Mark 8:34

Following Jesus

8:34 Then ¹  Jesus ²  called the crowd, along with his disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wants to become my follower, ³  he must deny ⁴  himself, take up his cross, ⁵  and follow me.

Matthew 16:24

16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to become my follower, ⁶  he must deny ⁷  himself, take up his cross, ⁸  and follow me.

Luke 9:23

A Call to Discipleship

9:23 Then ⁹  he said to them all, ¹⁰  “If anyone wants to become my follower, ¹¹  he must deny ¹²  himself, take up his cross daily, ¹³  and follow me.

John 12:26

12:26 If anyone wants to serve me, he must follow ¹⁴  me, and where I am, my servant will be too. ¹⁵  If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

John 16:33

16:33 I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble and suffering, ¹⁶  but take courage ¹⁷  – I have conquered the world.” ¹⁸ 

Romans 8:17-18

8:17 And if children, then heirs (namely, heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ) ¹⁹  – if indeed we suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him.

8:18 For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared ²⁰  to the glory that will be revealed to us.

Romans 8:2

8:2 For the law of the life-giving Spirit ²¹  in Christ Jesus has set you ²²  free from the law of sin and death.

Romans 3:12

3:12 All have turned away,

together they have become worthless;

there is no one who shows kindness, not even one.” ²³ 

[8:34]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[8:34]  ² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:34]  ³ tn Grk “to follow after me.”

[8:34]  ⁴ 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.

[8:34]  ⁵ sn 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.

[16:24]  ⁶ tn Grk “to come after me.”

[16:24]  ⁷ 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.

[16:24]  ⁸ sn 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.

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

[9:23]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Grk “to come after me.”

[9:23]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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.

[12:26]  ¹⁴ tn As a third person imperative in Greek, ἀκολουθείτω (akolouqeitw) is usually translated “let him follow me.” This could be understood by the modern English reader as merely permissive, however (“he may follow me if he wishes”). In this context there is no permissive sense, but rather a command, so the translation “he must follow me” is preferred.

[12:26]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “where I am, there my servant will be too.”

[16:33]  ¹⁶ tn The one Greek term θλῖψις (qliyis) has been translated by an English hendiadys (two terms that combine for one meaning) “trouble and suffering.” For modern English readers “tribulation” is no longer clearly understandable.

[16:33]  ¹⁷ tn Or “but be courageous.”

[16:33]  ¹⁸ tn Or “I am victorious over the world,” or “I have overcome the world.”

[8:17]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “on the one hand, heirs of God; on the other hand, fellow heirs with Christ.” Some prefer to render v. 17 as follows: “And if children, then heirs – that is, heirs of God. Also fellow heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him.” Such a translation suggests two distinct inheritances, one coming to all of God’s children, the other coming only to those who suffer with Christ. The difficulty of this view, however, is that it ignores the correlative conjunctions μέν…δέ (men…de, “on the one hand…on the other hand”): The construction strongly suggests that the inheritances cannot be separated since both explain “then heirs.” For this reason, the preferred translation puts this explanation in parentheses.

[8:18]  ²⁰ tn Grk “are not worthy [to be compared].”

[8:2]  ²¹ tn Grk “for the law of the Spirit of life.”

[8:2]  ²² tc Most mss read the first person singular pronoun με (me) here (A D 1739^c 1881 Ï lat sa). The second person singular pronoun σε (se) is superior because of external support (א B {F which reads σαι} G 1506* 1739*) and internal support (it is the harder reading since ch. 7 was narrated in the first person). At the same time, it could have arisen via dittography from the final syllable of the verb preceding it (ἠλευθέρωσεν, hleuqerwsen; “has set free”). But for this to happen in such early and diverse witnesses is unlikely, especially as it depends on various scribes repeatedly overlooking either the nu or the nu-bar at the end of the verb.

[3:12]  ²³ sn Verses 10-12 are a quotation from Ps 14:1-3.