John 19:30

19:19-30 Here are some remarkable circumstances of Jesus' death, more fully related than before. Pilate would not gratify the chief priests by allowing the writing to be altered; which was doubtless owing to a secret power of God upon his heart, that this statement of our Lord's character and authority might continue. Many things done by the Roman soldiers were fulfilments of the prophecies of the Old Testament. All things therein written shall be fulfilled. Christ tenderly provided for his mother at his death. Sometimes, when God removes one comfort from us, he raises up another for us, where we looked not for it. Christ's example teaches all men to honour their parents in life and death; to provide for their wants, and to promote their comfort by every means in their power. Especially observe the dying word wherewith Jesus breathed out his soul. It is finished; that is, the counsels of the Father concerning his sufferings were now fulfilled. It is finished; all the types and prophecies of the Old Testament, which pointed at the sufferings of the Messiah, were accomplished. It is finished; the ceremonial law is abolished; the substance is now come, and all the shadows are done away. It is finished; an end is made of transgression by bringing in an everlasting righteousness. His sufferings were now finished, both those of his soul, and those of his body. It is finished; the work of man's redemption and salvation is now completed.

John 19:30 . ὅτε οὖν … πνεῦμα . The cry, τετέλεσται , “it is finished,” was not the gasp of a worn-out life, but the deliberate utterance of a clear consciousness that His work was finished, and all God’s purpose accomplished ( John 17:4 ), that all had now been done that could be done to make God known to men, and to identify Him with men. παρέδωκε τὸ πνεῦμα , “gave up His spirit,” according to Luke 23:46 , with an audible commendation of His spirit to the Father. ἀφῆκε πνεῦμα in Eurip., Hecuba , 569; ἀφῆκε τὴν ψυχήν Plut., Dem. , xxix. 5.

30. It is finished! and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost—What is finished? The Law is fulfilled as never before, nor since, in His "obedience unto death, even the death of the cross"; Messianic prophecy is accomplished; Redemption is completed; "He hath finished the transgression, and made reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in everlasting righteousness, and sealed up the vision and prophecy, and anointed a holy of holies"; He has inaugurated the kingdom of God and given birth to a new world.

When Christ had tasted the vinegar, he said, It is finished; that is, I have now done and suffered all things which lay upon me in this life to do and suffer. Having said this, he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. They are terms expressive of death, and our Saviour’s free surrender of his soul unto his Father.

John 19:30 . Τετέλεσται , it is consummated [finished]) This word was in the heart of Jesus in John 19:28 : it is now put forth by word of mouth; [—and it is put forth too before His death , which, however, itself was truly the principal head of those things which were to be consummated . What is meant is, His toil was accomplished; the prophecies were completed, not even excluding that as to the drink; and so now all things were tending to the one point, that He should deliver up His spirit by death into the hands of the Father. Most truly, therefore, He comprised in one joyous word the things past with those most surely and immediately about to be.— Harm ., p. 574.]— κλίνας , having bowed ) with His mind still present.[392]— παρέδωκε , He gave or delivered up ) That which is delivered up , is permanent [still continues]. [392] Retaining His senses to the last, so that His bowing the head was not involuntary, but His deliberate act.—E. and T.

30 . received ] He had refused the stupefying draught ( Matthew 27:34 ; Mark 15:23 ), which would have clouded his faculties: He accepts what will revive them for the effort of a willing surrender of His life. It is finished ] Just as the thirst was there before he expressed it, so the consciousness that His work was finished was there ( John 19:28 ) before He declared it. The Messiah’s work of redemption was accomplished; His Father’s commandment had been obeyed; types and prophecies had been fulfilled; His life had been lived, and His teaching completed; His last earthly tie had been severed ( John 19:26-27 ); and the end had come. The final ‘wages of sin’ alone remained to be paid. he bowed his head ] Another detail peculiar to the Evangelist who witnessed it. gave up the ghost ] The two apostles mark with special clearness that the Messiah’s death was entirely voluntary. S. Matthew says, ‘He let go His spirit’ ( Matthew 27:50 ); S. John, ‘He gave up His spirit.’ None of the four says ‘He died.’ The other two have ‘ He breathed out ;’ and S. Luke shews clearly that the surrender of life was a willing one by giving the words of surrender ‘Father into Thy hands I commend my spirit.’—‘No one taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself’ It was the one thing which Christ claimed to do ‘of Himself’ ( John 10:18 ). Contrast John 5:30 , John 7:28 , John 8:28 ; John 8:42 . On ‘the seven words from the cross’ see on Luke 23:34 ; Mark 15:34 ; Matthew 27:46 .

Between the two words recorded in these verses (28–30) there is again a contrast. ‘I thirst’ is an expression of suffering; the only one during the Passion. ‘It is finished’ is a cry of triumph; and the ‘therefore’ in John 19:30 shews how the expression of suffering led on to the cry of triumph. S. John omits the ‘loud voice’ which all the Synoptists give as immediately preceding Christ’s death. It proved that His end was voluntary and not the necessary result of exhaustion.

(30) It is finished. —That is (comp. John 19:28 , and John 17:4 ), the work which God had given Him to do. (Comp. Notes on Matthew 27:50 , and Luke 23:46 .) This word is the expression by Jesus Himself of what St. John had expressed by saying, “Jesus knowing that all things were now finished, that the Scriptures should be fulfilled.” The order of the seven words of the cross will be, (1) “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34); (2) “Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43); (3) “Woman, behold thy son,” “Behold thy mother” (John 19:26-27); (4) “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” (Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34); (5) “I thirst” (John 19:28); (6) “It is finished” (John 19:29); (7) “Into Thy hands I commend My spirit” (Luke 23:46). And he bowed his head.—This reminiscence of the very attitude of the last moments is peculiar to St. John. And gave up the ghost.—Comp. John 10:18, and Notes on Matthew 27:50; Mark 15:37; and Luke 23:46. All the expressions used lay stress on the voluntary action of the death.

It is finished - The sufferings and agonies in redeeming man are over. The work long contemplated, long promised, long expected by prophets and saints, is done. The toils in the ministry, the persecutions and mockeries, and the pangs of the garden and the cross, are ended, and man is redeemed. What a wonderful declaration was this! How full of consolation to man! And how should this dying declaration of the Saviour reach every heart and affect every soul!