Luke 9:18-27

Peter’s Confession

9:18 Once ¹  when Jesus ²  was praying ³  by himself, and his disciples were nearby, he asked them, ⁴  “Who do the crowds say that I am?” ⁵  9:19 They ⁶  answered, ⁷  “John the Baptist; others say Elijah; ⁸  and still others that one of the prophets of long ago has risen.” ⁹  9:20 Then ¹⁰  he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter ¹¹  answered, ¹²  “The Christ ¹³  of God.” 9:21 But he forcefully commanded ¹⁴  them not to tell this to anyone, ¹⁵  9:22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer ¹⁶  many things and be rejected by the elders, ¹⁷  chief priests, and experts in the law, ¹⁸  and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” ¹⁹ 

A Call to Discipleship

9:23 Then ²⁰  he said to them all, ²¹  “If anyone wants to become my follower, ²²  he must deny ²³  himself, take up his cross daily, ²⁴  and follow me. 9:24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, ²⁵  but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 9:25 For what does it benefit a person ²⁶  if he gains the whole world but loses or forfeits himself? 9:26 For whoever is ashamed ²⁷  of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person ²⁸  when he comes in his glory and in the glory ²⁹  of the Father and of the holy angels. 9:27 But I tell you most certainly, ³⁰  there are some standing here who will not ³¹  experience ³²  death before they see the kingdom of God.” ³³ 

[9:18]  ¹ tn Grk “And it happened that.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[9:18]  ² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:18]  ³ sn Prayer is a favorite theme of Luke and he is the only one of the gospel authors to mention it in the following texts (with the exception of 22:41): Luke 3:21; 5:16; 6:12; 9:28-29; 11:1; 22:41; 23:34, 46.

[9:18]  ⁴ tn Grk “the disciples were with him, and he asked them, saying.”

[9:18]  ⁵ sn “Who do the crowds say that I am?” The question of who Jesus is occurs frequently in this section of Luke: 7:49; 8:25; 9:9. The answer resolves a major theme of Luke’s Gospel.

[9:19]  ⁶ tn Grk “And they.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[9:19]  ⁷ tn Grk “And answering, they said.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “They answered.”

[9:19]  ⁸ sn The appearance of Elijah would mean that the end time had come. According to 2 Kgs 2:11, Elijah was still alive. In Mal 4:5 it is said that Elijah would be the precursor of Messiah.

[9:19]  ⁹ sn The phrase has risen could be understood to mean “has been resurrected,” but this is only a possible option, not a necessary one, since the phrase could merely mean that a figure had appeared on the scene who mirrored an earlier historical figure. Note that the three categories in the reply match the ones in Luke 9:7-8.

[9:20]  ¹⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[9:20]  ¹¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[9:20]  ¹² tn Grk “Peter answering, said.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “Peter answered.”

[9:20]  ¹³ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[9:21]  ¹⁴ 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.

[9:21]  ¹⁵ 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.

[9:22]  ¹⁶ 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.

[9:22]  ¹⁷ 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.

[9:22]  ¹⁸ tn Or “and scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

[9:22]  ¹⁹ 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.

[9:23]  ²⁰ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[9:23]  ²¹ 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]  ²² tn Grk “to come after me.”

[9:23]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ tn Grk “a man,” but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense here to refer to both men and women.

[9:26]  ²⁷ 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]  ²⁸ 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]  ²⁹ 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]  ³⁰ tn Grk “I tell you truly” (λέγω δὲ ὑμῖν ἀληθῶς, legw de Jumin alhqw").

[9:27]  ³¹ tn The Greek negative here (οὐ μή, ou mh) is the strongest possible.

[9:27]  ³² 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]  ³³ 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.