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27. A verse of known difficulty: several meanings are admissible and none can be affirmed with certainty. The doubtful points are (1) the interrogation, whether it should come after τί εἴπω or ταύτης; (2) the meaning of διὰ τοῦτο.
ἡ ψυχή μ. τετάρακται. My soul has been and still is troubled. It is the ψυχή, the seat of the natural emotions and affections, that is troubled; not the πνεῦμα, as in Joh 11:35. But, to bring out the connexion with Joh 12:25-26, we may render, Now is My life troubled. ‘He that would serve Me must follow Me and be ready to hate his life; for My life has long since been tossed and torn with suffering and sorrow.’
τί εἴπω; What must I say? This appears to be the best punctuation; and the question expresses the difficulty of framing a prayer under the conflicting influences of fear of death and willingness to glorify His Father by dying. The result is first a prayer under the influence of fear—‘save Me from this hour’ (comp. ‘Let this cup pass from Me,’ Mat 26:39), and then a prayer under the influence of ready obedience—‘Glorify Thy Name’ through My sufferings. But σῶσόν με ἐκ means ‘save me out of,’ i. e. ‘bring Me safe out of;’ rather than ‘save Me from’ (σῶσόν με ἀπό), i. e. ‘keep Me altogether away from,’ as in ‘deliver us from the evil one’ (Mat 6:13). Note the aorist, which shews that special present deliverance, rather than perpetual preservation, is prayed for. S. John omits the Agony in the garden, which was in the Synoptists and was well known to every Christian; but he gives us here an insight into a less known truth, which is still often forgotten, that the agony was not confined to Gethsemane, but was part of Christ’s whole life. Comp. Luk 12:50. Others place the question at ταύτης, and the drift of the whole will then be, ‘How can I say, Father, save Me from this hour? Nay, I came to suffer; therefore My prayer shall be, Father, glorify Thy Name.’
διὰ τοῦτο. These words are taken in two opposite senses; (1) that I might be saved out of this hour; (2) that Thy Name might be glorified by My obedience. Both make good sense. If the latter be adopted it would be better to transpose the stops, placing a full stop after ‘from this hour’ and a colon after ‘unto this hour.’