Commend or Commit?

And 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, Luke 23:46.

There is a similar verse to our opening verse in the Book of Psalms, Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth, Psalm 31:5. If Psalm 31:5 is a prophecy of Luke 23:46 (and it is), then why does the Gospel use the word "commend" and the Psalms use the word "commit"?

To start, let us look at the word "commend in our King James Bible.

Romans 16:1 I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea:

Romans 16:2 That ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you: for she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also.

What is Paul doing? He is seeing to it that when the churches in Rome meet Phoebe, they treat her as someone worthy of good treatment.

For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth, 2nd Corinthians 10:18. This verse goes hand in hand with Solomon's warning; Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?, Proverbs 2:6. To commend yourself doesn't mean that you are approved. To be commended to men who know the word of God, obey those things in the word of God that would cause God to commend you. The world will not approve of you, but those who love the Lord will recognize that the Lord commends you.

Jesus Christ commended his spirit to the Father. He commended it into his hands. Why? Because he had borne the sicknesses and uncleannesses of men in his own body. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses, Matthew 8:17. Where did the sickness and the iniquities of those he forgave and healed go? They were borne in his body. Why didn't they make him unclean?

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, 1st Timothy 3:16. He could not be made unclean. He was like the priests of old who wore a mitre on their foreheads so that they could bear the iniquity of the holy things:

Exodus 28:35. And it shall be upon Aaron to minister: and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the LORD, and when he cometh out, that he die not.

Exodus 28:36 And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD.

Exodus 28:37 And thou shalt put it on a blue lace, that it may be upon the mitre; upon the forefront of the mitre it shall be.

Exodus 28:38 And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the LORD.

Jesus Christ commended his spirit into the Father's hands because after he had borne the sins of many, after he had borne the spit of unclean Roman soldiers, and after he had been hung upon a tree (Deu 21:23), his spirit was still undefiled. It was still pure and holy.

Why then does Psalm 31:5 say into thine hand I commit my spirit? The simple answer is that he said that because he committed his spirit into the hand of the Father. First, he commended his spirit to the Father before he committed his spirit to the Father. When he committed his spirit to the Father's hands, he placed it in the only place wherein his spirit could be kept holy, undefiled and separate from sinners.

He absolutely trusted the promises of the Father to deliver his soul from hell (Psalm 16:10, Psalm 116:10). He trusted the Father to reunite his soul with his spirit as the Father delivered him to Abraham's Bosom (Psalm 18:19) where he could rest with the those who had trusted him throughout the years. He trusted the Father to raise his reunited body, soul and spirit from the grave to be alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death, Revelation 118.