IIIM Magazine Online, Volume 2, Number 21, May 22 to May 28, 2000

Commentary on Matthew 27:51-56

by Dr. Knox Chamblin

IV. THE IMMEDIATE EFFECTS OF JESUS' DEATH. 27:51-56.

A. The Tearing of the Curtain. 27:51.

1. The place. This curtain is either the one which hung in front of the
Holy Place (Ex 26:36-37), or the one which divided the Holy Place from the Most
Holy Place (Ex 26:31-35). As that passage shows, both were made of the same
material. Matthew does not clearly specify which curtain is meant. Good
arguments can be advanced for each choice (Gundry, 575; Carson, 580). Given
the NT's theological reflection on the event (notably Heb 6:19-20; 9:11-28;
10:19-22), I conclude that the inner curtain is meant. For some interesting parallel
accounts in Jewish literature, see Hugh Montefiore, Josephus and the New
Testament, 16-22.

2. The meaning. Matthew's word order is that the curtain "was torn from
top to bottom in two" (contrast the order in NIV). He thus emphasizes both that
the curtain was completely severed, and that this was God's action. What is God
declaring?

a. Covenant fellowship. The essence of the covenant, as God

declares e.g. in Jer 31:33 (the promise of the New Covenant), is: "I will be their
God, and they will be my people." Now, by virtue of the atoning death of Jesus,
his people's sins are forgiven (1:21; Jer 31:34b) and they are granted direct access
into God's holy presence. The coming of Immanuel has already testified to God's
intention to bring that fellowship to full realization (1:23; 28:20). Now, by the
rending of the veil, God demonstrates that through Christ's coming and death, the
people of God are ushered into the most intimate imaginable fellowship with him.
Thus did Jer 31:31-34 prophesy, and thus has Jesus' work now made possible.
Cf. Heb 4:16 et passim.

b. The end of Mosaic ceremonial. Jesus has taught that his coming
makes OT ceremonial obsolete - without abrogating the underlying moral law (see
comments on 15:1-20). Furthermore, Jesus has prophesied the destruction of the
temple. This is to come about, not only in judgment upon Israel but also as a
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visible demonstration that the temple ritual is no longer needed. The death of
Jesus makes it obsolete. The tearing of the curtain symbolizes the destroying of
the whole temple of which the curtain is a part. See further Carson, 580-81.

B. The Breaking Open of the Tombs. 27:51b-53.

1. The language. Verses 51-53 are a single sentence in the Greek text (in
NIV the one sentence becomes four). The construction is paratactic (the clauses
stand beside each other) rather than hypotactic (where some clauses stand under
others). As is common in parataxis, the clauses are joined by the conjunction
"and" (kai): "And behold the curtain of the temple was torn..., and the earth
shook, and the rocks split, and the tombs broke open and the bodies of
many...were raised to life, and having come out of the tombs after his resurrection
they went into the holy city...." This structure connects these events in the closest
way. The theological upheaval reflected in the tearing of the curtain, finds a
geological counterpart in the quaking of the earth and the splitting of the rocks.
The immediate purpose of the latter is to break open the tombs and to set their
occupants free. John Wenham makes the reasonable suggestion (adopted by
Carson, 581) that a period be placed after the words "broke open." Given the
paratactic structure of 27:51-53, a new sentence may just as appropriately begin
with "and the bodies" as with "The tombs" (cf. NIV). If we adopt Wenham's
punctuation, the raising of the saints is more closely associated with what follows
(v. 53) than with what precedes (vv. 51b-52a), and we can more readily conclude
that the "raising" of the saints (not just their emergence from the tombs and their
appearances) occurs after Jesus' resurrection (he remains the "firstfruits," 1 Cor
15:20- 23). V. 53 is better rendered in RSV ("and coming out of the tombs after
his resurrection they went...") than in NIV ("They came out of the tombs, and after
Jesus' resurrection they went...").

2. The theology. If the "raising of the saints" comes after Jesus'

resurrection, why has Matthew recorded the event here rather than in ch. 28?

a. Death and resurrection. Matthew's placement affirms that there is

the closest connection between Jesus' death and resurrection. Already - even
before Jesus' burial - Matthew speaks of a time "after Jesus' resurrection" (v. 53).
His very death assures that he will be raised; God will allow nothing, not even
Death, to sever the intimate fellowship (11:26-27) between Father and Son.
Already at the crucifixion those divine powers are at work which shall attend the
resurrection; there is an earthquake both here (v. 51) and in 28:2. Death and
resurrection are also inseparable for believers: Now that Jesus' atoning sacrifice
has been offered, the OT saints (the "many holy people" of v. 52) are saved from
the consequences of their sins and gain the right to resurrection life. They depend
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on Jesus' work as much as later believers (Rom 3:25-26). More generally the
promise for believers is that by virtue of Christ's victory over Sin and Death, those
who die in him shall at his Return be raised from the dead and be given bodies like
his own glorious body (Phil 3:20-21; 1 Cor 15). Mt 27:52-53 foreshadows that
great event.

b. Apocalypse now and then. Apocalyptic signs are associated with

both Jesus' death (the darkness, v. 45, the shaking of the earth, the splitting of the
rocks, and the breaking open of the tombs, vv. 51-52) and his resurrection (the
earthquake and the appearance of the angel, 28:2-3). The phenomena of 27:51-52,
in that they occur at the time of Jesus' death but help to bring about occurrences
after his resurrection, unite these two events in the closest way. Neither Jesus'
death alone, nor his resurrection alone, but the two together mark the dawn of the
Last Days and foreshadow the great apocalypse at the End (cf. comments on 24:7,
29-31; 27:45).

c. Resurrection and fellowship. Matthew associates the rending of

the veil and the saints' resurrection in the closest way. As the rending of the veil
shows, Jesus' death opens the way to the deepest fellowship between God and his
covenant people. But if his people are to enjoy such fellowship, they must be
integrated - or, to be more precise, reintegrated - by the reunion of body and soul
in the resurrection. They will not experience fullness of fellowship until their
bodiless state is ended (cf. 2 Cor 5).

d. Resurrection and witness. After Jesus is raised, the resurrected

OT believers "went into the holy city and appeared to many people" (v. 53b). On
one view this verse witnesses to the saints' entry with Jesus into the Heavenly
Jerusalem (thus Jerusalem Bible, note on v. 53, following the early Fathers).
While in all probability this is a genuine resurrection (one like Jesus' rather than
like Lazarus') by virtue of which these saints would experience heavenly glory
before the consummation, it is much more likely that v. 53b refers to the earthly
Jerusalem (cf. 4:5). By "appearing to many," the OT saints bear a witness -
anticipating the witness that believers generally will bear to the risen Christ and
his saving work (28:7-8, 18-20). The placement of this reference here rather than
after the account of Jesus' resurrection, teaches (1) that once Jesus has been raised
from the dead, believers must witness not only to that event but to Jesus' death as
well, for both events are vital for accomplishing salvation and bringing in God's
Final Rule (cf. a. and b. above; and 1 Cor 1:18-31); and (2) that the twofold event
of Jesus' death and resurrection means restored and deepened fellowship not only
with God but with human beings as well (cf. c.; and comments on 22:29-33).
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C. The Ascription Concerning Jesus. 27:54.

1. The soldiers' exclamation. Mk 15:39 and Lk 23:47 speak of the

centurion alone; in Mt he represents the soldiers under his command. He is
responding to "the earthquake and all that had happened." Insofar as he voices
pagan beliefs, the centurion presumably considers Jesus to be "a divine man or
deified hero" (Lane, Mark, 576) - "a son of God" (NIV mg.). See William
Manson, Jesus the Messiah, 105. Yet it may be that the centurion, under the
impact of these events (and the person at their center), perhaps combined with
Jewish influences (gained during his tour of duty in Palestine), voices a more
Jewish belief - namely that Jesus is "the King of the Jews" (cf. v. 37), the Davidic
Messiah, "the Son of God" (NIV) in the sense of Ps 2:7 and Jn 1:49.

2. Matthew's confession. It is doubtful that the centurion himself meant

more than what is suggested under 1. But it is certain that Matthew does; in
recording these words, Matthew says in effect that the centurion spoke greater
truth than he realized. On the lips of Matthew the words "Surely he was the Son
of God" are an ascription not merely of messiahship but of deity (cf. comments on
16:16). The Greek of Mt 27:54 differs from the Markan parallel (15:39) in two
important respects. Mt omits Mk's anthr©pos ("man") and alters the word order
from huios theou to theou huios, both for the purpose of accentuating Jesus' deity
(Gundry, 578). The declaration is particularly significant at this juncture of the
Gospel. Here we have a Gentile - indeed a company of Gentiles - proclaiming
truth about Jesus in the face of the Jews' and the Romans' condemnation of Jesus,
and proclaiming that truth in the very terms which had brought about his death
(cf. comments on 26:63-64). He is the Son of God, he is the the King of the Jews,
and in a deeper sense than the Roman soldiers knew. For he is not merely a
divinized man; he is God the Son. And he is not merely great David's greater Son,
he is David's Lord (22:41-46), Yahweh himself. Moreover, the present scene
forms a kind of inclusio with that of 2:1-12, where it is Gentiles who come to
worship the King of the Jews in face of the Jews' attempt to destroy him.

D. The Women's Vigil. 27:55-56.

1. Their identity. Among the "many women" at the cross were "Mary
Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee's
sons." Joining this information to that of Mk 15:40 and Jn 19:25, I conclude (i)
that "Mary the mother of James and Joseph" is Jesus' mother (cf. 13:55; Jn 19:25),
and (ii) that "the mother of Zebedee's sons" is named Salome (Mk 15:40) and is
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the sister of Mary the mother of Jesus (cf. Jn 19:25; and comments on Mt 20:20).
See further Carson, 583.

2. Their faithfulness. The presence of "many women" at the cross,

accentuates the absence of Jesus' male disciples. The latter are last mentioned in
26:56, where they desert Jesus and flee; they do not reappear until, in response to
Jesus' summons, they meet him in Galilee (28:16). That the women watched
"from a distance" (v. 55), indicates female reticence in a male-dominated culture
(Gundry, 579). Their present vigil continues at the tomb (v. 61; cf. 28:1).
Cf. Dorothy Sayers: "Perhaps it is no wonder that the women were first at the
Cradle and last at the Cross. They had never known a man like this Man.... A
prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, never flattered or coaxed or
patronized; who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them either as
'the women, God help us!' or 'the ladies, God bless them!'; who rebuked without
querulousness and praised without condescension; who took their questions and
arguments seriously; who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged
them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no axe to grind
and no uneasy male dignity to defend" (A Matter of Eternity, 95).