Matthew 27 is the 27th chapter in the
Gospel of Matthew, part of the
New Testament in the
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
Bible. This chapter contains Matthew's record of the day of the
trial,
crucifixion and
burial of Jesus. Scottish theologian
William Robertson Nicoll notes that "the record of this single day is very nearly one-ninth of the whole book".
[Nicoll, W. R.]
Expositor's Greek Testament on Matthew 27
accessed 3 March 2017
Text
The original text was written in
Koine Greek.
This chapter is divided into 66 verses.
Textual witnesses
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:
*
Papyrus 104
Papyrus 104 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), designated by the symbol 𝔓104, is a fragment that is part of a leaf from a papyrus codex, it measures 2.5 by 3.75 inches (6.35 by 9.5 cm) at its widest. It is conserved in the Papyrology Rooms ...
(~AD 250; extant verses 34–37, 43, 45)
*
Codex Vaticanus (325-350)
*
Codex Sinaiticus (330-360)
*
Codex Bezae (c. 400; extant verses 1, 13–66)
*
Codex Washingtonianus (c. 400)
*
Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus
The Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (Paris, National Library of France, Greek 9) designated by the siglum C or 04 {in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 3 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a ma ...
(c. 450; extant verses 1–10, 47–66)
*
Papyrus 105
Papyrus 105 (in the Biblical manuscript#Gregory-Aland, Gregory-Aland numbering), designated by 𝔓105, is a copy of the New Testament in Greek language, Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Gospel of Matthew. The surviving texts of Matthew ar ...
(5th/6th century; extant verses 62–64)
*
Codex Purpureus Rossanensis
The Rossano Gospels, designated by 042 or Σ (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 18 ( Soden), held at the cathedral of Rossano in Italy, is a 6th-century illuminated manuscript Gospel Book written following the reconquest of the Italian penins ...
(6th century)
*
Codex Petropolitanus Purpureus
Codex Petropolitanus Purpureus, designated by N or 022 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 19 ( Soden), is a Greek New Testament codex containing the four Gospels. It has been paleographically dated to the 6th century.
Codex Petropolitanus Pu ...
(6th century; extant verses 27–33)
Old Testament references
* :
Psalm :
Alexander Kirkpatrick
Alexander Francis Kirkpatrick (25 June 1849 – 22 January 1940) was Regius Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge University (1882–1903) and the third Master of Selwyn College, Cambridge (1898–1907).
Life
Kirkpatrick was born at Lewes, East Su ...
notes that "allusion seems to be made to this passage ... though it is not actually quoted".
* :
Psalm
* :
Psalm
* :
Psalm
* :
Psalm
* :
Psalm
New Testament references
*
Matthew 27:1 -2, : ; ;
*: ;
*: ; ;
*: ; ;
*: ; ;
Structure
The
New International Version
The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The ''NIV'' was created as a modern translation, by Bible scholars using the earliest an ...
(NIV) organises the material in this chapter as follows:
*
Judas Hangs Himself (verses 1–10)
*
Jesus Before Pilate
Pontius Pilate (; grc-gre, Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, ) was the fifth governor of the Judea (Roman province), Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presid ...
(verses 11–26)
*
The Soldiers Mock Jesus (verses 26-31)
*The
Crucifixion of Jesus (verses 32–44)
*The Death of Jesus (verses 45–56)
*The
Burial of Jesus (verses 57–61)
*The Guard at the Tomb (verses 62–66).
Overview
During the morning after his
arrest
An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be questi ...
, the
trial of
Jesus before the
Sanhedrin is concluded with plans to have Jesus executed (
verse 1
Verse may refer to:
Poetry
* Verse, an occasional synonym for poetry
* Verse, a metrical structure, a stanza
* Blank verse, a type of poetry having regular meter but no rhyme
* Free verse, a type of poetry written without the use of strict m ...
), and he is taken to
Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor
(procurator) of
Judea.
[Carr, A.]
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges on Matthew 27
accessed 2 March 2017 As Jesus was being led away,
Judas Iscariot, who had betrayed Jesus, sees that his former teacher has been condemned, and is overcome by
remorse: in the words of the
King James Version, he "repented himself". The word translated as "repented" ( gr, μεταμεληθεις, ''metamelētheis'') is not the same as the word for
repentance
Repentance is reviewing one's actions and feeling contrition or regret for past wrongs, which is accompanied by commitment to and actual actions that show and prove a change for the better.
In modern times, it is generally seen as involving a co ...
which
John the Baptist and Jesus himself used in their
ministry
Ministry may refer to:
Government
* Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister
* Ministry (government department), a department of a government
Religion
* Christian ...
( gr, μετανοειτε, ''metanoeite''); Arthur Carr, in the
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges notes that "it implies no change of heart or life, but merely remorse or regret".
Judas brings back the
30 pieces of silver
Thirty pieces of silver was the price for which Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus, according to an account in the Gospel of Matthew 26:15 in the New Testament. Before the Last Supper, Judas is said to have gone to the chief priests and agreed to hand ...
which had been given to him by the priests of Judea as
recompense for identifying his master to
Caiaphas, throwing them down in the temple, and then leaves to commit
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
. Meanwhile, Jesus impresses Pilate, who is taken aback by Jesus' silent dignity at his questioning. Pilate begins to address the crowd, and knowing (or "shrewdly suspecting")
that the chief priests had handed Jesus over because they were
jealous of his popularity, asks the crowd to choose between freeing a notorious prisoner known as
Barabbas, or Jesus. The crowd, persuaded by the chief priests and elders, respond passionately, repeating "Let Him (Christ) be crucified!" Pilate, bewildered by this, asks the crowd for a reason for their choice. Instead, they continue to call ever more loudly for the crucifixion of Jesus.
Pilate comes to see that he cannot reason with the crowd. His
wife has had a disturbing dream and asks him to have "nothing to do with that just man". Instead, he tries to absolve himself of his responsibility in the case, washing his hands in a basin and saying to the crowd: "I am
innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it". Then the Jews present at the trial
take responsibility for the shedding of Jesus' blood. Pilate has Barabbas released, lets Jesus be flogged and sends him off to be crucified.
Jesus is led away to the
Praetorium of the Governor's Residence, where Pilate's guard and the
praetorian guard mock him, giving him a scarlet
robe in place of his own clothes, a reed to hold as a sign of his "kingship" and a
crown made of twisted thorns. The soldiers then replace the robe with Jesus' own clothes and lead him to
Golgotha
Calvary ( la, Calvariae or ) or Golgotha ( grc-gre, Γολγοθᾶ, ''Golgothâ'') was a site immediately outside Jerusalem's walls where Jesus was said to have been crucified according to the canonical Gospels. Since at least the early mediev ...
(the "place of a skull"); in
Luke's Gospel this journey is recorded with "several particulars of what happened on the way to Golgotha, omitted in the other Gospels: the great company of people and of
women who followed Him; the touching address of Jesus to the women; the last warning of the coming sorrows; the leading of two malefactors with Him".
A man named
Simon, from
Cyrene, is compelled to carry Jesus'
cross. At Golgotha he is offered wine mingled with gall, but does not drink it. The soldiers cast lots for his garments once he is
crucified. Those who passed him deride him, taunting him to come down from the cross, saying "He trusts in God, let God deliver him now".
At three o'clock Jesus cries "My God, why have you forsaken me?", and starts to give up on his life. One passer-by offers Jesus some wine to drink but the group tell him "Wait, let us see if
Elijah comes to save him". They misunderstand Jesus' pleas, as he is in tremendous physical pain. Jesus cries out once more, but eventually dies.
Suddenly, "the crucifixion scene transforms into an explosion of triumph": the veil of the Temple sanctuary is torn in two, rocks start to split, and an
earthquake occurs (verse 51), and there follows, after Jesus' resurrection, a resurrection of the dead saints, who enter the holy city. This indicates how the earth has been shaken by the death of the Son of God. Centurions stare on at Jesus in disbelief, as do other bystanders.
On the night following Jesus' death,
Joseph of Arimathea, a
disciple of Jesus, asks for the body of Jesus. Pilate permits this, and Joseph, wrapping the body in a linen cloth, buries the body and rolls a stone against the entrance of the tomb, sealing it from looters and gravediggers.
Meanwhile, the priests and pharisees remember Jesus' remark that "After three days I will rise".
[See , the Sign of Jonah and , Jesus' private teaching to his disciples] The chapter concludes with Pilate authorising a detachment of troops to guard the tomb, in case the disciples come to remove the body.
Analysis
Matthew's crucifixion story has many parallels with Mark's crucifixion story. However, Matthew follows a theme recurring throughout his gospel by providing deeper descriptions than Mark. Matthew's crucifixion scene runs for only sixteen verses from to , the same number of verses as in the
Gospel of Mark
The Gospel of Mark), or simply Mark (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). is the second of the four canonical gospels and of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from his baptism by John the Baptist to h ...
, but one more than the
Gospel of Luke, and three more than the
Gospel of John. It is postulated that all writers wished to simply recall the facts surrounding Jesus' death, rather than engage in theological reflection.
, , , all share a succinct summary of the crucifixion, in that they all say, "They crucified Him".
Mark and
John give an account of the time of Jesus' death ("The third hour" in , and the "sixth hour" in ), whereas
Luke
People
*Luke (given name), a masculine given name (including a list of people and characters with the name)
*Luke (surname) (including a list of people and characters with the name)
*Luke the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of Luke. Also known as ...
, and Matthew himself do not.
There are differences between the
Gospels
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
as to what the
last words of Jesus were.
Matthew 27:46an
Mark 15:34declare that Jesus' last words were: "Why have you forsaken me"?, whereas his words in are "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit", and in
John 19:30, "It is finished".
Further differences can be found in the Gospels as to whether
Jesus carried his own cross or not. In the Gospels of Matthew, Luke and Mark, Jesus receives assistance from
Simon of Cyrene, whereas in the
Gospel of John, Jesus carries the cross by himself.
Parallelism
Dale Allison notes an obvious formal feature in
Matthew 27:3-
10, that is, a parallelism underlining the fulfillment between the scriptural quotation (cf.
Zechariah 11:13) and the narrative:
Other resemblances between and
Matthew 28:1-
11 are also noted by Allison:
See also
*
Blood curse
*
Christ carrying the cross
*
Crown of thorns
*
Crucifixion of Jesus
*
Judas Iscariot
*
Pontius Pilate
*
Pilate's court
*
Stephaton
Stephaton, or Steven, is the name given in medieval Christian traditions to the Roman soldier or bystander, unnamed in the Bible, who offered Jesus a sponge soaked in vinegar wine at the Crucifixion. In later depictions of the Crucifixion, Stepha ...
* Related
Bible parts: Judges 9,
Psalm 22,
Jeremiah 32,
Zechariah 11
Zechariah 11 is the eleventh of the 14 chapters in the Book of Zechariah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. ,
Mark 15
Mark 15 is the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. This chapter records the narrative of Jesus' passion, including his trial before Pontius Pilate and then his crucifixion, death and entombment ...
,
Luke 23,
John 18,
John 19
References
Sources
*
*
Further reading
Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew
External links
* King James Bible - Wikisource
English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
Multiple bible versions at ''Bible Gateway''(NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.)
{{Matthew 27
Gospel of Matthew chapters
Crucifixion of Jesus
Pontius Pilate
Calvary
Barabbas