And Jesus went forth and his disciples, into the villages of Caesarea-Philippi. And by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Who do men say that I am?
Jesus takes His disciples north to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the road He asks them what people are saying about Him — and the first answers He gets are other people's answers.
This journey marks the outer edge of the Lord's recorded travels. It also marks a turning point in His service.
The Lord Jesus went north with His disciples, towards the sources of the river Jordan. Caesarea Philippi and the country around it lay some 120 miles from Jerusalem. It was the furthest north place recorded in all the scenes of the Lord's ministry. From there the Lord turned south, first to Capernaum and then to Judea, to present Himself one last time to the "daughter of Zion" as the Anointed of Jehovah. So this visit falls at the start of the last year of His public service.
His journey has a goal beyond these villages, and the crowd on the road is larger than the twelve.
He was on His way to the mount of transfiguration. That was the goal of His journey. He entered the villages of Caesarea Philippi, under the shadow of Mount Hermon. As usual, many followed Him — not disciples only (8:34). The Lord asks the Twelve what people think of Him.
He was not gathering information. He asked so that the twelve would feel what He felt.
The Lord questioned His disciples. He did not need anyone to tell Him about man, for He knew what was in man. He asked for their own sakes. They were to share with Him the burden of love that was never returned, and to learn the secret of serving God when the work looks like failure. Notice this: the Lord knew how stubborn man's heart was, and that knowledge did not lessen His energy or His love.
The replies that come back — John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the prophets — are a survey of guesses.
It was all uncertainty. Despite all his busy, hard work, that is all man ever reaches. When man searches painfully into things too high for him, it ends only in confusion and bitter disappointment. It leaves him far short of the one thing that matters most, and in the dark about it. Some say one thing, some another; but who of all the sons of men does or can say the right thing?
Peter's answer, when it comes, is not a better piece of reasoning. It comes from another source altogether.
The great test question then, as now, is "Who do people say that I am?" All glory for God and blessing for man turns on the Person of Christ. It becomes clear that mere human intelligence will never arrive at the truth. Many men of that day were scholars with great intellectual ability. Yet all their thoughts about Christ ended in speculation and uncertainty… In Peter we see the opposite: the result of simple faith. Measured against the intellectual leaders of this world, he was an ignorant and unlearned man. Faith does not speculate or reason, but with complete certainty arrives at the truth, for faith is the gift of God.
Just before this question, Mark records a blind man healed in two stages. The disciples were the half-seeing man.
So it was with the disciples — man was too great in their eyes. Even as they looked at the Lord Himself, it seems that His humanity hid His Deity from their eyes. They needed, like the blind man, a second touch before they saw all things clearly. The presence of the Son of God among them in flesh and blood was the first touch that reached them, and as a result they began to see. Then He died, rose again, and ascended to glory. He laid His second touch on them by sending out His Spirit, as recorded in Acts 2. Then they saw all things clearly.
Outward life and correct belief can both look right and still leave this question unanswered.
Weighty question! On the answer to this question hangs the whole moral condition and future destiny of every human being under the sun. All really depends on the heart's estimate of Christ. Like a great moral indicator, it reveals a man's true state, character, direction and aim in everything. It is not merely a question of his outward life, or of his profession of faith. His life may be blameless, and his beliefs may be orthodox. But underneath all that blameless morality and orthodox profession there may not be one true beat of the heart for Christ, and no God-given sense of what He is, who He is, and where He comes from. Then all the morality and the orthodoxy are only fine clothes that a guilty sinner puts on to look good in the eyes of others.
- Road — He asks on the way to Caesarea Philippi, the furthest north the record takes Him, at the start of His last year of public service.
- Purpose — He did not need the answer. He asked so His followers would share the weight of love that went unreturned.
- Guesses — human searching, however hard, ends in guesswork. It leaves a person in the dark about the one thing that matters most.
- Gift — Peter was unlearned beside the scholars, yet he reached certainty. Faith is God's gift, not a prize for clever reasoning.
- Sight — like the man healed in two stages, the disciples saw man too large and His Deity too small. The clear view came when He sent His Spirit (Acts 2).
And they answered him, saying, John the baptist; and others, Elias; but others, One of the prophets.
Jesus asked His disciples who people said He was. This verse is the answer they brought back: three honourable names, and not one of them right.
The answers vary because nobody knew. The disciples report a survey of guesses, and a survey is not belief.
And they answered, "John the Baptist; but some, Elijah; and others one of the prophets": different opinions, but no faith. Then He asks them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answers, "You are the Christ"; and the Lord forbids the disciples, in the strongest terms, to tell it to anyone. This is the clearest proof that the testimony among the people was entirely at an end.
People had worked hard at the question and produced nothing. That is what happens wherever people study Christ without faith.
All was uncertainty, and that is all that man ever arrives at, in spite of busy and hard-working efforts. When man searches painfully into things too high for him, it only ends in confusion and bitter disappointment. It leaves him completely short of the one thing that matters most, and in the dark about it. Some say one thing, some another; but who of all the sons of men does or can say the right thing?
These are not insults. To say a man is John the Baptist raised, or Elijah returned, is to say he is extraordinary. The problem is where the compliment stops.
They replied that some thought that He was John the Baptist. That surely showed that they were hard put to it to account for the unique personality of Jesus. They fell back on the idea that a distinguished servant of God, such as John who came before Him, had risen from the dead. That showed they recognised the greatness of Christ. Others went further back, and said He was Elijah or Jeremiah or one of the prophets. But though they could not deny the greatness of Christ, they had not the faintest idea of His true greatness.
All three answers do the same thing. Each puts Jesus in a box that already existed.
Men were blinded and unable to see a distinct personal glory in this blessed Son of God. They saw unusual spiritual power in Him. Yet they wanted to reduce Him to the level of mere men who had come before.
The three answers were not random guesses. One name rested on an old promise in Scripture. Another rested on one man's own past.
Popular opinion said of the Lord that He was Elijah, the promised prophet (Mal. 4:5), or one of God's prophetic messengers. The public did not agree, as the apostles themselves said when they answered the Lord's question about current opinions. Herod, however, had personal reasons for his own theory. It was he who beheaded John. And he now believed that John lived again in the prophet of Galilee.
Nobody missed the truth for lack of intelligence. Intelligence was the wrong tool.
It becomes clear that mere human intelligence will never arrive at the truth. The men of that day included many scholars with great minds. Still, all their thoughts about Christ ended in speculation and uncertainty. Some said He was John the Baptist, others that He was Elijah, others again that He was one of the prophets. None arrived at the truth. In contrast we see in Peter the result of simple faith. Compared with the intellectual leaders of this world, he was an ignorant and unlearned man. Faith does not speculate or reason, but with the utmost certainty arrives at the truth, for faith is the gift of God.
Peter had just given the right answer. Soon after, even he needed correcting.
When our Lord was transfigured, Moses and Elijah appeared and talked with Jesus. Peter, caught up in fear and not knowing what to say, suggested they make three tents — one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. How quickly the dividing line shows itself, as God from heaven declares, "This is My beloved Son; listen to Him." Yet only a little while before, Peter had himself declared the Lord's supremacy above Elijah or one of the prophets — "You are the Christ."
- Opinion. The three answers were sincere, respectful, and wrong — "different opinions, but no faith."
- Ceiling. Each name honoured Christ's greatness but missed His true greatness. Each placed Him among men who had come before.
- Source. The guesses had roots: the Elijah promised in Malachi 4:5, and in Herod's case the man he had beheaded.
- Method. Scholars reached only speculation. An unlearned man reached certainty, because faith is the gift of God.
- Watch. Even Peter later set his Master beside Moses and Elijah. Heaven cut across him: "This is My beloved Son; listen to Him."
And he asked them, But *ye*, who do ye say that I am? And Peter answering says to him, *Thou* art the Christ.
On the road near Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asks what the crowds are saying about Him. Then He turns the question on His twelve disciples. Peter's answer is short. Everything that follows in Mark — the cross, the rebuke — hangs on it.
One writer weighs human cleverness against faith:
The great test question then, as now, is "Who do people say that I am?" All glory for God and blessing for man turns upon the Person of Christ. It becomes clear that mere human intelligence will never arrive at the truth. Many men of that day were scholars with great minds. Even so, all their thoughts about Christ ended in speculation and uncertainty... Faith does not speculate or reason, but with the utmost certainty arrives at the truth, for faith is the gift of God.
The names the crowd picked show what they missed in Him:
How else could they mistake the meek and lowly Saviour for Elijah, the prophet of devouring fire from heaven and famine on earth? Or for John the Baptist, who fiercely condemned the sins of Israel? In their blindness the people completely failed to see the grace and truth that came by Jesus Christ.
One writer explains the title Peter uses:
Then He drew out from Peter what the disciples held Him to be. Taught by God, Peter confesses Him to be "the Christ," or Anointed One of God.
The Lord was not asking for information. He asked the small group who had stayed with Him, and their reply met a real need in His heart.
The Lord's love had kindled the disciples' affections towards Himself. They rested in calm confidence that He was the Sent One of God. The people, in the uncertainty that unbelief produces, were pulled about by conflicting opinions. It is faith alone that gives assurance... They told the Lord so. Jonathan did the same when he came to David in the wilderness of Ziph, while Saul was trying to kill him. Jonathan said he was sure David was anointed to be the coming king in Israel (1 Sam. 23:17). That confession of loyalty, we read, strengthened David's hand in God. May we not say that He who "sought for comforters and found none" rejoiced at the confession of Peter?
Matthew records more of this confession, and more of the Lord's reply. One writer explains why:
Here we do not have, as in Matthew, the Lord saying, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah."... This is because here Peter says only, "You are the Christ." Where the account adds that he confessed the Lord to be "the Son of the living God," it also gives the special note that he was blessed... If He had been only the Christ, the Messiah of Israel, that would not have been a firm enough basis for the Church. His Messianic dignity might have been rock enough for Israel, since it was their faith and hope. But "the Son of the living God" was a revelation of His glory that went far beyond it.
Peter gets the answer right. At once the Lord tells him to say nothing about it. That silence marks a turning point.
...though here Peter only says, "You are the Christ," our Lord charges them to tell no one. He does the same in Matthew, Mark and Luke. This is a point we should take to heart... How does this come about? It was too late. He had already given full proofs. The time was past for presenting Him any longer as the Jewish Messiah. The people had heard it all; and who did they say He was?... So He drops the title of "Christ," and insists on His place as Son of man, the suffering One first.
Just before this, Mark records a blind man healed in two stages. One writer sees the same half-sight in Peter:
Peter did have some measure of spiritual sight, for he had just confessed Him as the Christ. Yet when the Lord announced His coming rejection and death, this very man protested fiercely... Peter's mind was set on "the things that are of men," and so he matched the man we have just read about, who saw men as trees walking. Though he recognised the Christ in Jesus, he still had men before him. The other disciples were no better than he was. So how could he go out as an effective witness to the Christ he recognised?
- Question — "Who do you say that I am?" is the test every reader faces. All glory for God and blessing for man turns on the Person of Christ.
- Guesswork — The crowd's answers were respectful and wrong. Human ability, however educated, ends in speculation.
- Gift — Peter's certainty came from faith, not from reasoning. Faith is God's gift, and faith alone gives assurance.
- Glory — Mark records only "You are the Christ." Matthew adds "the Son of the living God" — a glory far beyond Israel's hope, and the only basis firm enough for the Church.
- Cross — The time for presenting Him as Israel's Messiah was past. So the Lord silences the title and speaks as the Son of man who must suffer. Peter, with half-opened eyes, could not yet accept it.
And he charged them straitly, in order that they should tell no man about him.
Peter has just said who Jesus is, and at once the Lord bans the disciples from repeating it. Why silence a true confession, and what replaces it?
The command follows a test question, and the answers show two ways of thinking about Jesus. Popular opinion produced guesses; one unlearned man produced certainty.
The great test question then, as now, is "Who do people say that I am?" All glory for God and blessing for man turns upon the Person of Christ. It becomes clear that mere human intelligence will never arrive at the truth. Many scholars of that day had great intellectual power. Yet all their thoughts about Christ ended in guesswork and uncertainty... In contrast we see in Peter the result of simple faith. Measured against the intellectual leaders of this world, he was an untaught and unlearned man. Faith does not speculate or reason, but with the utmost certainty arrives at the truth, for faith is the gift of God.
The ban is not a denial of what Peter said. It is a verdict on the nation that had already heard the claim and refused it.
He binds them to tell no one about it. How does this come about? It was too late. Full proofs had been granted. The time was past for presenting Him any longer as the Jewish Messiah. It had been fully told to the people; and who did they say He was? ... That testimony was closed now. There was no use talking about it. The Jews had refused Him, and would refuse Him for good, as the Messiah. He had given them every possible form and degree of testimony, and the result was that they rejected Him — their religious leaders most of all, more and more bitterly and in unbelief.
Another writer points to how absolute the ban is. He calls it the clearest sign that the witness among the people had ended.
The Lord forbids the disciples to tell it to any man, in the most positive way. This is the clearest proof that the testimony in the midst of the people was entirely at an end. He was still the Christ, but the people rejected Him. In rejecting the wonderful grace of God they showed themselves to be their own enemy.
The title carried national weight. The nation had refused Him on the merits of His glory, so He would not let the disciples spread the name to stir their feelings.
This was the glory of Judaism and the truth of God. It was a fitting, divine and Jewish dignity, His office to the nation. But they were now no longer to tell it. They had refused Him on the merits of His glory and truth. So He was not to be put forward to excite and satisfy their passions. They were to tell no man that He was the Christ.
He drops one title and takes up a wider one. What He sets aside is rule over Israel; what He gains is rule over all things.
The nation had rejected Him, so His position as the Messiah is set aside for the time. The Lord takes the wider title of Son of Man. That title leads to greater glories than rule on earth linked with Israel, for as Son of Man He will have universal dominion over all created things. But first He must go into death, complete redemption, and break the power of Satan, death and the grave. Only then can He take His place as Son of Man with all things put under Him, and show His grace to all men.
Writers note that Mark records less of Peter's confession than Matthew does, and that the shorter version fits what follows.
Peter is represented by Mark as saying simply, "You are the Christ," while in Matthew the words are, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." So you have nothing in Mark like "on this rock I will build my church." The church is built not exactly on the Christ or Messiah as such, but on the confession of "the Son of the living God." So we may see how beautifully the omissions of Scripture hang together.
Up to here the account is all service. After this point everything moves toward the cross, and the disciples lose the message they had been carrying.
But it was too late to make Him known as such in the nation that had rejected Him. He turns away from all that belonged to Him as the living Messiah on earth. It was no longer the bright prospect of the kingdom... It is the turning point of the Gospel of Mark. How immense the change for the disciples! What a blighting of their long-cherished hopes connected with the kingdom.
- Confession — Human cleverness only guessed at who Jesus was. Peter's certainty came from faith, and faith is the gift of God.
- Closure — The silence is not secrecy for its own sake. He had given every possible proof. The nation refused it, and the public offer of Him as Messiah was over.
- Restraint — The nation had refused His glory on its merits. He would not let a rejected title stir their feelings.
- Exchange — In place of "Christ" comes "Son of Man": not a demotion but a wider glory, dominion over all created things.
- Cost — That wider glory runs through death first. At this turning point the disciples' hopes of an earthly kingdom give way to the cross.
And he began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and of the chief priests and of the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise [again].
Peter has just confessed Him as the Christ. The Lord answers by speaking of a cross, not a throne, and from here Mark's Gospel turns: the Servant who healed and taught now tells His disciples plainly what lies ahead.
Up to here the Gospel has followed the Servant from one need to another. What He now begins to teach turns the whole book.
It was now too late to make Him known as such. Instead of what belonged to Him as a living Messiah in Israel, He was about to be "cut off and have nothing" (Daniel 9:26). Not the throne of the kingdom but the cross of shame lay before Him. It is the turning point of the Gospel of Mark.
He tells the disciples to say nothing about His being the Christ. Then He takes up a different name for Himself.
So He drops the title of "Christ." He insists first on His place as Son of man, the suffering One, and this suffering comes from the leaders of Israel. As Son of man He was going to suffer, and as Son of man to be raised the third day, which is the real condition of His glory later on.
The new title is not a smaller one. It reaches further than any earthly rule in Israel. But the road to it runs through death.
The nation had rejected Him, so His position as the Messiah is set aside for the time. The Lord takes the wider title of Son of Man. That title leads to greater glories than earthly rule linked with Israel, for as Son of Man He will have universal rule over all created things. But first He must go into death, carry out redemption, and break the power of Satan, death and the grave. Only then does He take His place as Son of Man, with all things put under Him, and show His grace to all men. The time had come to speak openly of this great truth to the disciples, and no longer in parables.
One word in the verse carries the weight of all the rest. He says He must suffer.
The Lord repeats this "must" again and again when He speaks of the sufferings that would end in His death. To understand that word is to go deep into the deepest counsels of God.
Three things made His suffering necessary.
Why should the only perfect, sinless, spotless Man have to suffer? Why should God forsake Him? The glory of God, the eternal counsels of redeeming love, and man's guilty, ruined, helpless condition — all these made it necessary that Christ should suffer. Nothing else could uphold the divine glory. Nothing else could fully atone for sin and clear it out of God's creation for good. Nothing else could bring forgiveness of sins.
The verse names three groups, not a faceless mob. Each stood for a different power in the nation, as one writer shows from Matthew's record of the same words.
At Jerusalem He must suffer many things from the elders (man's authority), the chief priests (man's religion), and the scribes (man's wisdom), and He must be killed. But He does not leave matters there. He adds, "and be raised again the third day."
The sentence does not end at the grave. Yet the disciples could not take in a Messiah who suffers before He reigns.
Nothing seemed harder for the disciples to grasp than the humbling and sufferings of the Messiah coming first, before His glories were displayed. Yet this was the subject, above all others in importance, that the Lord was about to open to them. On the holy mountain He would give some of them a glimpse of the kingdom in its coming glory. At the same time He taught them of the sufferings and death of the Son of man, which had to come first. Could their eyes bear the sight, and their hearts take in its meaning?
- Turn — the time for offering Israel a living Messiah had run out. So the Lord silences talk of the Christ, and Mark's Gospel turns from service to the cross.
- Title — He takes up "Son of Man." That name is wider than Messiah and reaches to rule over all things. The road to it runs through death.
- Must — He does not say He may suffer, but that He must. God's glory, His counsels of love and man's ruined condition left no other way.
- Rejected — authority, religion and learning cast Him out. The best men in the nation are the ones who do it.
- Raised — the same sentence that tells of His killing tells of His rising. Suffering comes first, glory follows. The disciples found this the hardest thing of all to grasp.
And he spoke the thing openly. And Peter, taking him to [him], began to rebuke him.
Just before this verse, the Lord told His disciples what lay ahead: the Son of Man must suffer many things, the leaders of Israel would reject and kill Him, and He would rise again. Here He says it out in the open, with nothing hidden. Peter had just confessed Him rightly. Now the same man rebukes Him, and that raises a hard question. How can a true believer speak for the enemy?
The word "plainly" marks a change in how the Lord teaches. He no longer spares His disciples the shock of what is coming.
"And he said this plainly," for the time had come for His disciples to face the changed situation. Peter's answer was a sad one. He took Him aside and, in his rashness and self-confidence, began to rebuke his Lord. This shows how little he had taken in the truth of his own confession. He was not ready for what it costs to be identified with a rejected Christ.
From here the road in Mark runs to the cross. The hopes the disciples had built on the kingdom collapse.
It was too late now to make Him known as the Christ in the nation that had rejected Him. He turns from all that belonged to Him as the living Messiah on earth. The bright prospect of the kingdom was over. He was about to be "cut off and have nothing." … "And he said this plainly." It is the turning point of the Gospel of Mark. What an immense change this meant for the disciples!
Peter had confessed Him as the Christ. Yet the saying He now speaks plainly is not built on that title. One writer explains the change.
Rejected as "David's Son," He is owned by faith as "the Son of the living God"; but He is also "the Son of man." He was about to be humbled even to death, and that could only be in His human nature. And He will come back to earth again as the Son of man, in His glory… So He drops the title of "Christ," and holds to His place as Son of man: the suffering One first, and this at the hands of the leaders of Israel.
Peter pulls his Master away from the others and corrects Him. One writer weighs what that act shows.
He speaks on the impulse of the flesh, as a natural man… He acts with astonishing boldness. He takes his Lord aside and begins to rebuke Him. The Lord, who rebuked the wind and the sea, rebuked by His own creature! What ignorance of who the Lord is, and what failure, this action of Peter shows.
Peter meant well. That is what makes this moment so searching.
How solemn that true believers can say things with complete sincerity that come from Satan. Peter may have thought he was only voicing his love for His Master. In fact he was doing the work of Satan. He was trying to turn the Lord away from the path of obedience to the Father's will, and he was putting a stumbling block in the way of the disciples. He was looking at it all from a purely human point of view.
Writers here do not treat Peter as a special case. They read his instinct as the common one.
How worthless the mind of the flesh is, even in the leading one of the twelve apostles! The Lord rebuked Peter for his fleshly dislike of the cross of Christ, and could say, "Get behind me, Satan." For it was the flesh's unbelief, selfishness and presumption — no less so because it was hidden under a pious form… What was it that so stirred our Lord? The very snare we are all so open to: the wish to save self, the preference for an easy path over the cross.
Another writer draws a further lesson, and it reaches every believer.
Let us learn that a Christian can have true faith and be taught by God, as Peter was here, and yet the flesh in him stays unjudged. Then he cannot walk in the way this truth opens to him. It is important to remember this; a person can be sincere without knowing himself.
- Plainly — The Lord no longer hides His death. His disciples must face the change.
- Turning point — From here the road in Mark runs to the cross, and the kingdom hopes fall away.
- Son of Man — He drops "Christ" for the title that fits the One who must suffer and rise.
- Sincerely wrong — Peter's kind words did Satan's work. They urged the Lord off the path of obedience.
- The same snare — What moved Peter moves us: the preference for an easy path over the cross, dressed in pious form.
But he, turning round and seeing his disciples, rebuked Peter, saying, Get away behind me, Satan, for thy mind is not on the things that are of God, but on the things that are of men.
Peter has just confessed Jesus as the Christ. Moments later he tries to talk his Master out of the cross. The reply is a sharp rebuke. Jesus does not fault Peter's love. He faults where Peter's mind was fixed: on the things of man, not the things of God.
The phrase at the heart of the rebuke is not about feelings but about the direction of a person's thoughts. Older translations read "you do not savour the things of God." One writer shows the force of the word by where else it is used:
When the Lord rebuked Peter, saying, "Get behind me, Satan," He added, "for you do not savour the things that are of God, but the things that are of men" (Mark 8:33). Two other translations put it this way: "you do not mind," or, "your mind is not on the things that are of God." The same word comes again in Philippians 2:5, where we read, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."
Peter was not plotting. He was speaking out of affection for someone he loved and could not bear to see rejected — which is exactly what makes the moment so sobering:
How solemn that, as true believers, it is possible to make statements with the utmost sincerity which come from Satan. Peter may have thought he was only expressing a loving feeling for his Master. In fact he was doing the work of Satan. He was trying to turn the Lord away from the path of obedience to the Father's will, and putting a stumbling block in the way of the disciples. He was viewing it all from a merely human standpoint.
The exact wording matters. Jesus did not tell Peter to leave Him:
Later there was the case of His servant Peter. Prompted by Satan, he had fallen into human thoughts and would have talked his Master out of the cross. To him the Lord does say, "Get behind me." Christ did not want Peter to go away from Him and be lost, and that is what sending him away would have done. "Get behind me" — not away, but behind me — He says. He rebuked His follower — yes, He was ashamed of him — and He wanted Peter to be ashamed of himself. "Get behind me, Satan," was fitting language then. Satan was the source of the thought behind Peter's words.
The name Jesus used carries its own meaning:
Without knowing it, Peter was taking the place of an adversary, which is what the word Satan means. He was looking at the matter the way men think, and not as one taught by God.
Jesus answered in front of the other disciples, and they are the reason the rebuke was so sharp:
Satan was trying to discourage the disciples by the shame of the cross, and this stirs up the Lord's heart. He loved His disciples. He saw those poor sheep, with the enemy putting a stumbling block in front of them. So a strong rebuke falls on Peter, as the instrument of Satan, speaking on his behalf. Alas for us! The reason was plain — he savoured the things of men, and not those of God; for the cross contains in itself all the glory of God.
The thing Jesus called satanic here is not an exotic sin. It is the ordinary preference for a comfortable road:
What was it that so stirred our Lord? The very snare to which we are all so exposed — the desire of saving self, the preference of an easy path to the cross. Is it not true that by nature we like to escape trial, shame, and rejection? Do we not shrink from the suffering that doing God's will must always bring in a world like this?
The cross He took becomes the road for everyone who follows Him, and two mottos stand opposed:
If the cross had to be His portion, His followers must accept the cross also. For Him, of course, the cross meant atonement for sin, as well as rejection and shame; we share the rejection and shame only. But nature shrinks from, and even resents, this. Its motto (suggested by Satan) is "Spare yourself"; God's motto is "Deny yourself." Someone has rightly said that Peter "at the last denied the Lord because he had not denied himself."
- Mind, not mood. The rebuke targets where Peter's thoughts were fixed — "you are not setting your mind on the things of God" — not the warmth of his feelings.
- Sincerity is no shield. A true believer can mean well and still voice a suggestion that comes from Satan. Peter's loving words did the enemy's work.
- Adversary. "Satan" means adversary. By trying to steer the Lord off the path of obedience, Peter stood in that place without knowing it.
- Behind, not away. Jesus did not send Peter away to be lost. He kept him — rebuked, ashamed, but still following behind.
- Spare or deny. Nature says "spare yourself"; God says "deny yourself." The man who would not deny himself here ended up denying his Lord.
And having called the crowd with his disciples, he said to them, Whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.
Peter had just confessed Jesus as the Christ. Then he pulled back when Jesus foretold His own suffering and death. So Jesus calls the crowd over, along with the disciples, and sets out three terms for anyone who wants to follow Him.
Mark notes that Jesus called the crowd over, not only His disciples. Commentators see that detail as deliberate: He gives the terms before anyone signs up.
Anyone thinking of becoming a disciple, and every disciple too, ought to know that the cross is the disciple's lot now. Mark adds here that He was "calling the crowd to Him with His disciples." This shows that He wants those who think of becoming disciples to know they are coming to present suffering. Unless a man really sees what Christ has to give, and what He delivers him from, he had better stop a moment before he says, "I will be your disciple." Stop and count the cost.
The crowd needed to hear this because Christ Himself was heading for rejection and death.
If Christ, the Christ of God, would meet rejection and death, then the path of true disciples could not be smooth. They must prepare for suffering — and it might be, and how often has it been, for death!
People often soften this phrase into giving something up. Writers here insist the target is the person, not his possessions.
"Self-denial" barely captures the force of "deny himself." Self-denial means denying yourself something. That is not what the Lord speaks of. He speaks of denying self — of saying "no" to yourself.
Giving things up for a season can even work in the opposite direction.
People speak of self-denial, and hold self-denial weeks. By this they mean giving up certain things for a set time to help some good cause. But this is the very opposite of denying self. In fact it feeds self-satisfaction and lifts self up. Denying self is not just giving up certain things. It is denying the man who craves them. Denying self means ignoring self altogether, so as to serve others in love.
In that world, a man carrying a cross was not having a hard week. He was walking to his death.
"Take up his cross" does not just mean bearing trials and troubles. In those days, a man who took up his cross was on his way to execution. He had to accept death at the hands of the world. Saying "no" to yourself means accepting death inside, in your own spirit. Taking up your cross means accepting death outside, at the hands of the world.
That rules out the loose way people call every setback a cross.
People often use the word "cross" loosely, for every kind of trial and suffering. Unbelievers use it too, and others use it of them. Yet in the language of Scripture it is clear that no unbeliever bears a cross… Every believer bears a cross, but he has only one… It is the reproach of Christ. Nothing counts as a cross except the suffering or reproach that flows from the unrighteous judgment of man on what is like Christ in us.
His cross and ours are not the same. One writer draws the line, then says what we can always do:
Of course this is not about His atoning sufferings, what He suffered from God's hand for sin. It is about His sufferings from man: the hostility of sinners, the opposition of men, abuse and even death. We know very little of what it means to suffer for the name of Jesus. But remember, Christians, what the Lord says first: "Let him deny himself." You can always do this by grace.
The last term sets the direction of the other two. It points to Christ Himself, not to any group around Him.
If I am to walk in the true path of Jesus, I must deny myself, take up the cross and follow — not the disciples, not this church or that church, but Jesus Himself. I must turn from what my heart likes by nature… and remember, it is a dangerous thing to believe in Jesus without following Him.
Something in us fights this call:
Nature shrinks from sharing His rejection and shame, and even resents it. Its motto, suggested by Satan, is "Spare yourself." God's motto is "Deny yourself." One writer put it well: Peter "at the last denied the Lord because he had not denied himself."
- Called — He gathers the crowd, not just His disciples. Anyone thinking of following Him hears the cost before entering, not after.
- Deny — say "no" to self, not just to some things self wants. Giving things up for a season can feed the very self it claims to deny.
- Carry — a cross meant execution, not inconvenience. The one cross a believer bears is the reproach that comes when people see something of Christ in him.
- Distinguish — we cannot share what He suffered from God's hand for sin. We share only what He suffered from men, and by grace you can always deny yourself.
- Follow — follow Christ Himself, not a company or a system. Peter denied the Lord at the last because he had not denied himself.
For whosoever shall desire to save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's shall save it.
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For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul?
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for what should a man give in exchange for his soul?
In Mark 8, Jesus warns that whoever tries to save his life will lose it, and He calls His followers to suffer for His sake. Then comes this question about worth: what could a person hand over to buy back a soul once it is gone?
Jesus had just called His followers to accept suffering, even death, for His sake.
The Lord then turned to the disciples and to the crowd, and told them that willingness to suffer because of Him must mark those who would follow Him. They must count on being put to death for Christ's sake, and, as Mark adds, "for the gospel's." That way they would save their life and not lose it. The soul is more precious than all the riches and honours of this life. If it is lost, nothing can recover it.
Jesus asks and gives no answer. One writer says none is needed.
The Lord closes here with that appeal to consider the soul's value, which has rung through so many hearts since then… The question needs no answer: the impossibility to answer it is the answer.
Verse 35 says "life." Verses 36 and 37 say "soul." One Greek word, psuche, lies behind both.
First, the word psuche is clearly used for "life," as in Matthew 2:20; Mark 3:4; Luke 9:24; John 12:25, and many other passages… But "life" and "soul" often stand in contrast. Sometimes "life" stands for "the soul" in its higher aspect. The same word is used of what is profited and lost in the same act. So: "Whoever would save his life will lose it" (Matthew 10:39; chapter 16:25-26; Mark 8:35-37). We have then "the soul" used generally for the responsible part, in which we live with God… Matthew 26:38; Mark 8:37.
Notice the kind of words Jesus reaches for here.
Our Lord uses the language of the merchant. He speaks of profit, and loss, and exchange. He is picturing a bargain. For the comfort of the believer, He decides this: a man would make a bad bargain if he took the whole world (supposing he could get it) in exchange for a share in the glory that is to be revealed. Most people take this passage to be settling the question of personal safety. It is not so much about that as about profit and loss.
Verses 36 and 37 describe the man whose whole aim is profit:
But suppose his profits in this world increase so enormously that they give him control of the whole world. What real profit is that, when he loses his own soul chasing it? Could he then give his great wealth in exchange for his soul? No: death leaves him utterly destitute.
Even the wealthiest cannot buy back a soul — not their own, and not anyone else's:
That is a striking word in Psalm 49. It speaks of those who trust in their wealth: "Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice." None could touch that matter. How it shows the value of the soul!
No money can buy a soul back. But one place shows what a soul is worth.
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.
- Exchange. Jesus uses trading words: profit, loss, exchange. Trading the whole world for your soul is a bad bargain.
- Silence. He asks and gives no answer, because none exists. That impossibility is itself the answer.
- Word. "Soul" here is the same Greek word that verse 35 calls "life" — one word for what a man gains and what he loses in the same act.
- Bankruptcy. Death strips the richest man of everything. Psalm 49 says no one can buy back another's life. No human purse holds the price.
- Cross. The one price ever paid was Christ Himself, and it is at the cross that the true value of a soul becomes visible.
For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him shall the Son of man also be ashamed when he shall come in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
Jesus had just spoken of His own suffering, and said that anyone who follows Him must take up the cross. Verse 38 brings that choice into the open: will you own Him in a world that despises Him, with the day of His return in glory in view?
The warning is not aimed only at outsiders. The disciple closest to Jesus had just recoiled from the thought of a rejected Master, and one writer traces the rebuke of Peter back to an instinct we all share.
Here is proof of what man is. The Jews were the most favoured of men, yet the elders, priests and scribes became the most active in scorning and refusing the Son of Man. And His own disciples do not relish His shame… He rebuked Peter for his fleshly dislike of the cross of Christ, and could say, "Get behind Me, Satan," because it was the flesh's unbelief, selfishness and presumption — no less so for being hidden under a pious form… What was it that so roused our Lord? The very snare we are all so exposed to: the desire to save self, the preference for an easy path over the cross.
Shame here is not a feeling but a choice, and it is measured by whose opinion frightens you more.
The center of the whole matter is what one thinks of Christ. How many are ashamed of Him before an adulterous and sinful generation! They are more afraid of the sneers of ungodly sinners than they are of the judgment of God! They will not confess Jesus as Lord. Yet He has shown His truth, His faithfulness, His grace and mercy for all the world to see. What folly to be ashamed of One who is the only real Friend and protector available to mankind.
Other beliefs do not produce this embarrassment:
Man is never ashamed of a false religion. A Muslim will say his prayers in the market, and if you are making a bargain with him, you may wait until he has finished. A Hindu is not ashamed of the worship of his gods, but a Christian is ashamed of Christ.
The Lord names two things people flinch from: Himself, and what He said. That second half is where the price is usually paid, and one writer draws a blunt test from it.
To lose one's life for Christ's sake and the gospel's is eternal gain. In spirit this applies to everyone, today as much as at any earlier time. It is a solemn word. Confessing Christ still costs, and a confession that costs nothing hardly deserves the name.
The verse gains its weight from who is speaking. The same title used for the suffering One in verse 31 is used for the returning One here.
The Son of Man who would suffer would also reign in heavenly and divine glory. He is God as well as Man, the only begotten Son of the Father.
The title He uses points to what He comes to do.
Mark 8:38 describes the Lord coming with His holy angels as Son of Man. That title is well known to belong to Him as the One who carries out judgment.
The verse gives back exactly what a person gave.
The day was coming when He would come again. He would no longer be in lowly humiliation. He would come as the Son of Man in His own glory over all mankind, in His Father's glory and 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. Solemn reversal of the whole matter!
The very next verse promises that some standing there would see the kingdom of God come with power — and the Transfiguration follows within days. Writers read that as God steadying His people's nerve for the cost He has just described.
He displayed His glory in the kingdom before the time of its establishment in order to strengthen His own in taking up the cross and following the Master. The disciples were like the unbelieving brothers, and like Christendom too. They looked for progress and triumph, and overlooked faith and love tested in suffering with Christ.
Some of those listening would live to see it:
The coming of the Son of Man in glory would have some witnesses who stood there at the time — those who were not ashamed of Him, and who would not die until they had seen the kingdom of God come with power. It was a preview of the kingdom that Peter, James and John saw.
- Shame — the pull is not toward gross sin but toward an easy path. Even Peter disliked the cross, and the Lord answered him, "Get behind Me, Satan."
- Setting — the generation is adulterous and sinful. People carry other beliefs openly, yet go quiet about Christ.
- Cost — the warning covers His words as well as His Person. A confession that costs nothing hardly deserves the name.
- Glory — the Son of Man who suffered returns in His Father's glory with holy angels. That title marks Him out as the One who carries out judgment.
- Reversal — He came in grace and men were ashamed of Him; He comes in glory and is ashamed of them. He gave a preview of the kingdom glory so His own could take up the cross with the end in view.
And he said to them, Verily I say unto you, There are some of those standing here that shall not taste death until they shall have seen the kingdom of God come in power.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.