The Nugget:
Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
My Comment:
Once again my Muslim participant has brought forth more very good questions.
The Questions:
Is it not clear from the Bible itself that in this is incident, among many others, Jesus didn’t utter the expression in question in Greek? All the translations give the expression in another language: “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?”
So it doesn’t matter whether Jesus spoke Greek or not, or if Matthew was originally written in Greek or not, because clearly Jesus did not utter the expression in Greek.
Furthermore, concerning ‘forsaken’ or ‘left’, I said that even if the translation was as you claim, the question was: If there is the absolute unity, why would Jesus complain against whoever left him about being left in the ‘redemptive role’? Why would he question “Why”? Did he not understand? Or was Jesus forced to be there by the God he was calling without his consent? Did he not want it?
Furthermore, if there is that absolute unity among the Godhead as you strongly claim, then, when Jesus died at the cross, did all three die likewise? Or were they separated so that only 1/3rd of the Godhead died? Or did he not die at all?
My Response:
Adil Abdurahman, once again you have asked some excellent questions.
First of all, those of us who are Bible-believing Christians understand that the very words contained in the Bible are given by divine inspiration (2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God….”). Divine inspiration extends to the books of the New Testament (2 Peter 3:15, 16; 1 Timothy 5:18).
Now, as for what is said by Jesus on the cross as recorded in Matthew 27:46, though it is true that Jesus spoke these words in Aramaic, not Greek, Matthew furnishes his translation and explanation by divine inspiration in Greek. It is the explanation in Greek that contains the divinely intended meaning of what Jesus said. Therefore, the full explanation of the Greek which I gave is both pertinent and correct. The scholarly documentation for what I have said can be found readily in J. H. Moulton, A Grammar of New Testament Greek, Volume II: Accidence and Word Formation, Section 118 (a), page 305, just over one-third of the way down the page. The only English translation that gets this matter correct is Lavender’s New Testament, page 57, note i.
Scholarly documentation for my assertion that Matthew was originally written in Greek, not Aramaic, and that certain sayings of Jesus Himself must have been spoken in Greek, will be found in A Grammar of New Testament Greek, Volume IV, page 38 and also Grammatical Insights, page 181, both works written by Nigel Turner, who continued and completed the work of Dr. J. H. Moulton after Dr. Moulton’s death, and published by T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh. I have placed a note at Matthew 16:18 regarding the significance of the Figure of Speech Paronomasia, “which shows that Matthew was originally written in Greek, and is not a translation from the Aramaic” (see The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge at Matthew 16:18 or The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury at Matthew 16:18 for additional details).
Jesus predicted the manner of His death several times before the events took place (see Mark 8:31 and Luke 9:22; Matthew 16:21).
A very significant text will be found in John 2:18-22,
Joh 2:18 Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?
Joh 2:19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
Joh 2:20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
Joh 2:21 But he spake of the temple of his body.
Joh 2:22 When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.
Recall that when Peter drew his sword when Jesus was about to be taken and arrested, Jesus responded:
Mat 26:51 And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest’s, and smote off his ear.
Mat 26:52 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
Mat 26:53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
Mat 26:54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?
From this event, we are assured that Jesus knew very well what He was getting into. Jesus asserted that He could at will summon a superior force of angels–the margin of my Bible says 72,000 angels, to defeat the force arrayed or gathered against Him. But Jesus did not do so. Why? Because, Jesus said, “But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be?”
Jesus plainly tells us that He did what He did voluntarily:
Joh 10:17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
Joh 10:18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
The Scripture further tells us that Jesus did what He did for us “for the joy that was set before him”:
Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The central message of the Gospel may be read in John 3:16,
Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Joh 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Joh 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Joh 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
Joh 3:20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
Joh 3:21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
From the Bible, we learn that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He was truly man and is still truly man. He had two natures: a divine nature and a human nature. In His human nature he could and did suffer pain, and of course, like any human being would respond to that pain because it was truly felt. Yet, despite the agony experienced on the cross, Jesus endured the cross, He died to make atonement for our sins, and the proof that what He did was accepted by God resides in the fact that God raised Jesus bodily from the dead “on the third day,” as Jesus predicted, as the prophets proclaimed in word or in type, in fulfillment of the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
As to the question, did Jesus actually die? The answer is unequivocally, Yes. We have the testimony of the Centurion who was on the scene. We have the testimony of John, the disciple Jesus loved, who was there and wrote graphically of what he saw. We have the fact that Pilate was surprised that Jesus died so quickly, and requested and sent for proof or assurance of the fact before he would agree to release the body to Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus for burial.
