Matthew 10:38

10:38 And whoever does not take up his cross ¹  and follow me is not worthy of me.

Mark 8:34

Following Jesus

8:34 Then ²  Jesus ³  called the crowd, along with his disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wants to become my follower, ⁴  he must deny ⁵  himself, take up his cross, ⁶  and follow me.

Mark 10:21

10:21 As Jesus looked at him, he felt love for him and said, “You lack one thing. Go, sell whatever you have and give the money ⁷  to the poor, and you will have treasure ⁸  in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Luke 9:23-27

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. 9:24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, ¹⁴  but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 9:25 For what does it benefit a person ¹⁵  if he gains the whole world but loses or forfeits himself? 9:26 For whoever is ashamed ¹⁶  of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person ¹⁷  when he comes in his glory and in the glory ¹⁸  of the Father and of the holy angels. 9:27 But I tell you most certainly, ¹⁹  there are some standing here who will not ²⁰  experience ²¹  death before they see the kingdom of God.” ²² 

Luke 14:27

14:27 Whoever does not carry his own cross ²³  and follow ²⁴  me cannot be my disciple.

Acts 14:22

14:22 They strengthened ²⁵  the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue ²⁶  in the faith, saying, “We must enter the kingdom ²⁷  of God through many persecutions.” ²⁸ 

Colossians 1:24

1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body – for the sake of his body, the church – what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ.

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ²⁹  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Colossians 3:3

3:3 for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Colossians 3:2

3:2 Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth,

Colossians 3:12

Exhortation to Unity and Love

3:12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, ³⁰  kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,

Hebrews 11:24-26

11:24 By faith, when he grew up, Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 11:25 choosing rather to be ill-treated with the people of God than to enjoy sin’s fleeting pleasure. 11:26 He regarded abuse suffered for Christ ³¹  to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for his eyes were fixed on ³²  the reward.

[10:38]  ¹ sn It was customary practice in a Roman crucifixion for the prisoner to be made to carry his own cross. Jesus is speaking figuratively here in the context of rejection. If the priority is not one’s allegiance to Jesus, then one will not follow him in the face of possible rejection.

[8:34]  ² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[8:34]  ³ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:34]  ⁴ tn Grk “to follow after me.”

[8:34]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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.

[10:21]  ⁷ tn The words “the money” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[10:21]  ⁸ sn The call for sacrifice comes with a promise of eternal reward: You will have treasure in heaven. Jesus’ call is a test to see how responsive the man is to God’s direction through him. Will he walk the path God’s agent calls him to walk? For a rich person who got it right, see Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10.

[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.

[9:24]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “a man,” but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense here to refer to both men and women.

[9:26]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “I tell you truly” (λέγω δὲ ὑμῖν ἀληθῶς, legw de Jumin alhqw").

[9:27]  ²⁰ tn The Greek negative here (οὐ μή, ou mh) is the strongest possible.

[9:27]  ²¹ 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]  ²² 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.

[14:27]  ²³ sn It was customary practice in a Roman crucifixion for the prisoner to be made to carry his own cross. Jesus is speaking figuratively here in the context of rejection. If the priority is not one’s allegiance to Jesus, then one will not follow him in the face of possible rejection; see Luke 9:23.

[14:27]  ²⁴ tn Grk “and come after.” In combination with the verb ἔρχομαι (ercomai) the improper preposition ὀπίσω (opisw) means “follow.”

[14:22]  ²⁵ tn Grk “to Antioch, strengthening.” Due to the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences, a new sentence was started here. This participle (ἐπιστηρίζοντες, episthrizonte") and the following one (παρακαλοῦντες, parakalounte") have been translated as finite verbs connected by the coordinating conjunction “and.”

[14:22]  ²⁶ sn And encouraged them to continue. The exhortations are like those noted in Acts 11:23; 13:43. An example of such a speech is found in Acts 20:18-35. Christianity is now characterized as “the faith.”

[14:22]  ²⁷ sn This reference to the kingdom of God clearly refers to its future arrival.

[14:22]  ²⁸ tn Or “sufferings.”

[1:1]  ²⁹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[3:12]  ³⁰ tn If the genitive construct σπλάγχνα οἰκτιρμοῦ (splancna oiktirmou) is a hendiadys then it would be “compassion” or “tenderheartedness.” See M. J. Harris, Colossians and Philemon (EGGNT), 161.

[11:26]  ³¹ tn Grk “the abuse [or ‘reproach’] of Christ.”

[11:26]  ³² tn Grk “he was looking away to.”