Matthew 27:50 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost— St. John tells us, that when our Lord had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished. "The predictions of the prophets are all fulfilled, and the redemption of the world is finished, to accomplish which I came into the world." And the other Evangelists inform us, that in speaking these words, our Lord cried with a loud voice; probably to shew that his strength was not exhausted, but that he was about to give up his life of his own accord. The Evangelists use different words in expressing our Lord's death, which our translators, notwithstanding, render in the same manner,—He yielded or gave up the ghost; St. Mark and St. Luke say, εξεπνευσε, He expired; St. John, παρεδωκε το πνευμα, He yielded up his spirit; but St. Matthew's language is most singular, αφηκε το πνευμα, He dismissed his spirit; as the same word αφιημι is used, Ch. Matthew 13:36. Mark 4:36; Mark 11:6 and elsewhere. Now this expression seems admirably to suit our Lord's words, John 10:18. No man taketh my life from me, but I lay it down of myself, &c. shewing (as did also the strong cry, which so much impressed the centurion) that he died by the voluntary act of his own mind, and in a way peculiar to himself, by which he alone of all men that ever existed could have continued alive, even in the greatest tortures as long as he pleased, or have retired from the body whenever he thought fit. Which view of the case, by the way, suggests an illustration of the love of Christ manifested in his death, beyond what is commonly observed; inasmuch as he did not use this power to quit his body as soon as ever it was fastened to the cross, leaving only an insensible corpse to the cruelty of his murderers; but continued his abode in it with a steady resolution as long as it was proper, and then retired from it with a majestyand dignity never known, or to be known in any other death; dying, if we may so express it, like the Prince of Life! See Hebrews 5:7. Doddridge, and Gerhard.