Tetelestai – What Jesus Meant When He Said “It is Finished.’

In John 19:30, apostle John records the last words of Jesus on the cross, “It is Finished.” In this blog today we will look at what those words meant. We will focus on what Christ Jesus accomplished on the cross and connect that with his saying, “It is finished.”

The Greek word from which the words “IT IS FINISHED” are translated is “TETELESTAI.” This Greek word was used in the ancient Greet and Jesus times in three contexts: business, Military, and Judicial. We will look at the three contexts and see how amazingly Jesus’s words fit perfectly in them.

In Business Conext.

Tetelestai was used as an accounting term. It was written on a bill, on an account and it meant “Paid in Full’, it meant that the account was now closed, and the debtee no longer owed anything. The Bible is very clear that we are all sinners. We have broken God’s Holy Law and therefore we have a debt which we cannot pay by ourselves. Christ Jesus’ words “It is Finished” implied that the debt of sin had been paid fully.

In Military Context

Telelestai was a common term used in the Military where soldiers who were victorious over their enemies would declare “TETELESTAI” to mean that the Battle was won. When Jesus on the cross cried out, “TETELESTAI’, He was declaring victory over sin, satan, and death (Which would be witnessed by His Resurrection). Dear believers, Jesus had won the battle for us. And He has given us power to fight sin, resist the devil and death is just a defeated enemy.

In Judicial Context

(It is said that tetelestai was used in the court system although I have not found a reliable source for that.) This piece is from Precept Austin.

In the court system, Tetelestai was used to mean that a particular sentence was served in full. When a Roman citizen was convicted of a crime, he was thrown into prison. A “Certificate of Debt” listing all his crimes was nailed to his cell door so that anyone passing by could know what he had been accused of and the penalty assessed.

When the prisoner had served his sentence and was released from bondage, the indictment was taken down from the door and the judge who had put him in prison would sign the indictment and write across it the word TETELESTAI. The freed prisoner was then given this document and if questioned as to why he was out of jail, he could point to the indictment across which the judge had written TETELESTAI. He could rest in safety and security because the word TETELESTAI guaranteed his deliverance and his liberty. The charges for those crimes could never again be brought against him. He would never be a victim of “double jeopardy” (having to pay for the same crime twice).

When Jesus cried “TETELESTAI” on the cross, He was saying that anyone who places his trust in His sacrificial death on their behalf, receives in essence a “certificate of debt” with the inscription of “tetelestai”, indicating that all their “crimes” (past, present and future) against God have been PAID FOR IN FULL! In light of this truth, Paul could write that because our debt was PAID IN FULL by Jesus, God “has forgiven you all your sins: Christ has utterly wiped out (Greek = completely obliterated) the condemning evidence of broken laws and commandments which always hung over our heads, and has completely annulled it by nailing it over His own head on the Cross. And then having drawn the sting of all the powers ranged against us, He exposed them, shattered, empty and defeated, in His final glorious triumphant act!” (Col 2:14-15 )