What was the cup that Jesus prayed about?

[KyleB]

Was the cup Jesus prayed to pass from him in the garden (Mt 26:39) the cup of God's wrath? I know that most evangelicals say that it is, but if so, why does Jesus say that James and John will indeed drink from the same cup that Jesus would (Mt 20:22-23)?

I am not doubting that Jesus took on my sins and the sins of the whole world, and that He faced the penalty for those sins. I affirm that. I am just wondering how can we say that James and John also drank God's wrath, if we identify the cup this way? Couldn't we see the cup in a more general sense, as in accepting or refusing God's calling for your life? And that Jesus and the apostles all suffered for the gospel's sake, so in that way they drank from the same cup?

As an aside, I am aware that there are many OT references to God's wrath in a cup, but they seem to refer to a cup that can be filled and emptied on different occasions, and dishes out temporal rather than eternal judgment.

[steve7150]

I don't think Jesus was afraid it was God's wrath , i think he was afraid of being spiritually separated from his Father as he truly stood in our place. So it may be suffering per se but for Jesus that suffering manifested as spiritual separation IMO.

[RICHinCHRIST]

I take this idea quite simply. I interpret the "cup" as a cup of suffering. Jesus would suffer at the hands of the Jews and the Romans, and his disciples would also suffer for their dedication to Christ by the same kinds of people. Jesus also said they would be baptized with the same baptism he was baptized with. I see this in two possible ways: The baptism of the Holy Spirit, or an immersion in the same suffering. Either way you see it, the Holy Spirit would lead the disciples into suffering since everyone who desires to live godly in Christ will suffer persecution. But I don't think it's necessary to bring the idea of God's wrath into the picture, even though the OT uses the cup analogy in that way.

[Paidion]

Bingo, RiCHinChrist!

[KyleB]

Rich, yes, I think we are basically saying the same thing.

Here is why I am asking. I was talking about this subject with a friend earlier in the week because I had heard the "God's wrath" view on a call-in program that we both listened to. He agreed with the show host, I did not, but I said I would think about it some more. Then a few days later, going through Steve's 2012 Jeremiah lectures, Steve got to one of the references and said that it gave special meaning to Jesus' prayer. So then I felt like maybe I was really wrong. But I just can't see it because of the statement that the apostles would share in the same cup with Jesus.

Does anyone hold to the God's wrath view here? How do you make sense of Mt 20:22-23?

[JMTC]

I agree that it refers to suffering.