Mark 15:31 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Mark 15:31

Comments

The chief priests and the scribes were crying out, ‘Prove to us that you are the Messiah by coming off the cross and remaining alive.’ They said it among themselves according to Mark. They concocted among themselves what they intended to say. But the other Gospels make it clear they went on to shout it aloud, at him and towards the crowds, urging the crowds to join in. They knew he had saved others. They knew he had healed thousands of people. They had witnessed it at close quarters; often they had been in the front row. But they hardened their hearts, and they said, ‘He does it by the devil. He's empowered by the prince of the demons.’ They hardened their hearts, and now they give it away that they had seen his healings. ‘He saved others; himself he cannot save.’ ‘He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.’ They had had him nailed to a cross, but their hatred was strong that they were not content with this. They wanted to utterly crush his spirit by thrusting his supposed powerlessness in his face. There is no limit to the work of unbelief in them. They are determined not to believe in the face of the evidence of their own eyes. They will resort to any explanation however illogical, in order to avoid accepting Christ and his message. What Christ was really doing was far beyond their ability to see.

Application

But here he is the double meaning. They were full of hatred and contempt and insult. They didn't know it, but what they said was absolutely correct. ‘He saved others; himself he cannot save.’ But ‘cannot’ in a different sense. He could have done as far as his power was concerned. He could have done it in absolute terms, but he cannot do according to the divine plan which he has submitted to. Why can he not? Because he wants to save millions. His will is to die for their sin, to take their punishment, to set them free, to be their sin bearer, and their substitute. And if that is what he wants. and if that is what he has determined, and if that in his mighty love is what he wants to do, he cannot come down. What they said was true. They meant it one way, but the double sense is true: in order to save others, he cannot save himself. He must give himself for his people.

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Mark 15:31 Commentary and Bible Study