It just hit me...is this correct?!?

[Amber Lynne]

What I do?

Don't you EVEN...

[EarsToHear]

Amber, I was reading this verse last week and meditating on it also. On a side note, in other Scriptures regarding death, the Lord "takes away" the breath and the body falls. I was thinking how compliant and in sync Jesus was with the Father, obediently commending His spirit to Him at the time that His number of breaths on earth had been fulfilled.

Mark 15:37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed his last.

Luke 23:46 And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, "Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT." Having said this, He breathed His last.

[kcofohio]

I was trying to be careful and not say "Christ didn't die..." because thats not really true....he DID die, but just not like you and I do. We can't "give up the ghost" like He could...

I think you did well.

[Amber Lynne]

Thanks y'all!

[Doulos]

It looks like I'm in the small minority here, but I don't think that the verses referring to Christ's ability to lay down His life refers to a power to "give up the ghost" but rather in regard to His sinlessness and power to call for rescue. Christ had the power to leave the cross at any time, therefore for Him to remain on the cross was His power to lay down His life rather than to have it taken from Him. I believe that this is true also in regard to His sinlessness. Jesus could not have died except as part of the payment for our sin since He had none of His own and this punishment He received of His own free will. It was not imposed.

I believe that final death came about as a result of His prayer, "My God, My God why have you forsaken me?" Jesus had suffered and completed all that He came to do on the cross (John 19:28) and so He cried out to His Father saying, "Why are you leaving me here?" And, the Father responded by taking Jesus' life as Jesus commended His own spirit unto Him.

[Amber Lynne]

Doulos...very interesting! I never thought of it that way...I will have to chew on that...


Now stop raining on my parade!

[kcofohio]

I believe that final death came about as a result of His prayer, "My God, My God why have you forsaken me?" Jesus had suffered and completed all that He came to do on the cross (John 19:28) and so He cried out to His Father saying, "Why are you leaving me here?" And, the Father responded by taking Jesus' life as Jesus commended His own spirit unto Him.

(Mat 27:50) Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.

(Mar 15:37) And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.

(Luk 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.

(Joh 19:30) When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

All four gospels say that Jesus gave up the ghost. In Lukes gospel, "commend" ;

G3908
παρατίθημι
paratithēmi
par-at-ith'-ay-mee
From G3844 and G5087; to place alongside, that is, present (food, truth); by implication to deposit (as a trust or for protection): - allege, commend, commit (the keeping of), put forth, set before.

(Joh 2:19) Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

Here, Jesus said He would raise Himself up after three days. Since He said He would rise Himself after three days, referring back to John 10:18, He also was able to lay down His life, as God the Father had given Jesus this command.

[DJHere]

I was trying to be careful and not say "Christ didn't die..." because thats not really true....he DID die, but just not like you and I do. We can't "give up the ghost" like He could...

I must disagree with you for Acts 7 clearly records Stephen prayed:

59While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep.

What does Luke 23 record Jesus said:

44It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last.

In both instances they commend their spirit to God and die.

So what about what John 10 states:

11"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

14"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."

Jesus did not have to die. He layed down His life down freely of His own accord and that is the difference. Jesus is God all He would have had to do is command and those killing him would have died and He would have lived. He did not do this because to have done so would have condemned all of mankind to hell for eternity.

[Amber Lynne]

I do not believe that Steven could lay down his life as Jesus laid down His.

[Anddra]

Death had no power over Jesus. The only way He could die was to lay down His life Himself. Nobody could or did take it from Him.

[DJHere]

And what did I specifically note:

Jesus did not have to die. He layed down His life down freely of His own accord and that is the difference. Jesus is God all He would have had to do is command and those killing him would have died and He would have lived. He did not do this because to have done so would have condemned all of mankind to hell for eternity.

[Hootmon]

Darcy

[Amber Lynne]

...never mind. You seem to be in the mood to fight and I am not. I will shush now and go back to being silly, charming and light hearted.

[kcofohio]

Death had no power over Jesus. The only way He could die was to lay down His life Himself. Nobody could or did take it from Him.

[DJHere]

Darcy

[Doulos]

(Mat 27:50) Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.

(Mar 15:37) And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.

(Luk 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.

(Joh 19:30) When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

All four gospels say that Jesus gave up the ghost. In Lukes gospel, "commend" ;

G3908
παρατίθημι
paratithēmi
par-at-ith'-ay-mee
From G3844 and G5087; to place alongside, that is, present (food, truth); by implication to deposit (as a trust or for protection): - allege, commend, commit (the keeping of), put forth, set before.

(Joh 2:19) Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

Here, Jesus said He would raise Himself up after three days. Since He said He would rise Himself after three days, referring back to John 10:18, He also was able to lay down His life, as God the Father had given Jesus this command.

The yielding up of Jesus' spirit was in His cry to the Father in which Jesus committed His Spirit to Him. The word that refers to ghost/spirit is identical to breath which agrees with other translations which translate it as Jesus breathing His last. So, this is not something that Jesus as the Son did alone, but in cooperation with the Father. The same goes for Jesus' resurrection which is how the verses you quote from John can be in harmony with Galatians 1:1.

Galatians 1:1 (NASB95)
1 Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead),

So, when Jesus yielded up His spirit it was by committing it to the Father not by a 'special power' that He had to make His own spirit leave His body.

[EarsToHear]

Doulos, this is what I was getting at, but you wrote it much more eloquently and with Scripture backup. Jesus did everything in sync with the Father, including the taking away of (the Father) and the commending of (the Son) His last breath. Kind of hard to wrap the mind around, but makes sense when you remember that Jesus said He and the Father were one.

[HeIsEnough]

So, when Jesus yielded up His spirit it was by committing it to the Father not by a 'special power' that He had to make His own spirit leave His body.

You don't really know that.

Christ is God, and has life in and of Himself, to give it or to take it, to raise it or not. That He did everything in accord with the will of the Father and of the Spirit, is default, it could not be otherwise.

[Amber Lynne]

You don't really know that.

Christ is God, and has life in and of Himself, to give it or to take it, to raise it or not. That He did everything in accord with the will of the Father and of the Spirit, is default, it could not be otherwise.

[Doulos]

You don't really know that.

Christ is God, and has life in and of Himself, to give it or to take it, to raise it or not. That He did everything in accord with the will of the Father and of the Spirit, is default, it could not be otherwise.

Actually I can know it for the exact reason that you hint at here. Jesus, while on earth, was limited in every way just as we are. It is in this limitation that Jesus was fully man.

Philippians 2:6-7 (NASB95)
6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

Jesus left behind the power of being God when He condescended to become man only to take it up again after His resurrection. This is why it was possible for Jesus to say:

Matthew 28:18 (NASB95)
18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

All authority would not have needed to be given to Jesus if He had retained it throughout His incarnation. There is no scripture then to cause us to believe that Jesus had any sort of special power to "give up the ghost" or in fact any power that could not be possesed of men in perfection. To show this I will use one of the most difficult examples.

Jesus forgave sins on earth by command of the Father, not of His own accord since He only did all that He was commanded to do.

John 6:38 (NASB95)
38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

This is why Jesus was able to say the following to His disciples:

John 20:23 (NASB95)
23 “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”

It isn't that they had the power of God to forgive sin, but in perfect obedience and application of the gospel they in effect had the power to forgive sins and it is in this way Jesus forgave sin while on earth. This is also why Jesus had to pray, "Father forgive them...." And this He did instead of declaring their forgiveness.

The one thing that Jesus did have the ability to do above any other is that one thing in which He was born to do; be the perfect sacrifice. And this is not found in any special power but in that He was the very essence of God (Philippians 2) and so had the perfect character and eternality of God.