Handout notes for:
NEBC FAMILY FELLOWSHIP TIME JAN 25, 1015
TETELESTAI
S. Lewis Johnson
This word which is rendered here, “It is finished” is one that sometimes in the New Testament is rendered “to pay.” It has been paid, the penalty is paid. It’s sometimes rendered “to accomplish,” it has been accomplished, the work is done. It is translated “to make an end.” We would say an end has been made of the intent of God.
That is why it is so important in our concept of eternal salvation to be sure that we understand the nature of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has accomplished the saving work by which he has made it possible for men to receive the forgiveness of sins. And the only required is to receive the benefits as a free gift. That’s faith. That’s man’s responsibility, and it is a responsibility to believe…. And our salvation is of the Lord.
For example, when we believe that we are saved by grace but we have to keep working in order to stay saved we are in effect saying Jesus did not do it all. He did sufficient to get us started but we must also add our works thereafter in order to stay saved. We are actually taking away from the glory of our Lord to teach that a man may lose his salvation after he has been saved. That is why we are so adamant about the fact that the Scriptures teach that salvation is of the Lord. He says, “It is finished,” or literally, “It has been finished.” No repetition of it can be allowed at all.
One of the great missionaries of a few generations back was Hudson Taylor, so wonderfully known because of what was accomplished in the land of China by the China inland mission of which he was the founder. Hudson Taylor had a very interesting early experience. He was from a Christian home. His mother prayed for him constantly. She prayed that he might come to salvation. For a long time he resisted and finally one day someone put in his hand a little tract and in that tract was the expression, “It is finished.” It troubled him a great deal. He didn’t understand exactly what that meant. In fact, he went up into a hay loft and there with the tract he mediated upon it. “It is finished,” and finally out of that experience came his conviction of his own salvation. And he puts it this way, “Then there dawned upon me the joyous conviction that since the whole work was finished and the whole debt was paid upon the cross there was nothing for me to do but to fall upon my knees, accept the Savior and praise him forevermore.” That’s what it is to be saved, to realize that Christ has paid it all. “Upon a life I did not live, upon a death I did not die, another’s life, another’s death, I stake my whole eternity.” And Hudson Taylor rested himself for time and eternity upon the merits of the blood of Christ and God used him to the salvation of many thousands of people.
John Mac Arthur
A Proclamation of Victory
John’s account of the crucifixion continues: “When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’” (John 19:30). In the Greek text, this sixth utterance of Jesus from the cross is a single word: Tetelestai! Luke 23:46 indicates He made this cry “with a loud voice.”
It was a triumphant outcry, full of rich meaning. He did not mean merely that His earthly life was over. He meant that the work the Father had given Him to do was now complete. As He hung there, looking every bit like a pathetic, wasted victim, He nonetheless celebrated the greatest triumph in the history of the universe. Christ’s atoning work was finished; redemption for sinners was complete; and He was triumphant.
Christ had fulfilled on behalf of sinners everything the law of God required of them. Full atonement had been made. Everything the ceremonial law foreshadowed had been accomplished. God’s justice was satisfied. The ransom for sin was paid in full. The wages of sin were settled forever. All that remained was for Christ to die so that He might rise again.
That is why nothing can be added to the work of Christ for salvation. No religious ritual—neither baptism, nor penance, nor any other human work—needs to be added to make His work effectual. No supplemental human works could ever augment or improve the atonement He purchased on the cross. The sinner is required to contribute nothing to earn forgiveness or a right standing with God; the merit of Christ alone is sufficient for our full salvation.
Tetelestai! His atoning work is done. All of it. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9).
Wm. MacDonald- Believer’s Bible Commentary
“It is finished!” The work His Father had given him to do! The pouring out of His soul as an offering for sin! The work of redemption and of atonement! It is true that He had not yet died, but His death, burial, and ascension were as certain as if already accomplished. So the Lord Jesus could announce that the way had been provided whereby sinners could be saved. Thank God today for the finished work of the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary!
Some Bible scholars tell us that bowing His head may mean that He leaned His head backward. Vine says, “Not the helpless dropping of the head after death, but the deliberate putting of His head into a position of rest.”
That He gave up His spirit emphasizes the fact that His death was voluntary. He determined the time of His death. In full control of His faculties, He dismissed His spirit-an act no mere man could accomplish.
Guzik – Blue Letter Bible
It is finished! Jesus’ final word (tetelestai in the ancient Greek) was the cry of a winner. Jesus had finished the eternal purpose of the cross. It stands today as a finished work, the foundation of all Christian peace and faith, paying in full the debt we righteously owed to God and making peace between God and man.
A single word can change everything. “Not guilty” in a court of law changes everything. “Fair” on the playing field changes everything. When a woman says “Yes” to a marriage proposal it changes everything. “Goodbye” can change everything. Yet, there has never been a single-word said that has impacted history than what Jesus said in John 19:30.
At some point before He died, before the veil was torn in two, before He cried out it is finished, an awesome spiritual transaction took place. God the Father laid upon God the Son all the guilt and wrath our sin deserved, and He bore it in Himself perfectly, totally satisfying the wrath of God for us.
“It was a Conqueror’s cry; it was uttered with a loud voice. There is nothing of anguish about it, there is no wailing in it. It is the cry of One who has completed a tremendous labor.” (Spurgeon)
“Jesus died with the cry of the Victor on His lips. This is not the moan of the defeated, nor the sigh of patient resignation. It is the triumphant recognition that He has now fully accomplished the work that He came to do.” (Morris)
“The verb telew (teleo, ‘to finish’) was used in first and second centuries in the sense of ‘fulfilling’ or ‘paying’ a debt and often appeared in receipts. Jesus’ statement ‘It is finished’ (tetelestai, tetelestai) could be interpreted as ‘Paid in full.’” (Tenney)
It was all finished, paid in full, accomplished.
- The types, promises, and prophecies were
- finished.
- The sacrifices and ceremonies of the priesthood were finished.
- His perfect obedience was finished.
- The satisfaction of God’s justice was finished.
- The power of Satan, sin, and death was finished.
Meyer “From the gates of Eden the blood of sacrifice had begun to flow, augmented by the confluent streams of the years. From that moment, however, not another drop need be shed. The types were finished now that the Antitype had been realized.”
Spurgeon “Has he finished his work for me? Then I must get to work for him, and I must persevere until I finish my work, too; not to save myself, for that is all done, but because I am saved.”
Hall Bowing His head: This speaks of a peaceful act, like lying down on a pillow to sleep. Jesus did not hang His head in defeat; He bowed it in peace.
Bruce “Elsewhere in the Gospels the same phrase as is here used of Jesus’ reclining his head in death us used of reclining one’s head in sleep (Matthew 8:20; Luke 9:28, ‘the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head’); the implication here may be that he voluntarily reclines his head, ready now to sleep the sleep of death.”
Alford Bowing His head: “We have the minuteness of an eye-witness, on whom every particular of this solemn moment made and indelible impression.”
The KJV translates Strong’s G5055 in the following manner: finish (8x), fulfil (7x), accomplish (4x), pay (2x), perform (1x), expire (1x), miscellaneous (3x).
Matt 10:23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall G5055 ➔ not have gone over G5055 the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.
Matt 13:53 And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished G5055 these parables, he departed thence.
Luke 2:39 And when they had performed G5055 all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth.
Luke 12:50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! G5055
Luke 18:31 Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. G5055
Luke 22:37 For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished G5055 in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end.
John 19:28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were G5055 ➔ now accomplished, G5055 that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.
John 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: G5055 and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
Acts 13:29 And when they had fulfilled G5055 all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre.
Gal 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall G5055 ➔ not fulfil G5055 the lust of the flesh.
2Tim 4:7I have fought a good fight, I have finished G5055 my course, I have kept the faith:
Rev 10:7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, G5055 as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
Rev 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled. G5055
Rev 17:17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. G5055
Rev 20:3And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: G5055 and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Rev 20:7 And when the thousand years are expired, G5055 Satan shall be loosed out of his prison
Τετέλεσται
Chaplain Dave Online 