Matthew 27:42

Mat 27:42. Πιστεύσομεν Αὐτῷ, we will believe Him) We [Christians] believe on Him for that very reason, that He did not immediately descend from the Cross, but on the contrary consummated His work.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_27:42 Parallelism similar to that of Mat_27:40.

καὶ πιστεύομεν (see the critical remarks) ἐπʼ αὐτῷ: and we believe on Him (at once), that is, as actually being the Messiah. ἐπί with the dative (Luk_24:25) conveys the idea that the faith would rest upon Him. So also Rom_9:33; Rom_10:11; 1Ti_1:16; 1Pe_2:6.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 27:42 . ἄλλους ἔσωσεν , etc., He saved others, Himself He cannot save. Both facts ; the former they can now afford to admit, and they do so all the more readily that it serves as a foil to the other fact patent to everybody. βασιλεὺς Ἰ . Messianic King the claim involved in the confession before the Sanhedrim, refuted by the cross, for who could believe that Messiah would be crucified? καταβάτω νῦν , etc.: yet let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe on Him at once. These pious scoffers profess their readiness to accept descent from the cross as the conclusive sign from heaven they had always been asking for.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 42. He saved others; himself he cannot save.] Or, Cannot he save himself? Several MSS. read this with the mark of interrogation as above; and this makes the sarcasm still more keen.

A high priest who designs to destroy the temple of God: a Saviour who saves not himself; and the Son of God crucified: these are the contradictions which give offence to Jews and libertines. But a high priest who dispels the types and shadows, only that he may disclose the substance of religion, and become the minister of a heavenly sanctuary; a Saviour who dies only to be the victim of salvation; and the Son of God who confines his power within the bounds of the cross to establish the righteousness of faith: this is what a Christian adores; this is the foundation of his hope, and the fountain of his present comfort and final blessedness. See Quesnel.

We will believe him.] Instead of αυτω, him, many excellent MSS. have επ' αυτῳ, IN him: this is a reading which Griesbach and other eminent critics have adopted.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(42) He saved others.—The mockers, as before (comp. Joh_11:50-51), bear unconscious witness to the truth. They referred, it may be, to the works of healing and the raising of the dead which had been wrought in Galilee and Jerusalem, but their words were true in a yet higher sense. He had come into the world to save others, regardless of Himself.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

42. He saved others; himself he cannot save] These words in the original would recall the “hosannas” in the Temple which had enraged the chief priests; see note ch. Mat_21:9. They also connect themselves with the name of Jesus (“Saviour”).

the King of Israel] A title applied to Jesus only here and in the parallel passage of St Mark’s Gospel.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He trusted in God,.... That is, he pretended to claim an interest in him, to be high in his favour and esteem, and to have great faith and confidence in him:

let him deliver him now; directly, from the cross, and the death of it:

if he will have him; or if he is well pleased with him as his own Son, or delights in him as such, and will show him any favour and good will; see Psa 22:8, where are these very words, and which are predicted should be said by these men to Christ; and are a wonderful confirmation of the truth of that Psalm and prophecy belonging to him:

for he said, I am the Son of God; not only in his ministry, but he had said so in their grand council, before them all.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

42 He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.

Ver. 42. We will believe him] They would not; but rather have said, he had done it by the devil’s help; or have searched the devil’s skull to find out some other trick to elude the truth.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He saved others - It does not seem probable that they meant to admit that he had actually saved others, but only that he “pretended” to save them from death by miracles, or that he claimed to be the Messiah, and thus affirmed that he “could” save them. This is, therefore, cutting irony.

If he be the King of Israel ... - It may seem strange to some that Jesus did not vindicate by a miracle his claims to be the Messiah, and come down from the cross. But the time had come for him to make an atonement. He had given full and sufficient proof that he was the Christ. Those who had rejected him, and who mocked and taunted him, would have been little likely to admit his claims if he had come down from the cross, since they had set at naught all his other miracles. They said this for the purpose of insult; and Jesus chose rather to suffer, though his character was assailed, than to work a new miracle for their gratification. He had foretold his death, and the time had come; and now, amid revilings, and gibes, and curses, and the severe sarcasms of an angry and apparently triumphant priesthood, he chose to die for the sins of the world. To this they added “insult” to God, profanely calling upon him to interpose by miracle and save him, if he was his friend; and all this when their prophets had foretold this very scene, and when they were fulfilling the predictions of their own Scriptures. See the Isa. 53 notes, and Dan 9:24-27 notes. So wonderful is the way by which God causes His word to be fulfilled.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

If he be the king of Israel. Pilate having written on the inscription set upon the cross, that Christ was the king of Israel, the Jews endeavoured to persuade him to remove or alter it; but Pilate gave them for answer, according to St. John, "what I have written, I have written." The Jews, therefore, wishing to shew that he was not their king, said with insulting scorn, "if he be the king of Israel, let him come down from the cross," (St. John Chrysostom) "and we will believe him." Falsehood and deceit are stamped upon these words of the Jewish priests; for, whether is it more difficult to descend from his cross, being yet alive, or, being dead, to raise himself from the tomb? He rose again, and you did not believe had he descended from the cross, you would have been equally incredulous. (St. Jerome)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

42. He saved others; himself he cannot save — A noble Saviour, forsooth, who cannot save himself! And yet, as learned men, they know or ought to know that the Old Testament foretold a suffering as well as a glorious Messiah. They ought to have remembered that it was by suffering that the Messiah was to save. Come down from the cross — And if he should come down from the cross, what then? What hope of mercy for his enemies? What would be the fate of men who say to him, The test of your Messiahship is to overcome our purpose of murdering you? And, still worse, if he should come down from the cross, and leave the great work of the atonement unfinished, what redemption for you miserable sinners?

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He saved others. They knew something of his many miracles of healing; many among them had witnessed the cure of the man blind from his birth; (Joh 9) most must have heard of the raising of Lazarus; they made these very works of mercy a reproach against him. He had proved himself a beneficent Saviour; he had shown superhuman power, and yet they say, Himself he cannot save. There was indeed a sense, not their sense, in which this was true. Christ willed to die; it was his purpose thus to redeem mankind; in adhering to this steadfast determination he could not deliver himself from suffering and death. Some read the clause interrogatively, "Cannot he save himself?" It is then parallel to the expression used at the grave of Lazarus. (Joh_11:37) If he be the King of Israel. "If" (ei) is omitted by a, B, D, L, etc., and many modern editors. Its omission is more concinnons to the other taunts, e.g. "He saved others;" "He trusted in God." His claim to be Messiah would involve the Kingship of Israel, (Mat_2:6) which the title over his head asserted. We will believe him ( pisteusomen autw). We will believe (not subj., "let us believe") what he says. The Sinaitic, Vatican, and other good manuscripts read ep auton , "on him." So Westcott and Hort, Tischendorf, etc. This form of expression would imply that they would put their trust in him, become his followers. A confident boast! for they were so fully persuaded of the final triumph of their malice, that they decreed they might safely make such a promise. And yet Christ did a greater thing than come down alive from the cross; he rose from the dead; but they believed not in him. And if the sign which they asked had been vouchsafed, they would have explained it away, or evaded its meaning, and nave been no nearer to salvation than now.

He who saves others cannot save himself.

The leaders of the Jewish nation looked with grave suspicion on every one who claimed to be Messiah; and as they. fully believed that when Messiah came he would "abide forever," the crucifixion of Jesus was the plainest possible proof that he was not Messiah. This text is the taunt founded on this idea. "He saved others" is satire. They did not believe that he had saved anybody. To them his imposture and his helplessness were at once shown in this he cannot save." Those mockers were wrong every way.

I CHRIST DID SAVE OTHERS. Illustrate, by specimen cases, the following three points:

1. He did save from disability and disease. He gave sight to the blind, and cleansed the leper.

2. He did save from death. He brought Lazarus back from the grave.

3. He did save from sin. Authoritatively saying to the paralytic, "Thy sins are forgiven thee." He did "save to the uttermost.

II CHRIST COULD HAVE SAVED HIMSELF. Had he so wished, he could have commanded the service of "twelve legions of angels." "There was not a moment, from beginning to end of his human career, in which our blessed Lord might not have turned back from shame and suffering. At the very moment when these words were uttered, be had but to speak, and he would have been surrounded by the responsive hosts of heaven, and in one moment his pain would have been exchanged for triumph." Nails could not hold him against his will. He could have come down from the cross.

III CHRIST WOULD NOT SAVE HIMSELF. There is the mystery of the great self-sacrifice. Because he would save others, he would not save himself. Relatively to the work which our blessed Lord had undertaken, it was necessary that he himself should not be saved, His mission required:

1. That his submission to God"s will should be fully tested. And the last test of a man is this Can you die just when God pleases, just where God pleases, just how God pleases?

2. That mission required the surrender of a human life as a sacrifice for sin. That was the Divine plan for the redemption of men from sin; Jesus must offer that sacrifice, so he would not come down from the cress. Our Lord"s own will gave the virtue to his sacrifice. He could have saved himself, but he would not. He meant to yield himself, in a voluntary act of obedience to God. "By the which will we have been sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus once for all. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

42. ἄλλους ἔσωσεν κ.τ.λ. These words in the original would recall the ‘hosannas’ in the Temple which had enraged the chief priests; see note, ch. Mat 21:9. They also connect themselves with the name of Jesus (σωτήρ).

βασιλεὺς Ἰσραήλ. Comp. ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδ. supra Mat 27:37, and see Joh 1:49; Joh 12:13.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

42.] Luke gives, more exactly, the second reproach in this verse as proceeding from the soldiers.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(M) 42. Others He saved; Himself He cannot save. He is Israels king. Let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe upon Him.] Mk. has: “Others He saved; Himself lie cannot save. Let the Anointed, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.”—πιστεύσομεν] Mk. has two verbs; cf. Introduction, p. xxv.

Mt. here adds:

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He saved others, etc. The Greek order is, Others he saved; himself he cannot save.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.