Matius 16:24-28

16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to become my follower, ¹  he must deny ²  himself, take up his cross, ³  and follow me. 16:25 For whoever wants to save his life ⁴  will lose it, ⁵  but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 16:26 For what does it benefit a person ⁶  if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life? Or what can a person give in exchange for his life? 16:27 For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. ⁷  16:28 I tell you the truth, ⁸  there are some standing here who will not ⁹  experience ¹⁰  death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” ¹¹ 

Markus 8:34--9:1

Following Jesus

8:34 Then ¹²  Jesus ¹³  called the crowd, along with his disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wants to become my follower, ¹⁴  he must deny ¹⁵  himself, take up his cross, ¹⁶  and follow me. 8:35 For whoever wants to save his life ¹⁷  will lose it, ¹⁸  but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel will save it. 8:36 For what benefit is it for a person ¹⁹  to gain the whole world, yet ²⁰  forfeit his life? 8:37 What can a person give in exchange for his life? 8:38 For if anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him ²¹  when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” 9:1 And he said to them, “I tell you the truth, ²²  there are some standing here who will not ²³  experience ²⁴  death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.” ²⁵ 

Lukas 9:23-27

A Call to Discipleship

9:23 Then ²⁶  he said to them all, ²⁷  “If anyone wants to become my follower, ²⁸  he must deny ²⁹  himself, take up his cross daily, ³⁰  and follow me. 9:24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, ³¹  but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 9:25 For what does it benefit a person ³²  if he gains the whole world but loses or forfeits himself? 9:26 For whoever is ashamed ³³  of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person ³⁴  when he comes in his glory and in the glory ³⁵  of the Father and of the holy angels. 9:27 But I tell you most certainly, ³⁶  there are some standing here who will not ³⁷  experience ³⁸  death before they see the kingdom of God.” ³⁹ 

[16:24]  ¹ tn Grk “to come after me.”

[16:24]  ² tn This translation better expresses the force of the Greek third person imperative than the traditional “let him deny,” which could be understood as merely permissive.

[16:24]  ³ sn To bear the cross means to accept the rejection of the world for turning to Jesus and following him. Discipleship involves a death that is like a crucifixion; see Gal 6:14.

[16:25]  ⁴ tn Or “soul” (throughout vv. 25-26).

[16:25]  ⁵ sn The point of the saying whoever wants to save his life will lose it is that if one comes to Jesus then rejection by many will certainly follow. If self-protection is a key motivation, then one will not respond to Jesus and will not be saved. One who is willing to risk rejection will respond and find true life.

[16:26]  ⁶ tn Grk “a man,” but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense here to refer to both men and women.

[16:27]  ⁷ sn An allusion to Pss 28:4; 62:12; cf. Prov 24:12.

[16:28]  ⁸ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[16:28]  ⁹ tn The Greek negative here (οὐ μή, ou mh) is the strongest possible.

[16:28]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “will not taste.” Here the Greek verb does not mean “sample a small amount” (as a typical English reader might infer from the word “taste”), but “experience something cognitively or emotionally; come to know something” (cf. BDAG 195 s.v. γεύομαι 2).

[16:28]  ¹¹ sn Several suggestions have been made as to the referent for the phrase the Son of Man coming in his kingdom: (1) the transfiguration itself, which immediately follows in the narrative; (2) Jesus’ resurrection and ascension; (3) the coming of the Spirit; (4) Christ’s role in the Church; (5) the destruction of Jerusalem; (6) Jesus’ second coming and the establishment of the kingdom. The reference to six days later in 17:1 seems to indicate that Matthew had the transfiguration in mind insofar as it was a substantial prefiguring of the consummation of the kingdom (although this interpretation is not without its problems). As such, the transfiguration would be a tremendous confirmation to the disciples that even though Jesus had just finished speaking of his death (in vv. 21-23), he was nonetheless the promised Messiah and things were proceeding according to God’s plan.

[8:34]  ¹² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[8:34]  ¹³ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:34]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “to follow after me.”

[8:34]  ¹⁵ tn This translation better expresses the force of the Greek third person imperative than the traditional “let him deny,” which could be understood as merely permissive.

[8:34]  ¹⁶ sn To bear the cross means to accept the rejection of the world for turning to Jesus and following him. Discipleship involves a death that is like a crucifixion; see Gal 6:14.

[8:35]  ¹⁷ tn Or “soul” (throughout vv. 35-37).

[8:35]  ¹⁸ sn The point of the saying whoever wants to save his life will lose it is that if one comes to Jesus then rejection by many will certainly follow. If self-protection is a key motivation, then one will not respond to Jesus and will not be saved. One who is willing to risk rejection will respond and find true life.

[8:36]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “a man,” but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense here to refer to both men and women.

[8:36]  ²⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “yet” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[8:38]  ²¹ sn How one responds now to Jesus and his teaching is a reflection of how Jesus, as the Son of Man who judges, will respond then in the final judgment.

[9:1]  ²² tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[9:1]  ²³ tn The Greek negative here (οὐ μή, ou mh) is the strongest possible.

[9:1]  ²⁴ tn Grk “will not taste.” Here the Greek verb does not mean “sample a small amount” (as a typical English reader might infer from the word “taste”), but “experience something cognitively or emotionally; come to know something” (cf. BDAG 195 s.v. γεύομαι 2).

[9:1]  ²⁵ sn Several suggestions have been made as to the referent for the phrase the kingdom of God come with power: (1) the transfiguration itself, which immediately follows in the narrative; (2) Jesus’ resurrection and ascension; (3) the coming of the Spirit; (4) Jesus’ second coming and the establishment of the kingdom. The reference to after six days in 9:2 seems to indicate that Mark had the transfiguration in mind insofar as it was a substantial prefiguring of the consummation of the kingdom (although this interpretation is not without its problems). As such, the transfiguration was a tremendous confirmation to the disciples that even though Jesus had just finished speaking of his death (8:31; 9:31; 10:33), he was nonetheless the promised Messiah and things were proceeding according to God’s plan.

[9:23]  ²⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[9:23]  ²⁷ sn Here them all could be limited to the disciples, since Jesus was alone with them in v. 18. It could also be that by this time the crowd had followed and found him, and he addressed them, or this could be construed as a separate occasion from the discussion with the disciples in 9:18-22. The cost of discipleship is something Jesus was willing to tell both insiders and outsiders about. The rejection he felt would also fall on his followers.

[9:23]  ²⁸ tn Grk “to come after me.”

[9:23]  ²⁹ tn This translation better expresses the force of the Greek third person imperative than the traditional “let him deny,” which could be understood as merely permissive.

[9:23]  ³⁰ sn Only Luke mentions taking up one’s cross daily. To bear the cross means to accept the rejection of the world for turning to Jesus and following him. Discipleship involves a death that is like a crucifixion; see Gal 6:14.

[9:24]  ³¹ sn The point of the saying whoever wants to save his life will lose it is that if one comes to Jesus then rejection by many will certainly follow. If self-protection is a key motivation, then one will not respond to Jesus and will not be saved. One who is willing to risk rejection will respond and find true life.

[9:25]  ³² tn Grk “a man,” but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense here to refer to both men and women.

[9:26]  ³³ sn How one responds now to Jesus and his teaching is a reflection of how Jesus, as the Son of Man who judges, will respond then in the final judgment.

[9:26]  ³⁴ tn This pronoun (τοῦτον, touton) is in emphatic position in its own clause in the Greek text: “of that person the Son of Man will be ashamed…”

[9:26]  ³⁵ tn Grk “in the glory of him and of the Father and of the holy angels.” “Glory” is repeated here in the translation for clarity and smoothness because the literal phrase is unacceptably awkward in contemporary English.

[9:27]  ³⁶ tn Grk “I tell you truly” (λέγω δὲ ὑμῖν ἀληθῶς, legw de Jumin alhqw").

[9:27]  ³⁷ tn The Greek negative here (οὐ μή, ou mh) is the strongest possible.

[9:27]  ³⁸ tn Grk “will not taste.” Here the Greek verb does not mean “sample a small amount” (as a typical English reader might infer from the word “taste”), but “experience something cognitively or emotionally; come to know something” (cf. BDAG 195 s.v. γεύομαι 2).

[9:27]  ³⁹ sn The meaning of the statement that some will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God is clear at one level, harder at another. Jesus predicts some will experience the kingdom before they die. When does this happen? (1) An initial fulfillment is the next event, the transfiguration. (2) It is also possible in Luke’s understanding that all but Judas experience the initial fulfillment of the coming of God’s presence and rule in the work of Acts 2. In either case, the “kingdom of God” referred to here would be the initial rather than the final phase.