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In John 19:30, the apostle records these words: “When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (ESV). John’s comment that Jesus “gave up his spirit,” or as the KJV has it, “gave up the ghost,” simply means that Jesus experienced physical death. His spirit was separated from His body.
Just before Jesus gave up His spirit, He received the sour wine to quench His thirst (John 19:28). This fulfilled the prophecy of Psalm 69:21—“They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink” (cf. Matthew 27:34, 48; see also Psalm 22:15). The wine that was offered to Jesus here is different from the “wine mixed with myrrh”—a weak narcotic that Jesus refused (Mark 15:23). At any rate, the wine that Jesus accepted wet His throat enough to allow Him to proclaim His triumph and the completion of His mission (Mark 15:37; cf. John 19:30).
In Greek, Jesus’ cry in John 19:30 is one word, tetelestai. The English translation (“it is finished”) captures part of the meaning, the part that focuses on the completion of Jesus’ redemptive work:
Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. (Hebrews 10:11–14).
On the cross, Jesus completed His assigned task. Hence, this was not a cry of defeat, nor was it an announcement of His imminent death. This was simply a way to express that He had fulfilled His obligation to the Father: “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do” (John 17:4, ESV).The “work” Jesus accomplished was His atonement for the sins of humanity: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21; cf. 1 John 2:2). Having atoned for the sins of the world, “he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (John 19:30).
The expression gave up (Gk. paredōken) means that Jesus “handed over” His spirit (cf. Matthew 27:50; Luke 23:46). The idea is that He died. But the expression is worded in such a way that implies Jesus was in control. His spirit did not just “depart”; He gave it up. That is, no one took His life from Him; He voluntarily laid it down: “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father” (John 10:17–18, ESV). His death, then, was a deliberate act of obedience to the Father’s redemptive plan (cf. John 8:29, 14:31; Philippians 2:5–11).
Some commentators have suggested that He gave up His spirit means that Jesus handed over the Holy Spirit to His disciples. A better interpretation is that this was Jesus’ human spirit. The Holy Spirit was given later (see Acts 1:8). Also, Luke 23:46 says that Jesus committed His spirit into the Father’s hands, not the disciples’ hearts. John’s focus is the finished work of Christ and His unflinching obedience to the Father (John 19:30).
A poem by S. W. Gandy summarizes the significance of Jesus’ death:
He hell in hell laid low;
Made sin, he sin o’erthrew;
Bowed to the grave, destroyed it so,
And death, by dying, slew.
