Then Jesus said to his disciples, If any one desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
For whosoever shall desire to save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it.
Peter had just tried to steer Jesus away from the cross. In reply Jesus told all His followers what His road would cost them, and His words sound like a riddle: which "life" does a person lose, and why is losing it worth it?
Peter had just urged the Lord to spare Himself, and the answer exposed the instinct behind that advice as the enemy's own counsel. One commentator draws the line between the two voices:
Peter's error gave the Lord the chance to point out the kind of path all His own must walk... If the cross must be His portion, His followers must accept the cross also. For Him the cross meant atonement for sin, as well as rejection and shame. We share only the rejection and shame. But nature shrinks from this, and even resents it. Satan suggests its motto: "Spare yourself." God's motto is "Deny yourself." Someone said it well: Peter "at the last denied the Lord because he had not denied himself."
Everything turns on the word Jesus used for "life":
The word translated life here is the one usually translated "soul." It refers to that "soul life" which characterises 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 all the things that appeal to us by nature.
The Lord's words "deny himself" and "take up his cross" show how the losing works:
"Self-denial" is too weak a word for the force of "deny himself." Self-denial means going without something. The Lord is not speaking of that. He means denying yourself — saying "no" to yourself. "Take up his cross" does not just mean putting up with trials and troubles. In those days, a man who took up his cross was on his way to execution. He was a man who 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.
This saying is not only for those who die for their faith:
The world to come turns around the finding and losing of the soul in this present world. There the finding becomes losing, and the losing becomes finding. 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 everything for the world to come... You do not have to die as a martyr for this to apply. Do only those who die a martyr's death live for ever?
One commentator weighs up the two choices:
To save your life means giving your life in this world first place. Do that and you only lose it. Such a pursuit is pointless. But one who will lose his life for Christ's sake will find it. If he puts Christ first, he may seem to be giving up his life as far as natural advantage goes. But his life will bear lasting fruit. Selfishness will defeat its own ends, but unselfishness for Christ's sake gains far more than it gives up.
What comes instead is a higher kind of life, and Paul's own story shows what the exchange looks like:
Some turn their back on the soul-life of this world because they are joined to the rejected Christ and His death. They are going to keep life to life eternal. Here the word for "life" is changed, for "life eternal" is a far higher thing. Philippians 3 shows what this means. There Paul lists all his natural advantages, and then counts them loss for Christ. Christ became so infinitely attractive to him that he hated all else in comparison with Him.
The Lord does not leave the demand hanging on its own. Two verses later He points forward to His coming in glory, and commentators read that as deliberate encouragement:
In Matthew 16:27 He casts the eye of the one who would follow Him on to the future, in order to give a stimulus for devotion in the pathway now... According to what we have been for Christ now will be the reward in that day. If we have not been true to Christ now, He must withhold reward then, which will not be a joy to His heart. How necessary, therefore, to seek to be for Him now!
- Two mottos. Nature, prompted by the enemy, says "Spare yourself." God says "Deny yourself." Peter denied the Lord at the last because he had never denied himself.
- Two lives. The "life" at stake is the soul-life of natural desire in this world. What you keep instead is life eternal — a far higher thing.
- Two deaths. Saying "no" to yourself is death inside. Taking up the cross is death at the hands of the world.
- Two outcomes. Make yourself the object of your life and you lose yourself. Give up self for Christ and you keep everything for the world to come.
- Two timings. The loss looks total now. In the world to come, the losing turns out to be the finding.
For what does a man profit, if he should gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
The Lord has just told His disciples that He must suffer and die, and that following Him means taking up a cross. Against that background He weighs two things: the whole world on one side, a single soul on the other.
One writer points to where the Lord's words come from:
Our Lord uses the language of the merchant. He speaks of profit, loss, and exchange. He is thinking of a bargain. Suppose a man could get the whole world. To take it in exchange for a share in the glory that is to be revealed would be a bad bargain. He decides this for the comfort of the believer. Most people take Him to be settling the question of personal safety here. He is settling the question of profit and loss.
One writer ties this verse to the one just before it:
With all the gain men have made of things in this world, no one has yet gained the whole world. But our Lord says that if that were possible and someone lost his soul, what would it be worth in the end? This word "soul" is the same word translated "life" in verse 25, and I am persuaded it is the same thought as in that verse.
The second half of the verse asks what a man could hand over to get his soul back. One writer answers it from Psalm 49:
There is a striking word in Psalm 49: "Those who trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the abundance of their riches — none of them can by any means redeem his brother, or give to God a ransom for him. For the redemption of their soul is precious, and must be let alone for ever." That is the right rendering. No one could touch that matter. How it shows the value of the soul!
(That is the writer's own translation. The ESV reads: "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.")
The Lord asks and does not reply. That silence is itself the point:
The Lord closes here with an appeal to consider the soul's value. That appeal has rung through so many hearts since then. The question needs no answer: the impossibility of answering it is the answer.
Other losses in life sting, but they are not final. This one is:
People mourn over losses in this life. Lost fortunes are often recovered and lost health regained, but the soul! Once lost, it is lost for ever.
It came to this: 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. You must give it up; you cannot keep it.
The next verse turns from loss to reward, and that ordering is deliberate:
In Matthew 16:27 He turns the eye of the one who would follow Him toward the future. He does this to stir up devotion in the pathway now. He says, "When the Son of Man comes in the glory of His Father, with His angels, then He will reward every man according to his works." What we have been for Christ now will determine the reward in that day.
- The bargain. The Lord talks business: profit, loss, exchange. His own verdict is that trading the world for the soul is a bad deal.
- The goods. "Soul" here is the same word as "life" in verse 25. What you would trade away is your own life.
- The price. Psalm 49 closes the account: no one can ransom another or pay God for a life. The buy-back price is beyond every fortune.
- The silence. He asks what a man could give in exchange and gives no answer. The impossibility of answering is the answer.
- The payday. The verse that follows moves the ledger to the day the Son of Man comes in His Father's glory. What you are for Christ now is what He rewards then.