English · KJV

Luke 23:45

“Death of Jesus”Luke 23:44–49

King James Version
And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

KJV (with Strong's)
And G2532 the sun G2246 was darkened G4654, and G2532 the veil G2665 of the temple G3485 was rent G4977 in the midst G3319.

Bible text: King James Version with Strong's numbers · Public domain

Berean Standard Bible
The sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn down the middle.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible · Public domain

American Standard Version
the sun’s light failing: and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

World English Bible Messianic
The sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two.

Bible text: World English Bible, Messianic edition · Public domain

Geneva Bible (1599)
And the Sunne was darkened, and the vaile of the Temple rent through the middes.

Bible text: Geneva Bible (1599) · Public domain

Young's Literal Translation
and the sun was darkened, and the vail of the sanctuary was rent in the midst,

Bible text: Young's Literal Translation · Public domain

King James Version — Interlinear
11 Greek words
  1. καὶkaiandG2532CONJConjunction
  2. τοῦtouTheG3588T-GSMDefinite article Genitive Singular Masculine
  3. ἡλίουhēliousunG2246N-GSMNoun Genitive Singular Masculine
  4. ἐκλιπόντοςeklipontosdarkenedG1587V-2AAP-GSMVerb 2nd Aorist Active Participle Genitive Singular Masculine
  5. καὶkaiandG2532CONJConjunction
  6. ἐσχίσθηeschisthēwas tornG4977V-API-3SVerb Aorist Passive Indicative 3rd Singular
  7. τὸtotheG3588T-NSNDefinite article Nominative Singular Neuter
  8. καταπέτασμαkatapetasmaveilG2665N-NSNNoun Nominative Singular Neuter
  9. τοῦtouof theG3588T-GSMDefinite article Genitive Singular Masculine
  10. ναοῦnaoutempleG3485N-GSMNoun Genitive Singular Masculine
  11. μέσονmesonin [the] middleG3319A-ASNAdjective Accusative Singular Neuter
English is a literal word-by-word gloss of the Greek, not the KJV's wording. Why?

This is the original text the KJV's translators worked from — each Greek word with its own literal English meaning in this verse, prepared by scholars at Tyndale House, Cambridge. The KJV translates whole sentences, not word by word, so its wording differs: one Greek word can become several English words, and the KJV may choose “charity” where the gloss reads “love”. Both are faithful — they answer different questions. For the KJV's own rendering, switch to the KJV text.

Words in [ ] are added by the English.

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This verse

The sun is darkened and the curtain that closed off the Most Holy Place in the temple is torn down the middle, a sign that the way into God’s presence is opened through Jesus’ death.

“And the sun was darkened,”

The sun’s light was blotted out (skotízō) at the full moon of Passover, when no eclipse is possible.

“and the veil of the temple”

The inner curtain before the Most Holy Place, which only the high priest passed once a year.

“was rent in the midst.”

Split down the middle. Matthew and Mark add “from the top to the bottom”, and Hebrews calls the way through it “a new and living way”.

Passage studyLuke 23:44–49

Jesus Dies and the Way to God Is Opened

44And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. 45And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. 46And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. 47Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man. 48And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned. 49And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things.

Summary

From noon until three in the afternoon, darkness covers the land while Jesus hangs on the cross. The sun is darkened, and the veil of the temple is torn down the middle. Then Jesus cries with a loud voice, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,” and breathes his last. The Roman centurion who sees it glorifies God and says that Jesus was a righteous man. The crowds who came to watch beat their breasts and go home, and his friends and the women from Galilee stand at a distance, watching. In these six verses we see the Son bearing God’s judgment on sin, the way into God’s presence thrown open, Jesus laying down his life in trust, and the first people to bear witness to his death.

Darkness at midday

Luke marks the time carefully. The hours of daylight were counted from sunrise, so “the sixth hour” is about noon and “the ninth hour” about three in the afternoon. The darkness fell at the brightest point of the day and lasted about three hours, right up to the moment Jesus died. Matthew and Mark record the same three hours of darkness (Matthew 27:45, Mark 15:33).

The word for darkness, skótos, means shadiness or obscurity, and in Scripture it often pictures sin, evil and God’s judgment. “There was” translates gínomai, to come about or come into being: the darkness came on. The word for earth, gē, means earth, land or ground, so “over all the earth” can just as well be read “over all the land”. Luke tells us the darkness was widespread and leaves its exact reach unstated. Some ancient writers outside Scripture mention an unusual darkness at about this time: Thallus, as quoted by Julius Africanus, and Phlegon, as quoted by Origen.

Was the darkness an eclipse?

The darkness was a sign from God. Jesus died at the Passover, and Passover always falls at the full moon. An eclipse of the sun can happen only at the new moon, when the moon passes between the sun and the earth. So when Luke adds in the next verse that “the sun was darkened”, he is describing something God did. The verb there, skotízō, means to darken or obscure, and it comes from the same root as the noun for darkness.

What the darkness means

In the Old Testament, darkness comes with God’s judgment. The ninth plague covered Egypt with a darkness that could be felt (Exodus 10:21–23). Joel says that “the sun shall be turned into darkness … before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come” (Joel 2:31), and through Amos God says, “I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day” (Amos 8:9). At noon on the day Jesus died, that is what happened.

The darkness shows on the outside what was happening unseen on the cross. Jesus was bearing the judgment that our sin deserves. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Matthew tells us that at the end of these hours Jesus cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). The three hours speak of how heavy that load was. They show the holiness of God, who judges sin, and the depth of his love, since he provided the sacrifice himself.

Jesus called himself “the light of the world” (John 8:12). Here the Light of the world goes into the deepest darkness, so that his people might be called “out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Paul says that God “hath delivered us from the power of darkness” and brought us into the kingdom of his Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood (Colossians 1:13–14).

The veil of the temple torn in two

The temple was Herod’s temple in Jerusalem, the centre of Israel’s worship and sacrifice. The veil, katapétasma, was the great curtain that screened off the Most Holy Place, where God’s presence dwelt, from the Holy Place in front of it. Only the high priest could pass through it, once a year on the Day of Atonement, with the blood of the sacrifice for the sins of the nation (Leviticus 16). So the veil stood for the separation between a holy God and sinful people.

“Rent” translates schízō, to split or sever, and “in the midst” (mésos) means in the middle. Luke records the tearing together with the darkened sun, in the last moments before Jesus died. Matthew and Mark, telling of the same moment, say that it was torn “in twain from the top to the bottom” (Matthew 27:51, Mark 15:38).

Why does it matter that the veil was torn from the top?

A tear that runs from the top down came from above, so God himself opened the way into his presence by his own power, through the sacrifice of his Son. Luke’s “in the midst” adds that the curtain was split right down the middle, opened completely.

What the torn veil means for us

The letter to the Hebrews explains this moment. It sets out the old tabernacle with its yearly sacrifice (Hebrews 9) and then says that Christ, our High Priest, “by his own blood … entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (Hebrews 9:11–12). It goes on: “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh” (Hebrews 10:19–20). The torn curtain and the broken body of Jesus belong together. And so we are told, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

The old covenant, with its animal sacrifices and its priests standing between God and the people, is fulfilled in the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God “which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He opened the way and he is the way: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).

“Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit”

The loud cry

Crucifixion was a slow and agonizing death. Those who hung on a cross usually died slowly as their breathing failed, and their voices weakened to gasps. So it is striking that Jesus cried “with a loud voice” at the very end. He went to death in full strength and of his own will, just as he had said: “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself” (John 10:18). His death was an act of obedience to the Father, for he “became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8).

The last prayer

These are Jesus’ last words from the cross. A little earlier he had promised the dying thief beside him, “To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Now he speaks to God as “Father”, the name of the Son’s own relationship with him, and prays the words of a psalm of trust: “Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth” (Psalm 31:5). Committing one’s spirit to God was a known prayer of trust at the point of death. Jesus makes the psalmist’s words his own and adds the word “Father” to them. Even in the darkest hour, the Son’s fellowship with the Father holds.

“Commend” is paratíthēmi, to place alongside, or to deposit something as a trust for safekeeping. Jesus places his spirit in his Father’s hands as a precious deposit given into safe keeping. His name, Iēsoûs, comes from the Hebrew Jehoshua, “the LORD is salvation”, and it is in this death that he saves.

What does “gave up the ghost” mean?

“Gave up the ghost” is older English for “breathed his last.” The Greek verb ekpnéō means to breathe out, to expire. It marks the moment of his real physical death, which was a necessary part of his atoning work. The loud cry and the prayer just before it show us that he went into that death willingly and in trust.

His death was the completion of his mission, and the resurrection followed (Luke 24). Through it he won the victory over death: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? … But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:55–57). Because the Son entrusted his spirit to the Father, those who belong to him can be sure that their own spirits are safe in God’s care, with the hope of eternal life in him (John 3:16).

The centurion’s confession

The centurion, hekatontárchēs, was a Roman officer whose title means a ruler of a hundred. He commanded around eighty to a hundred soldiers, and his duties included overseeing executions. He was a Gentile, raised among many gods, and he served the empire that had just executed Jesus as a supposed rebel. He had seen many men die.

He “saw what was done”: the darkness, Jesus’ last cry and prayer, and the way he died. And “he glorified God”. The verb doxázō means to give glory, to honour or magnify. A pagan soldier gives glory to the God of Israel at the foot of the cross.

His words are “Certainly this was a righteous man.” “Certainly” (óntōs) means truly, really. “Righteous” is díkaios, just or righteous, and in a setting like this one it can mean innocent. Pilate had said three times that he found no guilt in Jesus (Luke 23:4, Luke 23:14, Luke 23:22), and now the officer in charge of the execution says the same. The man condemned for blasphemy and sedition is declared righteous by the one who carried out the sentence.

What did the centurion mean by “a righteous man”?

In Luke the centurion confirms that Jesus was innocent of every charge, and since he glorifies God as he says it, he also owns Jesus as upright before God. Matthew and Mark record that he said, “Truly this was the Son of God” (Matthew 27:54, Mark 15:39). Luke draws out the righteousness of Jesus all through his Gospel, and the two accounts belong together: the righteous man who died that day is the Son of God.

He is the righteous Servant of Isaiah 53, “cut off out of the land of the living”, who “bare the sin of many”. His righteousness is given to all who believe in him (Romans 3:21–26), and of him Peter says that “through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:43). This Roman is among the first of the Gentiles to honour God at the cross, and the gospel of Luke and Acts goes on to reach people of every nation.

The crowd that beat their breasts

Crucifixions were public, and crowds gathered to watch them out of curiosity, morbid interest or hostility. “The people” here translates óchlos, a crowd or multitude, the common folk who often followed Jesus in Luke’s Gospel. They had come together to “that sight”, theōría, a spectacle. Earlier that day, “the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him” (Luke 23:35).

Now they are “beholding the things which were done”. The verb theōréō means to look at, gaze or behold, to watch with attention. They had watched the whole thing, and it moved them. They “smote their breasts”. Týptō means to strike or beat, and beating the breast was a gesture of deep grief, sorrow and self-reproach. The tax collector in Jesus’ parable “smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13).

Then they “returned”, hypostréphō, the ordinary word for turning back or going home. Luke leaves their story there, with sorrow, and a recognition of terrible injustice or even of their own guilt. It recalls the prophecy, “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him” (Zechariah 12:10), and the psalmist’s “I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin” (Psalm 38:18).

A few weeks later, many in Jerusalem heard Peter preach about this death and “were pricked in their heart”, and Peter told them to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins (Acts 2:37–38). Jesus had said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (John 12:32). The grief of this crowd points ahead to that conviction of sin, which leads to repentance and faith in the one “who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24).

The friends and the women who watched from afar

“All his acquaintance” are those who knew Jesus. Gnōstós means known or well known, and the word sets these friends apart from the crowd. With them are “the women that followed him from Galilee”. These women had travelled with Jesus and supported him from their own means (Luke 8:2–3), and they had come with him all the way to Jerusalem. Every Gospel notes their presence at the cross (Matthew 27:55–56, Mark 15:40–41), and John names Jesus’ mother among them (John 19:25–27).

They “stood” (hístēmi) “afar off” (makróthen), “beholding these things”. The verb here is horáō, to see or behold. They watched all of it: his death, the signs, the centurion and the crowd. Their place at a distance recalls the psalm of a sufferer: “My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar off” (Psalm 38:11).

Why did they stand afar off?

The distance was a practical necessity. Roman soldiers guarded the cross, and going near could be dangerous or taken as a challenge. Being linked with a man executed as a criminal brought shame and possible danger. The scene itself was horrific. Even so, they stayed, while many of the men who had followed Jesus had fled, and their staying was courage and love.

Witnesses of his death

Because they stayed, the death of Jesus was seen and remembered by those who loved him. These same women went to the tomb on the first day of the week, found it empty and heard that he was risen (Luke 24:1–10). Their witness at the cross is the ground of their witness to the resurrection. The risen Lord would send his followers out as his witnesses “unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8), and the church still carries their testimony.

What This Death Gives Us

The darkness at noon tells us how seriously God takes sin, and that Jesus bore its judgment in our place. The torn veil tells us that the way to God is open, so that we may come boldly to the throne of grace through his blood. In his last prayer we hear the Son’s trust in the Father at the moment of death, and believers can pray the same words, knowing that a spirit committed to the Father is safe in his hands.

The centurion shows that the cross reaches people we would least expect, a soldier of the empire that crucified Jesus, and that it draws people from every nation to give glory to God. The crowd shows how the cross pierces the heart. The women show that love stays, even at a distance, and that those who watched him die became the first to tell that he lives.

The writer to the Hebrews speaks of “looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2). The women at Golgotha stood beholding him, and the church has kept its eyes on him ever since, for “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

Last revised

Public-domain commentary

Matthew Henry

From his Commentary on the Whole Bible. Henry wrote on whole passages, and this entry covers Luke 23:44–49. He set out his notes in a three-level outline, kept here as he numbered it.

1662–1714 · 6 verses
Passage under commentLuke 23:44–49
I. II. Main points1. 2. Sub-points(1.) (2.) Details

In these verses we have three things: -

I.Christ's dying magnified by the prodigies that attended it: only two are here mentioned, which we had an account of before.

1.The darkening of the sun at noon-day. It was now about the sixth hour, that is, according to our computation, twelve o'clock at noon; and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. The sun was eclipsed and the air exceedingly clouded at the same time, both which concurred to this thick darkness, which continued three hours, not three days, as that of Egypt did.

2.The rending of the veil of the temple. The former prodigy was in the heavens, this in the temple; for both these are the houses of God, and, when the Son of God was thus abused, they could not but feel the indignity, and thus signify their resentment of it. By this rending of the veil was signified the taking away of the ceremonial law, which was a wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles, and of all other difficulties and discouragements in our approaches to God, so that now we may come boldly to the throne of grace.

II.Christ's dying explained (Luke 23:46) by the words with which he breathed out his soul.

Jesus had cried with a loud voice when he said, Why hast thou forsaken me? So we are told in Matthew and Mark, and, it should seem, it was with a loud voice that he said this too, to show his earnestness, and that all the people might take notice of it: and this he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.

1.He borrowed these words from his father David (Psalm 31:5); not that he needed to have words put into his mouth, but he chose to make use of David's words to show that it was the Spirit of Christ that testified in the Old Testament prophets, and that he came to fulfil the scripture. Christ died with scripture in his mouth. Thus he directs us to make use of scripture language in our addresses to God.

2.In this address to God he calls him Father. When he complained of being forsaken, he cried, Eli, Eli, My God, my God; but, to show that dreadful agony of his soul was now over, he here calls God Father. When he was giving up his life and soul for us, he did for us call God Father, that we through him might receive the adoption of sons.

3.Christ made use of these words in a sense peculiar to himself as Mediator. He was now to make his soul an offering for our sin (Isaiah 53:10), to give his life a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28), by the eternal Spirit to offer himself, Hebrews 9:14. He was himself both the priest and the sacrifice; our souls were forfeited, and his must go to redeem the forfeiture. The price must be paid into the hands of God, the party offended by sin; to him he had undertaken to make full satisfaction. Now by these words he offered up the sacrifice, did, as it were, lay his hand upon the head of it, and surrender it; tithēmi - "I deposit it, I pay it down into thy hands. Father, accept of my life and soul instead of the lives and souls of the sinners I die for." The animus offerentis - the good will of the offerer, was requisite to the acceptance of the offering. Now Christ here expresses his cheerful willingness to offer himself, as he had done when it was first proposed to him (Hebrews 10:9, Hebrews 10:10), Lo, I come to do thy will, by which will we are sanctified.

4.Christ hereby signifies his dependence upon his Father for his resurrection, by the re-union of his soul and body. He commends his spirit into his Father's hand, to be received into paradise, and returned the third day. By this it appears that our Lord Jesus, as he had a true body, so he had a reasonable soul, which existed in a state of separation from the body, and thus he was made like unto his brethren; this soul he lodged in his Father's hand, committed it to his custody, resting in hope that it should not be left in hades, in its state of separation from the body, no, not so long as that the body might see corruption.

5.Christ has hereby left us an example, has fitted those words of David to the purpose of dying saints, and hath, as it were, sanctified them for their use. In death our great care should be about our souls, and we cannot more effectually provide for their welfare than by committing them now into the hands of God, as a Father, to be sanctified and governed by his Spirit and grace, and at death committing them into his hands to be made perfect in holiness and happiness. We must show that we are freely willing to die, that we firmly believe in another life after this, and are desirous of it, by saying, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.

III.Christ's dying improved by the impressions it made upon those that attended him.

1.The centurion that had command of the guard was much affected with what he saw, Luke 23:47. He was a Roman, a Gentile, a stranger to the consolations of Israel; and yet he glorified God. He never saw such amazing instances of divine power, and therefore took occasion thence to adore God as the Almighty. And he bore a testimony to the patient sufferer: "Certainly this was a righteous man, and was unjustly put to death." God's manifesting his power so much to do him honour was a plain evidence of his innocency. His testimony in Matthew and Mark goes further: Truly this was the Son of God. But in his case this amounts to the same; for, if he was a righteous man, he said very truly when he said that he was the Son of God; and therefore that testimony of his concerning himself must be admitted, for, if it were false, he was not a righteous man.

2.The disinterested spectators could not but be concerned. This is taken notice of only here, Luke 23:48. All the people that came together to that sight, as is usual upon such occasions, beholding the things which were done, could not but go away very serious for the time, whatever they were when they came home: They smote their breasts, and returned.

(1.)They laid the thing very much to heart for the present. They looked upon it as a wicked thing to put him to death, and could not but think that some judgment of God would come upon their nation for it. Probably these very people were of those that had cried, Crucify him, crucify him, and, when he was nailed to the cross, reviled and blasphemed him; but now they were so terrified with the darkness and the earthquake, and the uncommon manner of his expiring, that they had not only their mouths stopped, but their consciences startled, and in remorse for what they had done, as the publican, they smote upon their breasts, beat upon their own hearts, as those that had indignation at themselves. Some think that this was a happy step towards that good work which was afterwards wrought upon them, when they were pricked to the heart, Acts 2:37.

(2.)Yet, it should seem, the impression soon wore off: They smote their breasts, and returned. They did not show any further token of respect to Christ, nor enquire more concerning him, but went home; and we have reason to fear that in a little time they quite forgot it. Thus many that see Christ evidently set forth crucified among them in the word and sacraments are a little affected for the present, but it does not continue; they smite their breasts, and return. They see Christ's face in the glass of the ordinances and admire him; but they go away, and straightway forget what manner of man he is, and what reason they have to love him.

3.His own friends and followers were obliged to keep their distance, and yet got as near as they could and durst, to see what was done (Luke 23:49): All his acquaintance, that knew him and were known of him, stood afar off, for fear lest if they had been near him they should have been taken up as favourers of him; this was part of his sufferings, as of Job's (Job 19:13): He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me. See Psalm 88:18. And the women that followed him together from Galilee were beholding these things, not knowing what to make of them, nor so ready as they should have been to take them for certain preludes of his resurrection. Now was Christ set for a sign that should be spoken against, as Simeon foretold, that the thoughts of many hearts might be revealed, Luke 2:34, Luke 2:35.

Historical interpretation

Nine Centuries of Reception

19 surviving comments on this verse. Each one is dated, so this reads as a timeline rather than a list.

19 quotes · AD 220–1107
Ante-NicenePost-NiceneEarly MedievalMedieval
20030040050060070080090010001100

Select a marker to jump to its quote. Markers stagger vertically where authors wrote within a few decades of each other.

d. AD 220TertullianAnte-NiceneSourceAgainst Marcion Book IV
(At noon) the veil of. the temple was rent" by the escape of the cherubim, which "left the daughter of Sion as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers.
d. AD 373Athanasius of Alexandriaas quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274Post-NiceneSourceCatena Aurea by Aquinas
(de Incar. et cout. Ar.) For He commends to His Father through Himself all mankind quickened in Him; for we are His members; as the Apostle says, Ye are all one in Christ. (Gal. 3:28.)
d. AD 373Ephrem the SyrianPost-NiceneSourceCOMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 21.5
God was victorious over the Egyptians, and he lit up the way for the Hebrews with the pillar of fire in the month of Nisan. The sun became dark over them because they had returned evil for goodness. Just as God split the sea, the Spirit split the curtain in half, since they rejected and unjustly crucified the King of glory on the Skull. The curtain of the temple was torn in two for this reason. Created beings suffered with him in his suffering. The sun hid its face so as not to see him when he was crucified. It retracted its light back into itself to die with him. There was darkness for three hours. The sun shined again, proclaiming that its Lord would rise from Sheol on the third day. The mountains trembled, the tombs were opened, and the curtain was torn, as though grieving in mourning over the impending destruction of the place.
d. AD 373Ephrem the SyrianPost-NiceneSourceCOMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 21.3
If he had been the son of a foreign god, the sun would not have been eclipsed when the Lord was raised on his cross. The Creator would have spread out a more intense light, because his enemy would have been withdrawn from his sight. He would have caused his light to shine on the Jews, because they would have been doing his will. He would have clothed the temple with a curtain of glory, because its enemy’s death would have purified its sad impurities, and the breaker of its law would have gone out from it.
d. AD 373Ephrem the SyrianPost-NiceneSourceCOMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 21.6
Perhaps the Spirit, when he saw the Son hanging naked, lifted himself up and tore in two the clothing. Perhaps the symbols, when they saw the Lamb of symbols, tore the curtain apart and went out to meet him. Perhaps the spirit of prophecy, which was dwelling in the temple and had come down to herald his coming to humanity, flew away at that very instant to announce in the heights concerning our Lord’s ascent into heaven. “The tombs split apart,” so that he might show that he could have torn the wood of the cross apart. He did not tear apart the cross through which the kingdom would be torn from Israel. He did not shatter the cross through which sin would be chased out from the middle of the Gentiles. Instead, the Spirit tore the curtain apart. To show that the Spirit had came out from the temple, it summoned the righteous that came out of the tombs as witnesses to his going out from the temple. These two departures were proclaiming each other mutually. The Spirit anointed and sanctified the kingship and the priesthood. The Spirit, wellspring of these two offices, therefore went out from there, so that it would be known that both of them had been cut off by him who had taken on both of them.Although we know that by amputation of our finger there is healing for the person who is totally diseased, we still are unwilling to do what we know we should do. God however knew that there would be salvation for humanity through the killing of his Son, and so he did not turn away from doing this.
d. AD 395Gregory of Nyssaas quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274Post-NiceneSourceCatena Aurea by Aquinas
(Orat. i. de Res.) But it becomes us to enquire how our Lord distributes Himself into three parts at once; into the bowels of the earth, as He told the Pharisees; into the Paradise of God, as He told the thief; into the hands of the Father, as it is said here. To those however who rightly consider, it is scarcely worthy of question, for He who by His divine power is in every place, is present in any particular place.

(ut sup.) There is another explanation, that at the time of His Passion, His Divinity being once united to His humanity, left neither part of His humanity, but of its own accord separated the soul from the body, yet showed itself abiding in each. For through the body in which He suffered death He vanquished the power of death, but through the soul He prepared for the thief an entrance into Paradise. Now Isaiah says of the heavenly Jerusalem, which is no other than Paradise, Upon my hands I have painted thy walls; (Is. 49:16. ap. LXX.) whence it is clear, that he who is in Paradise dwelleth in the hands of the Father.
d. AD 397Ambrose of Milanas quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274Post-NiceneSourceCatena Aurea by Aquinas
The veil also is rent, by which is declared the division of the two people, and the profanation of the synagogue. The old veil is rent that the Church may hang up the new veils of faith. The covering of the synagogue is drawn up, that we may behold with the eyes of the mind the inward mysteries of religion now revealed to us.

It took place also at that time when every mystery of Christ's assumed mortality was fulfilled, and His immortality alone remained; as it follows, And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said.
d. AD 397Ambrose of MilanPost-NiceneSourceEXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 10.128
Also, the veil is torn, by which the separation of the two peoples or the desecration of the mysteries of the Synagogue is declared. Therefore, the old veil is torn apart; so that the new Church may hang the sails of its faith. The covering of the synagogues is removed; so that we may see the internal mysteries of religion, with the mind's gaze revealed. Finally, even the centurion who crucified the Son of God confesses.
d. AD 407John Chrysostomas quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274Post-NiceneSourceCatena Aurea by Aquinas
Now this voice teaches us, that the souls of the saints are not henceforth shut up in hell as before, but are with God, Christ being made the beginning of this change.
d. AD 430Augustine of Hippoas quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274Post-NiceneSourceCatena Aurea by Aquinas
(de Con. Ev. lib. iii. c. 17.) What is here said of the darkness, the other two Evangelists, Matthew and Mark, confirm, but St. Luke adds the cause whence the darkness arose, saying, And the sun was darkened.

(de Civ. Dei, l. iii. c. 15.) This darkening of the sun it is quite plain did not happen in the regular and fixed course of the heavenly bodies, because it was then the Passover, which is always celebrated at the full moon. But a regular eclipse of the sun does not take place except at new moon.
d. AD 444Cyril of AlexandriaPost-NiceneSourceCOMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 153
When they fastened to the cross the Lord of all, the sun over their heads withdrew and the light at midday was wrapped in darkness, as the divine Amos had foretold. "There was darkness from the sixth hour until the ninth hour." This was a plain sign to the Jews that the minds of those who crucified him were wrapped in spiritual darkness, for blindness in part has happened to Israel. In his love for God, David even curses them, saying, "Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see."Creation itself mourned its Lord. The sun was darkened, and the rocks were split, and the temple put on the mourners' clothes. Its veil was split from the top to the bottom. This is what God signified to us by the voice of Isaiah, saying, "I clothe the heavens with blackness, and make sackcloth their covering."
d. AD 444Cyril of Alexandriaas quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274Post-NiceneSourceCatena Aurea by Aquinas
As soon as the Lord of all had been given up to be crucified, the whole framework of the world bewailed its rightful Master, and the light was darkened at mid-day, (Amos 8:9.) which was a manifest token that the souls of those who crucified Him would suffer darkness.
AD 532Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagiteas quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274Post-NiceneSourceCatena Aurea by Aquinas
(Dion. Areop. ad Polye.) When we were both at Heliopolis together, we both saw at the same time in a marvellous manner the moon meeting the sun, (for it was not then the time of new moon,) and then again, from the ninth hour until evening supernaturally brought back to the edge of the sun's diameter. (ad diametrum solis.) Besides, we observed that this obscuration began from the east, and having reached as far as the sun's western border at length returned, and that the loss and restoration of light took place not from the same side, but from opposite sides of the diameter. Such were the miraculous events of that time, and possible to Christ alone who is the cause of all things.
d. AD 735Bedeas quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274Early MedievalSourceCatena Aurea by Aquinas
But Luke, wishing to join miracle to miracle, adds, And the veil of the temple was rent in twain. This took place when our Lord expired, as Matthew and Mark bear witness, but Luke related it by anticipation.

By invoking the Father He declares Himself to be the Son of God, but by commending His Spirit, He signifies not the weakness of His strength, but His confidence in the same power with the Father.
d. AD 735BedeEarly MedievalSourceOn the Gospel of Luke
It was about the sixth hour, and darkness came over all the land until the ninth hour, and the sun was obscured. The brightest light of the world withdrew its rays so that it might not see the Lord hanging, or that the impious blaspheming might not enjoy its light. And it is to be noted that the Lord was crucified at the sixth hour, that is, when the sun was about to leave the center of the world; and at dawn, that is, when the sun was already rising, he celebrated the mysteries of his resurrection. For the time signifies what he exhibited by the effect of the work. Because he died for our sins and rose for our justification (Rom. IV). For when Adam sinned, it is written that he heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden at the breeze after midday (Gen. III). After midday, indeed, with the light of faith declining, and at the breeze, with the warmth of charity cooling: he was heard walking because he had withdrawn from the sinning man. The order of reason therefore required that at the same time of the day at which he then closed for sinning Adam, now the Lord should open the gate of paradise to the repenting thief.
d. AD 735BedeEarly MedievalSourceOn the Gospel of Luke
And the veil of the temple was torn in two. This happened as the Lord expired, as Matthew and Mark attest, but Luke relates it in advance. For, wishing to add miracle to miracle, when he had said "The sun was darkened," he immediately considered it appropriate to add: "And the veil of the temple was torn in two." The veil of the temple is torn, so that the secrets of the covenant and all the sacraments of the law, which were previously covered, may appear and be accessible to the nations. For it had been said before: "God is known in Judah, in Israel His name is great" (Psalm 76). But now: "Be exalted above the heavens, O God, and let your glory be over all the earth" (Psalm 57). And in the Gospel, he first said: "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles" (Matthew 10). But after the passion: "Go and teach all nations" (Matthew 28).
d. AD 749John Damasceneas quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274Early MedievalSourceCatena Aurea by Aquinas
(Hom. de Sabb. San.) Or to speak more expressly, In respect of His body, He was in the grave, in respect of His soul, He was in hell, and with the thief in Paradise; but as God, on the throne with His Father and the Holy Spirit.
d. AD 1107Theophylact of Ohridas quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274MedievalSourceCatena Aurea by Aquinas
By this then our Lord showed that the Holy of Holies should be no longer inaccessible, but being given over into the hands of the Romans, should be defiled, and its entrance laid open.

Whereby it is signified that the veil which kept us asunder from the holy things which are in heaven, is broken through, namely, enmity and sin.

But crying with a loud voice He gives up the ghost, because He had in Himself the power of laying down His life and taking it up again.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.

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