19:30 It Is
Finished
The
Scriptures Are Fulfilled. Leo the Great: Having now tasted the
vinegar, the produce of that vineyard that had degenerated in spite of its
divine planter and had turned to the sourness of a foreign vine, the Lord says,
“It is finished,” that is, the Scriptures are fulfilled. There is nothing more
to endure from these raging people. I have endured all that I foretold I should
suffer. The mysteries of weakness are completed. Let the proofs of power be
produced. And so he bowed the head and yielded up his spirit and gave that body
that would be raised again on the third day the rest of peaceful slumber. Sermon 55.4.
Scripture
Fulfilled, Sins Forgiven. Cyril of Jerusalem: When he had drunk
the wine mingled with myrrh and vinegar, he said, “It is finished.” For the
mystery has been fulfilled. The things that are written have been accomplished.
Sins are forgiven. Catechetical Lectures
13.32.
Christ
Freely Gives Up His Spirit. Tertullian: Nailed upon the cross, he
exhibited many notable signs by which his death was distinguished from all
others. By his own free will, he dismissed from him his spirit with a word,
anticipating the executioner’s work. Apology
21.
Death
Had No Power. Hilary of Poitiers: The only-begotten God
had the power of laying down his life and of taking it up again. After the
drought of vinegar, when he had shown that his work of human suffering was
finished and in order to accomplish in himself the mystery of death, he bowed
his head and gave up his spirit. If it has been granted to our mortal nature of
its own will to breathe its last breath and seek rest in death—if the buffeted
soul may depart without the breaking up of the body and the spirit burst forth
and flee away without being as it were violated in its own home by the breaking
and piercing and crushing of limbs—then fear of death might have seized the
Lord of life. This is true if, that is, when he gave up the ghost and died, his
death was not an exercise of his own free will. But if he died of his own will
and through his own will gave back his spirit, death had no terror, because it
was in his own power. On the Trinity
10.11.
A
Powerful Death. Augustine: Who can sleep like this when he
pleases, as Jesus died when he pleased? Who is there that puts off his garment
like this when he pleases, as he put off his flesh at his pleasure? Who is
there who leaves like this when he pleases, as he left this life at his
pleasure? How great the power, to be hoped for or dreaded, that must be his as
judge, if such was the power he exhibited as a dying man! Tractates on the Gospel of John 119.6.
Jesus
Does Not Wait for Death. Eusebius of Caesarea: He cried out with
a loud voice to the Father, “I commend my spirit” and freely departed from the
body. He did not wait for death, which was lagging behind as it were in fear to
come to him. Instead, he pursued it from behind and drove it on and trampled it
under his feet as it was fleeing. He burst the eternal gates of death’s dark
realms and made a road of return back again to life for the dead bound there
with the bonds of death. Proof of the
Gospel 4.12.3.
A
Real Death, Not in Appearance Only. Adamantius (Origen): It was
not in appearance only that he died. It was a true death.… The spirit did not
expire since it was eternal and incorruptible. But there was one who had the
spirit who indeed expired who, while expiring, commended the spirit to the
Father. He is the one whom Joseph wrapped in the linen cloth and buried. He did
not wrap up and bury a shadow but him who was nailed to the tree. Concerning Right Faith in God 4.
The
Spirit Does Not Leave Against Christ’s Will. Augustine: The
spirit is to be preferred to the body. The death of the spirit means that God
has abandoned it, but the death of the body means that the spirit has abandoned
it. The punishment in the death of the body lies in this, that the spirit
abandons the body unwillingly because it has willingly abandoned God.
Therefore, the spirit must abandon the body, even though it does not want to,
because by its will it has abandoned God. Nor may it abandon the body when it
wants to, unless it inflicts some form of violence on itself by which the body
itself is destroyed. The spirit of the Mediator has shown how it was not any
punishment for sin that brought about the death of his flesh because he did not
abandon it unwillingly. Rather, the spirit left because he willed it to, and it
left at the time in the manner that he wanted it to leave. For since he is so
commingled with the flesh by the Word of God as to be one with it, he says, “I
have the power to lay down my life, and I have the power to take it up again.
No one takes it from me, but I therefore lay it down of myself, and I take it
up again.” On the Trinity
4.13.16.
He
Goes to Sleep Like a Lion. Augustine: He had the authority to lay
down his life, as he himself had declared. And he gave up the spirit in
humility, that is, with a bowed head. He would receive it back again by rising
again with a raised head. This death and bowing of the head were acts of great
power, as was shown by that ancestor Jacob when he blessed Judah and said, “You
have gone up lying down; you have slept like a lion.” By “going up” he
signified his death; by “like a lion” he signified his power. Sermon 218.12.
The
Good Shepherd Lays Down His Life for His Sheep.
Peter Chrysologus: But what do the sheep gain from the death of their shepherd?
We can see from Christ’s own death that it leaves the beloved flock a prey to
wild beasts, exposed to depredation and slaughter, as indeed the apostles
experienced after Jesus had laid down his life for his sheep, consenting to his
own murder, and they found themselves uprooted and scattered abroad. The same
story is told by the blood of martyrs shed throughout the world, the bodies of
Christians thrown to wild beasts, burned at the stake or flung into rivers: all
this suffering was brought about by the death of their shepherd, and his life
could have prevented it.
But it is by dying that your shepherd proved his love for
you. When danger threatens his sheep and he sees himself unable to protect
them, he chooses to die rather than to see calamity overtake his flock. What am
I saying? Could Life himself die unless he chose to? Could anyone take life
from its author against his will? He himself declared, “I have power to lay
down my life, and I have power to take it up again; no one takes it from me.”
To die, therefore, was his own choice. Immortal though he was, he allowed
himself to be put to death.
By allowing himself to be taken captive, he overpowered
his opponent. By submitting, he overcame him. By his own execution, he
penalized his enemy, and by dying he opened the door to the conquest of death
for his whole flock. And so the good Shepherd lost none of his sheep when he
laid down his life for them. He did not desert them but kept them safe. He did
not abandon them but called them to follow him, leading them by the way of
death through the lowlands of this passing world to the pastures of life. Sermon 40. (John 11-12,
ed. Joel C. Elowsky [Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture; Downers Grove,
Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2007], 322-34)
Further Reading
Full
Refutation of the Protestant Interpretation of John 19:30
To Support this Blog:
Email for Amazon Gift
card: ScripturalMormonism@gmail.com
Email for Logos.com Gift
Card: IrishLDS87@gmail.com
