Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Mark 15:32 - 15:32
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
32. ὁ Χριστός. Alluding to His declaration before the Sanhedrin (Mar 14:62).
ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἰσραήλ. Alluding to the title on the cross. It is probably from this expression (Mk, Mt.) that the Gospel of Peter gets the idea that the wording of the title was “This is the King of Israel.” Jews would say “of Israel,” but Pilate would write “of the Jews.”
ἵνα … πιστεύσωμεν. Mt. has καὶ πιστεύσομεν, turning the saying into a promise to believe. They failed to understand Moses and the Prophets, and they did not believe Him of whom they wrote, even when He raised the dead. But when He Himself rose, many of the priests became obedient to the faith (Act 6:7).
ὠνείδιζον. As in Mar 15:29; Mar 15:31, the imperf. expresses continued action. Mt. retains the imperf. in all three places. We may suppose that Mk and Mt. were ignorant of the subsequent conduct of the penitent robber. The frequent reviling of the other robber was much better known and was commonly spoken of as done by “the robbers.” So Cyril of Jerusalem, Ambrose, and Augustine. Origen, Chrysostom, and Jerome suppose that both robbers at first reviled, and that afterwards one of them changed and rebuked the other. This is less probable. Much less satisfactory is the suggestion that ὠνείδιζον (Mk, Mt.) means much less than ἐβλασφήμει (Lk.); both reproached Jesus, but only one railed on Him. There is little difference in meaning between the two verbs (Luk 6:22; Rom 15:3; Heb 11:26; 1Pe 4:14), and they are sometimes coupled (2Ki 19:22). Vulg. here has conviciabantur, in Mt. improperabant.