Matthew 27:35 Commentary: Stripped for Our Sake

Roman crucifixion was designed to maximize public shame. As Clarke and Barnes explain, the victim was stripped naked before being nailed to the cross. This nakedness was a weapon of disgrace. Under Jewish law, stoning was the standard capital penalty. Crucifixion was Rome's punishment for rebels, slaves, and the worst criminals. That Jesus died by Roman hands, stripped and exposed, marked him as utterly degraded in the eyes of the ancient world.

The soldiers who performed the execution were a squad of four, who had legal right to the victim's property (Wesley). The outer clothes were divided into four shares. But the tunic, as John 19:23 records, was woven from top to bottom in one piece. Tearing it would ruin it. So the soldiers gambled for it. This was brutal routine, a card game at the foot of the cross. The Greek phrasing captures the action: diemerisanto (they divided among themselves, aorist middle voice indicating personal gain) and ballontes klēron (casting lots, a present activity as Jesus hung).

Gill draws on Jewish sources (the Mishnah) to note that the condemned were stripped before execution as a matter of law, though debate existed over how much to cover. For Jesus, there was no covering. The Father allowed his Son to be stripped bare so that the full weight of human shame and divine judgment could meet in one place.

The phrase in Matthew 27:35, 'that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots', is a well-known textual variant. It appears in the majority of later Greek manuscripts (the Byzantine text) and aligns with the King James tradition. However, it is absent from the earliest and most reliable witnesses, including Codex Sinaiticus (4th century) and Codex Vaticanus (4th century). Gill and the Cambridge Bible both note its omission in ancient copies and early versions (Syriac, Coptic).

The consensus among modern critical editions (NA28, UBS5) is to omit the clause, treating it as a scribal insertion likely borrowed from Mark 15:24 or John 19:24 to harmonize the account. Despite the textual uncertainty, the theological point is secure: the event itself is cross-referenced to Psalm 22:18 in the broader Passion narrative, and the meaning of the passage does not rely on a single disputed clause.

This verse has been a touchstone for meditation on the shame of the cross. In the early church, the tunic woven in one piece was seen as a type of the Church's unity. Tertullian, cited by Clarke, wrote extensively on the cross's shape, while Jerome compared the cross to a bird in flight or a man praying. Medieval piety focused on the stripping of Christ as the ultimate act of economic and social poverty, the Son of God died with nothing left to call his own.

During the Reformation, Calvin drew a soteriological line: Christ was stripped so believers could be clothed. 'By this nakedness,' Calvin wrote, 'we have obtained those riches which make us honorable in the presence of God.' The verse continues to be used in Good Friday liturgies across many traditions to underscore the vulnerability and depth of Christ's identification with the poor and the shamed.

Three-point outline

1. The Shame He Bore for Us. Jesus was stripped naked before a watching crowd. This was the final indignity added to the cross. He took not only our sin but every ounce of public disgrace our sins deserve. The nakedness was real, and it was for us.
2. The Indifference of the World. While the Son of God hung in agony, soldiers gambled for his clothes. They had seen hundreds of crucifixions. For them it was just another day, another tunic. This is the world's response to the cross, a casual shrug in the face of salvation.
3. The Sovereignty of the Word. The soldiers had no idea they were fulfilling Psalm 22:18. They acted out of greed and habit. Yet their small choice to cast lots rather than tear the tunic matched the prophecy exactly. God works his purposes even through hearts that have no allegiance to him.

Five-point outline

1. Stripped for Our Covering. Calvin saw a profound exchange: Christ stripped so believers could be clothed in righteousness.
2. The Cost of Gambling. The soldiers treated eternal things as trifles. Their lot for the tunic echoes how the world often treats salvation, like something to casually divvy up or ignore.
3. The Woven Unity. The tunic woven in one piece has been seen by early church writers as a symbol of the body of Christ, which was not meant to be torn apart.
4. Psalm 22 Fulfilled. Matthew explicitly ties the soldiers' actions to David's words. The cross was no accident, no turn of bad luck. It was the script God had been writing all along.
5. The Silent Lamb. Unlike the mocking crowd and the gambling soldiers, Jesus is silent (Isaiah 53:7). The work of atonement does not need our commentary. It needs our faith.

Illustration hooks

• The Estate Sale. Imagine someone's entire life, photos, letters, heirlooms, laid out on a lawn and sold for spare change. The soldiers treating Jesus's clothes as loot is that kind of stark blindness to value.
• The Surgery Table. A patient is stripped, cold, and vulnerable, but trusts the surgeon. Jesus on the cross was stripped to the point of utter vulnerability, entrusting himself to the Father.
• The Unread Blueprint. A construction crew follows a detailed plan without knowing the architect. The soldiers followed the plan of God, casting lots, dividing clothes, without knowing the Architect of their actions.

Questions your congregation is asking

• If God planned the soldiers' evil actions, how does that relate to their guilt or our own free choices?
• What does it mean practically that Christ was stripped so I could be clothed with his righteousness?
• Why does the Gospel writer care so much about a piece of clothing?

This is a strange detail to pause on. A game of dice. A piece of cloth. But Matthew stops here to let us see something the soldiers missed. While they took his clothes, Christ was covering our shame. While they played a game, a prophecy was being fulfilled. As you read through these verses, ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to the ways God works in the ordinary, and even the ugly, moments of life.

Discussion questions

1. Read Psalm 22 slowly. How many connections can you find between the Psalm and Matthew's account of the crucifixion?
2. In what ways do we, like the soldiers, treat the cross as a common thing, something we have seen so often it loses its power?
3. The soldiers acted without knowing they were fulfilling Scripture. What does this tell you about God's sovereignty over the small and thoughtless events in your own story?
4. John 19:23 mentions the tunic was woven in one piece. Why do you think John and Matthew both emphasize the garment and the casting of lots?
5. Calvin wrote that Christ's nakedness gives us boldness before God, clothed in his righteousness. Does shame still hold you back from approaching God? How does this passage speak to that?
6. If you had been at the cross that day, where would you have stood? With the grieving disciples, the mocking crowd, or the indifferent soldiers?
7. How does knowing that God's plan included the precise distribution of Jesus's clothes give you hope for the chaotic parts of your own life?