In my essay Full
Refutation of the Protestant Interpretation of John 19:30 I show how that
the resurrection of Jesus Christ has salvific efficacy as well as his on-going
High Priestly intercession, and that the popular Protestant interpretation of
John 19:30 and the meaning of τετελεσται is without any meaningful exegetical merit.
In an essay on Paul’s theology of the death and resurrection of Christ,
Protestant Charles L. Feinberg discussed many of the benefits of the resurrection
of Jesus Christ which shows that the naïve reading of John 19:30 to be, simply put, bogus, including the following:
[Christ’s] resurrection makes it possible for
the believer to enjoy experiential sanctification. Through the death of Christ
positional sanctification was effected for all believers; through the
resurrection [experiential] sanctification was made possible. In His death,
Christ died not only for sin, but He died to sin as well. He made it possible
for believers to have dominion over the power of sin. As Paul discussed in Romans
5 the benefits of salvation and the federal headship of the old creation and
that of the new, he concluded, “But where sin increased, grace abounded all the
more” (Rom. 5:20). Then he asked whether this grace of God is to be a license
for believers to do whatever they please and to continue in sin. His answer in
6:4-5 was, in essence, “We have been crucified with Christ and are dead to sin;
we have been resurrected with Him to walk in newness of life” . . . Jesus’ resurrection
guarantees the believer’s justification. Many are of the opinion that Christ
was raised from the dead to accomplish justification for the believer. IT is
more correct to speak of the Resurrection as the guarantee of the justification
Christ wrought by His death. The resurrection of Christ proves beyond a doubt
that God has accepted His death for humankind as the full satisfaction of His
claims for human justification. Christ “was delivered up because of our
transgressions, and was raised because of [lit., ‘on account of’] our
justification” (Rom. 4:25). Just as Christ was delivered up on account of
people’s offenses, because they had grievously offended the holiness of God,
just so was He raised to show that His death had fully and completely availed
for believers and that now they stand in the presence of God the Father
justified from all things . . . another important result of Christ’s
resurrection is His priestly work. When Christ as High Priest offered Himself
up on the cross as the sacrifice for sins, He effected forgiveness and justification,
but He did not complete His high priestly work. There remained yet His work as
Advocate and Intercessor. “And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). When a believer falls into
sin, Satan, the ever-ready accuser of believers (Rev. 12:10), accuses him of
sin before the Father. Then Christ, the believer’s great Advocate and Helper,
sets forth the propitiation for his sins that He has made and gains the believer’s
acquittal (Confession, of course, restores fellowship, which is lost through
the believer’s sin). Paul did not write of the advocacy of Christ, but he did
speak of His intercessory work: “Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who
was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us” (Rom.
8:34). And Hebrew 7:25 states, “He is able also to save forever those who draw
near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
Christ, ever praying and interceding for the believer—what a reassuring and
comforting thought. (Charles L. Feinberg, “Pauline Theology Relative to the
Death and Resurrection of Christ” in Roy B. Zuck, ed. Vital Christology Issues: Examining Contemporary and Classic Concerns [Vital
Issues Series; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel Publications, 1997], 144-58, here,
pp. 153, 154, 156)
