Sunday, April 21, 2019

Various Theological Sources on Jesus' Suffering in Gethsemane



My friend Christopher Davis reproduced the following quotes from various (mainly historic Protestant) sources commenting on Christ’s suffering in Gethsemane. With his permission, I am reproducing them as they show that the view Jesus’ suffering in Gethsemane playing a role in the atonement is not unique to Latter-day Saint theology and Scripture:

Martin Luther:

“The sweating of blood and other high spiritual sufferings that Christ endured in the garden, no human creature can know or imagine; if one of us should but begin to feel the least of those sufferings, he must die instantly. There are many who dies of grief of mind; for sorrow of heart is death itself. If a man should feel such anguish and pain as Christ had, it were impossible for the soul to remain in the body and endure it—body and soul must part asunder. In Christ only it was possible, and from him issued bloody sweat." - Martin Luther, Section 172 of The Table Talk of Martin Luther, p.64

"Indeed, all people who are pulled in by the gravity of Christ's passion experience the spiritual rebirth that makes them capable of true love of God and genuine sorrow for sin. But this human sorrow, as Staupitz would emphasize in the same breath, is always so pitifully small that it definitely cannot attain the forgiveness of sins on the basis of its own emotional quality. ONLY CHRIST'S INFINITELY PRICELESS SORROW FOR HUMAN SIN IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE AND THE SPIRITUAL SUFFERING OF HIS PASSION (WHICH FAR EXCEEDED HIS PHYSICAL PAIN ON THE CROSS) COMPENSATED FOR ALL THE INADEQUACY OF OUR HUMAN REPENTANCE. Only in that is there any causal connection between the sinner's penitential love and the forgiveness of sins." - Berndt Hamm, "The Early Luther: Stages in a Reformation Reorientation", p.18

Melancthon W. Jacobus:

“His approaching death, and it was as though they had just begun, though He had been a 'man of sorrows.' The context shows that He suffered now and was 'very heavy'—oppressed and burdened. He had no sins of His own to make Him sorrowful, but HE HAD ASSUMED THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF SINNERS, HE HAD UNDERTAKEN TO BE 'MADE A CURSE FOR US.' Mark says, 'He began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy.' He bore the curse of sin—THE WEIGHT OF HIS PEOPLE'S CONDEMNATION LAY UPON HIM.

My soul is exceeding sorrowful, &c. Here He broke out in an expression of His inward agony. As yet all was quiet in the garden—no one had bruised Him—the mere dread of dying could not so have distressed Him, for martyrs have triumphed at the stake—but he was pouring out His soul unto death. (Isa. 53. last vs.) HE STOOD ALREADY IN THE SINNER'S PLACE, AND HENCE, HIS EXCEEDING SORROW OF SPIRIT 'EVEN UNTO DEATH' —REACHING THE MEASURE OF DEATH SUFFERINGS BEFORE PHYSICAL DEATH CAME ON. OBSERVE, IT WAS SOUL-SORROW UNTO DEATH!

Watch with me. This means substantially the same as Luke's language, 'Pray that ye enter not into temptation' (22. 40); yet, including, besides this vigilance and prayer for themselves, the idea of sympathizing with Him. He called for their liveliest interest. He was brought to that point of shrinking where He called in their help. It was near midnight.

A little further—that is, beyond them—removing from the three disciples so as to be quite alone in His grief. Luke's words, 'about a stone's cast,' refer to this. Fell on his face. Luke says, He 'kneeled down and prayed.' But Matthew mentions this more distressed and prostrate attitude which His prayer took, expressive of a most overwhelming wo. All these attitudes of earnestness and anguish He took. This was the natural gesture of his emotion.

If it be possible. Luke has it, 'If thou be willing.' Mark refers it also to the Father's pleasure, and speaks of ail things being possible with God. Here is the conflict and agony in the Redeemer's breast, showing the extremity to which he was brought, even to the point of shrinking! HERE IS HIS FILIAL SPIRIT UNDER THE HEAVIEST SUFFERING. Here it is proved how necessary it was that Christ should take this cup, and not only that He should die, and none other, but that He should take This Cup, and not another cup— even this cup of the curse! It was not possible that He should be released from this—for in this there was substitution and expiation. 'He hath borne our griefs,' &c. Cup, or chalice. As a cup contains something to drink, it is used to express a draught of bitter experience.

Nevertheless. This he refers at last to the Father's appointment, and thus He defers to the Father's pleasure. It was not more important that Christ should be voluntary in His sacrificial work, than that in Him the Father should be 'well pleased' (Isa. 42. 21). This was expressed at His baptism. 'This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.' 'It pleased the Lord to bruise Him. He hath put him to grief.' (Isa. 53. 10.) 'THOU SHALT MAKE HIS SOUL AN OFFERING FOR SIN' 'THE LORD HATH LAID ON HIM THE INIQUITIES OF US ALL.' (Isa. 53. 10.) 'A BODY HAST THOU PREPARED ME,' HE SAYS; AND NOW, IN THE SACRIFICE, THE FLESH THAT WAS TAKEN IN ORDER TO DIE, SCARCELY SURVIVES THIS AGONY; AND THE HUMAN SOUL SHUDDERS AND SHRINKS AT THE ENDURANCE. THIS NEVERTHELESS HINTS AT THE COVENANT WHICH CHRIST HAD ENTERED INTO WITH THE FATHER, WHICH BOUND HIM TO ITS TERMS. Though the curse was awful, yet the will of the Father was supreme. Though Christ shrunk, yet He was voluntary, in consideration of that covenant engagement.

Asleep. Luke has it, He 'found them sleeping for sorrow.' (ch. 22. 45.) This refers to the three whom He had taken apart. No other Evangelist mentions the cause of their drowsiness. But Luke was a physician (Col. 4. 14), and he was prepared to speak on this point, and he would be likely so to do. So he notices the bloody sweat (22. 44), and the cure of Malchus' ear (22. 51). Persons condemned to die are often waked from sound sleep by the executioner. Excessive sorrow brings on sleep. This is hinted at by our Lord in the next verse. Saith unto Peter. Peter had boasted, but now he was to see and feel his weakness. How feeble are our best resolutions or dispositions towards God. How easily are we overcome by the world, the flesh and the devil. What could we do but for upholding, and strengthening, and reclaiming grace.

Watch and pray, that ye enter not; or, in Mark, 'lest ye enter into temptation.' They were in danger of losing their confidence in Christ, when they should see Him betrayed into the hands of sinners. And here they are directed to watch against this temptation, which He saw to be coming on. A concern for their own souls in this coming trial, should keep them watching against Satan's power in their hearts. We should always watch, knowing that the adversary is always ready to ensnare and destroy us. They were to pray against being overcome, and lest they should be overcome by that temptation. So we are to pray that we may not run into temptation, nor come in the way of it— especially that we may not yield to it. And if we do not pray, the tempter will gain the advantage. The spirit indeed is willing (Mark has the same Greek wora, but it is there rendered 'ready.' They were in danger from the infirmities of the flesh. These are a fruitful source of temptation. Satan attacks us through the flesh, and takes advantage of our weaknesses. Therefore we are the more earnestly to pray for all needed supports and helps in the trying hour. We should take this passage (says Bengel), not to excuse our torpor, but to sharpen our vigilance (see Heb. 5. 7).

He went away again. The tenor of His prayer seems altered now, and it is rather a devout submission. He returns now to give in His free and full consent to the endurance. THE SUFFERINGS ARE HER SHOWN TO HAVE BEEN WELL UNDERSTOOD BEFOREHAND. THIS WAS MOST IMPORTANT. This is distinctly declared by John (18. 4), 'Jesus knowing all things that should come upon him.' YET, 'DRINKING THE CUP,' THAT IS, TAKING ALL THE LOAD OF OUR CONDEMNATION, AND GOING THROUGH THE BITTER EXPERIENCE, WAS FULL OF AGONY, FROM WHICH THE FLESH COULD NOT BUT SHRINK. Luke notes that an angel from heaven here appeared and strengthened Him (vs. 43), and that 'His sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground,' (vs. 44,) occasioned, as in other instances on record, by the extreme suffering. Yet he does not say blood, but 'as it were' blood—bloody—or large as drops of blood. And this was from anguish of soul—from burdens laid upon His spirit. ALREADY HE LAY UNDER THE TREMENDOUS WEIGHT OF THE CURSE, AND STOOD CHARGED WITH THE INIQUITIES OF SUCH AS HE HAD UNDERTAKEN FOR IN COVENANT WITH THE FATHER. Yet, in the midst of it all, He declares His willingness to drink the cup, because this was His part in the eternal covenant of redemption, and by this means Jesus was to 'save His people from their sins.'”

Norman MacLeod:

"In the garden of Gethsemane sin was triumphant. Holiness was abandoned even by the All-Holy. It was the hour of the prince of darkness. The Father had withdrawn His consoling presence. The pitiless storm of Divine wrath beat upon the soul of the suffering Saviour in all its fury. HE STOOD CHARGED WITH THE COLLECTIVE GUILT OF ADAM'S FALLEN RACE; and all the arrows of Almighty justice flew at once to His heart. How fearful must have been the pressure of that physical suffering which caused Him to pray that, if it were agreeable to the will of His Father, the bitter cup might pass from Him! But this could not be. As the representative of a guilty world, He must tread the wine-press of God's wrath alone. There is no way of reconciling these intense sufferings of the immaculate Son of God with the attributes of the Most High upon the principles of the Socinian, who utterly denies their vicarious nature. THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN IS A KNOT THAT NOTHING CAN UNTIE, BUT THE OLD DOCTRINE OF OUR SIN BEING REALLY IMPUTED TO CHRIST, AND CHRIST BEING MADE A SIN AND CURSE FOR US. In the agony of Jesus we behold, then, the true nature and the proper effects of sin. "The wages of sin is death." Therefore His "soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto death." We see here a specimen of that "indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish," which every soul of man would have had to suffer, had He not become the sufferer in our stead. LET US THINK OF GETHSEMANE AS THE PLACE WHERE JESUS BORE THE WRATH OF JEHOVAH, THAT WE MIGHT BE RESTORED TO HIS SMILES AND MERCY. As we mourn over the entrance of the devil into the Garden of Eden, and the dreadful fall of our first parents, let us behold with joy the ‘seed of the woman’ wrestling with this base usurper in the garden of Gethsemane, that He might enable us to crush him beneath our feet.” - Norman MacLeod, “Christ In the Garden”, The Christian Guest (1859), p 357-358.

Hugh Latimer:

“He took Peter, James, and John, into this garden. And why did he take them with him, rather than other? Marry, those that he had taken before, to whom he had revealed in the hill the transfiguration and declaration of his deity, to see the revelation of the majesty of his Godhead, now in the garden he revealed to the same the infirmity of his manhood: because they had tasted of the sweet, he would they should taste also of the sour. He took these with him at both times: for two or three is enough to bear witness. And he began to be heavy in his mind; he was greatly vexed within himself, he was sore afflicted, it was a great heaviness. He had been heavy many times before; and he had suffered great afflictions in his soul, as for the blindness of the Jews; and he was like to suffer more pangs of pain in his body. BUT THIS PANG WAS GREATER THAN ANY THAT HE EVER SUFFERED: YEA, IT WAS A GREATER TORMENT UNTO HIM , I THINK A GREATER PAIN, THAN WHEN HE WAS HANGED ON THE CROSS; than when the four nails were knocked and driven through his hands and feet; than when the sharp crown of thorns was thrust on his head. This was the heaviness and pensiveness of his heart, the agony of the spirit. And as the soul is more precious than the body, even so is the pains of the soul more grievous than the pains of the body: therefore there is another which writeth, Horror mortis gravior ipsa morte; "The, horror and ugsomeness of death is sorer than death itself." THIS IS THE MOST GRIEVOUS PAIN THAT EVER CHRIST SUFFERED, EVEN THIS PANG THAT HE SUFFERED IN THE GARDEN. It is the most notable place, one of them in the whole story of the passion, when he said, Anima mea tristis est usque ad mortem, "My soul is heavy to death"; and cum coepisset expavescere, "when he began to quiver, to shake." The grievousness of it is declared by this prayer that he made: Pater, si possibile est, &c., "Father, if it be possible, away with this cup: rid me of it." He understood by this cup his pains of death; for he knew well enough that his passion was at hand, that Judas was coming upon him with the Jews to take him.” - Hugh Latimer, The Seventh Sermon of M. Latimer preached before King Edward (1549)

Hippolytus (early Christian):

“Thus then, too, though demonstrated as God, He does not refuse the conditions proper to Him as man, since He hungers and toils and thirsts in weariness, and flees in fear, and prays in trouble. And He who as God has a sleepless nature, slumbers on a pillow. And He who for this end came into the world, begs off from the cup of suffering. And in an agony He sweats blood, and is strengthened by an angel, who Himself strengthens those who believe in Him, and taught men to despise death by His work.” - Hippolytus, Against Noetus, 18

International Bible Commentary:

“This conflict presents our Lord in the reality of His manhood, in weakness and humiliation, but it is impossible to account for it unless we admit His Divine nature. Had He been a mere man, His knowledge of the sufferings before Him could not have been sufficient to cause such sorrow. The human fear of death will not explain it. As a real man, He was capable of such a conflict. But it took place after the serenity of the Last Supper and sacerdotal prayers, and before the sublime submission in the palace and judgment hall. The conflict, therefore, was a specific agony of itself. He felt the whole burden and mystery of the world's sin, and encountered the fiercest assaults of Satan. Otherwise, in this hour this Person, so powerful, so holy, seems to fall below the heroism of martyrs in His own cause. His sorrow did not spring from His own life, His memory of His fears, but from the vicarious nature of the conflict. The agony was a bearing of the weight and sorrow of our sins, in loneliness, in anguish of soul threatening to crush His body, yet borne triumphantly, because in submission to His Father's will. Three times our Lord appeals to that will, as purposing His anguish; that purpose of God in regard to the loveliest, best of men, can be reconciled with justice and goodness in God in but one way; that it was necessary for our redemption. Mercy forced its way through justice to the sinner. Our Lord suffered anguish of soul for sin, that it might never rest on us. To deny this is in effect not only to charge our Lord with undue weakness, but to charge God with needless cruelty. "Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows…. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed" [Isaiah 53.4-5]" - International Bible Commentary, Matthew, p.359