John 12:27

27. My soul troubled The term soul here, in contrast with the word spirit, designates the lower sensitive part of the human nature. As at Gethsemane, so here, the conceptions of sin and hell, which are to be exemplified in the cross, fill his vision with amazement. By the punctuation which we should adopt, an interrogation point should be placed after the word hour. In his amazement therefore, the Lord exclaims, What shall I say? Shall I say, Father, save me from this hour? But no, he would add, For this cause, for the endurance of this agony, came I unto this hour. His sensitive nature would have cried for exemption; his higher spirit realized the greatness and the necessity of his mission. Between the two the great struggle results in the persistence in the path of suffering and glory.