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Matthew 27:46: Difference between revisions

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Matthew 27:46 states:
Matthew 27:46 states:


:''And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”<Ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Mt 27:46–50.</Ref>
:''And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”<Ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Mt 27:46–50.</Ref>
=William Branham's interpretation=
William Branham stated that on the cross:
*Jesus died as a man (and not as God).
*Jesus died screaming for help
*Jesus died crying for mercy
*Jesus was separated from God
Sadly, while these things are believed by those that follow the message of William Branham, they are not true and are not found in the Bible.
=What the Bible teaches=
The words are taken directly from the opening of Psalm 22,15 to which we have already seen allusions in vv. 35–36, 39, 43; the psalm expresses the spiritual desolation of a man who continues to trust and to appeal to God in spite of the fact that his ungodly opponents mock and persecute him with impunity. In the end, the psalm turns to joyful thanksgiving for deliverance in vv. 22–31, and some interpreters have suggested that it is the latter part of the psalm that Jesus has in mind as well as its traumatic beginning, so that this is in effect a shout of defiant trust in the God whom he fully expects to rescue him
R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publication Co., 2007), 1075–1076.
The expression “my God,” while of course it is already provided by the psalm, nonetheless draws attention as a unique utterance by Jesus, who elsewhere in Matthew frequently refers to God as his Father but never as “my God”, and who in prayer has used “Father” to address God (11:25, 26; 26:39, 42; cf. 6:9). It thus marks a change of mood from Gethsemane, where, even though the cross was in view, Jesus could still address and trust God as his “Father.”
R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publication Co., 2007), 1076.
as the Logos, Jesus was never abandoned by God.  Jesus, who was God, suffered no damage to his divine nature on the cross.37 Scholastic theology reduced this to the formula that Christ was abandoned by God neither with regard to the union of the two natures nor with regard to divine grace but only with regard to his own experience of suffering.38 However, the ancient church was at least in agreement that Christ’s cry was not to be understood as an expression of deepest despair but was to be interpreted in terms of the victory to which his death on the cross leads
Ulrich Luz, Matthew 21–28: a Commentary, ed. Helmut Koester, Hermeneia—a Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg, 2005), 545.
“Why was it necessary, I implore you, for Christ to beg for God’s help so much, if he himself was the highest God? Why does he say: ‘My God!’?
Ulrich Luz, Matthew 21–28: a Commentary, ed. Helmut Koester, Hermeneia—a Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg, 2005), 547.
Others take into consideration the entire Psalm, especially verses 24 and 26, and see here the prayer of one who still trusts in God to vindicate him.
Barclay Moon Newman and Philip C. Stine, A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1992), 863.
One way of doing this is to point out that the Psalm that begins in this way goes on to praise God for deliverance as the Psalmist says, “From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me … in the midst of the congregation I will praise you” (vv. 21–22). The suggestion is made accordingly that in his hour of need Jesus was reciting a psalm that brings comfort and that we are to understand from the words quoted that he went through the whole psalm.
Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press, 1992), 721.


=Quotes=
=Quotes=