Translation of John 19:30: Sinister semantics?

Question

How does your personal copy of the Bible translate Christ's last words from the Cross?

"It is finished"?
"It is consummated"?
"It is fulfilled"?

Is there any subterfuge, do you think, to English translation as "it is fulfilled" as opposed to the other two? Some have the notion that since the New Jerusalem Bible translates it thus, it is somehow an attempt by the Roman Catholic Church to undermine Christ's completed work on the Cross. (They also assert that the NJB is the only Bible that Catholics are "allowed" to read, but that's another issue.)

Honestly, I'm not seeing it.

You'd think that if this was the purpose, all "Catholic" Bibles would translate this the same way; yet the NAB (the official translation for liturgical readings in the US) and RSV, right along with the KJV (which itself was translated from the Latin Vulgate, where the words are "consummatum est") show this as "it is finished".

Just curious as to where this comes from.

Answer 1

The Greek word used is: "Tetelestai". The infinitive form of the verb from which this tense is derived is "teleioo", which can mean one of many things:

to make perfect
to make complete
to accomplish
to arrive at the final end
to fulfill
to finish
etc.

I think that the sense is generally the same, whichever way you translate it -- although there are nuances. In general, it means that something has reached its perfect, final, completely acheived state.

In the context of those words of Christ, it seems to be clear what Our Lord is saying. His sacrifice and therefore His earthly mission is finally achieved. Redemption has henceforth come about. All grace comes from the Cross of Christ, especially from that singular moment in which He commends His soul into His Father's Hands: "Father, into thy hands, I commend my spirit". With the sacrifice of Christ finally achieved, no further revelation is needed. No further sacrifices are required to bring man back into communion with God. The "Consummatum est" could therefore be interpreted as meaning "Everything has finally been achieved, brought to its completion in My sacrifice on the Cross". Christ's "Consummatum est" shows us why the Cross is the central point around which all of history is ordered: everything before leads to it; and everything afterwards flows from it. In this sense, the "finished" aspect of the Cross is also a new and eternal Beginning for humanity.

These are just my personal thoughts, but I hope this little reflection helped.

Answer 2

Thank you for this question! It highlights exactly the issues with translations, and how English speaking Christians make mountains out of molehills arguing about the exact meaning of an inexact translation. Words have meanings and implications which morph over time. For example being "gay" in the 1940's would mean something entirely different than it does today. How will a historian translate documents using this word 2000 years from now?

Your inclusion of the Latin codex is interesting. Literally translated, it should read "It is consummated". Now, do we accept the direct entymology, or do we try to find the underlying intent of the Latin Author. Consummation in modern english implies a fulfillment more than a finish. It also implies a more intimate or grander fulfillment, i.e. the fulfilment of the marriage contract is a consummation.

This goes part in parcel with Jesus' teaching that the church is his bride. His death and resurrection could be defined as the cinsummation of this marriage. There is an analogy that a birth of a person and the cunsummation of a marriage both involve a certain amount of pain and blood, mixed with joy, but I digress.

Gershon, as usual, the Jews misinterpret scripture and reject Christ because he didn't fulfill their preconceived notions, instead of what was said. The Psalm says nothing of rescuing Christ from the cross, but it implies in several places that he would be rescued from death -- which indeed he was. To be rescued from death he had to die. Which is the greater miracle, to nearly die and be saved, or to die and rise again?

Look up, you're staring at your toes!

Answer 3

"It is finished"?
"It is consummated"?
"It is fulfilled"?

O wow! I was going to check and report for you, but driving home this afternoon it occurred to me that it doesn't even matter!!
Jesus DID it - What if some translator translated "It is done"? Now if that were said to my kids, they'd understand :)

I think these smantics are sinister because when you focus on what really matters (God loves us so much that He came down from heaven, became man, lived among us, died for us, descended into hell, was raised, ascended into Heaven...) ...When you focus on ~that~ it doesn't matter how He said it -- "Finished" "Consummated" "Fullfilled" or even "DONE" -- It's all the same thing. There it is with no room for doubt or argument and you can take it or leave it - it's up to you"
Now who would have ever considered all that being spoken from the cross as the last words of Jesus? Naw I think Finished, Consummated and Fullfilled are more succinct than all that (perfect when you have precious few dying breaths to spend on last words) and even more poetic than a frustrated mom's "DONE!" :) Maybe even more loving.

Doesn't matter to me, when I put aside the nit splitting it all translates to the same idea and meaning.
If anyone wants to say it's any different, it's only because they want to be right and for everyone who does not agree with them to be wrong. Sad, isn't it?

Answer 4

I think the argument would be that "finished" carries the idea that the work of atonement is finished, the time of man's separation from God is finished, etc.; while "fulfilled" might be perceived by some to merely indicate fulfillment of prophecy while leaving open the possibility that something else is still required for our salvation.

I think that would be faulty reasoning, but people who build whole systems of doctrine based on the analysis of individual words in the Bible can really get hung up on this sort of thing.

Answer 5

Go to the marketplace in Tangier or Casablanca and buy something. The vendor will write "telestai" across your receipt. This says you have "Paid In Full" for your items. Christ Paid in Full for all our sins with his sacrifice on the cross. There is no direct translation from the Aramaic telestai to Latin so they used the next besyt thing when the Monks translated it. It is Finished. or the transaction is complete..

Answer 6

I don't see much difference. But, if you ask me, I blame attempts to translate as the cause of so many confusions. I know a third language so I know how distortions go from bad to worse. We can just imagine how it was when the Bible was being handled by the ancients. Weren't they just people whom the kings could tell to write this and scratch that?

Answer 7

Psalms 22

Christ was teaching Psalms 22 while on the cross.

Psa 22:1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?


Psa 22:30 A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
Psa 22:31 They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.

That he hath done this in the Hebrew is equivalent to It is finished in the Greek.

Stick to the Authorized Version of the King James Bible.

Answer 8

It goes back to John 4:34, "Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to FINISH his work".

Revelation 16:17, is repeating this same passage, "...IT IS DONE". Armageddon was fought while Christ walked the earth in flesh. Jesus mustn't fight Satan again.

Answer 9

All versions lead to the same conclusion that Jesus Christ work here on earth is done/finished/fulfilled/consummated.

He died ones and for all mankind.

Answer 10

It is the last words of psalm 22. He also said the first words of psalm 22. In judaism, when you say the first and last part of a passage, it's as if you said the whole thihng.

If you read the psalm carefully, he would have fully expected to be rescued from the cross. Yet he was not. His prayer went unanswered. Why?

Because he had set himself up as the false god and the psalm clearly states that only those who seek Hashem will eat and be satisfied. "For the kingship belongs to Hashem" not to a man-god.