. We are taught here the simple and primary duty of the forgiveness of injuries.Christ seems to be almost more exacting in relation to forgiveness than in relation to purity.
III. A limit is affixed to Christs prayer.Who come within the scope of the word, within the embrace of this appeal? The prayer included the executioners and the Jewish chiefs and rulers. And perhaps it reaches out to a wider area. But there is no charter of universalism in the prayerno assurance that all sin will be remitted and every sinner forgiven. No doubt, however, ignorance lessens the guilt of sin, but it does not obliterate it. If the sinner could always say boldly, I knew not, then there would have been no need for this intercession of the Mediator.Alexander.
Luk. 23:34; Luk. 23:43; Luk. 23:46. Lukes Record of the Words from the Cross.
I. The beauty of forgiving tenderness.
II. The beauty of pardoning power.
III. The beauty of perfect peaceIbid.
Luk. 23:35. Cast lots.Lots would be cast for the division among the four soldiers of the robe, the turban, the girdle, and the sandals of Jesus, and then again for disposing of His tunic which, as the other gospels tell us, was of some special value.
He saved others.This may be ironical, or it is a recognition of His miracles of mercy, to taunt Him with a supposed loss of His power just when He needed it most for Himself. His very mercy is used in mockery.
The chosen of God.The epithet describes Christ as appointed beforehand by God for the realisation of His plans for Israel and for the world. Cf. Luk. 9:35.
Luk. 23:37-38. The soldiers also mocked Him, etc.In deriding the claim of Christ to be a king, probably both the soldiers, who offered Him a mock homage, and Pilate, who drew up the title upon the cross, desired rather to give expression to their contempt for the Jewish people than to insult the Saviour.
Luk. 23:39-43. The Experience of the Malefactor.
I. As a convert.
1. The previous character of the penitent enhances the greatness of his conversion. II. As a witness.
III. As a suppliant.Cairns.
The Penitent and Christ.
I. The penitent
(1) humbly acknowledges his guilt; II. The Saviour
(1) pardons the guilt; Despair and Faith.Compare the despairing cry Save Thyself and us with the humble petition, Lord, remember me.
Abundant Teaching of This in Advent.We have here
(1) a most wonderful illustration of the glory and grace of the Saviour; Encouragement and Warning.
I. The case of the penitent thief shows that conversion is possible, even at the last hour. All the Elements of Genuine Conversion Present.Brief as the utterance of the penitent thief was, yet there is nothing lacking to it that belongs to the unalterable requirements of a genuine conversion: sense of guilt, confession of sin, simple faith, active love, supplicating hopeall these fruits of the tree of the new life we see here ripen during a few moments.Van Oosterzee.
No Encouragement to Delay Repentance.His case affords no encouragement to any one to put off repentance to a death-bed. Our faith cannot come up to that of this penitent, for our condition is very different from his. We have seen Christs glorious resurrection and ascension into heaven. We have received the Holy Ghost from heaven. He had none of these benefits. He saw Christ deserted by His disciples and dying on the cross, and yet He confessed Him as a King, and prayed to Him as his Lord.Wordsworth.
A Witness for Christ Raised Up.This is a comfortable symbol and example for all Christendom, that God will never let faith in Christ, and the confession of His name, go down. If the disciples as a body, and those who were otherwise related to Jesus, confess not and lose their faith, deny Him in fear, are offended, and forsake Hima malefactor or murderer must come forward to confess Him, to preach Him to others, and teach all men who He is, and what consolation all may find in Him.Luther.
Luk. 23:40-43.
1. The penitent malefactor.
1. His expostulation with his companion in suffering. II. The gracious Redeemer.
1. He has sympathy for others in the midst of His own dire sufferings. Luk. 23:40. Dost not thou fear God?The thought of the Divine justice before which he was so shortly to appear might well cause him to refrain from mocking his fellow-sufferer: the thoughtless crowd were under no such restraint.
Luk. 23:41. Hath done nothing amiss.Even had the robber said nothing more than this, yet he would awaken our deepest astonishment, that Godin a moment wherein literally all voices are raised against Jesus, and not a friendly word is heard in His favourcauses a witness for the spotless innocence of the Saviour to appear on one of the crosses beside Him.Van Oosterzee.
Luk. 23:42-43. The Absolution of the Cross.
I. The assurance.There is absolute certainty in it. Christs especial utterance is, not I think, but I say.
II. The promise.It is twofold:
1. A gracious promise of the abridgment of suffering.
2. The better part. More than the penitent thief thought of or asked for. Not possibly, in some remote future and vaguely, but verily, to-day, and close to Himself.
III. The revelation.This is one of Lukes words of revelation, unveiling. It is the great dictum probans for the rest of the saints in Paradise. To say in heaven would be inaccurate. Oh the preciousness of the hope which enfolds our dead in Christ, ever since the dying Lord said to the dying penitent to-day in Paradise! What speed, what rest, what companionship!Alexander.
With Me in Paradise.
I. What did the robber expect?That they two would die. That the long trance would come; that the wrong would be righted at last; and that when it was, Jesus would be Lord. And then, Have a thought of me.
II. What was the answer?When I go to My kingdom, thou shalt keep Me company, and that before the setting of the sun. The prayer was great, but the answer was greater still. We may suppose that the robber did not understand much of the word Paradise, but he understood the word with Me, and it was enough. If the prayer was like a river, the answer was as a great sea.Nicoll.
I. The word of the dying thief.
II. The word of the dying Lord.Ireland.
Luk. 23:42. The Dying Thief.
I. We see here an illustration of the cross, in its power of drawing men to itself.
II. We have here the cross, as pointing to and foretelling the kingdom.
III. Here is the cross as revealing and opening the true Paradise.Maclaren.
The Penitent Thief.
I. What he thought of himself.
II. What he thought of Christ.
III. What Christ thought of him.
Luk. 23:43. To-day.The penitent thief could scarcely have expected death on that day, for those crucified often lingered several days upon the cross. The breaking of the legs of the two who suffered with Christ secured the fulfilment of this prophecy and promise. Thus the enemies of Christ unconsciously brought about the fulfilment of Christs words.
I. A place in Paradise.
II. The presence of Christ with Him in Paradise.
III. An entrance with Him into Paradise that very day.
Luk. 23:44. There was a darkness, etc.There is evidently something extraordinary in these phenomena, whether their exceptional character is to be ascribed to a supernatural cause, or simply to a providential coincidence. It is impossible to ignore the profound relation which exists, on the one hand, between man and nature, and, on the other, between humanity and Christ. For man is the soul of the world, as Christ is the soul of humanity.Godet.
Luk. 23:45. The veil of the temple was rent.
1. This was a type of the violent rending of Christs body on the cross (Heb. 10:20).
2. It typified our Lords own entrance into heaven (Heb. 9:24).
3. It intimated that the ceremonies of the Law were abolished. 6. That Christ had opened up, by His death, an entrance into heaven for all His followers (Heb. 9:7).Foote.
The Temple no longer the Abode of God.Was not this sign meant to show that the Temple was no longer the abode of God? As the high priest rent his robe in the presence of a great scandal, so God rent the veil which covers the Holy of Holies, where formerly He had manifested Himself. It implied a desecration of the most holy place, and consequently of the Temple, with its courts and altar and sacrifices. The Temple is profaned, abolished by God Himself. The efficacy of sacrifice has henceforth passed to another blood, another altar, and a new order of priesthood. This fact is implied in the declaration of Jesus: Slay Me, and you will thereby have destroyed this Temple.Godet.
Luk. 23:46. Last Words.
I. Christs work as Redeemer was done.His previous word, It is finished marked its completion. Now He is ready to return to His Father. Before Him lies the mystery of death.
II. Here we see His calm, trustful faith.The terrible struggle is over, and He is at perfect peace. His use of the word Father shows that His soul has recovered its serenity. The darkness is gone. The Fathers face beams upon His in loving approval.
III. A picture of Christian dying.It was but a breathing of the spirit into the hands of the heavenly Father. It is natural to regard death as a strange experience. What is it? Where shall we be when we escape from the body? Will it be dark or light? Shall we be alone or accompanied? Here comes this word of our Lord, and we learn that the soul, when it leaves the body, passes at once into the Fathers hands. Surely that is enough for us to know. We shall be perfectly and eternally safe if we are in our Fathers keeping. If we think thus of death, it will have no terrors for us.Miller.
The Peace of the Cross.
I. The view of death taken by the Lord Jesus.Not fate: irresistible and irrevocable necessity. Not impersonal absorption into the universal life, or positivist immortality of a subjective character. His death comes as from a Fathers love. He has the assurance of life in definite personality, the true life of the spirit after the body has gone down into the grave. It is free, spontaneous, unhesitating surrender. The deposit must be safe that is lodged with such a Depository.
II. The use to be made of Scripture during the approach of death.One chief employment of Scripture is for the dying. Scripture is not only a rule of life. How much of it is of use for the spirit in dying!
III. This word supplies an answer to an objection not seldom made to the Atonement.How the Atonement effects its object we are not told. But this last word attests how willingly Jesus died. There was no reluctance, no repugnance, no shrinking, no compulsion. His dying word shows how true was His own repeated declaration, I lay down My life.Alexander.
I. The work of the Dying One.
II. The attitude of the Dying One.
1. Making satisfaction for sin. III. The spirit of the Dying One.
1. Voluntary surrender. IV. Our interest in the death and dying word of Jesus.A lesson
(1) for dying, Into Thy hands.The Father receives the spirit of Jesus; Jesus receives the spirits of the faithful (Act. 7:59).
I commend My spirit.At the moment when He is about to lose self-consciousness, and feels that His spirit is passing away, He commits it in trust to His Father.
Luk. 23:47-49. The Effects Produced upon Spectators by the Death of Christ.
1. Upon the Roman centurion. Luk. 23:47. A righteous man.More than mere innocence of the charge on which He suffered is implied in this testimony. Jesus had claimed to be the Son of God, and if He were righteous He must be more than man. Hence the form in which St. Luke gives this testimony is in virtual agreement with that in which it is reported by St. Matthew and St. Mark: Truly this was the Son of God.
Luk. 23:48. That sight.They came, from motives of curiosity, to look on that spectacle, but they depart with feelings of awe and alarm.
Smote their breasts.As the exclamation of the centurion is an anticipation of the conversion of the pagan world, so also the consternation which seizes upon the Jews, who witness this scene, is an anticipation of the penitence and final conversion of that nation (Zec. 12:10-14).Godet.
Luk. 23:49. All His acquaintance.In what mood they now stood there, after they were now no longer hindered by the scoffings of the people from coming near, may be better felt than described. With the deepest sorrow over this irrevocable loss, which was not yet softened by the joyful hope of the resurrection, there is united melancholy joy that now at last the agonising conflict is ended, and the heart-felt longing to render now the last honours to the inaminate corpse.Van Oosterzee.
The Ministering Women.
I. These were the earliest of a great and noble army of Christian women, attached to Christ by deep personal love, following and ministering unto Him.
II. Woman has always been grateful, to Christ, and has served Him with great devotion.
III. There is a field everywhere for womans ministry.
IV. Let every woman imitate this company, by following Christ.Miller.
‘And there were also two others, evildoers (criminals), led with him to be put to death.’
It would seem that along with Jesus were being led in a similar way two insurrectionists who were also due to die. But here they are called ‘evildoers’. His grave was being made with the wicked (Isa 53:9. Possibly Luke also wants us all to identify ourselves with them). These men were sharing in His fate, and by many He was no doubt directly linked with them. Luke is the only one who mentions them at this point, no doubt because they illustrate for him Jesus’ words in Luk 22:37. Those confirm that Isaiah 53 is very much in mind here (compare also Luk 24:25-26; Luk 24:46-47). So He was reckoned with them for another reason, because through His death He could offer hope to at least one of them, and in the end to ‘many’.
Some have tried to suggest that Luke is short on the atonement, but like many early writers he makes his statements and then leaves people to interpret his inferences. No one who knew the teaching of the early church (Act 3:14-15 with 19; Luk 3:26; Luk 4:10 with 12; Luk 4:27; Luk 5:30 with 31; Luk 8:32-35, note especially the continuing connection with the Servant of the Lord) could be unaware of the implications lying behind these inferences. Yet at the same time he probably wanted the fascination of Jesus to seize the hearts of Gentiles without deterring them by too open a reference to Jewish sacrificial ideas. So it was a delicate balance. (We could add, ‘let him who reads understand’). However, as we have seen above, he really leaves us in no doubt of what he is inferring, and that is that Jesus was offering up through His own death the blood of the new covenant (Luk 22:20), that like the Servant in Isaiah He was being reckoned among the transgressors (Luk 22:37), that He was suffering so that men might be altered in heart and mind and receive remission of sins (Luk 24:46-47), that He was purchasing His people with His own blood (Act 20:28). What further witness do we need?
The crucifixion:
v. 32. And there were also two other, malefactors, led with Him to be put to death.
v. 33. And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.
v. 34. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted His raiment and cast lots.
At the same time that Jesus was led out of the city to be crucified, and in accordance with the word of prophecy, two other men were taken to the same place. But these men were really malefactors, they had done something wicked, which merited death. They were to be lifted up at the same time with Him, they were also to suffer death by crucifixion. Jesus was placed on the same level with them, Isa 53:12. They came to the place which was called Calvary, the place of the skull, very probably from the shape of the hill, which resembled the upper part of a skull. There they crucified the Lord in the midst between the two malefactors; they stretched out His arms on the cross-pieces, pierced His hands and feet with nails to hold His body in place. Thus did Christ suffer the punishment for our sins, thus did He bear our sins in His own body on the cross, 1Pe 2:24; Isa 53:5. The cross was a wood of cursing and shame, Heb 12:2; Gal 3:13. He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, Isa 53:5. And still, there was no bitterness, no resentment in the heart of Jesus, not even against those that were carrying out the sentence, none too gently, if the usual cruelty was practiced. With His Savior’s heart going out to them in the blindness of their crime, Jesus calls out over the heads of His tormentors: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing! He prayed for the criminals, for His enemies that caused His death. They did not know the Lord of Glory, for His glory was hidden under the guise of a lowly servant. But they did it in ignorance, Act 3:17. And therefore the Lord prayed for them all here, and He had patience with them once more afterwards. He had His apostles go and preach the Gospel of His resurrection to them. And it was only after they had rejected this Gospel absolutely and finally that He carried into execution upon them the sentence of destruction. This first word of Christ from the cross is full of comfort for all sinners. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, Eph 1:7. But of all these wonderful facts the Roman soldiers at that moment knew nothing. For them such occurrences were all in the day’s work. They calmly sat down under the cross, where some of them remained as guards, and divided the Lord’s garments by casting lots; they passed the time away in gambling. In the same way the children of the world, that are daily crucifying Christ anew, sit in the shadow of Christian churches, and play and gamble away the time of grace until, in many cases, it is too late for repentance.
Luk 23:32. And there were also two other malefactors, This should either be stopped in the following manner;And there were also two others, malefactors, led with him, &c. or, translated, And they led along with him two other men, who were malefactors. The distinction, between Jesus and the malefactors is remarkably preserved in the next verse.
b. JESUS ON THE CROSS (Luk 23:32-38)
(Parallel with Mat 27:33-44; Mar 15:22-32; Joh 19:18-24.)
32And there were also two others, malefactors, led with him to be put to death. 33And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary [A skull], there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. 34Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.11 And they parted his raiment [clothing], and cast lots. 35And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them [om., with them12] derided [] him, saying, He 36saved others; let him save himself, if he [if this] be Christ, the chosen of God. And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar, 37And saying, If thou be the King of the Jews, save thyself. 38And a superscription also was written over him [And there was also a superscription over him13] in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew [om., in Hebrew, V. O.14], THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Calvary, , Greek translation of the Hebrew Golgotha. Respecting the probable ground of this appellation, as well as respecting the whole locality, see Lange, Matthew, p. 520, where, moreover, respecting the Crucifixion itself, the necessary information is found. As respects the question about the nailing of the feet, there is, without doubt, not a little to be brought forward for it as well as against it that is worthy of serious consideration; yet the grounds for it appear to us to be by far the stronger. The first rank here is taken by the testimony of Justin Martyr, c. Tryph., Luke 97, and Tertullian, Adv. Marc. iii.19. As to the latter, especially, we can scarcely conceive how he, after the interpretation of the words, Psa 22:16, as applying to our Lords death on the cross, should have written: qu propria atrocitas crucis, if he had not found the peculiar cruelty of this capital punishment in this very particular, that both the hands and the feet were pierced. The well-known drama, , also, which is ascribed to Gregory of Nazianzen, represents it so, and retains its value as proof, even if its spuriousness were demonstrated. In the common Martyrologies, the nailing of the feet as well as the hands is always either presupposed or described, and is at the same time strongly supported by the testimony of Cyprian, Hilary, Eusebius, Athanasius, and others. That the familiar passage in Plautus, Mostellaria, ii. 1, 13, concerning one condemned to crucifixion: bis affigantur pedes, bis brachia, indicates an unusual cruelty, has been indeed said, but not yet proved. That, moreover, the conception of feet nailed through lies at the basis of Luk 24:39 can hardly be disputed. But especially the declaration of Thomas must also be brought into consideration, Joh 20:25, Except I shall see the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails, &c. Unless we will assume that Thomas wished a double certainty in respect to the same marks of the nails, so that he wished first to see them, and then, besides that, to touch them, we shall, it seems, be obliged to explain his words thus: that he first wishes to see in the hands of our Lord the marks of the nails, and after that, bending himself to the earth, wishes to lay his finger in the nail prints of the feet, and, finally, lay his whole hand in the side; so vanishes at the same time every appearance of a tautology and of an incorrigible unbelief, and it then appears that Thomas also may be reckoned among the witnesses for the nailing of the feet.
Luk 23:34. Father, forgive them.The first of the seven words on the cross, of which Luke alone has preserved three for us. The genuineness of this prayer is, it is true, not beyond all controversy, but yet it is above every reasonable doubt. It is lacking in B., D.1, 38, Sahid., It., &c. [found in Cod. Sin.], while other manuscripts also have individual variations. Since, however, the words themselves bear an indelible stamp of genuineness and inward sublimity, it seems that the omission of them must be explained from an exaggerated craving to establish the harmony of the Synoptics at any cost. As respects the sense of the words, it is undoubtedly a question whom the Lord meant by the , and in reply to this question, it is certainly not admissible to say (Gerlach): This intercession Jesus made not for the soldiers who fastened Him to the cross, but yet more arbitrary is it to limit the reference of this prayer exclusively to the four men who carried out the sentence of death (Euthymius, Paulus, Kuinoel, and others), since our Lord may indeed primarily, but can by no means exclusively, have had these in mind. Without doubt He comprehends here both the executioners and the authors of His death, the heathen, with their Procurator, the Jews, with their High-priest, in one prayer together. Of all these, even of the most implacable among them, it could in a certain sense be said, as indeed the first witnesses of Jesus afterwards said (Act 3:17; 1Co 2:8), that with their wickedness there was united a high degree of blindness, but this blindness, which a strict righteousness might have been able to reckon to them as their own guilt, since it had by no means arisen without their concurrence (Joh 15:22-25), the inventiveness of love makes the very ground of the intercession for grace to the guilty. Nay, inasmuch as our Lord, in the Jews who caused His death, beheld merely the representatives of the whole of sinful mankind, we may say that He with these words, by implication, commended this race of men itself, which was the author of His Passion on the cross, to the Fathers compassion. To-day He does what He in His intercessory prayer had not expressly done, Joh 17:9. How such a prayer, which was probably uttered during the terrible act of the affixing to the cross ( ), is most peculiarly in the spirit of the third, the Pauline, gospel scarcely needs remark.
And cast lots.The partition of the garments Luke mentions only with a single word, as he also passes over, as well as Mark, the remarkable citation from Psalms 22 which Matthew and John have added to their account. It is as though he, instead of this, wished to bring into view a feature which is also in the same Psalm so powerfully set forth (Psa 22:17), namely, the unfeeling staring upon the incomparable Sufferer by an indifferent and hostile crowd.And the people stood beholding.A contrast to the just uttered prayer of the Lord, which is so great and terrible that it could only appear in the unexampled reality of the Passion; Luke therewith does not deny that the people scoffed (Meyer), but he only passes over this in order to direct attention to the scoffing of the rulers, who appear somewhat later, but in connection with the people. It appears that the standing and beholding must be limited to the moment of the affixing to the cross and the one immediately subsequent. It lies, however, in the nature of the case that such a status quo in so great a throng at such a moment could not possibly have lasted long. Perhaps it was the . whom Luke specially mentions, that led on the crowd with evil example. Our gospel, however, here also takes less strict account of the sequence of the different stages than Matthew and Mark.
Luk 23:35. And the rulers also.If is genuine (see Meyer, ad loc.), then there is indirectly implied in this itself, that the rulers in this respect were by no means alone.Divided.Comp. Luk 16:14. In Luke also they speak of our Lord in the third person, while the passers-by (Matthew and Mark), calling out to Him with their mocking speeches, address Him directly in the second person. Here also they involuntarily proclaim the Saviours eulogy, inasmuch as they acknowledge, He saved others; but, at the same time, tempt our Lord therewith, inasmuch as they will seduce Him to leave the ignominious tree. Might it be possible that even yet a trace of earthly-minded expectation expresses itself in their words? Could it be possible that even yet some one might have conceived the possibility that the Crucified One might even yet reveal His miraculous might for His own deliverance? After He is now gone so far, and has silently endured all, we can scarcely suppose that they wished and expected the realization of a condition, upon the fulfilment of which they pretend that even now they are willing to believe in Him. As little does it admit of proof that they here designedly took the words of the 22d Psalm into their mouths. That which awakens astonishment in this one great spectacle is precisely this, that they themselves, without wishing or willing it, must attest the greatness of Him whom they are most deeply outraging. The insolence of one sharpens the biting wit of others, and there arises a contest which of them can utter the most outrageous words of blasphemy. Luke is the only one who communicates to us the fact that the soldiers also took part in the mocking, which the example of the chief priests had excited. They leave their previous composed demeanor, drink to Him in soldiers style, and while they appropriate to themselves the words of the chief priests quite as eagerly and willingly as they had previously done the garments of the Condemned, they exclaim, not without bitterness towards despised Judaism: If thou, &c. This psychologically probable account could be called a misunderstanding of Mat 27:48 (De Wette) only if we read that they at the same time had refreshed our Lord, and, therefore, more or less mitigated His suffering. But of a reed, by means of which the draught would have been really brought to the lips of Jesus, the narrative says nothing, but we have rather to conceive the case thus: that they, holding forth to Him the vinegar at a certain distance (), jestingly drink to Him, and, therefore, even by the exhibition of the scanty refreshment, increase His bodily suffering.
Luk 23:38. A superscription.That Luke reckons this also among the mockeries (De Wette) we could hardly assert. We are rather disposed to conjecture that this superscription, as to which he, perhaps, would otherwise have kept silence, is here given by him subsequently, in order therewith to give the reason for which the soldiers also, and that in such a way, took part in the scoffings. The superscription itself gave them occasion to throw now with ignominy before the feet of our Lord the royal name which they so pompously displayed above His head. Respecting the custom itself of putting such a superscription over crosses, see Wetstein and Lange on Mat 27:37. The diversity in the statements of the superscription is sufficiently explained from the fact that in the original languages it had a somewhat different form. In the Latin, for instance, Rex Judorum, which Mark renders literally for his readers in Rome, In Greek, . , which is reported almost without alteration by Matthew and Luke. In John, finally, the literal translation of the original Hebrew superscription appears to be communicated to us. According to all, it contains no accusation, but simply a title, the purpose of which is not so much to insult the Crucified Himself, as in particular the Jewish nation, as is clear at the first glance.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The sublime simplicity with which all the Evangelists delineate the unexampled fact of the crucifixion of Jesus, without in any way mingling with it their subjective experiences and feelings, is one of the most striking proofs of the credibility of this part, also, of the sacred history; the farther we press into the sanctuary the more impossible does it become to us to utter the word Invention or Myth even in thought. From the very beginning of the statement of the coming to Calvary, everything is avoided that could have even the least appearance of the romantic or tragic. Much genius has been shown in endeavoring to fill up this seeming hiatus with legends of Veronica, of the Wandering Jew, &c. 3. Not without reason have the words of our Lord on the cross been reckoned among His most precious legacies. The first, preserved to us by Luke exclusively, is, at the same time, the most generally loved. In itself indescribably striking, it is so yet more through the circumstances of the time at which it was uttered, and through the contrast with the demeanor of the people who stood there beholding. It is, at the same time, the best commentary on the sublimest precept of the Evangelical ethics, and an unequivocal proof of the majesty of our Lord in the midst of His deepest humiliation; the worthy conclusion of His earthly, and the striking symbol of His heavenly, life [There for sinners Thou art pleading, &c.] Even before Him there was no lack of saints who prayed for the wicked, nay, for their enemies (Abraham, Jeremiah, and others), and after Him His example has not seldom been followed in the most surprising degree (Stephen, James the Just, Huss, H. V. Ztphen, and others). Of His predecessors, however, no one has reached the ideal height to which His love has here raised itself, and it is only through His might that His followers have learned so to pray and forgive. The enforcing of this prayer by reference to the ignorance of His enemies would only have arisen in His loving heart But more strongly yet than through this pathetic They know not what they do, was the prayer, without doubt, supported in the Fathers view by the blood which in the utterance of this prayer was drunk by the earth on Calvary, a blood that spoke better things than the blood of Abel. And it was, moreover, heard, as is plainly attested by the renewed preaching of the gospel to the Jews at Jerusalem, the conversion of so many thousands, and the continuous work of grace on Israel. For us who read it, it is a new proof of His love and greatness, a proof of such kind as does not occur again, even in our Lords own history, and, at the same time, a reminder of that feature of the prophetic portraiture of the Passion which we read, Isa 53:12 : He made intercession for the transgressors. Compare, respecting this and the following words on the cross, Dr. G. J. Vinke, Dissert. Theol. de Christi e cruce pendentis vocibus, Traj. ad Rhen. 1846.
4. From a doctrinal point of view, the first word on the cross is peculiarly important, because it points us to the natural connection that exists between the pardonableness of a sin and the ignorance of the sinner. It is here plainly expressed that if one knows perfectly what he does, all hope of forgiveness falls away, since the capability of receiving it, remorse and repentance, is lacking. On the other hand, we are not to forget that in almost every sin there is a minimum of ignorance present, which may be accounted as a lessening of the guilt, nay, that the blindness, however self-caused, becomes the greater in the degree in which the bondage of sin increases in duration and obstinacy. However, here, before all, it must not be forgotten that all which must be weighed and brought up for the diminution of the guilt of others cannot, on that account, serve as a mantle with which we can cover and excuse our own sins. With entire justice, therefore, does J. Muller, Lehre von der Snde, i. p. 239, say, in reference to the sin of the first rejectors of our Lord: If their not knowing removed their guilt, they did not need forgiveness; if it did not diminish their guilt, the prayer for forgiveness could not have used it as a motive for forgiveness.
5. The mocking on the cross by four different classes of men was not only a dreadful revelation of the might of darkness, but for our Lord, at the same time, the last return of the Temptation in the Wilderness, Luk 4:9-11.
6. In the midst of the deepest humiliation, God provides that the royal dignity of His Son shall be proclaimed by the superscription over the cross. Notwithstanding the urgent entreaties of the Jews, not a jot nor a tittle may be altered therein; in three different languagesin the language of the empire, of culture, of nationalitythere stands there on the cross for thousands to read, the shame of Israel and the glory of Jesus. In view of such a concurrence of circumstances, it is easy to comprehend that some fathers of the church were of the view that Pilate had ordered and maintained this superscription divinitus inspiratus, in order in this way to help fulfil the prophetic word, Psa 2:6. To us, at all events, this little trait of the history of the Passion remains a palpable proof of the truth of the other prophetic word, Isa 46:10.
7. The sacred narrative in the account of the Partition of the Garments might well have deserved a better fate than to have given occasion for the most wretched superstition and priestcraft of later ages. The legends about the garments, especially about the seamless coat, of our Lord, cannot be here all given, but only be rejected with a word. Compare the writings of Dr. J. Gildemeister and H. V. Seibel, The holy coat of Treves and the twenty other holy seamless coats, Dsseldorf, 1844; and The advocates of the coat of Treves brought to silence, 1845.
8. We can also indicate with only a word what the poetry and painting of the church have done for the glorifying of this bloody scene of the Passion. Compare the beautiful hymn: Vexilla regis prodeunt; the Stabat Mater [Exquisite in poetry, but so unhappily and deeply defiled by Mariolatry.C. C. S.], the Impropera, the Miserere of Allegri, the famous paintings of Poussin, Gu, and innumerable others. Comp. Staudenmeyer, l. c. p. 440 seq.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Jesus has, as the true Sin-offering, suffered without the gate, Heb 13:11-12.Jesus reckoned among the transgressors; this word considered in the light of the history of the Crucifixion of our Lord, points us: 1. To Israels shame; 2. to Jesus, glory; 3. to the Fathers counsel; 4. to the Christians boast; 5. to the worlds hope.To whom do we in our own eyes belongto the transgressor who deserved what He suffered, or to those justified through His blood and reconciled with God?The Lord of glory upon the summit of shame, the Prince of life among the murderers.The high value of our Lords words on the cross for His dearly-purchased church.How each single word of the first utterance on the cross is a new pearl in the shining crown of our Lord: 1. He prays in the hour of crucifixion; 2. He prays to God as to His Father; 3. He prays in this hour for others; 4. for enemies; 5. with most urgent importunity; 6. with the richest result.Not the murder of the Messiah in itself, but the continued and obstinate rejection of the apostolical preaching, the ultimate cause why Israel has obtained not pardon but punishment.Here is more than Elijah, 2Ki 1:10.Oravit misericordia, ut oraret miseria, Augustine.The first prayer of our Lord on the cross an entirely unique prayer: 1. Unique in its sublimity, a. For whom prays He? b. When? c. What? 2. unique in its significance; this prayer is, a. the crown of His earthly life, b. the consecration of His cross, c. the image of His heavenly activity; 3. unique in its power, it serves, a. to our humiliation, b. to our consolation, c. to our sanctification.Jesus on the cross the Intercessor for His enemies and the example for His friends.The glorified Jesus the object: 1. Of frivolous covetousness (the lot-casting soldiers); 2. of cold indifference (the beholding people); 3. of cowardly mocking (the insulting rulers).The mocking upon Calvary the crucifixion of the heart of Jesus.How with the mocking at the cross everything reaches the highest culmination: 1. The sin; 2. the suffering; 3. the grace of God who surrenders His Son into the extreme of misery.Jesus foes, even when they curse, are involuntarily constrained to bless.Gods way in the sanctuary, Hab 2:20. We see upon Calvary a God: 1. Who keeps silence; 2. who rules; 3. who thus reconciles the world unto Himself.Jesus on the cross tempted once again, yet without sin, Heb 4:15.The Christian crucified with Christ must also often yet hear this tempting voice and repel it.The world loves to blacken that which shines [Es liebt die Welt, das Strahlende zu schwrzen].The different degrees of wickedness in those who mock alike.The superscription on the cross a speaking proof of the adorable providence of God. It proclaims: 1. The innocence; 2. the dignity; 3. the destiny of the crucified Christ.This superscription: 1. Written in three languages; 2. read by the Jews; 3. unchanged and unchangeable.What does the superscription on the cross testify: 1. Concerning God; 2. concerning man; 3. concerning Christ; 4. concerning the way of redemption; 5. concerning the hope of the future.This superscription: 1. Was read by all; thou surely wilt not go unheeding by? 2. it was offensive to many; thou surely wouldst for all that not alter anything therein? 3. one man has stubbornly maintained it (Pilate); thou surely wilt not let it be taken from thee?
Starke:Osiander:Christ has been willing to be reckoned among the transgressors, that we might come into the number of the children of God.This is, so to speak, the supreme masterpiece of the Mediator, that He knows how to make an intercession out of that of which others would have made an accusation.The best we can entreat for ourselves and others is forgiveness of sins.It is equitable to have more compassion on those that sin ignorantly than on those that sin maliciously.Nova Bibl. Tub.:The crucified Jesus to the Jews a stumbling-block, to the Greeks foolishness, but to us, &c., 1Co 1:23-24.It is a terrible sin to give occasion for the name of God and Jesus to be blasphemed among the heathen, Rom 2:24.All languages and tongues have a share in Jesus the King.Heubner:Christ prays for all the authors of all His sufferings.The most glorious hearing of the prayer of Jesus is yet reserved in the future conversion of Israel.If Jesus then prayed for His enemies, He will now continue to pray also for penitents and believers.Arndt:The superscription over the cross.The partition of the garments:Krummacher:The Crucifixion: 1. Jesus arrival at His death-mount; 2. the act of crucifixion: 3. the erected cross. The Partition: 1. The Testator; 2. His bequest; 3. the heirs. The Superscription: Jesus on the cross a King: 1. His majesty: 2. His victory; 3. the founding of His kingdom; 4. His judgments; 5. His government.Father, forgive: 1. Contents of the prayer; 2. grounds justifying it; 3. limits within which it finds acceptance.Van Oosterzee:The crucifixion a union without compare: 1. Of triumph and baseness; 2. of ignominy and majesty: 3. of caprice and providence; 4. of condemnation and acquittal; 5. of earth and heaven. In conclusion, the double question: Belongest thou to those who crucify Christ afresh, or to those who in truth are crucified with Christ?Vinet:Les complices de la crucification du Seigneur.J. Saurin:Nouv. Disc. i. p. 365, sur la prire de Jsus Christ pour ses bourreaux.W. Hofacker, l. c. p. Luke 311:The magnificent sunset of the life of Jesus Christ on Calvary.The world-atoning death of Christ in its mighty working.The words on the cross: Septem folia semper viventia, qu vitis nostra, cum in crucem elevata fuit, emisit. Bernard. The first: res miranda, Judi clamant: crucifige, Christus clamat: ignosce. Magna illorum iniquitas, sed major tua, o Domine, pietas. Idem.Schleiermacher, Pred. ii. p. 436 seq.:The mystery of redemption in connection with sin and ignorance: 1. The redeeming suffering of Jesus was a work of ignorance; 2. but the redemption which proceeds from Him, the farther it goes, abolishes so much more the excuse: They know not what they do.Tholuck:The intercession: 1. The thought of the Redeemer at this word; 2. the thoughts which it must call forth in us.Nitzsch:The execution of Jesus in its connection with other works of the world and of the temper of the world.Palmer:Christ between the malefactors.For further citations, see Lange on the parallels.
[11]Luk 23:34.See Exegetical and Critical remarks.
[12]Luk 23:35.The of the Recepta is wanting in B., C., D., [Cod. sin.,] L., Q., X., &c., and is therefore rightly rejected by Tischendorf. [Received again in his 7th ed.C.C.S.] It appears to have been added to avoid its seeming as if the rulers alone had mocked, since, according to the parallels, the people mocked also. [Lachmann brackets the words. Meyer, Tregelles, Alford omit them.C. C. S.]
[13]Luk 23:38.The of the Recepta is in all probability spurious, as well as superfluous. See Tischendorf, ad locum. [Om., B., L., Cod. Sin.C. C. S.]
[14]Luk 23:38.Van Oosterzee in omitting the clause, in letters of Greek and Latin and Hebrew, follows Tischendorf, with whom Meyer, Tregelles also agree. Lachmann, followed by Alford, brackets it. The omission rests upon the authority of B., C.1, L., some Versions. Cod. Sin. has it with the rest of the uncials, and apparently all the Cursives. Tischendorf and Meyer regard it as a very ancient interpolation from Joh 19:19-20. But Alford pertinently asks why it should not have been equally interpolated into Matthew and Mark, and why the interpolation should vary so much in language from its source. There are some variations in the copies of Luke, but only such as can be naturally accounted for.C. C. S.]
“And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death. (33) And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.”
In reading the former of those verses, I beg the Reader to observe, that a stop should be put after the word other: for then the sense of the passage will be clear, And there were also two other: (which were) malefactors. For the Lord Jesus himself was no malefactor. H e did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. 1Pe 2:22 . He stood forth indeed in the eye of the law, being the Surety of his people, and their Representative, as the greatest of all malefactors. Yea, Jehovah considered him as such. But, though laden with the sins of all his people, yet there was no shadow of sin in him. Sin was, put upon him, not in him. The Lord laid on him, it is said, the iniquity of us all, that is, the Church. Isa 53:6 . Reader! do you discover the blessedness of the distinction? If so, think how complete must be his sacrifice! For this purpose, God would have him loaded with all sin, and with all the possible shame of sin, as sin had made his Church marked to our shame, so Christ, the Surety, shall bear both. And hence the conclusion the Holy Ghost makes from hence, for the everlasting joy of the Church, He made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 2Co 5:21 .
32 And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death.
Ver. 32. See Mat 27:38 .
32. ] The digest shews that the reading has diplomatically almost as great claims to be the true one as that in the text: and if we take the probabilities of alteration into account, it has even stronger claims. Of course it can bear but one meaning two other malefactors. That this should have been substituted for , which may mean two other, malefactors (as rendered in E. V.), is simply inconceivable; that the transposition took place vice versa, is highly probable. This having now appeared by the additional evidence of the Codex Sinaiticus, it is impossible to annotate as was done in my earlier Editions.
Luk 23:32 . , other two malefactors, as if Jesus was one also. But this is not meant. “It is a negligent construction, common to all languages, and not liable to be misunderstood,” remarks Field ( Ot. Nor. ), who gives an example from the Communion service. “If he require further comfort or counsel let him come to me, or to some other discreet and learned minister of God’s word .” If were meant to include Jesus it would be used in reference to what men thought, (Kypke) = pro tali habitus in reference to Jesus (Kuinoel). On this use of and , vide Winer, p. 665.
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Luk 23:32
32Two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with Him.
Luk 23:32 “Two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with Him” This is a fulfillment of prophecy (cf. Isa 53:9; Mat 27:38).
also two other = others also, two.
other = different ones. Greek. Plural of heteros. App-124.
malefactors = evildoers. Greek. kakourgoi. Not lestai = brigands, as in Mat 27:38. See App-164.
led with Him. The brigands were brought later.
32.] The digest shews that the reading has diplomatically almost as great claims to be the true one as that in the text: and if we take the probabilities of alteration into account, it has even stronger claims. Of course it can bear but one meaning-two other malefactors. That this should have been substituted for , which may mean two other, malefactors (as rendered in E. V.), is simply inconceivable; that the transposition took place vice versa, is highly probable. This having now appeared by the additional evidence of the Codex Sinaiticus, it is impossible to annotate as was done in my earlier Editions.
Luk 23:32. , others) among whom (as though He were a malefactor like them) Jesus was reckoned. Comp. Luk 23:39; and Act 27:1 (Paul and certain other prisoners). Yet the Greek is more honourable to Him than would be: for the former more expresses the idea of a difference and dissimilarity between Him and them.-) Construe this, not with , but with [two others; namely, two malefactors] (comp. Luk 23:33; Luk 23:41, where they are contradistinguished from Him).
Chapter 51
Lessons From Calvary
Let us go again with our blessed Saviour to that horrible scene of sin and woe, that blessed, glorious scene of mercy, love, and grace, just outside the city of Jerusalem. I have before my minds eye the scene of three crosses, three criminals, soldiers, priests, a religious crowd, all gathered to slaughter the Son of God. Scattered among the others, I see a few weeping women, and in the distance, one or two heart-broken men. There is much to be seen here on the very surface. But there are other things hidden beneath the surface and unobserved by men. I see before me something of the character of God, much about the character of man, a great display of substitution, Gods great salvation, a tremendous picture of sin pardoned, a sad picture of sin unpardoned, a Saviour despised, a Saviour embraced, a sinner forever lost, and a sinner forever saved. I have found a few lessons in this passage that I pray the Spirit of God may be pleased to graciously apply to our hearts.
How deep, bitter, universal, and vile is the hatred of the human heart for God!
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be (Rom 8:7).
Oh, how fallen man hates God! We see it in the priests and the scribes. We see in the soldiers and the people. Hatred echoed through Pilates judgment hall. Malice rang in Herods court. Envy was the motive behind every word and deed performed on that infamous night by wicked men. The arrest, the scourging, the mockery, the spitting, the smiting, the cries of Crucify him! Crucify him!, the wagging of heads, the drunken songs, the nailing, the thieves railing, everything was but the outpouring of mans utter hatred for God.
Here we see what is in every human heart by nature. The heart of man is enmity against God. Man declared his heart in the crucifixion of Gods darling Son. Here is fallen man showing himself openly, making an unconscious confession of his hatred of God.
It was man who erected the cross and nailed the Son of God to it. God gave the wild asss colt his reins and seems to have said, Vent the feelings of your heart. And he did, taking God by the throat, as it were; man snatched the only begotten Son of God from his Fathers heart, and crucified him with hellish delight.
Reckoning the death of the cross the worst of all deaths, man says, This is the best way to show my contempt for God. This is exactly what I think of the Son of God. Thus, the enmity of the natural heart speaks out, and man not only confesses publicly that he is a hater of God, but he takes pains to show the intensity of his hatred. He glories in his shame, crying aloud, Crucify him! Crucify him!
The cross interprets what is in mans heart. The cross rips the mask of pretended religion off of the face of our race. The cross of Christ exhibits mans heart as a cesspool, overflowing with the malignity of hell.
Most would say, I dont hate God. I may be indifferent to him. He may not be in all my thoughts; but I dont hate him! If that is so, let men explain their daily crucifixion of the Son of God. What is mans wilful unbelief, but the crucifying of the Son of God afresh? What is rebellion to Christ, but the crucifying of the Son of God afresh? What is blasphemy, but the crucifying of the Son of God afresh? What is mans mockery of Christ, but the crucifying of the Son of God afresh?
Will you dare look at your hands? They are red, dripping with blood! Whose blood is that? It is the blood of Gods own Son! Blood you shed continually in your heart, because you hate God, because you really want to be God yourself!
Reading these lines, you may think I am being harsh. You may retort, How dare you judge me! I am not judging you. It is the cross that judges you. I am asking you to judge yourself by it. It is the cross that interprets your purposes and reveals the thoughts and intents of your heart.
Oh, what a revelation of man the cross is! Man hating God, and hating him most, when God displayed his love most fully. Man acting like the devil, taking Satans side against God. Yes, the cross was a public declaration of mans hatred for God and his Son. The cross is proud man spitting in Gods face and saying, I am holy. I need no Saviour. To hell with God and his Son! Our Saviour asked, What think ye of Christ? Mans answer was, Crucify him! Mans heart, his hands, his tongue all combine to scream out hatred for God and his Son. Everything I see in man on Calvarys hill is hatred, utter hatred for God, the hatred of the human race toward the triune God. That is what your unbelief is: hatred for God and his Son (1Jn 1:7-10; 1Jn 5:10).
What a horribly evil thing sin must be, if it takes the blood of Gods own Son, the death of heavens Darling to put it away!
What must sin be when, in order to expiate it, the Lord of Glory must die upon the cursed tree as an outcast, a criminal, a curse? What a horribly evil thing sin must be! It is rebellion against God, treason against his throne, mans attempt to rape and defile the holy Lord God, to drive the Almighty from his throne, to murder the Eternal Son.
Sin is the expression of fallen mans enmity against God, the display of our natural heart hatred of God. Sin is that which makes us obnoxious to the holy Lord God. Sin is the defilement of our race. Sin has brought us under the curse of Gods holy law. Sin has put us under the sentence of death, eternal death. Sin shuts the door of hope upon all the human race.
It is no easy thing for sin to be put away. No carnal sacrifice can put away sin (Heb 10:1-7). Isaac Watts wrote:
Not all the blood of beasts
On Jewish altars slain
Could give the guilty conscience peace,
Or wash away the stain.
No work of man can put away one sin. No amount of repentance can put away sin. Not even our faith can put away sin. Toplady said in Rock of Ages:
Not the labours of my hands
Can fulfil Thy laws demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears for ever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone!
Even God himself cannot, in his pure, absolute character as God, put away sin. If sin is to be put away, it must be put away by the sin-atoning death and substitutionary sacrifice of the incarnate God, the God-man Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ.
But his sacrifice was enough. He died but once; and once was enough. That is the meaning of these words. Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Christs sufferings and death for sin are of infinite value, merit, and efficacy. Therefore, he suffered for sin only once. He appeared once in the end of the world to put away sin; and he has done it.
Our Lord Jesus Christ put away the guilt of sin by his atoning sacrifice. He put away the punishment of it by his sufferings and death as our Substitute. The incarnate Son of God put away the penalty of the law by his satisfaction of Divine justice. He put away the consequences of sin by his obedience unto death. He puts away the dominion of sin in his people by the power of his grace in the new birth. He puts away the filth of sin by his sanctifying grace. And he shall put away the very being of sin in resurrection glory.
This work of putting away sin was accomplished by him bearing our sin in his own body upon the cursed tree. He carried it and took it away. This is what was pictured in the Old Testament type of the scapegoat.
The Lord Jesus has removed sin from us as far as the east is from the west, by finishing and making an end of it. He disannulled and abolished it, insofar as the law and justice of God is concerned. When he paid our debt, he cancelled it in one day, by his one sacrifice. In one great day, the whole work was done (Zec 3:9). Our sins, being forever, effectually put away by the sacrifice of Christ, shall never be found and can never be charged to us again (Jer 50:20; Rom 4:8).
My sin, (O the bliss of this glorious thought!)
My sin, not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to his cross, and I bear it no more.
Praise the Lord! It is well with my soul!
Horatio Gates Spafford
How immeasurable and infinite the love of God in Christ is. I see in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ love to the uttermost, unquenched and unquenchable (Joh 3:16; Rom 5:8; 1Jn 3:16; 1Jn 4:9-10). Man pours floods upon this love to quench it, but it grows more intense. What patience with mans utmost malice; what forbearance with his sin! Father forgive them; for they know not what they do. Was ever love like this? So vast, so free, so overflowing. Sin abounding, grace did much more abound (Joh 13:1; Eph 3:14-19. O how he loves!
The purpose of our great God and Saviour is unalterably fixed, relentlessly pursued, and perfectly executed.
Our Saviour came here to do a work (Mat 1:21), a work appointed to him and purposed by him from everlasting (Psalms 40; Hebrews 10); and he was determined to accomplish it, straightened, as he put it, until it was accomplished. It shall be accomplished. It shall be finished. He had come here to accomplish death; and it shall be accomplished (Luk 9:30-31).
How will he do it? By what means shall the holy Lamb of God be sacrificed? The altar shall be built, built by mans enmity. The sacrifice shall be slain, slain by mans hatred. The work shall be done, done by mans will. It shall be done exactly according to the purpose of God (Psa 76:10; Act 2:23).
How willing, how anxious the Lord Jesus Christ is to save poor, lost sinners!
The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is a vivid declaration that where sin abounded grace did much more abound! What is the meaning of the cross? Why was our Lord Jesus nailed to the cursed tree? Behold the dying thief and hear the answer. The Son of God came into the world to save sinners! Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost!
The Dying Thief
The dying thief is a true specimen of Gods elect. This man appears to have done nothing but evil all his life. We know nothing about him, except that he was a thief, a thief who had executed his crimes with violence, a thief who continued to blaspheme, even as he was being executed, a thief who was loved and chosen of God (1Co 1:26-31).
Why was Immanuels blood poured out at Calvary? Christ Jesus poured out his lifes blood upon the cursed tree to wash away sin. Here I see it washing away the sins of one like myself, whose heart and life were as black as hell. Why did Christ suffer and die? It was to pardon the most guilty. It was not merely to save us from hell, but to open Paradise to the chief of sinners, to open it at once; not after years of torment, but today. Today shalt thou be with me. Yes, the Lord Jesus went back to heaven with this saved thief in his hands. What an efficacy there is in the cross! What grace! What glory! What cleansing! What healing! What justice! What blessedness!
By his death upon the cursed tree, the Son of God delivers and saves his people from their sins! Satisfying the justice of God, he plucked us as brands from the burning, conquered hell, and defeated the devil and cast him down to hell. The first sinner saved by the cross, after it had been erected upon Calvarys hill, was a wretched, justly condemned thief; and the Son of God went up to heaven with him to join in that joy that is in heaven over one sinner who repents.
See how near a person may be to hell and yet be saved! That thief was, as it were, upon the very brink of hell. He had one foot in the pit. Hell was in his heart. Hell had been his life. Soon, hell must be his portion forever! He had done nothing but evil continually all the days of his life. In the very last hour of his life, he is heard blaspheming and railing against the Lord Jesus. Yet, he was plucked from the fire by omnipotent mercy! Saved by the Son of God! He was just about to step into everlasting damnation, when the omnipotent hand of the Son of God seized him and lifted him up to Paradise!
Oh, what grace is here! What boundless love! What power to save! Who after this need despair? Truly our Lord Jesus Christ is mighty to save!
See how near you may be to Christ and yet be lost forever! The other thief was as near the Saviour as the one who was saved. Yet, he perished. He went to hell from the very side of the Son of God, from the very presence of Immanuel!
There are two men. Both are thieves. Both are damned. Both are lost. Both are without God, without Christ, without hope. Both are in the immediate presence of the crucified Christ. One is taken up to glory. One is taken up to heaven. The other is cast down to hell. What made the difference?
The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 6:23). Throughout the Word of God we are constantly assured of these two facts. First, if anyone goes to hell, it is his own fault alone, his own responsibility, altogether the result of what he has done, and that for which he alone must bear the blame forever. Second, if anyone is saved, if anyone goes to heaven, it is Gods work alone, altogether the result of that which God has done, and that for which God alone must have the praise forever.
The wages of sin is death! Sin is what we all are by nature; and sin is all that we do in a state of rebellion against God. It is as impossible for a sinner to do good as it is for water to be dry. Our corrupt nature corrupts all our thoughts, feelings, words, and deeds. As a corrupt fountain only brings forth corrupt water, so a corrupt heart only brings forth corruption. That means that the very ploughing of the wicked is an abomination to God, and even our righteousnesses are filthy rags in his sight (Pro 21:4; Isa 64:6). Sin is also our choice. We all drink iniquity like water (Job 15:16). And that which sin deserves is death, eternal death, which is eternal separation from God and the eternal vengeance of his holy wrath. Death is the debt God owes to sin. And God always pays his debts. The one thief went to hell because he ate the fruit of his own way.
Eternal Life
But the gift of God is eternal life! Eternal life comes to guilty sinners not as a debt, or a reward for something we have done, but as the free-grace gift of God. The new birth, which is the beginning of eternal life in the soul, is the gift of God. Faith in Christ is the gift of God. Heavenly glory, which is the consummation of eternal life, is also the gift of God. Death, hell, and judgment are things we earn by sin. But grace, life, and heaven are things freely given to sinners through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Christ, having paid the debt of sin for his people by his death upon the cross, has made it right and just for the holy Lord God, who must punish sin, to give eternal life to all for whom he died. Through the merits of Christ, through his blood and righteousness, God gives eternal life to everyone who believes on him. Even the faith by which we receive this gift is the gift of God and the result of his operation of grace (Eph 2:8; Col 1:12). Faith in Christ is not the cause of Gods gift, but the result of it. If you now believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, God has given you eternal life. It is altogether his work. Salvation is of the Lord!
Can anyone be nearer to Christ than that thief was? Looking at him, hearing him, speaking to him, he was lost after all! Be warned. Outward nearness, religious duties, familiarity with the Word of God, baptism, eating and drinking the symbols of the Saviours body and blood, none of these things can save. You may be very near Christ, and yet not be in Christ. Salvation is not being near Christ. Salvation is being found in Christ.
Hear the taunts of the crowd, He saved others; himself he cannot save (Mat 27:42; Mar 15:31). That is the very essence of the gospel. The Son of God died as our Substitute. In order to save us he had to sacrifice himself (Heb 10:9-14; 1Pe 3:18; 1Pe 1:18-21; 1Pe 2:24). In the light of all these things, my heart cries, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. Because he saved others, the Lord Jesus Christ could not save himself.
Luk 22:37, Isa 53:12, Mat 27:38, Mar 15:27, Mar 15:28, Joh 19:18, Heb 12:2
2
These malefactors (criminals) were thieves (Mat 27:38).
Luk 23:32. Two others. The sympathy seems to have been, not for them, but for Him alone.
Led with him. Luke alone narrates this.
Here we see the infamous company that our holy Lord suffered with; two thieves. It had been a sufficient disparagement to our blessed Saviour, to be sorted with the best of men; but to be numbered with the scum of mankind, is such an indignity as confounds our thoughts: this was designed by the Jews to dishonor and disgrace our Saviour the more; and to persueade the world, that he was the greatest of offenders: but God overruled this, of rfulfilling an ancient prophecy concerning the Messiah, And he was numbered with the transgressors. Isa 53:12
Luk 23:32-34. There were also two other malefactors This should rather be rendered, Two others, who were malefactors, were also led with him to be put to death. The distinction between Jesus and the malefactors is remarkably preserved in the next verse. And when they were come to the place called Calvary See on Mat 27:33, and Mar 15:22; there they crucified him That is, nailed him to the cross; and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left So that he was in the midst of two thieves, as if he had been the greatest criminal of the three. Thus he was not only treated as a transgressor, but numbered with them, and exhibited as the worst of them. Then said Jesus Our Lord passed most of the time on the cross in silence; yet seven sentences, which he spake thereon, are recorded by the four evangelists, though no one evangelist has recorded them all. Hence it appears that the four gospels are, as it were, four parts, which, joined together, make one symphony: sometimes one of these only sounds; sometimes two or three; sometimes all sound together. Father So he speaks, both at the beginning and at the end of his sufferings on the cross; forgive them How striking is this passage! He made no manner of resistance to the cruel violence of his enemies; nor did he revile them, even when they were distorting his limbs, as on a rack; nay, on the contrary, even while they were actually nailing him to the cross, he seems to feel the injury they did to their own souls, more than the wounds which they gave him; and, as it were, to forget his own anguish, out of a concern for their salvation! In the midst of the agonies which he suffered, he pours out a compassionate prayer for those that were imbruing their hands in his blood, pleading the only excuse which the most extensive charity could suggest; Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do Thus did our Lord Jesus, though expiring by the tortures which he felt, give us an example of that benevolence which he hath commanded us to practise; and breathe out at once a prayer and an apology for his executioners. The Roman soldiers, who were the immediate instruments of his death, had indeed but little knowledge of him; and the Jews, who were the authors of it, through their obstinate prejudices, apprehended not who he was: for if they had known him, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory, 1Co 2:8. And how eminently was this prayer of Christ heard! It procured forgiveness for all that were, or afterward became, penitent, and a suspension of vengeance even for the impenitent. And they parted his raiment, &c. See on Mat 27:35-36.
The criminals crucified with Jesus 23:32
This verse constitutes a narrative bridge connecting Jesus’ journey to the Cross with His crucifixion. One of its functions seems to be to introduce the two criminals who feature later in the story (Luk 23:33; Luk 23:39-43). More important, it associates Jesus with guilty sinners. [Note: W. Hendriksen, Exposition of the Gospel According to Luke, p. 1027.] This reference also adds to the humiliation of Jesus that Luke stressed. There are several indications that Luke wanted to point out Jesus’ humiliation in the next section. This notation also indicates a fulfillment of prophecy (cf. Luk 22:37; Isa 53:12).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
II. Forgiveness of sin the chiefest benefit to be asked for.
III. Inspired by love, even for enemies.
Know not what they do.This suggests a motive for forgivenessthat of pityand not the ground of forgiveness. Ignorance may be a palliation of guilt, but does not remove it, or else no prayer for forgiveness would be needed.
(2) yet is culpable and needs forgiveness.
2. The unlikelihood of his conversion in the special circumstances of the case.
3. The suddenness with which it was produced.
4. The completeness and maturity by which it was marked.
5. The scantiness of the means by which it was effected.
(2) eagerly seeks for salvation; and
(3) courageously confesses His Saviour.
(2) hears the prayer; and
(3) bestows a reward far in excess of the penitents hopes or expectations.
(2) a striking example of the efficacy of prayer;
(3) an antidote to despair;
(4) a proof of nearness and reality of the spiritual world.
II. The case of the impenitent thief shows the danger of postponing conversion to the last hour.
2. His confession of guilt.
3. His recognition of Christs innocence.
4. The faith, humility, and earnestness, manifested in his prayer to Christ.
2. He anticipates entrance upon a state of blessedness.
3. He is conscious of power to open the gate of Paradise to others,
4. He gives far more than was asked from Him.
4. That the distinction between Jew and Gentile was at an end.
5. That there was freedom of access to the throne of grace.
2. Alone with the Father.
2. Obedient love and holy peace.
(2) for living.Ireland.
2. Upon the people.
3. Upon His adherents.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2. The crucifixion of our Lord is the realization of that obscure presentiment of heathenism which Plato had already uttered, De Republica, ii., when he makes Glaucus say to Socrates that the perfectly righteous man, if he appeared among men, would certainly be beaten, scourged, tortured, and when he should have endured all this, would be crucified (). Also the end and the crown of the Typics of the Old Covenant, and of the prophecy of the Messianic Passion, Isaiah 53; Psalms 22, which last is no direct prophecy of that which went into fulfilment upon Calvary, but a typical symbolical picture, in which David describes his own sufferings, yet, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, in exactly such forms and colors as, although to him entirely unconsciously, yet, a posteriori, became a perfectly exact description of that one whole unique and unexampled event, which took place upon and around Calvary.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)