Weak flesh and a willing spirit
We said earlier too that some sayings belong to the “firstborn of all creation” (Colossians 1:15) who was in Jesus, such as “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6) and others like it, while others belong to the man understood to be in him, such as “But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from the Father” (John 8:40). So here too, in his human nature, he portrays both the weakness of human flesh and the willingness of the spirit (Matthew 26:41): the weakness in “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me,” and the willingness of the spirit in “Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39).
And if we must also keep to the order of what was said, notice that what belongs, so to speak, to the weakness of the flesh comes first and is a single saying, while what belongs to the willingness of the spirit comes afterward and runs to several. The single saying is “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me” (Matthew 26:39); the several are both “Not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39) and “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done” (Matthew 26:42). We should also observe that he did not say, “Let this cup go away from me,” but that the whole was said reverently and with humble reserve: “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.”
I know also an explanation of the passage along these lines. The Saviour saw what the people and Jerusalem would suffer in punishment for what the Jews had dared to do against him. For no other reason than his love for them, wishing the people not to suffer what they were about to suffer, he says: “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.” It is as if he were saying: Since, through my drinking this cup of punishment, a whole nation will be abandoned by you, I pray, if it is possible, that “this cup pass from me,” so that your portion, which has dared to act against me, may not be wholly abandoned by you.
Besides, if, as Celsus says, nothing painful or grievous befell Jesus at that time, how could those who came after him use Jesus as an example of enduring hardships for the sake of godliness, if he did not suffer what human beings suffer but only seemed to have suffered?
Greek
Ἐλέγομεν δὴ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέρω ὅτι αἱ μέν τινες εἰσὶ φωναὶ τοῦ ἐν τῷ Ἰησοῦ πρωτοτόκου „πάσης κτίσεως“ ὡς ἡ· „ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωὴ“ καὶ αἱ τούτοις παραπλήσιαι, αἱ δὲ τοῦ κατ᾿ αὐτὸν νοουμένου ἀνθρώπου ὡς ἡ τοῦ· „νῦν δέ με ζητεῖτε ἀποκτεῖναι, ἄνθρωπον, ὃς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ὑμῖν λελάληκα. ἣν ἤκουσα παρὰ τοῦ πατρός.“ καὶ ἐνθάδε τοίνυν διαγράφει ἐν τῷ ἀνθρωπίνῳ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης σαρκὸς ἀσθενὲς καὶ τὸ τοῦ πνεύματος πρόθυμον. τὸ μὲν ἀσθενὲς ἐν τῷ „πάτερ, εἰ δυνατόν ἐστι, παρελθέτω ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ τὸ ποτήριον τοῦτο.“ τὸ δὲ πρόθυμον τοῦ πνεύματος ἐν τῷ „πλὴν οὐχ ὡς ἐγὼ θέλω, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς σύ.“ εἰ δὲ καὶ τὴν τάξιν τῶν λελεγμένων τηρῆσαι δεῖ. πρόσχες ὅτι πρότερον μὲν εἴρηται τὸ. ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις, κατὰ τὴν ἀσθένειαν τῆς σαρκὸς ἓν τυγχάνον. ὕστερον δὲ τὰ κατὰ τὴν προθυμίαν τοῦ πνεύματος ὄντα πλείονα. ἓν μὲν γὰρ τὸ „πάτερ. εἰ δυνατόν ἐστι. παρελθέτω ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ τὸ ποτήριον τοῦτο,“ πλείονα δὲ τό τε „οὐχ ὡς ἐγὼ θέλω, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς σὺ“ καὶ τὸ „πάτερ μου, εἰ οὐ δύναται τοῦτο παρελθεῖν, ἐὰν μὴ αὐτὸ πίω, γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου.“ τηρητέον δὲ καὶ τὸ μὴ εἰρῆσθαι μέν· „ἀπελθέτω ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ τὸ ποτήριον τοῦτο,“ λελέχθαι δὲ εὐσεβῶς καὶ μεθ᾿ ὑποτιμήσεως ὅλον τοῦτο· „πάτερ, εἰ δυνατόν ἐστι. παρελθέτω ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ τὸ ποτήριον τοῦτο.“ οἶδα δέ τινα καὶ τοιαύτην εἰς τὸν τόπον διήγησιν, ὅτι ὁρῶν ὁ σωτὴρ οἷα ὁ λαὸς καὶ Ἱερουσαλὴμ πείσεται ἐπὶ τῇ ἐκδικήσει τῶν κατ᾿ αὐτοῦ τετολμημένων ὑπὸ Ἰουδαίων, οὐ δι᾿ ἄλλο τι ἢ διὰ τὸ πρὸς ἐκείνους φιλάνθρωπον θέλων μὴ παθεῖν τὸν λαὸν ἃ ἔμελλε πάσχειν φησὶ τὸ „πάτερ. εἰ δυνατόν ἐστι. παρελθέτω ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ τὸ ποτήριον τοῦτο“· ὡς εἰ ἔλεγεν· ἐπεὶ ἐκ τοῦ με πιεῖν τουτὶ τὸ τῆς κολάσεως ποτήριον ὅλον ἔθνος ὑπὸ σοῦ ἐγκαταλειφθήσεται, εὔχομαι. εἰ δυνατόν ἐστι, παρελθεῖν „ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ τὸ ποτήριον τοῦτο,“ ἵνα μὴ ἡ μερίς σου τολμήσασα κατ᾿ ἐμοῦ πάντῃ ὑπὸ σοῦ ἐγκαταλειφθῇ. ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰ, ὥς φησιν ὁ Κέλσος. μήτ᾿ ἀλγεινόν τι μήτ᾿ ἀνιαρὸν τῷ Ἰησοῦ κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦτον ἐγίνετο, πῶς ἂν οἱ μετὰ ταῦτα παραδείγματι τοῦ ὑπομένειν τὰ δι᾿ εὐσέβειαν ἐπίπονα ἐδύναντο χρήσασθαι Ἰησοῦ. μὴ παθόντι μὲν τὰ ἀνθρώπινα μόνον δὲ δόξαντι πεπονθέναι;