Chapter XVIII.—Of the Lord’s Successive Utterances When He Was About to Die; And of the Question Whether Matthew and Mark are in Harmony with Luke in Their Reports of These Sayings, and Also Whether These Three Evangelists are in Harmony with John.

55. Matthew proceeds as follows: “And Jesus, crying again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.”949    Matt. xxvii. 50. In like manner, Mark says, “And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.”950    Mark xv. 37. Luke, again, has told us what He said when that loud voice was uttered. For his version is thus: “And Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit: and saying this, He gave up the ghost.”951    Luke xxiii. 46. John, on the other hand, as he has left unnoticed the first voice, which Matthew and Mark have reported—namely, “Eli, Eli”—has also passed over in silence the one which has been recited only by Luke, while the other two have referred to it under the designation of the “loud voice.” I allude to the cry, “Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.” Luke has also attested the fact that this exclamation was uttered with a loud voice; and hence we may understand this particular cry to be identified with the loud voice which Matthew and Mark have specified. But John has stated a fact which is noticed by none of the other three, namely, that He said “It is finished,” after He had received the vinegar. This cry we take to have been uttered previous to the loud voice referred to. For these are John’s words: “When Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished; and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost.” 952    John xix. 30. In the interval elapsing between this cry, “It is finished,” and what is referred to in the subsequent sentence, “and He bowed His head and gave up the ghost,” the voice was uttered which John himself has passed over without record, but which the other three have noticed. For the precise succession appears to be this, namely, that He said first “It is finished,” when what had been prophesied regarding Him was fulfilled in Him, and that thereafter—as if He had been waiting for this, like one, indeed, who died when He willed it to be so—He commended His spirit [to His Father], and resigned it.953    [This view of the order is altogether the more probable one. See commentaries.—R.] But, whatever the order may be in which a person may consider it likely that these words were spoken, he ought above all things to guard against entertaining the notion that any one of the evangelists is in antagonism with another, when one leaves unmentioned something which another has repeated, or particularizes something which another has passed by in silence.

CAPUT XVIII. De vocibus Domini quas continuo moriturus emisit, quomodo non repugnent Matthaeus et Marcus Lucae, et ipsi tres Joanni.

55. Sequitur Matthaeus: Jesus autem iterum clamans voce magna, emisit spiritum (Matth. XXVII, 50). Marcus similiter: Jesus autem emissa voce magna, exspiravit (Marc. XV, 37). Lucas autem quid ipsa voce magna dixerit, declaravit; dixit enim: Et clamans voce magna Jesus, ait: Pater, in manus tuas commendo spiritum meum; et haec dicens exspiravit (Luc. XXIII, 46). Joannes vero sicut tacuit illam vocem primam, Eli, Eli, quam Matthaeus et Marcus retulerunt; tacuit etiam istam quam Lucas solus indicavit, illi autem duo nomine vocis magnae significaverunt, id est, Pater, in manus tuas commendo spiritum meum: quod eum voce magna dixisse et ipse Lucas similiter attestatus est, ut intelligeremus hanc fuisse vocem magnam, quam Matthaeus et Marcus commemoraverunt. Sed dixit Joannes quod nullus illorum trium, eum dixisse, Consummatum est, cum acetum accepisset: quod eum ante ipsam vocem magnam dixisse intelligimus. Haec sunt enim verba Joannis: Cum ergo accepisset Jesus acetum, dixit, Consummatum est; et inclinato capite tradidit spiritum (Joan. XIX, 30). Inter illud quod ait, Consummatum est, et illud quod ait, et inclinato capite tradidit spiritum, emissa est illa vox magna quam tacuit iste, caeteri autem tres commemoraverunt. Hoc enim apparet esse ordinis, ut ante diceret, Consummatum est, cum perfectum in illo esset quod de illo prophetatum erat, et tanquam ad hoc exspectaret, qui utique cum vellet moreretur, deinde commendans tradidit spiritum. Sed quovis ordine quilibet arbitretur dici potuisse, hoc magnopere cavendum est, ne cui videatur quisquam Evangelistarum alteri repugnare, si vel tacuit quod alius dixit, vel dixit quod alius tacuit.