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The author seems to have a bone to pick with certain unidentified heretics, but he doesn't go down that road. Instead he spouts some unexplained Calvinistic jargon (the elect, perseverance, imputation) and eventually veers into his stated topic, the finished work of Christ.
The purpose of the other stuff is a mystery.
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28 Μετὰ τοῦτο εἰδὼς ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὅτι ἤδη πάντα τετέλεσται, ἵνα τελειωθῇ ἡ γραφή, λέγει· διψῶ. 29 σκεῦος ἔκειτο ὄξους μεστόν· σπόγγον οὖν μεστὸν τοῦ ὄξους ὑσσώπῳ περιθέντες προσήνεγκαν αὐτοῦ τῷ στόματι. 30 ὅτε οὖν ἔλαβεν τὸ ὄξος [ὁ] Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν· τετέλεσται, καὶ κλίνας τὴν κεφαλὴν παρέδωκεν τὸ πνεῦμα. John 19:28-30 (NA28)
28 After this, Jesus having known everything that had been completed that the Scripture may be fulfilled, said, “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of vinegar was there, so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on a hyssop branch and put it to his mouth. 30 Therefore, when he received the vinegar, Jesus said, “It is finished.” And having bowed his head, he gave up his Spirit. John 19:28-30 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)
Many of those with whom we earnestly contend for the faith have a problem with the absolute truth that is presented to us in the three verses above. (Apparently the author thinks his arguing about doctrine is the same thing as "contending for the faith." In actual fact we will discover that the author is not contending for the faith, but rather, Calvinism.)
In the passage above (John 19:28-30) the Greek verb τετέλεσται (tetelestai) is used in both v28 and v30. In both cases it is in the perfect tense, indicative mood, and passive voice case of τελέω (teleō), “end, goal, to make and end or accomplishment, to complete anything, not merely to end it, but to bring it to perfection or to its destined goal, to carry it through.” Τελέω was originally derived from τέλος (telos), which “originally meant the turning point, hinge, the culminating point at which one stage ends and another begins; later, the goal, the end.” From this we learn that τελέω means “to bring to a τέλος, to complete.”
In the perfect, indicative, passive case in John 19:28-30, we have described for an action that took place in the past with the results of the action continuing into the present. There is no way to directly state that in English, therefore, it is often translated as “has, “have,” or “hath.” Your English translation may translate τετέλεσται from v28 and v30 as “it has been finished” or something similar. The work accomplished at Calvary occurred over 2000 years ago, but the results have not diminished one iota through the ages. The work of redemption was accomplished for all time.
The word τετέλεσται has been found written across ancient papyri receipts for taxes to state that the one who owed the taxes had “paid them in full.” When Christ stated τετέλεσται on the cross as he was dying, he was stating that the work of paying the price for our sin had been fully accomplished. (Even though the author didn't end up discussing or explaining any of the assertions he made [which we were forced to parse in detail], we were actually enjoying his explanation of the actual topic contained in the title.
28 Μετὰ τοῦτο εἰδὼς ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὅτι ἤδη πάντα τετέλεσται, ἵνα τελειωθῇ ἡ γραφή, λέγει· διψῶ. 29 σκεῦος ἔκειτο ὄξους μεστόν· σπόγγον οὖν μεστὸν τοῦ ὄξους ὑσσώπῳ περιθέντες προσήνεγκαν αὐτοῦ τῷ στόματι. 30 ὅτε οὖν ἔλαβεν τὸ ὄξος [ὁ] Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν· τετέλεσται, καὶ κλίνας τὴν κεφαλὴν παρέδωκεν τὸ πνεῦμα. John 19:28-30 (NA28)
28 After this, Jesus having known everything that had been completed that the Scripture may be fulfilled, said, “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of vinegar was there, so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on a hyssop branch and put it to his mouth. 30 Therefore, when he received the vinegar, Jesus said, “It is finished.” And having bowed his head, he gave up his Spirit. John 19:28-30 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)
Many of those with whom we earnestly contend for the faith have a problem with the absolute truth that is presented to us in the three verses above. (Apparently the author thinks his arguing about doctrine is the same thing as "contending for the faith." In actual fact we will discover that the author is not contending for the faith, but rather, Calvinism.)
Many of them may deny the fact that they hold to a form of salvation that denies the sufficiency of the atoning work of Christ on the cross to accomplish all that is required for all of the elect to not only believe the gospel, but also to persevere. Those who have doubts about that do so because they either do not understand or believe the doctrine of imputation. (Wow, that's quite a mouthful.
So let's see if we can unpack this dense paragraph:
- The author argues with some people
- The argument is about an "absolute truth" contained in John 19:28-30
- A subset of the "some people" he identified are in denial
- They are in denial regarding their denial that Jesus' work on the cross was enough [??]
- This all is because they reject or don't understand imputation
We certainly hope the author will explain all of this. Hint: He won't.)
We have looked at this many times and I do not intend to go into that here. (That's too bad, given it seems to be a key component of his complaint. Sadly, he doesn't even supply us with a link to these explanations!)
In this post we will look at what Christ meant when he knew that everything had been completed in John 19:28 and then said so in John 19:30.
In the passage above (John 19:28-30) the Greek verb τετέλεσται (tetelestai) is used in both v28 and v30. In both cases it is in the perfect tense, indicative mood, and passive voice case of τελέω (teleō), “end, goal, to make and end or accomplishment, to complete anything, not merely to end it, but to bring it to perfection or to its destined goal, to carry it through.” Τελέω was originally derived from τέλος (telos), which “originally meant the turning point, hinge, the culminating point at which one stage ends and another begins; later, the goal, the end.” From this we learn that τελέω means “to bring to a τέλος, to complete.”
In the perfect, indicative, passive case in John 19:28-30, we have described for an action that took place in the past with the results of the action continuing into the present. There is no way to directly state that in English, therefore, it is often translated as “has, “have,” or “hath.” Your English translation may translate τετέλεσται from v28 and v30 as “it has been finished” or something similar. The work accomplished at Calvary occurred over 2000 years ago, but the results have not diminished one iota through the ages. The work of redemption was accomplished for all time.
The word τετέλεσται has been found written across ancient papyri receipts for taxes to state that the one who owed the taxes had “paid them in full.” When Christ stated τετέλεσται on the cross as he was dying, he was stating that the work of paying the price for our sin had been fully accomplished. (Even though the author didn't end up discussing or explaining any of the assertions he made [which we were forced to parse in detail], we were actually enjoying his explanation of the actual topic contained in the title.
Up until now.
There is no verse in the Bible, including the author's subject verses, that tell us that Jesus paid for our sin. None. Go ahead, check it out, dear reader. There is no indication that His sacrificial death was a payment rendered for the debt of sin. Jesus did not die to pay for our sin, period.
He died to purchase us:
Ga. 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law...
Re. 5:9 ...with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.
1Co. 6:20 you were bought at a price.
That's the whole idea of redemption, to purchase us from the kingdom of darkness. Now, this does not mean that Jesus' blood was a payment to the enemy. We don't even think it was a payment to the Father. When Jesus paid for us, He paid with His life to give us life.
We would suggest that we received all the benefits of Jesus' death.)
Nothing else either needs to paid because no more is owed. Salvation is by grace alone. Therefore, no works of any kind are necessary and it is a corruption of the Gospel to add them. Also, those who have been redeemed are redeemed forever. All of the elects’ sins were paid for on the cross, all past, present and future sins. It is finished.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Soli Deo Gloria!
(Well. After opening aggressively, as if the author was going to set his adversaries straight, he punts on this in favor of making simple, basic points: Jesus did everything, nothing else is required. It is finished.
This is mystifying. How are these opponents getting "it is finished" wrong? How does imputation come to bear on the matter? Atonement?
Why didn't the author explain? What then was the purpose of the article?
More importantly, it seems obvious the author completely missed the point of the verses. Let's remind the reader of how the quoted verses began:
28 After this, Jesus having known everything that had been completed that the Scripture may be fulfilled...
Jesus knew everything had been completed, i.e., it is finished. Every prophecy about Him been fulfilled. This is the context for the verses, not that Jesus did everything needed for salvation, but that He did everything to fulfill the prophecies.
Remember that Jesus quoted Psalm 22:1?
The apostle John also quoted from Psalm 22. It is found just before the verses supplied by the author:Mt. 27:46 “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Jn. 19:24 “They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.” [Psalm 22:18]
So, we have Jesus quoting the first verse of Psalm 22 on the cross, John quoting verse 18, as well as various other prophecies about the Messiah [Jn. 2:17 Jn. 12:14 Jn. 12:38 Jn. 13:18 Jn. 15:25 Jn. 19:36-37]. It seems clear that what was finished was the fulfilling of every single prophecy. Jesus accomplished the salvation of mankind exactly as prophesied.
This is a key component, not to be taken lightly. Fulfilled prophecy was absolutely an important issue. Many mentions of this are contained in Scripture: [Mt. 2:15 Mt. 2:17 Mt. 13:35 Mt. 26:54 Mt. 27:9 Mk. 14:49 Mk. 15:28 Lk. 4:21 Lk. 18:31 Lk. 22:37 Lk. 24:44 Ac. 3:18 Ac. 13:33]. Jesus finished the fulfilling of prophecy. That's what He was talking about.
Further, it might have behooved the author to consult another Scripture that uses similar phraseology:
Re. 21:6 He said to me: “It is done."
While the author informed us about the meaning of "finished" [...the culminating point at which one stage ends and another begins; later, the goal, the end.], he might be surprised at what "done" means:
ginomai: to come into being, to happen, to become
When Jesus was on the cross and said it is finished, He was not saying that there was nothing more to do. In fact, He had a lot more to do, which is why the first stage, the spilling of blood for sin, must be accomplished before moving on to the next stage and the next. Jesus still would need to ascend from the grave to be seated on the throne [Lk. 22:69], send His Spirit [Jn. 15:26, Ac. 2:17], and destroy the last enemy [1Co. 15:26].
When the final book is closed [Re. 20:12] and the Holy City descends from heaven [Re. 21:2], it will signal the end of the old order of things [Re. 21:4]. Everything is new [Re. 21:5].
Then, it is not only finished, it is done.
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