Luke 23:46

And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(46) And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said. . . .—Better. And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and said . . . The English text emphasises too strongly the distinctness of the act, possibly with the implied suggestion that the cry might have consisted of the words which St. Luke does not report. On the other hand, the other Gospels make the “great cry” immediately precede death.

He gave up the ghost.—Better, He expired, or breathed out His spirit, the verb containing the root from which the Greek for “spirit” is derived. The Greek of St. John, which appears in English as though it were the same as St. Luke’s, corresponds more closely to the final utterance, “He delivered up His spirit.”

Benson Commentary

Luke 23:46-49. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit — The Father receives the spirit of Jesus; Jesus himself the spirits of the faithful. See on Matthew 27:50. When the centurion — The Roman officer, who stood over against him and guarded the execution; saw what was done — In so miraculous a manner, in those amazing prodigies that attended Christ’s death; he glorified God — By a free confession of his persuasion of the innocence of Jesus; saying, Certainly this was a righteous man — Notwithstanding all the vile reproaches which have been cast upon him. And all the people that came together — On this remarkable occasion, among whom, doubtless, were some of those who, but a little before, had been insulting him in his dying agonies; beholding, the things that were done, smote their breasts — For sorrow and remorse; in terrible expectation that some sad calamity would speedily befall them and their country, for the indignities and cruelties they had offered to a person, for whom God had expressed so high a regard even in his greatest distress. See these verses elucidated at large on Matthew 27:54-56. And all his acquaintance — Who these were, Matthew and Mark inform us, in the verses just referred to.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

23:44-49 We have here the death of Christ magnified by the wonders that attended it, and his death explained by the words with which he breathed out his soul. He was willing to offer himself. Let us seek to glorify God by true repentance and conversion; by protesting against those who crucify the Saviour; by a sober, righteous, and godly life; and by employing our talents in the service of Him who died for us and rose again.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the notes at Matthew 27:45-50.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

43. Jesus said, &c.—The dying Redeemer speaks as if He Himself viewed it in this light. It was a "song in the night." It ministered cheer to His spirit in the midnight gloom that now enwrapt it.

Verily I say unto thee—"Since thou speakest as to the king, with kingly authority speak I to thee."

To-day—"Thou art prepared for a long delay before I come into My kingdom, but not a day's delay shall there be for thee; thou shalt not be parted from Me even for a moment, but together we shall go, and with Me, ere this day expire, shalt thou be in Paradise" (future bliss, 2Co 12:4; Re 2:7). Learn (1) How "One is taken and another left"; (2) How easily divine teaching can raise the rudest and worst above the best instructed and most devoted servants of Christ; (3) How presumption and despair on a death hour are equally discountenanced here, the one in the impenitent thief, the other in his penitent fellow.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Luke 23:34"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice,.... A second time; for at the first loud cry, he uttered these words, "Eli, Eli, lama, sabachthani"; and at the second what follows; see Matthew 27:46. See Gill on Matthew 27:47. See Gill on Matthew 27:48. See Gill on Matthew 27:49. See Gill on Matthew 27:50.

he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my Spirit; not the Holy Spirit, nor his divine nature, but his human soul: for that he had a reasonable soul, as well as a true body, is certain; from his having an human understanding, will, and affections, ascribed to him; and indeed, without this he would not have been a perfect man, nor like unto us; and could not have been tempted, bore sorrows and griefs, and endured the wrath of God; nor could he have been a Saviour of souls: now just as he was expiring, as he made his soul an offering for sin, and which he offered unto God, he committed it to his divine care and protection; and to enjoy his presence, during its separation from his body, using the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 31:5 and this shows, that his spirit, or soul, belonged to God, the Father of spirits, and now returned to him that gave it; that it was immortal, and died not with the body, and was capable of existing in a separate state from it, and went immediately to heaven; all which is true of the souls of all believers in Christ; and what the dying head did, dying members may, and should, even commit their souls into the same hands: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost; breathed out his soul dismissed his spirit, laid down his life, freely and voluntarily, and which no man, or devil, otherwise could have taken away from him.

Geneva Study Bible

And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 23:46. φωνῇ μεγάλῃ: this expression is used in Mt. and Mk. in connection with the “My God, My God,” which Lk. omits. In its place comes the “Father, into Thy hands”. Here as in the agony in the garden Lk.’s account fails to sound the depths of Christ’s humiliation. It must not be inferred that he did not know of the “Eli, Eli”. Either he personally, or his source, or his first readers, could not bear the thought of it.—παρατίθεμαι τ. π. μ.: an echo of Psalm 31:6, and to be understood in a similar sense, as an expression of trust in God in extremis. Various shades of meaning have been put on the words, among which is that Jesus died by a free act of will, handing over His soul to God as a deposit to be kept safe (Grotius, Bengel, Hahn, etc.).

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

46. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said] Rather, And, crying with a loud voice, Jesus said. St Luke here omits the Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, and the effect of that cry on the multitude (Matthew 27:46-50); the “I thirst,” which was the sole word of physical suffering wrung from Him in all His agonies; and the one word (Tete- lestai) in which He expressed the sense that His work was finished.

Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit] A reference to Psalm 31:5; comp. Acts 7:59; 1 Peter 2:23. These words have been among the dying utterances of St Polycarp, St Augustine, St Bernard, John Huss, Jerome of Prague, Luther, Melancthon and Columbus.

he gave up the ghost] None of the Evangelists use the word “He died” (ethanen), but exepneusen (literally, ‘He breathed forth,’ here and Mark 15:37), and ‘He sent forth’ or ‘gave up His spirit’ (aphekcn, paredoken to pneuma, Matthew 27:50; John 19:30); probably because they wish to indicate the truth stated in John 10:18, that He gave up His life “because He willed, when He willed, how He willed.” Aug. Comp. Ephesians 5:2; Galatians 2:20.

Bengel's Gnomen

Luke 23:46. Πάτερ, Father) The Father received the Spirit of Jesus; Jesus “receives the spirits” of believers: Acts 7:59 [Stephen’s last prayer, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”].—παραθήσομαι) I will commend, in the very act.[264] [As a deposit committed to Him at death. It was at this point of time, the most precious truly of all, that the atonement was made.—V. g.]

[264] So Rec. Text and LΔ. But παρατίθεμαι in ABCPQ Orig. 3,726e; ‘commendo,’ in abcd Vulg. Hil. 1074, Syr. and Memph. Versions. So Engl. Vers.—E. and T.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 46. - And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said. This is better rendered, and Jesus cried with a loud voice and said. The cry with the loud voice is the solemn dismissal of his spirit when he commended it to his Father. The object of the receiving the refreshment of the vinegar - the sour wine (John 19:30) - was that his natural forces, weakened by the long suffering, should be restored sufficiently for him to render audible the last two sayings - the "It is finished!" of St. John, and the commending his soul to his Father, of St. Luke. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. St. John (John 19:30) has related now already Jesus had uttered the triumphal cry, Τετέλεσται! "It is finished!" This was his farewell to earth. St. Luke records the words which seem almost immediately to have followed the "It is finished!" This commending his spirit to his Father has been accurately termed his entrance greeting to heaven. This placing his spirit as a trust in the Father's hands is, as Stier phrases it, an expression of the profoundest and most blessed repose after toil. "It is finished!" has already told us that the struggling and combat were sealed and closed for ever. Doctrinally it is a saying of vast importance; for it emphatically asserts that the soul will exist apart from the body in the hands of God. This at least is its proper home. The saying has been echoed on many a saintly death-bed. Stephen, full of the Holy Ghost, in his great agony shows us the form of this blessed prayer we should properly use for ourselves at that supreme hour, when he asked the Lord Jesus to receive his spirit, and then fell asleep. Thus coming to the Son, we come through him to the Father. Huss, on his way to the stake, when his enemies were triumphantly giving over his soul to devils, said with no less theological accuracy than with sure, calm faith, "But I commit my spirit into thy hand, O Lord Jesus Christ, who hast redeemed it." And having said thus, he gave up the ghost. This setting his spirit free was his own voluntary act. He already told his disciples of his own independent power to lay down and take up his life (John 10:17, 18). The great teachers of the early Church evidently lay stress on; his (see Tertullian, 'Apol.,' ch. 21). Augustine's words are striking: "Quis ita dormit quando voluerit, sicut Jesus mortuus est quando voluit? Quis ita vestem ponit quando voluerit, sieur se came exuit quando writ? Quis ita cum voluerit abit, quomodo the cure voluit obiit?" and he ends with this practical conclusion: "Quanta spe-randa vel timenda potestas est judicantis, si apparuit tanta morientis?" "Under these circumstances," writes Dr. Westeott, "it may not be fitting to speculate on the physical cause of the Lord's death, but it h,s been argued that the symptoms agree with a rupture of the heart, such as might i.e. produced by intense mental agony." Luke 23:46

Vincent's Word Studies

I commend (παρατίθεμαι)

See on Luke 9:16.

Gave up the ghost (ἐξέπνευσεν)

Lit., breathed out (his life). Wyc., sent out the spirit. See on Matthew 27:50.