Bible Commentaries
Luke 23

Verses 1-25

1-5 Compare Mat_27:1-14 ; Mar_15:2-5 : Joh_18:28-38 .

1 The trial now takes on a new character. It passes from the religious to the political phase. It would be quite useless to bring the Sanhedrin's findings before Pilate, because he was not to be drawn into their religious quarrels, so long as these did not affect the state. So they modify the indictment accordingly.

2 Compare Mat_22:17-21 ; Act_17:7 .

3 To us the Lord's reply to Pilate seems to be an admission of the charge that He was a king, and consequently, a rival of Caesar. But the turn of thought lies in the emphasis. In John's account there is a fuller discussion, in which the Lord makes it plain to Pilate that, at that time, He was not pressing this claim. "You are [not I am] saying it," indicates that the accusation springs from the desire of His enemies to have it so, rather than any evidence they can furnish. So Pilate understood it, and bluntly told the Jews that, if anyone was at fault, they were, and not their Prisoner .

4 Compare Act_3:14-15 .

6 They hoped, by the mention of Galilee, to rouse the procurator's animosity, for it was well known that he and Herod, the tetrarch of Galilee, were enemies. But Pilate knew that Herod was well acquainted with the religious quarrels of the Jews and might possibly be able to find the real cause of their animosity. Hence he sends Him to the Idumean.

7 Compare Luk_3:1-2 .

8 Compare Luk_9:9 .

8 Herod, having beheaded John the baptist, became greatly interested in this new Prophet Who more than took John's place. He never had met Him. As the Lord was not of Galilee, but of Bethlehem, Judea, Herod had no jurisdiction over His case. His father, Herod the Great, had indeed held sway in Judea, and used his power to massacre the babes of Bethlehem, in order to make sure of His destruction. They were a bloody race, and with divine dignity Christ scorns to speak to the haughty Herod. Yet even he could find no ground for the accusations of His enemies.

11 Compare Isa_53:3 .

12 Compare Act_4:25-28 .

18-17 Compare Mat_27:15-19 ; Mar_15:6-10 Joh_18:38-39 ; Joh_19:4 ; Act_13:28 .

14 Every civil charge against the Lord was found to be false. His long sojourn in Galilee and the miracles He had performed were reported to Herod, but he had not been informed of a single disturbance, though the Roman government was constantly on the alert to crush any insurrection in its beginning. Bar-Abbas had headed one that very year. The religious rulers were none too loyal to Rome, and any charge coming from them, unless well authenticated, was to be viewed with suspicion. The utter hypocrisy of the whole proceeding comes to a climax in their request for the release of Bar-Abbas. He was actually guilty of the charge brought against the Lord, with the added distinction of having committed murder (while the Lord had roused the dead), yet they wanted him released! But the Lord, Who was not guilty, must be crucified! We cannot help seeing in these two an illustration of the wonderful salvation which springs from the murder of the Just One. He suffered, the Just One for the unjust, that He might bring them to God. If Christ had been released Bar-Abbas would have been executed, as he deserved. He is a type of the mass of unbelievers, who are saved without faith, at the consummation.

18-23 Compare Mat_27:20-23 ; Mar_15:1-14 ; Mar_15:11-14 ; Joh_18:40: .

22 The act of Pilate in crucifying Christ is as nothing compared with the guilt of the religious leaders of the Jews. They had the oracles of God which foretold the coming of the Blessed One. Pilate may never have even heard of the Messiah. They had the light of a holy and just law. Yet the Roman governor, with little more than an instinctive sense of justice (for no statute was involved) was far more righteous. Three times he bears record that he cannot find a single fault worthy of death. His real weakness lay in the form of government. Pilate's office, to some extent, depended on his pandering to the populace. They were always ready to accuse their governors of disloyalty to Caesar if they displeased them.

24-25 Compare Mat_27:24-26 ; Mar_15:15 ; Joh_19:16 .

26 Simon is the type of those who follow Him, bearing His cross.

Verses 26-54

26 Compare Mat_27:32 ; Mar_15:21 ; Joh_19:17 .

26 Tradition has sought to surround the cross with a false glamour by making it cross-shaped, instead of a single upright stake. The word "cross" itself has so embedded itself in the hearts of the saints that it would seem cruel to tear it out. Yet those who are spiritual will recognize the great truth that the crucifixion was designed to sound the depths of shame and ignominy, and any attempt to embellish it only detracts from its true moral glory.

28 In the midst of His sufferings He did not forget the fate of that unhappy people, who were sowing the seed of countless sorrows when they crucified their Messiah. It is probable that most of the women and children then alive died of violence in the Jewish wars and the siege of Jerusalem.

30 Compare Isa_2:19 ; Hos_10:8 ; Rev_6:16 .

32 Compare Isa_53:12 .

32 These two malefactors must not be confused with the two robbers who were crucified later.

33-38 Compare Mat_27:33-43 ; Mar_15:22-32 ; Joh_19:17-24 ; Psa_22:16-18 .

33 There is no good reason for using the Latin equivalent "Calvary". The Greek is the usual word for "skull", from which we derive cranium . It was doubtless so called from a resemblance to the human skull.

34 Though some important manuscripts omit this, the first recorded saying of our Lord on the cross, there is no reasonable doubt that it is genuine. When we consider how improbable it is that any man could show such compassion or even invent such a gracious thought, we are compelled to admit its inspiration. Its answer is found in the renewed proclamation of pardon or forgiveness after His ascension by the apostles He had chosen. This is the sin against the Son of Mankind, which was forgiven. The sin against the holy Spirit, the rejection of the apostles' ministry, could not be forgiven for the eon. Hence the nation was thrust aside, as they are today.

35-37 Compare Psa_22:6-8

39-43 Compare Mat_27:44 ; Mar_15:32

39 Only in Luke's account do we read of these two malefactors. Matthew and Mark speak of two others who were crucified later, who were robbers.

47-49 Compare Mat_27:54-56 ; Mar_15:39-41 .

There were no "thieves", unless the malefactors were guilty of this crime. The penitent malefactor did not speak against the Lord at first, as is usually supposed. He begins by rebuking his companion, and acknowledging the justice of his fate, and then justifies the Sufferer at his side. He reveals his faith in Christ by his appeal to be remembered in the kingdom.

42 Compare Psa_106:4-8 .

43 As this verse is the center of so much controversy it has been deemed best to render it as literally as possible, though the English result is somewhat stilted.

43 Paradise is the Persian word for park. It is used in the Septuagint of the garden of Eden, and elsewhere of the future renewed earth in the kingdom. The Lord will not come into His kingdom until after the great judgments which commence the Lord's day ( Rev_11:15 ). The Lord assured the malefactor that his request will be granted, and that his present sufferings shall be exchanged for the delights of that day.

44-46 Compare Mat_27:45-53 ; Mar_15:33-38:44 The physical darkness was but a sign of the spiritual gloom which enveloped the great Sacrifice due to His abandonment by God when He became the sin offering. Not only were His enemies against Him, but His friends forsook Him, and, most dreadful and inexplicable of all, His Father turned from Him, seeing that He occupied the place of the curse and bore the sins of the world.

45 The rending of the curtain of the temple signified that the way into God's presence was now open. Hitherto God had hid behind His flesh, now He was revealed through it.

46 Compare Joh_19:28-30 ; Psa_31:5 .

46 The Spirit of the Lord returned to God ( Ecc_12:7 ), His soul went to the unseen ( Act_2:27 ), but His body was not returned to the soil ( Gen_3:19 ). His resurrection consisted in the return of His Spirit to the body, and the consequent return of the consciousness, or soul.

50-54 Compare Mat_27:57-60 ; Mar_15:42-46 ; Joh_19:38-42 .

50-53 Thus the words of Isaiah were fulfilled. He should have been buried in the place appointed for criminals, but His work was done. His shame was past, so He is entombed with the rich ( Isa_53:9 ).

Luk_23:55-56 ; Luk_24:1-21

55 Compare Mat_27:61 ; Mar_15:47 .

1-11 Compare Mat_28:1-10 ; Mar_16:1-8 ; Joh_20:1-18 .

1 The resurrection did not occur on Sunday, or "the first day of the week", but on the first one of the seven sabbaths which led from First fruits to Pentecost. The notable phrase "one of the sabbaths" is always found in the interval between Passover and Pentecost, never at any other time of the year. It may refer to any sabbath of the seven. It is usually used of the resurrection day ( Mat_28:1 ; Mar_16:1-2 ; Joh_20:1-19 ), which would be during the days of unleavened bread, but also of a sabbath after this ( Act_20:6-7 ), any time up to Pentecost ( 1Co_16:2 ; 1Co_16:8 ). Scholars are divided as to the reason for the rendering "first day of the week". It was usual to say that "one" is sometimes used for first , and that "sabbaths" sometimes means week , but the latest attempt to justify the accepted rendering is that "one of the sabbaths" is equivalent to "the first day after the sabbath". As the day after the sabbath was commonly called the "morrow of the sabbath" ( Lev_23:15 , LXX) , this seems far fetched. Even if we take "one" to mean first in this case, the sense is not changed, for the resurrection actually was on the first of a series of sabbaths, as we read in Mark (16:9). But in no case was sabbaths ever used for "week". That is always represented by hebdomad , or seven. The only exception would be when a number of sabbaths measure the same space of time as so many hebdomads. As the expression "first day of the week" can be so readily expressed in Greek there are grave grounds for refusing to use these words as the equivalent of "one of the sabbaths".

4 How little heed their hearts had given to the Lord's constant predictions of His death and resurrection is evident from their bewilderment at the empty tomb. After the sufferings had been fulfilled according to His word, they should have reckoned on His resurrection. Instead, they doubt.

7 Compare Luk_9:22 .

10 Compare Luk_8:2-3 .

12 Compare Joh_20:2-10 .

12 Peter had good cause to remember the Lord's first announcement of His death and resurrection, for he had objected to it, and had been severely rebuked ( Mat_16:21-23 ). The Lord had actually called him satan, because he wanted the kingdom to come without suffering. It is usual to suppose that all evil is of the adversary, but the crucifixion, the climax of all evil, was by the specific counsel and foreknowledge of God ( Act_2:23 ).

13-17 Compare Mar_16:12-13 .

14 Compare Mal_3:16 .

15 In resurrection, before His ascension, the Lord was present for forty days, manifesting Himself to His disciples at will. He was not invested with the supernal glory in which Paul saw Him after His ascension. The forty days give us a sample of the terrestrial bodies of

Israel's saints, the vision of Paul revealed the body glorious which will be the portion of those who partake of His celestial glory. It is too bright for earth. It was dimmed to suit the sight of His disciples. But it had powers far beyond the present human body. He could change its form, vanish or appear at will, and move without hindrance through any material obstacle. It does not take much faith to perceive the possibility of such a body. Even in its present imperfect approximations to physical truth, science could formulate a theory to explain it. The properties of matter change greatly according to the latent powers they contain. Thus water is solid ice when cold, fluid water when warm, and gaseous, invisible steam when hot. So a human body, with sufficient vital force, might change its own constitution and actually become invisible or luminous.

16 Compare Luk_24:31 ; Joh_20:14 ; Joh_21:4 .

18 The crucifixion of Christ must have been known to almost all in Jerusalem. As it was the Passover, several million people were there, and through them, it would spread rapidly through the land.

21 Compare Luk_2:38 ; Act_1:6 .

21 The resurrection, when plainly foretold, was always to occur on the third day. The tomb is empty and the messengers declare Him to be alive, yet still they do not believe! No wonder He chides them for their dullness of both head and heart! Besides, they had the Scriptures, and it is to these He appeals to explain the sufferings which they could not understand. Doubtless He spoke of the rejection of Moses himself by his brethren and of David the king, and especially of Hezekiah, who was smitten for the nation's sins, the type of the suffering Messiah. Many a passage in the Psalms of David is charged with a deeper doctrine and a higher thought than appears upon the surface. Peter, on the day of Pentecost, shows that David, in the so-called sixteenth Psalm, speaks of Him Who was his Lord and Son, when he gives a detailed account of the body and soul of Christ in death ( Psa_16:9-10 ; Act_2:25-28 ). The concluding verse of the Psalm "Thou makest known to Me the paths 'of life," accounts for His Spirit, for it is the spirit that imparts life. Thus fully did David predict Messiah's death. Once our eyes are opened, the pages of the Scriptures become aglow with the things concerning Christ. As the dwelling place of God, the tabernacle and the temple were faint shadows of Him and His varied offices. The ritual, the sacrifices, the priesthood, the festivals-all pointed to the Coming One and His work. So much is there of Him that He could not have given much more than an outline on the road to Emmaus. Even then they do not seem to have fully realized the import of His words. They do not express any conviction that Christ must have been raised, and that the rumors they had heard must be true. Their inability to see Him in the stranger was but a sign that they were still unable to see Him in the Scriptures. No doubt they had heard of the new observance which He had given the twelve, and knew that the broken bread was a figure of His body, broken for them. The symbolic act of blessing and breaking the bread opened their eyes at last, and they finally awoke to the reality of His resurrection. His task accomplished, the Lord vanishes, but they are eager to report the marvelous truth to the apostles, and return to Jerusalem.