And he said to [them] all, If any one will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me;
Peter has just confessed that Jesus is the Christ. The Lord has answered by announcing His own rejection, death, and rising again. Then He turns to everyone listening and says what it costs to follow Him. Three things come in order: saying no to self, taking up a cross, and following.
The words come straight out of the announcement of His suffering. One writer notes that Luke moves straight from Christ's rejection to a moral principle for the disciple.
Luke, as he usually does, ties Christ's rejection and death to a great moral principle: "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself." The Lord wants the cross to be real not only for the man, but in him too. It is a blessing to know what God has done for us in the cross of Christ. We must also learn what the cross says about the world and about human nature.
This call goes to people who already know Him. One writer draws a line between the first step and the second, and warns that many stop at the first.
To come after Jesus is a hard task in itself. Anyone who does not know the Master might well shrink back from it. It is knowing the gracious and glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ that awakens the sincere, whole-hearted response men ought to give to His call to follow Him... Many people know something of our Lord Jesus. They answered His invitation and came to Him in their distress, weariness and repentance. They found rest in Him and peace for their conscience — but they have never followed Him!
The phrase is often softened into giving up a few comforts. One writer shows how that softened version feeds the very thing it claims to cut.
People talk about self-denial. They even hold self-denial weeks, by which they mean giving up certain things for a set time to help a good cause. But this is the very opposite of denying self. It adds to self-satisfaction and lifts self up. Denying self is not just giving up certain things. It is denying the person who craves these things. Denying self is ignoring self altogether so that we serve others in love.
Denying self and carrying a cross are not the same act repeated. One writer on the matching account in Mark separates them.
To say "no" to yourself is to accept death inside, in your own spirit. To take up your cross is to accept death outside, at the hands of the world. That is what following Him must mean, since we follow the Christ who died, rejected by the world.
People often confuse that outward side with hardship in general — illness, money worries, difficult people.
The cross is not the ordinary trouble of everyday life, though the disciple will meet that too. Someone under pressure may say, "I have a heavy cross to bear." That is not the thought here.
The word does not appear in Matthew's record of the same saying.
Matthew 16:24 does not include the word "daily." There the stress falls on the first decision. Luke stresses a daily practice.
That daily repetition is where the real weight falls — heavier, one writer argues, than a single heroic act.
It has been well said that it is very hard to keep denying yourself every day, with no one knowing anything about it... A man might go bravely to death, once for all, to defend the truth. His name could be passed down for generations and a monument raised in his memory. But taking up your cross daily, denying yourself daily, is a very different thing.
No one can work this up by effort or willpower. The strength comes from God, and it reaches us through love.
We will not find the power we need within ourselves, and we cannot work it up by religious exercises. It is in God alone. But it reaches us in a very simple way... Let the bright rays of the love of God break into any heart, however dark, and at once that heart knows a new driving power, and following Him begins.
- Come first. He calls people to come after Him who have already come to Him. Resting in Him for peace is the gate, not the road.
- Deny self. This is not giving up certain things, which can feed self-satisfaction. It is denying the person who craves them, and ignoring self so that we serve others in love.
- Carry the cross. Saying no to self accepts death inside. Taking up the cross accepts death outside, at the hands of the world. That is not the same as ordinary trouble.
- Daily. Matthew records the once-for-all decision. Luke adds the word that makes it a daily practice. Unseen daily denial tests a person more than a single heroic death.
- Follow. A rejected Christ shapes the path. No one generates the power to walk it. That power starts when the love of God breaks into the heart.
for whosoever shall desire to save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, *he* shall save it.
Jesus has just told His followers that He will be rejected, killed, and raised. He now lays down the rule that follows, and it sounds like a riddle: saving ends in losing, and losing ends in saving.
The word behind "life" is usually translated "soul." One writer explains what that word covers:
The word translated "life" here is usually translated "soul." It refers to the "soul life" that marks man in his natural fallen condition. The soul is not the same as the spirit. The spirit is the higher part of man, able to put him in intelligent touch with God. The soul is the seat of our natural desires and longings. So "soul life" is the life of enjoying everything that appeals to us by nature.
The saying works on two levels. What a man keeps on one level, he loses on the other:
Everything now depends on eternal life. It is no longer a question of living long on the earth. This was, and will be, all very well for the Jew. But the cross of Christ is the burial of all Jewish thoughts. So if a man is careful to save his life now, he will lose it. He may save it in a lower sense, but he will lose it in a deeper. He may save it in this world, but lose it for eternity. But if I am willing to lose it in the lower, I shall save it in the best — the eternal — sense.
Jesus says this right after announcing His own rejection. The quotes never say Luke alone records the daily cross:
The Lord announces to all the plain consequence. If anyone will follow after Him, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Him. He was not going to have the present glory of Messiah. He was going a sorrowful journey right to the end, even to death. And this was the daily character of the service... And whoever would save his life would lose it... Whoever should lose his life for Christ's sake should find it really.
Talk of saving and losing can sound like a price you pay to be saved. One writer rules that out:
The Lord speaks these words to the disciples, not to unbelievers. It is therefore not a question of salvation. We are not asked to deny self and take up the cross to be saved. These words tell us that the way the Lord went is the way of all His true disciples. It is not only possible to believe in the Lord and not follow Him; it is the most common thing we see around us today.
For some believers, losing their life has meant dying. But the principle reaches further:
Someone may attach himself to this world. He may seek his life in it, or keep it as a life he clings to, over against the rejected Christ. Such a man loses it. We are not always called to give up our lives in fact, though this can happen, and often has. But in moral terms it always applies. Whoever loves his life, and holds on to it as if it belonged to this world, loses it. It is a life of vanity, as cut off from God as the world it attaches itself to, and it ends only in death.
What looks like the safe choice turns out to be the losing one:
Suppose someone wants to save his life — that is, to escape the dangers that come with true discipleship. In the end he would only lose his life. But if he willingly lost his life for Christ's sake, he would truly save it, in its real and lasting worth.
This saying comes back in the Gospels more often than anything else Jesus said:
Of all His wonderful words in the Gospels, this is the only one, as far as I know, that comes back again and again. With slight variations, it appears no less than six times. Read these passages: Matthew 10:39; 16:25; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24; 17:33. Together with the one in John 12, they make six. So He pressed this truth home on four occasions: when He sent out His twelve disciples; just before His transfiguration; when giving a prophetic address not long before the end of His ministry; and within a few days of His death.
- Life — the word means "soul": the natural life of desires and enjoyments that fallen man lives for.
- Lower — you can keep that life at the lower level and still lose it at the deeper, eternal one.
- Loss — losing it for Christ's sake may mean death. It always means letting go of a life that belongs to this world.
- Daily — the cross is not a one-time crisis. It is the daily shape of following a rejected Christ.
- Repeated — the Lord said this more often than anything else on record. He said it to disciples, not as the price of salvation, but as the road they walk.
For what shall a man profit if he shall have gained the whole world, and have destroyed, or come under the penalty of the loss of himself?
Jesus has just spoken of His own suffering and called His followers to take up the cross. Now He weighs the biggest prize anyone could win against the loss of himself, and asks whether that trade pays.
One writer links the disciple's road straight to the Lord's own suffering:
This suffering of the Son of Man at once defines the path for the disciple. "He said to them all, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." It was in no way the enjoyment of earthly things. That would be right and fitting in the Kingdom when He reigns as the Christ... But that is not the character of Christianity. The cross shows us our true path. If Christ suffered, the Christian cannot expect to be above his Master.
The choice here has only two sides:
You see, it comes down to one of two things: either give up everything for Christ, or go after everything apart from Him.
Scripture elsewhere speaks of losing "his soul." Luke says "himself." One writer explains why that wording matters:
The parallel place in Luke 9:25 shows that "his soul" is just the equivalent of "himself"... The finding and losing of the soul in the present world are reversed in the world to come. The finding becomes losing, the losing finding there. He who makes himself the object of his life loses himself and is cast away. He who sacrifices self and its interests for Christ's sake is really preserving all for the world to come.
The same writer adds that this does not require an actual martyr's death: "the actual laying down of life in martyrdom is not necessary at all to the application."
Profit and loss depend on how far ahead you count:
Everything now depends on eternal life. It is no longer a question of living long on the earth... So if a man is careful to save his life now, he will lose it. He may save it in a lower sense, but he will lose it in a deeper. He may save it in this world, but lose it for eternity. But if I am willing to lose it in the lower sense, I will save it in the best — the eternal — sense.
The world cannot be held anyway, which is what makes the bargain absurd:
It comes to this: that if you spare the flesh in this life, you will lose your life in the next... It is giving up the world for eternal life, or for eternal misery — that is the real question. "What is a man advantaged?" You must give it up; you cannot keep it.
Saving your own life can look like plain good sense. One writer shows what it really costs:
If someone wants to save his life — that is, to escape the dangers that come with true discipleship — in the end he will only lose it. One may think he is saving his life by gaining the world or piling up great riches. But he can do all this and still lose himself, or be cast away as useless. Many are snared by such delusions. Such things involve being ashamed of Christ Himself and of His words. They mean being ashamed of the One who did not seek gain or honour for Himself in the world, but who willingly accepted the place of rejection.
So what is a single soul worth? One writer looks in one place for the answer:
What is the worth of your soul? The blessed Son of God gave Himself for my soul. If I want to know the value of the soul, I look at the cross. I look at this holy, sinless, spotless One going down to death to redeem it. That is the value of the human soul.
- Cross first. Christ suffered first, and His road is the disciple's road. The follower does not rise above his Master.
- Profit next. The verse asks about profit. The biggest possible gain still buys nothing you can keep.
- Self is the stake. Luke's "himself" and "his soul" mean the same thing. A man does not just lose things; he loses himself.
- Timing decides. Save your life in the lower sense and you lose it in the deeper. Let it go for Christ, and you keep it for eternity.
- Price revealed. The whole world cannot buy one soul. The cross shows what a soul is worth.
For whosoever shall have been ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of man be ashamed when he shall come in his glory, and [in that] of the Father, and of the holy angels.
Peter has just confessed Jesus as the Christ. The Lord answers by foretelling His own rejection and death, and by calling anyone who follows Him to take up a cross. This verse adds a warning to that call. Shame felt now, before a hostile world, meets its answer on the day the Son of Man appears in glory.
Luke keeps a practical principle in view:
Luke, as he usually does, links Christ's rejection and death to a great moral principle: "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself." The Lord will have the cross be real, not only for a man, but to him too. It is a blessing to know what God has worked for us in the cross of Christ. But we must also learn what verdict the cross passes on the world and on human nature.
The world we walk through has not changed its mind about Him.
We pass through a world that is hostile to Christ, and confessing Him costs something in such a place. He gives no reason to expect its spirit to change for the better — rather the opposite.
The Lord names two things a person can be ashamed of: Himself, and what He said.
Chasing gain in this world means being ashamed of Christ Himself and of His words — ashamed of the One who did not seek gain or honour for Himself here, but gladly took the place of rejection. The day was coming when He would come again. He would come no longer in humble lowliness, but as the Son of Man in His own glory over all mankind, in His Father's glory and in the glory of the holy angels, all giving Him the place of great dignity. Then He would be ashamed of those who were ashamed of Him and His words when He came in grace. A solemn reversal of the whole matter!
One writer turns it on himself, then on the reader:
I used to be ashamed of Jesus, and now I am ashamed that I ever was. My dear friend, I hope you may from now on be ashamed that you have ever been ashamed of Jesus. Ashamed of Jesus! Ashamed of love! Ashamed of infinite grace! Ashamed of the One who gave up everything for us, who did everything for us.
Each of the three glories says something different about Him:
Matthew and Mark say the angels attend Him when He comes in His Father's glory. But Luke points us to three displays: the glory of the Son of Man, the glory of the Father, and the glory of the holy angels. What a blaze of glory will meet the eyes of those who see Him! His own glory was won by His humiliation, suffering and death, and it will show how great the work is that He has done... The Father's glory shines in the One who sought it and secured it while He was here on earth, in life and in death. It marks Him out as the One in whom the Father finds His deep delight.
The presence of angels around a man is itself the point:
It is a rejected Man Who is exalted on high... Being a man did not take away any of His divine rights. The angels were all subject to Him as man. He had a title above them because He was God. And He had won a further title above them because He had died on the cross.
One writer marks off which coming this is:
Here we find the glory displayed in this threefold way. It is that glory when He appears. And here it is a matter of His being ashamed of those who have been ashamed of Him. They could not give up present advantage. I am not speaking here of the Father's house, which of course is a different thing. Here it is the kingdom shown in its glory to the earth.
What happens next on the mountain is a sample of that glory:
At once the Lord spoke of their seeing the kingdom of God. Three chosen disciples saw it displayed before their eyes on the holy mountain. The glory of the Son of Man showed in His white and shining clothes, and His personal glory in the light of His face. His Father's glory was there too, in the cloud out of which the Father's voice came.
- Shame now — the world has not changed its mind about Christ, so confessing Him costs something.
- Shame then — the One who was despised will appear in glory, and He will be ashamed of those who were ashamed of Him. A solemn reversal.
- Three glories — Luke names all three. His own glory, won by suffering and death. His Father's glory, shining in the Son who sought it and secured it. And the glory of angels, who are subject to Him as man.
- Which day — this is His public appearing and the kingdom shown to the earth, not the Father's house.
- Preview given — on the holy mountain three disciples saw that glory in advance: His shining clothes, His face, and the Father's voice from the cloud.
But I say unto you of a truth, There are some of those standing here who shall not taste death until they shall have seen the kingdom of God.
Jesus has just spoken of His rejection, His death, and the cost of following Him. Then He promises that some of the people listening will see the kingdom of God before they die. Who were they, what did they see, and when was it fulfilled?
Commentators say the promise points to three of the men listening.
This was a bright witness. It was designed to strengthen those who were meant to be at the front and at the head of things in God's testimony and in the Church. The reference is to Peter, James, and John, who were allowed a sight of the kingdom of God before it comes in power.
Jesus had just said that He would be killed. That changed all talk of reigning now.
There was no longer any question about setting up the kingdom in Israel at that time... The point was this: He was going to die; He was about to be cast off shortly by the chief priests, elders, and scribes. What was the use, then, of talking about reigning now?... The mount of transfiguration showed a sample of the kingdom as it will be. The system of glory is only postponed, and in no way given up.
Matthew records the same promise as "until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." One writer explains what that sight was, and what it was not.
Peter, James, and John had the privilege of seeing a specimen, a sample, a foreshadowing of the glory of this kingdom. They saw it a few days after these words were spoken. Compare the passage with 2 Peter 1:16-18. It shows the sense in which they saw the Son of Man coming in His kingdom. It was a type or pledge. It revealed even to their senses what the glory of that kingdom will be. This was not the kingdom as it exists now in mystery, but as it will exist in open display later on.
On the mountain the three saw Jesus in glory, with Moses and Elijah beside Him. Each figure there stood for a group in the coming kingdom.
Moses and Elijah stood for the saints who enjoy a heavenly portion. Peter, James and John stood for the saints on earth. The heavenly saints were with Him, and they understood His thoughts as they talked with Him. His presence blessed the earthly saints, though His glory dazzled them. It was a sight of "the Son of Man coming in his kingdom" (Matt. 16:28); a sight of "the kingdom of God after it has come with power" (Mark 9:1); a sight of "the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:27).
Luke also keeps pointing to the kingdom as something still ahead.
Compare in particular Luke 9:27, 14:15, 19:11, 21:31, 22:16, 18, and 23:51. In each of these passages the "kingdom" is plainly future.
Others explain the verse in different ways. One writer, commenting on the same promise in Matthew, lists two common views and sets them aside.
The favourite explanations run like this. Some say the Lord meant "the destruction of Jerusalem." Others tell us "they were to see the Lord coming in the triumphs of the Gospel," and so on... All these opinions are the opinions of men. Some of those standing there did not taste death until they saw Him coming. After six days Peter, James and John saw Him in His power and glory. That was a pattern of the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.
The writers quoted here agree: the transfiguration is what the Lord meant.
The promise comes right after the call to self-denial and the cross. That order is the lesson.
He added that some standing there would not taste death till they had seen the kingdom of God. If the Lord encourages us in true self-denial and in bearing the reproach of the cross, He also encourages us to look ahead to the future glory of the Lord Jesus in His coming kingdom. Suffering must come first, but glory is sure to follow.
- Cross first. The promise follows His announcement of death. Reigning now was off the table. The glory was postponed, never cancelled.
- Promise named. "Some standing here" means Peter, James and John, given a sight of the kingdom before it comes in power.
- Preview, not mystery. What they saw was a sample and pledge of the kingdom in open display, not of its present hidden form.
- Full picture. Moses and Elijah stood for the heavenly saints. The three disciples stood for the earthly saints. It was the whole kingdom in miniature, with Christ at the centre.
- Glory follows. The vision shows those who bear reproach now how the road ends: suffering first, then glory.