Of the same kind is the expression, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" It was not He who was forsaken either by the Father, or by His own Godhead, as some have thought, as if It were afraid of the Passion, and therefore withdrew Itself from Him in His Sufferings (for who compelled Him either to be born on earth at all, or to be lifted up on the Cross?). But as I said, He was in His own Person representing us. For we were the forsaken and despised before, but now by the Sufferings of Him Who could not suffer, we were taken up and saved. Similarly, He makes His own our folly and our transgressions; and says what follows in the Psalm, for it is very evident that the Twenty-first Psalm refers to Christ.

Others again are said in the manner of association and relation, as, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? and He has made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin, and being made a curse for us; also, Then shall the Son also Himself be subject to Him that put all things under Him. For neither as God nor as man was He ever forsaken by the Father, nor did He become sin or a curse, nor did He require to be made subject to the Father. For as God He is equal to the Father and not opposed to Him nor subjected to Him; and as God, He was never at any time disobedient to His Begetter to make it necessary for Him to make Him subject. Appropriating, then, our person and ranking Himself with us, He used these words. For we are bound in the fetters of sin and the curse as faithless and disobedient, and therefore forsaken.

Further, these words, >"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" He said as making our personality His own. For neither would God be regarded with us as His Father, unless one were to discriminate with subtle imaginings of the mind between that which is seen and that which is thought, nor was He ever forsaken by His divinity: rather, it was we who were forsaken and disregarded. So that it was as appropriating our personality that He offered these prayers.

Some readers find it surprising that Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34), interpreting it as a lapse of faith during his ordeal on the cross. This view relies on a misunderstanding of the culture. One of the long-standing customs of Hebrew thought and language is to refer to a particular prayer, Psalm, or blessing by its first words.

When Jesus cried "My God, My God, why has Thou forsaken Me?", He was drawing the attention of the Jews present at the crucifixion to Psalm 22. In effect, Jesus was stating that He is the fulfillment of Psalm 22, which the Jews had always seen as a Messianic Psalm. Furthermore, although Psalm 22 begins with despair, it concludes on a note of triumph which reflects the vindication the Psalmist anticipates. To regard Jesus' quote as a lack of faith is to completely misunderstand the cry. It is not the cry of a victim, but—along with the earthquake, the darkness, and the rending of the Temple veil—an eschatological sign of victory.

One may contest the finding that "Jesus couldn't save Himself" in this situation—there is, after all, no indication that He tried to save Himself and failed. Even so, this objection confuses categories: salvation from sin, as offered by Christ, is not the same thing as "salvation" from temporal suffering.

In the same light, it is often asked why Jesus prayed for the cup of His suffering to be taken from Him in Gethsemane.

Here again we have a confusion of categories. Obviously, it is quite possible to do something unpleasant voluntarily: one weighs the consequences and the results, makes a decision, and even then can cry out from the hardship. The attitudes are not mutually exclusive. The Incarnation united human frailty and natural human will to the Divine Word without sin, meaning Christ genuinely experienced the human aversion to death.

Why is it that Jesus needed an angel to strengthen Him (Luke 22:43)? Precisely because He was fully God and fully man. This is like asking why Jesus bled when He was crucified, ate when He was hungry, and wept over the death of Lazarus. The word "strengthened" seems to refer to a need for physical strengthening; it is used elsewhere only in Acts 9:19. One may suggest that there was a need for physical refreshment after the stress of considering the road ahead.

Now the key question, though, is whether the cry from the cross is indeed a cry of weakness. One of the long-standing customs of Hebrew thought and language is to refer to a particular prayer or Psalm by its first words.

In like manner, when Jesus cried "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?", He was drawing the attention of those present at the crucifixion to Psalm 22. In effect, Jesus was saying that He is the fulfillment of Psalm 22, a Psalm which the Jews had always seen as Messianic. A quick glance at Psalm 22 reveals that the first words are identical to His cry.

As the Messiah, Jesus was not only fulfilling His role but also making His identity known. The observant Jew immediately knew what Jesus was referring to, and knew that Psalm 22 was a Messianic Psalm.

To suggest that Jesus uttered this phrase from the cross because He was unable to save Himself overlooks the theological context. There are strong indications that this "loud cry" is an allusion to the whole of Psalm 22, including its triumphant ending.

When Jesus was on the cross, and our sin was imputed to Him, and He said, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46), did he stop being divine? Did He stop being the Son of God? The answer is simple and extremely important. No, He did not stop being divine. He did not stop being the Son of God. To say that He lost His divine nature and stopped being the Son of God is false doctrine. Please consider the following points:

- If Jesus stopped being divine on the cross, then this would contradict the doctrine of the incarnation which says that the person of Jesus has two natures: divine and human. If Jesus stopped being divine, then He was no longer the same person that He was when He was conducting His ministry. He would be a different person. He would only have the attributes of humanity and not the attributes of both humanity and divinity. This is critical. Jesus is both divine and human and necessarily as a single person would have attributes of both natures (communicatio idiomatum). But to say that He lost His divine nature would be equivalent to saying that the person of Jesus changed on the cross and no longer possessed those divine attributes. This is very dangerous theologically because of the next point.
- If Jesus stopped being divine on the cross, then how is His sacrifice of divine value sufficient to cleanse people and their sins as well as reconcile humanity to God the Father? One of the reasons the sacrifice of Christ is unlike the mere sacrifice of a human being is that Jesus has two natures: divine and human. Without the divine nature, Christ's sacrifice can only have human value.
- If Jesus stopped being the Son of God and was no longer divine on the cross, then would that make the sacrifice of Jesus any better than the belief held by those who say that Jesus was only a man on the cross?

I hope that it is clear that to say Jesus lost His divine nature on the cross when our sins were reckoned to Him is a dangerous and false teaching.

The reason Jesus would say this (Matthew 27:46) is that He was quoting Psalm 22 to fulfill prophecy, and He was a man as well as divine. As a man fully identifying with humanity, He was made under The Law (Galatians 4:4) and for a while lower than the angels (Hebrews 2:9). People sometimes don’t realize that Jesus, being a man under the law, would have someone He would call God, someone He would worship, etc., because He is under The Law. The law required worshiping God and praying to Him.

Again, Jesus has two distinct natures, the divine, and human. Christians call this the hypostatic union, and it is exemplified in verses like the following.

> "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the Word was God… and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…" (John 1:1, 14)

> "For in Him dwells all the fullness of deity in bodily form." (Colossians 2:9)

> "But of the son, he says, 'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.'" (Hebrews 1:8)