Bible Commentaries
Luke 23

Verses 1-56

1-5 Compare Matthew 27:1-14; Mark 15:2-5; John 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 Matthew 22:17-21; Acts 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 Acts 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 Luke 3:1-2.

8 Compare Luke 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 Isaiah 53:3.

12 Compare Acts 4:25-28.

18-17 Compare Matthew 27:15-19; Mark 15:6-10 John 18:38-39; John 19:4; Acts 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 Matthew 27:20-23; Mark 15:1-14; Mark 15:11-14; John 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 Matthew 27:24-26; Mark 15:15; John 19:16.

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

26 Compare Matthew 27:32; Mark 15:21; John 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 Isaiah 2:19; Hosea 10:8; Revelation 6:16.

32 Compare Isaiah 53:12.

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

33-38 Compare Matthew 27:33-43; Mark 15:22-32; John 19:17-24; Psalms 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 Psalms 22:6-8

39-43 Compare Matthew 27:44; Mark 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 Matthew 27:54-56; Mark 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 Psalms 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 (Revelation 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 Matthew 27:45-53; Mark 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 John 19:28-30; Psalms 31:5.

46 The Spirit of the Lord returned to God (Ecclesiastes 12:7), His soul went to the unseen (Acts 2:27), but His body was not returned to the soil (Genesis 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 Matthew 27:57-60; Mark 15:42-46; John 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 (Isaiah 53:9).

Luke 23:55-56; Luke 24:1-21

55 Compare Matthew 27:61; Mark 15:47.