Matthew 27:50

Forsaken by everyone including His Father, Jesus again cried out loudly in His agony (cf. John 19:30). This was His sixth utterance on the cross. Then followed, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit" (Luke 23:46; cf. Psalms 31:6). Shortly thereafter He dismissed His spirit (i.e., what animated His life, Gr. pneuma). Matthew’s description of the moment of Jesus’ death shows that Jesus had sovereign control over His own life (cf. John 10:18). Jesus manifested His kingly authority even with His dying breath. He did not commit suicide as Judas had done, but He laid down His life in self-sacrifice for the sins of humankind (cf. Matthew 20:28).

"The Greek words used here and in John 19:30 are unique in the N.T. In fifteen other Bible verses, ’gave up the spirit,’ or ’yielded up the spirit,’ is used to translate a single Hebrew or Greek word meaning breathe out or expire. This is true of the description of the death of Jesus in Mark 15:37; Mark 15:39 and Luke 23:46. But in Matthew 27:50 and John 19:30 alone these expressions translate a Greek phrase of two words, meaning give over the spirit or deliver up the spirit. The death of Jesus was different from that of any other man. No one could take His life from Him except as He was willing to permit it (John 10:18). Christ chose to die so that we might live." [Note: The New Scofield . . ., pp. 1043-44.]