Biblion Bible Commentary
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Father, Forgive Them
Luke 23:32-38
32 There were also others, two criminals, led with him to be put to death. · WEB
The first word from the cross is a prayer for the men driving the nails.
There were also others, two criminals, led with him to be put to death Luke 23:32.
The wording places him in their company from the start, which is what he had said would happen — he was counted with transgressors Luke 22:37 Isaiah 53:12.
When they came to the place that is called "The Skull", they crucified him there with the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left Luke 23:33.
The execution is reported in four words, as it is in all four Gospels. There is no description of the process anywhere in Scripture, and the restraint is unanimous. What the accounts spend their space on is what was said.
Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing" Luke 23:34.
The sentence is printed differently in different English Bibles, and it is treated here as it stands in the text before us.
It is the first of three sayings from the cross that only this Gospel records, and all three are prayers or promises for other people. The first word out of his mouth is intercession, and the tense is continuous — he kept saying it.
Who them is, is not specified, and the ambiguity is probably deliberate. The soldiers are the nearest candidates, since the same verse has them dividing his clothes. The rulers are in the next sentence. The crowd that shouted is in the one after.
For they don't know what they are doing is the ground offered, and it is not a claim that they are blameless — a plea for forgiveness concedes there is something to forgive. It is the ground he had already given for the city's ruin: she didn't know the time of her visitation Luke 19:44. And it is the argument Peter will use to the same crowd seven weeks later, that they acted in ignorance Acts 3:17, with the offer still open.
Dividing his garments among them, they cast lots. The psalm is being acted out by men who have never read it Psalms 22:18.
The rulers with them also scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others. Let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, his chosen one!" Luke 23:35.
The mockery comes in three waves and every one of them uses the word save. The rulers, then the soldiers — "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" Luke 23:37 — and then one of the criminals.
What they say is entirely true and means the opposite of what they intend. He saved others; he does not save himself; and the second is the condition of the first.
An inscription was also written over him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew: "THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS" Luke 23:38. Posted by a governor who had said three times that he found no charge in the man.
settled What this mark means