Luke 23:35

35 And the people stood there watching, but the rulers also ridiculed [him], saying, "He saved others; let him save himself, if this [man] is the Christ of God, the Chosen One!"

Luke 23:35 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 23:35

And the people stood beholding
This dismal and affecting sight; insulting and reviling him, and wagging their heads at him, as did also those that passed by: and the rulers also with them derided him; the chief priests, Scribes, and elders, the members of the sanhedrim, whose characters should have restrained them from such an inhuman conduct. The phrase, "with them", is wanting in the Oriental versions, and in one of Beza's copies: saying,

he saved others;
by healing their diseases, or raising them from the dead:

let him save himself;
from death, by unnailing himself, and coming down from the cross; (See Gill on Matthew 27:42)

if he be Christ;
the Messiah, he and his followers give out he is; even the chosen of God, referring to ( Isaiah 42:1 ) . The Arabic version reads, "the chosen Son of God", very wrongly; for Christ was not chosen to be the Son of God; he was so by nature; but he was chosen to be a servant, as the text cited shows, to be a Mediator between God and man, and the Saviour of his people.

Luke 23:35 In-Context

33 And when they came to the place that is called "The Skull," there they crucified him, and the criminals, the one on [his] right and the other on [his] left.

34 [[But Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."]] And they cast lots to divide his clothes.

35 And the people stood there watching, but the rulers also ridiculed [him], saying, "He saved others; let him save himself, if this [man] is the Christ of God, the Chosen One!"

36 And the soldiers also mocked him, coming up [and] offering him sour win

37 and saying, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!"

Footnotes

• [a]. *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
• [b]. Or "Messiah"