² I.e., the baptism in the Holy Spirit; cf. v. 2.

¹⁶ Other sources describe the instrument as being a short whip with several single or braided leather thongs of variable lengths, in which small iron balls or sharp pieces of sheep bones were tied at intervals. As the Roman soldiers repeatedly struck the victim’s back with full force, the iron balls would cause deep bruises, and the leather thongs and sheep bones would cut into the skin and tissue. Then, as the flogging continued, the lacerations would tear into the underlying skeletal muscles and produce quivering ribbons of bleeding flesh.

¹⁷ In the Garden of Gethsemane, in anticipation of His sufferings and death, Jesus suffered such extreme mental anguish that His sweat became “as it were great drops of blood” (Luke 22:44). As a result of this haemorrhaging into His sweat glands, Jesus’ skin would have become particularly fragile and tender.

¹⁸ Crucifixion probably began among the Persians and was then introduced to Egypt and Carthage by Alexander the Great. The Romans most likely learned of it from the Carthaginians.

¹⁹ Then stript they off His gore glued clothes, and with them questionless, not a little of His mangled skin and flesh…” (Ambrose).

²⁰ These nails were tapered iron spikes approximately 5 to 7 inches long with a square shaft ¼ to ½ inch across. The iron spikes were probably driven through the wrists rather than the palms, as the ligaments and bones of the wrist can support the weight of a body hanging from them, but the palms cannot. Although scriptural references are made to nails in the hands (e.g., Luke 24:40) these do not contradict the idea of wrist wounds, since the ancients customarily considered the wrist to be a part of the hand.

²¹ This was required by law.

²² I.e., the scourge. Every time Jesus breathed, the painful scourging wounds would be scraped against the rough wood of the cross.

²³ This produced fiery bolts of agonizing pain in the arms and legs.

²⁴ It was reported that Andrew the apostle was two entire days on the cross before he died. Some sources indicate that the length of survival of a victim of crucifixion could have extended to as long as four days, and it was, no doubt, related to the severity of the scourging.

²⁵ From Geikie’s Life of Christ.

²⁶ The Latin word excruciatus means “out of the cross.”