John 19:34

But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. BUT ONE OF THE SOLDIERS - to make assurance of the fact doubly sure BUT ONE OF THE SOLDIERS - to make assurance of the fact doubly sure, WITH A SPEAR PIERCED HIS SIDE - making a wound deep and wide, as indeed is plain from John 20:27. Had life still remained it must have fled now. AND FORTHWITH CAME THEREOUT BLOOD AND WATER. 'It is now well known,' to use the words of Webster and Wilkinson, 'that the effect of long-continued and intense agony is frequently to produce a secretion of a colourless lymph within the pericardium (the membrane enveloping the heart), amounting in many cases to a very considerable quantity....

34._But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear. _When _the soldier pierced Christ’s side with his spear, _he did so for the purpose of ascertaining if he was dead; but God had a higher object in view, as we shall immediately see. It was a childish contrivance of the Papists, when, out of the Greek word λόγχε, which means a spear, (186) they manufactured the proper name of a man, and called this soldier Longinus, and, to give an air of plausibility to their story, foolishly alleged that he had been formerly blind, and that, after having received his sight, he was converted to the faith. Thus they have placed him in the catalogue of the saints. (187) Since their prayers, whenever they call on God, rest on such intercessors, what, I ask, will they ever be able to obtain? But they who despise Christ, and seek the intercessions o

31-37 A trial was made whether Jesus was dead. He died in less time than persons crucified commonly did. It showed that he had laid down his life of himself. The spear broke up the very fountains of life; no human body could survive such a wound. But its being so solemnly attested, shows there was something peculiar in it. The blood and water that flowed out, signified those two great benefits which all believers partake of through Christ, justification and sanctification; blood for atonement, water for purification. They both flow from the pierced side of our Redeemer. To Christ crucified we owe merit for our justification, and Spirit and grace for our sanctification. Let this silence the fears of weak Christians, and encourage their hopes; there came both water and blood out of Jesus' pierced side, both to justify and sanctify them. The Scripture was fulfilled, in Pilate's not allowin...

Verse 34. _WITH A SPEAR PIERCED HIS SIDE_] The soldier who pierced our Lord's side has been called by the Roman Catholic writers _Longinus_, which seems to be a corruption of λογχη, _lonche_, a _spear_ or _dart_, the word in the text. They moreover tell us that this man was converted-that it was he who said, _Truly this was the_ _Son of God_-that he travelled into _Cappadocia_, and there preached the Gospel of Christ, and received the crown of martyrdom. But this deserves the same credit as the other legends of the Popish Church. Whether it was the _right_ or the _left_ side of Christ that was pierced has been a matter of serious discussion among divines and physicians; and on this subject they are not yet agreed. That it is of _no importance_ we are sure, because the Holy Ghost has not revealed it. _Luke Cranache_, a famous painter, whose piece of the crucifixion is at Augsburg, has p...

ONE OF THE SOLDIERS - One of those appointed to watch the bodies until they were dead. This man appears to have doubted whether he was dead, and, in order to see whether he was not yet sensible, he pierced him with his spear. The Jews designed that his legs should be broken, but this was prevented by the providence of God; yet in another way more satisfactory proof was obtained of his death than would have been by the breaking of his legs. This was so ordered, no doubt, that there might be the fullest proof that he was truly dead; that it could not be pretended that he had swooned away and revived, and so, therefore, that there could not be the least doubt of his resurrection to life. WITH A SPEAR - The common spear which soldiers used in war. There can be no doubt that such a stroke from the strong arm of a Roman soldier would have caused death, if he had not been already dead; and it w...

EXPOSITION JOHN 19:1 (d) [Within the Praetorium.] The unjust scourging, and the crown of thorns. JOHN 19:1 Then PILATE THEREFORE TOOK JESUS, AND SCOURGED HIM. The force of the "therefore" may be seen in the foregoing observations (see especially Luke 23:23). He obviously fancied that the sight of their victim's utter humiliation, his reduction to the lowest possible position, would sate their burning rage. Scourging was the ordinary preliminary of crucifixion, and it might be regarded as Pilate's verdict, or the conclusion of the whole matter. Roman and Greek historians confirm the custom (Josephus, 'Ant.,'...

BUT ONE OF THE SOLDIERS,.... Whose name some pretend to say was Longinns, and so called from the spear with which he pierced Christ: WITH A SPEAR PIERCED HIS SIDE; his left side, where the heart lies; though the painters make this wound on the right, and the Arabic version of Erpenius, as cited by Dr. Lightfoot, adds the word "right" to make the miracle the greater: this the soldier did, partly out of spite to Christ, and partly to know whether he was really dead; and which was so ordered by divine providence, that it might beyond all doubt appear that he really died, and was not taken down alive from the cross; so that there might be no room to call in question the truth of his resurrection, when he should appear alive again: AND FORTHWITH CAME THERE OUT BLOOD AND WATER; this is accounted for in a natural way by the piercing of the "pericardium", which contains a small quantity of wat...

John 19:1. _Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him._ This was one of the most terrible punishments to which a man could be sentenced. The Roman scourge was no trifle. It tore off the quivering flesh of the agonized sufferer for it was constructed on purpose to do so. It was generally made of the sinews of oxen, intertwined with the knuckle bones of sheep, and small slivers of bone. This torture our blessed Saviour endured. These are the stripes with which we are healed. John 19:2. _And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe,_ Mockery was blended with cruelty. They might have made him a crown, yet surely it need not have been one of thorns unless they intended to put him to the utmost torment that they could c

CHAPTER 19 _ 1. Behold the Man! (John 19:1 .)_ 2. The Last Question of Pilate and Christ's Last Word. (John 19:8 .) 3. Delivered up and Crucified. (John 19:12 .) 4. The Title upon the Cross. (John 19:19 .) 5. The Parted Garments. (John 19:23 .) 6. Behold Thy Son! Behold Thy Mother! (John 19:25 .) 7. It is Finished! (John 19:28 .) 8. His Legs not B

THE LANCE-THRUST AND THE BURIAL. It has been said that these verses contain parts of two accounts of burial, by the Jews, and by Joseph. In reality the Jews only demand that the law of Deuteronomy 21:23, applicable to any day, should not be broken, especially considering the sanctity of the morrow, which was both a Sabbath and the great day of the Feast. The breaking of the legs was often allowed, as an act of mercy to the sufferers. In the Gospel of Peter the Jews object to it, in order that Jesus'suffering may not be shortened. As a means of ensuring death the lance-thrust is perfectly natural, and results which might easily be described by an actual witness in the terms of John 19:34 are not physiologically impossible (Exp., May 1916). Again it is easier to suppose that facts have caused the discove