Matthew 16:20

16:20 Then he instructed his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ. ¹ 

Mark 8:30

8:30 Then ²  he warned them not to tell anyone about him. ³ 

Mark 9:9-10

9:9 As they were coming down from the mountain, he gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 9:10 They kept this statement to themselves, discussing what this rising from the dead meant.

Luke 8:56

8:56 Her ⁴  parents were astonished, but he ordered them to tell no one ⁵  what had happened.

Luke 9:21-22

9:21 But he forcefully commanded ⁶  them not to tell this to anyone, ⁷  9:22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer ⁸  many things and be rejected by the elders, ⁹  chief priests, and experts in the law, ¹⁰  and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” ¹¹ 

¹ tc Most mss (א² C W Ï lat bo) have “Jesus, the Christ” (᾿Ιησοῦς ὁ Χριστός, Ihsou" Jo Cristo") here, while D has “Christ Jesus” (ὁ Χριστὸς ᾿Ιησοῦς). On the one hand, this is a much harder reading than the mere Χριστός, because the name Jesus was already well known for the disciples’ master – both to them and to others. Whether he was the Messiah is the real focus of the passage. But this is surely too hard a reading: There are no other texts in which the Lord tells his disciples not to disclose his personal name. Further, it is plainly a motivated reading in that scribes had the proclivity to add ᾿Ιησοῦς to Χριστός or to κύριος (kurio", “Lord”), regardless of whether such was appropriate to the context. In this instance it clearly is not, and it only reveals that scribes sometimes, if not often, did not think about the larger interpretive consequences of their alterations to the text. Further, the shorter reading is well supported by א* B L Δ Θ Ë^1,13 565 700 1424 al it sa.

² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “Then” to indicate the conclusion of the episode.

³ sn Mark 8:27-10:52. The entire section 8:27-10:52 is built around three passion predictions of Jesus (8:31; 9:31; 10:33). These predictions form the structure of the section, the content for the section (Jesus’ suffering, death, and the meaning of genuine discipleship) and the mood of the section (i.e., a somber mood). What is interesting is that after each passion prediction, Mark records both the misunderstanding of the disciples and then Jesus’ teaching on the nature of his death and what genuine discipleship is all about: (1) denying oneself (8:34-38); (2) humility and serving (9:33-37); (3) suffering, humble service, and not lording it over people (10:35-45). For further discussion of the structure of the passage, see W. L. Lane, Mark (NICNT), 292-94.

⁴ tn Grk “And her.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

⁵ sn Jesus ordered them to tell no one because he desired that miracles not become the center of his ministry.

⁶ tn The combination of the participle and verb ἐπιτιμήσας and παρήγγειλεν (epitimhsa" and parhngeilen, “commanding, he ordered”) is a hendiadys that makes the instruction emphatic.

⁷ sn No explanation for the command not to tell this to anyone is given, but the central section of Luke, chapters 9-19, appears to reveal a reason. The disciples needed to understand who the Messiah really was and exactly what he would do before they were ready to proclaim Jesus as such. But they and the people had an expectation that needed some instruction to be correct.

⁸ sn The necessity that the Son of Man suffer is the particular point that needed emphasis, since for many 1st century Jews the Messiah was a glorious and powerful figure, not a suffering one.

⁹ sn Rejection in Luke is especially by the Jewish leadership (here elders, chief priests, and experts in the law), though in Luke 23 almost all will join in.

¹⁰ tn Or “and scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

¹¹ sn The description of the Son of Man being rejected…killed, and…raised is the first of six passion summaries in Luke: 9:44; 17:25; 18:31-33; 24:7; 24:46-47.