Mark 8:35

8:35 For whoever wants to save his life ¹  will lose it, ²  but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel will save it.

Matthew 5:10-11

5:10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.

5:11 “Blessed are you when people ³  insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things about you falsely ⁴  on account of me.

Matthew 10:18

10:18 And you will be brought before governors and kings ⁵  because of me, as a witness to them and the Gentiles.

Matthew 10:1

Sending Out the Twelve Apostles

10:1 Jesus ⁶  called his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits ⁷  so they could cast them out and heal every kind of disease and sickness. ⁸ 

Colossians 1:23

1:23 if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, ⁹  without shifting ¹⁰  from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has also been preached in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its servant.

Revelation 2:3

2:3 I am also aware ¹¹  that you have persisted steadfastly, ¹²  endured much for the sake of my name, and have not grown weary.

[8:35]  ¹ tn Or “soul” (throughout vv. 35-37).

[8:35]  ² 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.

[5:11]  ³ tn Grk “when they insult you.” The third person pronoun (here implied in the verb ὀνειδίσωσιν [ojneidiswsin]) has no specific referent, but refers to people in general.

[5:11]  ⁴ tc Although ψευδόμενοι (yeudomenoi, “bearing witness falsely”) could be a motivated reading, clarifying that the disciples are unjustly persecuted, its lack in only D it sy^s Tert does not help its case. Since the Western text is known for numerous free alterations, without corroborative evidence the shorter reading must be judged as secondary.

[10:18]  ⁵ sn These statements look at persecution both from a Jewish context as the mention of courts and synagogues suggests, and from a Gentile one as the reference to governors and kings suggests. Some fulfillment of Jewish persecution can be seen in Acts.

[10:1]  ⁶ tn Grk “And he.”

[10:1]  ⁷ sn Unclean spirits refers to evil spirits.

[10:1]  ⁸ tn Grk “and every [kind of] sickness.” Here “every” was not repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[1:23]  ⁹ tn BDAG 276 s.v. ἑδραῖος suggests “firm, steadfast.”

[1:23]  ¹⁰ tn BDAG 639 s.v. μετακινέω suggests “without shifting from the hope” here.

[2:3]  ¹¹ tn Because of the length and complexity of this Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the phrase “I am also aware” to link this English sentence back to “I know” at the beginning of v. 2.

[2:3]  ¹² tn The Greek word translated “persisted steadfastly” (ὑπομονή, Jupomonh) is the same one translated “steadfast endurance” in v. 2.