John 19 - CSB Disciple’s Study Bible

19:1-6 JESUS CHRIST, Suffering—See note on Mt 27:26-30.

19:7 JESUS CHRIST, Son of God—“Son of God” is the key title in John’s Gospel. It represents equality with God. The religious leaders took Jesus’s claim to be God’s Son as a claim to be divine, which was blasphemy for them (Lv 24:16) but is the heart of the gospel for Christians. The religious leaders had their law right but their application of it in Jesus’s case was wrong. They had their eyes closed to the light of God’s revelation, for Jesus’s works showed he truly was God in flesh.

19:11 JESUS CHRIST, Authority—The Roman government might claim authority over the greater part of the earth. They had no authority over Jesus. See note on Mt 28:18-20.

19:11 SIN, Responsibility—The darkest sin ever committed was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Who was responsible? Jesus indicates there are degrees of culpability, depending on the knowledge and understanding one has. In the larger scriptural context, the reference is to anyone confronted directly by the claims of Christ who rejects those claims. We are personally responsible for our response to Jesus.

19:17-22 JESUS CHRIST, King—See note on 18:33-37.

19:23-24 JESUS CHRIST, Fulfilled—Even the actions of pagan soldiers fulfilled God’s scriptural plan for Jesus. See Ps 22:18.

19:26-27 JESUS CHRIST, Death—As he died, Jesus showed his divine love for his mother. Thus he served other people’s needs to the end.

19:30 HUMANITY, Death—Death, the common enemy of all people, came to Jesus himself. He simply yielded his spirit. The separation of spirit and flesh is the end of life as we know it. See note on Zch 12:1.

19:30 JESUS CHRIST, Mission—Death appeared to finish a human life. Instead it victoriously completed the saving mission of God’s Son. He had given his life for many.

19:34-37 JESUS CHRIST, Death—The spear pierced Jesus’s side causing water from the protective sac around the heart to flow. This physical condition represented symbolic spiritual meaning for John as fulfillment of Zch 12:10. People look on Jesus in judgment on their own unbelief or see in his crucifixion the blood of redemption and the water of life.

19:38-42 JESUS CHRIST, Death—Jesus’s burial was on the same day as his crucifixion as required by Jewish law (Dt 21:22-23). This final indignity of burial as a criminal would give rise to the idea of associating Jesus’s death with the “curse of the law” (Gl 3:13; compare 2Co 5:21).