Rob of Atlanta

Series:The Passion of the Christ: Eyewitnesses, Evidence, and Eternal Truth

Part One "The Garden of Gethsemane"

Posted on July 22, 2025 • Category: Apologetics

In The Bible

The Disciples

The Gospel accounts record Jesus taking Peter, James, and John with Him to pray. Matthew accounts that Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew (also called Nathanael), Matthew (also called Levi, the tax collector), Thomas (also called Didymus), James the Less (son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus (also called Judas son of James or Lebbaeus), and Simon the Zealot were told to “Sit here while I go over there and pray”—presumably at the entrance or near the edge of Gethsemane. Judas Iscariot had left earlier to betray Jesus.

Jesus checks in on Peter, James, and John three times during this part of the Gospel, and each time they are asleep.

St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430), in his Harmony of the Gospels (Book III), interprets “watch and pray” as a warning: vigilance and prayer guard against spiritual weakness.
St. John Chrysostom (c. 347–407), in Homily 83 on Matthew, notes that Jesus chose to pray separately, teaching us the importance of seeking quiet, private prayer and retreat. He emphasizes that even knowing His fate, Jesus still asked, “let this cup pass from me,” highlighting not ignorance but a heart wrestling with divine suffering.
St. Ambrose of Milan (c. 339–397) links Jesus’ grief in Gethsemane to His taking on Adam’s sorrow and death, making the event foundational to the Incarnation.

Hematohidrosis

Luke accounts that Jesus was in such agony during this time that “His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.” This is called "Hematohidrosis" a rare condition occurring under extreme levels of stress. Fear and intense mental contemplation are the most frequent causes. Tiny blood vessels in the skin break open. The blood inside them may get squeezed out through sweat glands, or there might be unusual little pockets within the structure of the skin. These could collect the blood and let it leak into follicles (where the hair grows) or onto the skin’s surface.

"In the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to Him who was able to save Him from death..."-Hebrews 5:7
  • Most scholars and Church Fathers interpret this as a direct reference to Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane.
  • St. Augustine and St. Ambrose connect this verse to the agony in the garden.
"He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief... Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows..."-Isaiah 53:3–5 — The Suffering Servant
  • Jesus’ overwhelming sorrow and agony in Gethsemane fulfill this description. His internal grief began in the garden before any whip or cross.
    "Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck... I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched... Reproaches have broken my heart..."-Psalm 69:1–3, 20
  • Many Church Fathers saw this as describing the emotional and spiritual torment of Christ before His Passion.

Origen, St. Jerome, and St. Augustine saw Isaiah 53 and the Psalms as spiritual windows into Jesus’ suffering, including what began in Gethsemane.

Jesus fully man and fully God

Heretical views on the Garden of Gethsemane generally come from attempts to undermine Christ’s divine nature, deny His true humanity, or reinterpret the events to support false doctrines.

The early Church—especially the Council of Nicaea (325)—affirmed Christ is "homoousios" (of the same essence) with the Father. Gethsemane reflects His full human will in harmony with His divine will—not inferiority.

St. Athanasius: “He became man that we might become divine.”

The agony in the garden involves one Person, Jesus Christ, with two natures acting together—fully God and fully man. The prayer in Gethsemane is the human will submitting freely to the divine will, not one person overriding another.

The Council of Ephesus (431 AD) condemned the claim that Jesus’ divine and human natures were so separate as to constitute two persons.

The Sixth Ecumenical Council (Constantinople III, 680–681) condemned the heresy of monothelitism (the belief that Christ had only one will). Christ has two wills—a divine will and a human will, perfectly united in one Divine Person. In Gethsemane, it is His human will that expresses sorrow, agony, and the desire for the "cup to pass." But that will is not disobedient—it freely and perfectly submits to the divine will, which is also His own as the Son.

“Not my will, but Yours be done.”-Luke 22:42
  • That Jesus, in His humanity, truly experienced the weight of suffering and death.
  • That He chose, in perfect love and freedom, to submit to the divine plan for our salvation.
“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”-John 15:13
  • “The human will in Christ freely agreed to follow the divine will. He chose suffering for the sake of our salvation.”-St. Maximus the Confessor (580–662 AD)

Gethsemane vs. Eden

Christ won the victory in the Garden of Gethsemane where Adam failed in the Garden of Eden.

In Eden, Adam took it upon himself to put his will above the will of God, essentially saying:

“Not Your will, but mine be done.”

In Gethsemane, our Lord—the New Adam—says:

“Not My will, but Yours be done.”-Luke 22:42

Christ’s agony in the garden is the model of spiritual warfare. He faces fear, sorrow, and temptation, yet does not fall into sin. His perfect obedience becomes the healing of our disobedience.

Christ’s submission wasn’t forced—it was a willing sacrifice. His human nature recoiled at suffering (as any man would), yet He chose the Cross.

“What He did not assume, He did not heal.”-St. Gregory the Theologian (Nazianzus)

-Meaning Christ assumed a full human nature, including a will capable of struggle.

The Cup of God’s Wrath

“My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”-Matthew 26:39
“Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.”-Mark 14:36

Jesus isn’t just In anguish due to the pain to come, he’s confronting the full wrath of God against the sin of the world. He knows He must drink that cup— i.e., take on the judgment that we deserve.

“For a cup is in the hand of Yahweh, and the wine foams; It is full of His mixture, and He pours from this; Surely all the wicked of the earth must drain and drink down its dregs.”- Psalm 75:8
“Awaken yourself! Awaken yourself! Arise, O Jerusalem, You who have drunk from the hand of Yahweh the cup of His wrath; The chalice of reeling you have drained to the dregs.” -Isaiah 51:17

Jesus willingly drinks that cup for us.

“He was terrified not of death, but of the cup — the separation from the Father’s favor for a moment, that we might be reconciled.”-St. Cyril of Jerusalem (4th century)
  • "The Cross is not about appeasing God's anger but about defeating sin, death, and the devil (Christus Victor).
  • "God is not divided — the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one in love and purpose.
  • "Jesus doesn't save us from God, He saves us through God and as God.

Warnning!!!!

Please allow me to finsh part one up with a warnning

⚖️ End-Time Judgment — The Cup Still Stands ⚖️

Even though Christ drank the cup for believers, the cup of wrath still remains for those who reject Him:

“…he also will drink of the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of His anger…”-Revelation 14:9–10
“…God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of His wrath.”Revelation 16:19

So the cup hasn’t vanished — it’s just already been consumed for the redeemed.

How can I have the cup passed from me?

The cup can pass from you by submitting to the one who drunk from it on your behalf. Submit to Christ as lord and savior today! Do not put this off! Realize the love God had and has for you and realize your sinful nature and your need for a savior.

Jesus took on our sin, our shame, and even death itself and defeated it. He paid a debt we could never pay. Not to trap us in guilt, but to set us free to give us peace, forgiveness, and the chance to be made new.

Let me be clear, I don't teach salvation is a one and done thing.

Jesus Said:

“If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me."-Matthew 16:24

Luke (adds “daily”) in Luke 9:23

"Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."-Luke 14:27
“The cross is the ladder to heaven.”—St. John Chrysostom
“To be a Christian means to die before you die — to crucify your ego, your comfort, your will — and to follow the Man of Sorrows who gave His life for you.”-Fr. Josiah Trenham

As Christ bore the Cross for us—carrying the weight of our sin to the point of death so we might inherit eternal life—we are now called to take up our own cross, and bear His Name with courage and faith before a watching world.

Jesus Said:

"But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved."-Matthew 24:13

If you want to start that walk with Christ today! If you want to pick up your cross today! Repent and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved!

I tell you, no, but unless you [a]repent, you will all likewise perish.-Luke 13:3
that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;-Romans 10:9

I pray anyone reading this (that is not in Christ) wishes to learn more about salvation, if so please check out the info and videos below

More info on Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane