Chapter XVIII.—Of the Lord’s Successive Utterances When He Was About to Die; And
of the Question Whether Matthew and Mark are in Harmony with Luke in Their Reports
of These Sayings, and Also Whether These Three Evangelists are in Harmony with John.
55. Matthew proceeds as follows: “And Jesus, crying again with a loud voice, yielded up
the ghost.”1446 In like manner, Mark says, “And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up
the ghost.”1447 Luke, again, has told us what He said when that loud voice was uttered. For
his version is thus: “And Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, Father, into Thy hands I
commend my spirit: and saying this, He gave up the ghost.”1448 John, on the other hand,
as he has left unnoticed the first voice, which Matthew and Mark have reported—namely,
“Eli, Eli”—has also passed over in silence the one which has been recited only by Luke, while
the other two have referred to it under the designation of the “loud voice.” I allude to the
cry, “Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.” Luke has also attested the fact that this
exclamation was uttered with a loud voice; and hence we may understand this particular
cry to be identified with the loud voice which Matthew and Mark have specified. But John
has stated a fact which is noticed by none of the other three, namely, that He said “It is fin-
ished,” after He had received the vinegar. This cry we take to have been uttered previous to
the loud voice referred to. For these are John’s words: “When Jesus, therefore, had received
the vinegar, He said, It is finished; and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost.” 1449 In
the interval elapsing between this cry, “It is finished,” and what is referred to in the sub-
sequent sentence, “and He bowed His head and gave up the ghost,” the voice was uttered
which John himself has passed over without record, but which the other three have noticed.
For the precise succession appears to be this, namely, that He said first “It is finished,” when
what had been prophesied regarding Him was fulfilled in Him, and that thereafter—as if
He had been waiting for this, like one, indeed, who died when He willed it to be so—He
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commended His spirit [to His Father], and resigned it.1450 But, whatever the order may be
in which a person may consider it likely that these words were spoken, he ought above all
things to guard against entertaining the notion that any one of the evangelists is in antagon-
ism with another, when one leaves unmentioned something which another has repeated,
or particularizes something which another has passed by in silence.
1446 Matt. xxvii. 50.
1447 Mark xv. 37.
1448 Luke xxiii. 46.
1449 John xix. 30.
1450 [This view of the order is altogether the more probable one. See commentaries.—R.]
Of the Lord’s Successive Utterances When He Was About to Die; And of the Question Whether Matthew and Mark are in Harmony with Luke in Their Reports of These Sayings, and Also Whether These Three Evangelists are in Harmony with John.
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Of the Lord’s Successive Utterances When He Was About to Die; And of the…