Crucifixion of Jesus and Seven Words on Cross

[Indurkar]

Crucifixion and Seven words of Jesus on the Cross -- Dr. V.S.Indurkar
Resurrection of Jesus Christ after death on cross is fundamental to the Christian faith. When Jesus was crucified he spoke seven words on the cross. These seven words are found in the four Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Because they are in different Gospels, and variations in these descriptions, it is pertinent to enquire about the historicity of Jesus and Crucifixion. Is this a Historical-fact or a Myth? The four-Gospels are the claimant of crucifixion. So they cannot be the proof. Historical proofs are sought through multiple- independent- assertions. There are enough evidences as proof that it is a historical fact. These are two important evidences :-
1. St. Paul in epistle to Galatians wrote in Ch.1:19,20 “…..save James the Lord’s brother. Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not” . Also in Corinthians Ch. 15:3,4 “for I delivered unto you……… that Christ died for our sins……….. And that he was buried”.
St. Paul wrote these epistles at around 40 A.D. whereas the four Gospels came in written form at around 80 A.D. - or more. This does not mean that descriptions of these Gospels were not available in oral tradition. They were compiled in written text-form in Greek, at around 80 A.D.; the first one being the Gospel of Mark – (Historians rely on written documents of old events & people ). However, St Paul’s Epistles as proof are within the New -Testament. An independent assertion – as historical proof is given in writings of Josephus Ben Matthias .
2. Following account (portions) is taken from Bede Library, “A review of Testimonium Flavianum”.
“Josephus Ben Matthias is the best known ancient Jewish historian. He was born in 37 CE, only a few years after Jesus' execution. Josephus was well educated in biblical law and history. Josephus counted among his friends Agrippa II. . In the 90 CE he wrote a much broader history of the Jewish people, Jewish Antiquities.
References to Jesus: Josephus' writings cover a number of figures familiar to Bible readers. He discusses John the Baptist, James the brother of Jesus, Pontius Pilate, the Sadducees, the Sanhedrin, the High Priests, and the Pharisees. As for Jesus, there are two references to him in Antiquities. First, in a section in Book 18 dealing with various actions of Pilate, the extant texts refer to Jesus and his ministry. This passage is known as the Testimonium Flavianum.
“At this time there appeared Jesus, a wise man. For he was a doer of startling deeds, a teacher of people who receive the truth with pleasure. And he gained a following among many Jews and among many of Gentile origin. And when Pilate, because of an accusation made by the leading men among us, condemned him to the cross, those who had loved him previously did not cease to do so. And up until this very day the tribe of Christians (named after him) had not died out.” - [ From Bede Library, A review of Testimonium Flavianum. ]”
According to leading Josephus scholar Louis H. Feldman, the authenticity of this passage, "has been almost universally acknowledged" by scholars. (Feldman, "Josephus," Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol. 3, pages 990-91).
When Jesus was crucified He was hung supported by Three Nails. Crucifix was an extremely painful method of punishment in the Roman Empire. The idea was a slow extremely painful and suffocating death. Jesus’ hands were nailed to the horizontal beam – one nail in each palm, going through the soft tissue and flesh between two finger bones. The legs were nailed together by driving one nail through the feet - one above other. The feet’s were resting on a Wedge-like support at an angle of 40 to 60 degrees from horizontal. With the result that a person cannot support his weight by his feet for long. He has to transfer his weight to his hands, supported by the nails. Thus alternatively supporting his body-weight creates an excruciating pain shooting through the body. Breathing becomes very difficult and person dies of asphyxia.

1. The first word :- "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."
Gospel of Luke 23:34
Forgiveness:- Jesus was just nailed and hung on the cross. He is in excruciating pain of the fresh wounds and blood is trickling down from them. Despite this He prays for forgiveness for His tormentors and accusers. Right up to his final hours on earth, Jesus preaches forgiveness. He teaches forgiveness in the Lord's prayer: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us" (Matthew 6:12).

2."Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
Gospel of Luke 23:43
Salvation and Hope:- When one of the two thieves crucified along with Jesus , taunted Him to save himself as also them, the second thief chided the first one. He then requested “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom”. This thief , who is condemned to cross puts Faith in Christ. This second word is about ‘Salvation & Hope’. It is never too late, and no one is ever too far gone. If you believe in God , never give up. That is the message of the second word.
3."Jesus said to his mother: "Woman, this is your son."
Then he said to the disciple: "This is your mother."
Gospel of John 19:26-27
Relationship & Care of Family:- The third word of Jesus spoken on cross is about ‘the concern for His (earthly) family. Specially about His mother. Many authorities of New Testament attest that Joseph had expired many years ago. Last we read about him is when Jesus was twelve years old (at Jerusalem with his parents). Jesus in his third word is specially concerned about His Mother and wishes to provide for her. He tells the His disciple – (John) to take His place in caring for His Mother.
4."My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34
His Substitution: - As Paul wrote (2nd Cor. 5:21) On the Cross, Jesus became our substitute, and took our sins upon Himself, and gave us His righteousness. Jesus recalls Psalm 22 - a cry of anguish. In this Psalm 22 , King David had made a striking prophecy of the crucifixion . At the time of David , crucifixion was not known to exist: The Psalm continues, "They have pierced my hands and my feet, they have numbered all my bones "They divide my garments among them, and for my vesture they cast lots" (22:16-18). It should be noticed here that Jesus was well versed in scriptures of old Testaments. During many of His teachings and discourses He quoted from the old testament.
5."I thirst."
Gospel of John 19:28
Humanity Of Jesus :- God became a man in the person of Jesus. As a human he got hungry, tired, and thirsty. He who fed many with a few fishes and loaves of bread was himself in need , as a human. This is the only human expression of Jesus – of His physical suffering.
6.When Jesus had received the wine, he said, "It is finished;"
and he bowed his head and handed over the spirit.
Gospel of John 19:30
Victory And Grace :- The sixth word of Jesus is recognition of victory over sin and that His sufferings as Human are over. His task being completed, He handed over the Spirit. “But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately Blood and water came out.”-- John 19:34. Roman soldiers used this test to check if a person is dead. If only blood comes out it means there is blood-circulation in body , but if water (plasma) comes out with little blood it means blood-circulation and heart-beat has stopped. Roman soldier thus ensured that Jesus died on the cross. Jesus spent six hours on the cross. It well known in Roman customs that a person dies of Asphyxiation in three to six hours. “It is finished,” is the victory over Sin. It is the End of Old, and beginning of the New - it was now time for resurrection and new life!

7.Jesus cried out in a loud voice,
"Father, into your hands I commend my spirit."
Gospel of Luke 23:46
Faith in God :- Mark 15:34 -. “and at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying “Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani?”
This last word is the CONFIDENCE that all God’s children have. If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved, when you die. Jesus hands-over His spirit to His father-God seeing that His Mission in this world is completed, He releases His Spirit. Thus Jesus is united-in-spirit with his Father. He foretold this to Pharisees –John 8:33; ”I shall be with you for a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent me.” He repeats from Psalm 31:5 – Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. References to Psalm 22 & 31 and many quotes from scripture from Old-Testament in His teachings during His Ministry indicate that He remained in Judea during the ‘So called Lost years’. John 14:16-18 -- Jesus hands-over His spirit to God. The Holy spirit was with Jesus during His life. By this word “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”, His spirit was released from Human bondage so God could to send the Holy Ghost . John 14:26 – The comforter which is the Holy Ghost …………”. Indeed the Holy Ghost did descend upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost – Acts 2:1-4.
There are two important factors here.
1. That Jesus died for our Sins. We all are under the sin because of Adam & Eves’ first sin - ‘Disobedience’ of God. King David writes in Psalm 51:5……….’and in sin did my mother conceive me’.
2. Jesus released the Holy Spirit which was in Him; so that later The Holy Spirit could descend upon the disciples.

Five Important Facts about Jesus :-
1.Jesus was Crucified.
2.Jesus died on the Cross.
3. Jesus was Buried.
4. Jesus resurrected from dead.
5.He appeared in multiple instances and invited Thomas to touch His wounds.
John Ch. 20:26-29 :- ….. blessed are they that have not seen and yet believed .
Written & Compiled by Dr .V.S.Indurkar

[bippy123]

Beautifull post Indurkar, and this shows that there were many references to Christ from even secular sources.
Remember though the first passage from Josephus that started with Jesus the doer of startling deeds is considered by about half of historians to be a partial interpolation , but even when u take out the interpolations it is still a clear reference to Jesus. I'm only putting this here because skeptics will bring this up from my experience in some very hardcore debates with atheists on this.

I would instead use the second Josephus in your original post as almost no historians doubt the authenticity of it as a clear secular reference to The earliest Christians believing that Christ is God.

More important is that Josephus wrote a second passage about Jesus in the testimonium in which he clearly references Jesus and calls him the so called Christ and called upon his relation to James , and this is unanimously believed to be authentic Josephus . This shows that Josephus concedes that the earliest Christians believe Jesus to be the messiah, and it is one of the most important secular passages that showed that the early Christians believed Jesus to be God.
This passage fits perfectly with what Origen (one of the early church fathers) told us about Josephus, that Josephus didnt believe Christ to be God).

http://www.facingthechallenge.org/josephus.php

However, there is a second reference to Jesus in the works of Josephus. In Antiquities 20.200, he describes how, in AD 62, the high priest Ananus was deposed because he had illegally

convened the Sanhedrin [the highest Jewish religious court / governing body]. He had brought before them the brother of Jesus the so-called Christ, who was called James, and some other men, whom he accused of having broken the law, and handed them over to be stoned.
Notice the following points from this quotation from Josephus:

Jesus had a brother called James
James was executed by the Jewish leaders in AD 62
There were claims that Jesus was the Messiah (that is, the Christ).
There is one other important point to notice from this quotation. Most scholars do not doubt the authenticity of this second reference to Jesus. Yet this passage refers to Jesus as the 'so-called Christ'. This brief comment appears to link back to Josephus' earlier reference to Jesus, and may even show that what he originally wrote there included some such comment as 'Jesus the so-called Christ.' Several of the books listed include some discussion of these passages from Josephus.

[bippy123]

We also have the accounts of some of the earliest Christian writings from the students of the apostles who clearly referenced Christ's divinity.

Ignatius of Antioch in 110ad left no doubt of how the earliest Christians thought of Jesus. He explicitly called him God.
Remember that ignatius of Antioch was a student of John the apostle. Remember also that the Romans tried to force Ignatiius to deny Christ as his lord and savior and when he didnt , ignatius was fed to the lions in the Roman coliseum .

https://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/li ... hrist.html

I. Selected Ante-Nicene Patristic witnesses to Christ's Divinity
A. Ignatius of Antioch, on the Divinity of Christ, calls Jesus God 16x in 7 letters (ca. 110 AD)
1. “Jesus Christ our God” Eph inscr, Eph 15:3, Eph 18:2, Tral 7, Ro inscr 2x, Ro 3:3, Smyr 10:1.
2. He speaks of Christ’s blood as “God's blood” Eph 1:1
3. He calls Jesus “God incarnate” Eph 7:2
4. In Jesus “God was revealing himself as a man” Eph 19:3

[Silvertusk]

One thing I would add is that the date you have attested for the Gospels to be in written form is not accurate from the sources I have read.

"The Search for the Twelve apostles" by William Steuart McBirnie Ph.D. already had Matthew with his own gospel with him on his preaching tours and another apostle with a copy of Matthew's gospel on his preaching tours. Paul makes reference to the written Gospel of Mark in his letters- which is bascially the words of Peter. Acts was written by Luke as a sequel to his own gospel - and notice it makes no mention of the death of Peter or Paul - or the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD which I woukd have thought have been too important to leave out. So i would have put Acts before 70AD, Luke before that, Matthew before that and Mark before that - around about 40-50AD. John of course would be much later.

So the gospels are an incredible realiable source of information for the life, death and ressurection of our Lord.