Matthew 16:24-25

16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to become my follower, ¹  he must deny ²  himself, take up his cross, ³  and follow me. 16:25 For whoever wants to save his life ⁴  will lose it, ⁵  but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Proverbs 4:26-27

4:26 Make the path for your feet ⁶  level, ⁷ 

so that ⁸  all your ways may be established. ⁹ 

4:27 Do not turn ¹⁰  to the right or to the left;

turn yourself ¹¹  away from evil. ¹² 

Proverbs 8:20

8:20 I walk in the path of righteousness,

in the pathway of justice,

Isaiah 30:21

30:21 You ¹³  will hear a word spoken behind you, saying,

“This is the correct ¹⁴  way, walk in it,”

whether you are heading to the right or the left.

Isaiah 35:8

35:8 A thoroughfare will be there –

it will be called the Way of Holiness. ¹⁵ 

The unclean will not travel on it;

it is reserved for those authorized to use it ¹⁶  –

fools ¹⁷  will not stray into it.

Isaiah 57:14

57:14 He says, ¹⁸ 

“Build it! Build it! Clear a way!

Remove all the obstacles out of the way of my people!”

Jeremiah 6:16

6:16 The Lord said to his people: ¹⁹ 

“You are standing at the crossroads. So consider your path. ²⁰ 

Ask where the old, reliable paths ²¹  are.

Ask where the path is that leads to blessing ²²  and follow it.

If you do, you will find rest for your souls.”

But they said, “We will not follow it!”

Mark 8:34

Following Jesus

8:34 Then ²³  Jesus ²⁴  called the crowd, along with his disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wants to become my follower, ²⁵  he must deny ²⁶  himself, take up his cross, ²⁷  and follow me.

John 15:18-20

The World’s Hatred

15:18 “If the world hates you, be aware ²⁸  that it hated me first. ²⁹  15:19 If you belonged to the world, ³⁰  the world would love you as its own. ³¹  However, because you do not belong to the world, ³²  but I chose you out of the world, for this reason ³³  the world hates you. ³⁴  15:20 Remember what ³⁵  I told you, ‘A slave ³⁶  is not greater than his master.’ ³⁷  If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they obeyed ³⁸  my word, they will obey ³⁹  yours too.

John 16:2

16:2 They will put you out of ⁴⁰  the synagogue, ⁴¹  yet a time ⁴²  is coming when the one who kills you will think he is offering service to God. ⁴³ 

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, ⁴⁴  but take courage ⁴⁵  – I have conquered the world.” ⁴⁶ 

Acts 14:22

14:22 They strengthened ⁴⁷  the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue ⁴⁸  in the faith, saying, “We must enter the kingdom ⁴⁹  of God through many persecutions.” ⁵⁰ 

Acts 14:1

Paul and Barnabas at Iconium

14:1 The same thing happened in Iconium ⁵¹  when Paul and Barnabas ⁵²  went into the Jewish synagogue ⁵³  and spoke in such a way that a large group ⁵⁴  of both Jews and Greeks believed.

Acts 3:2-5

3:2 And a man lame ⁵⁵  from birth ⁵⁶  was being carried up, who was placed at the temple gate called “the Beautiful Gate” every day ⁵⁷  so he could beg for money ⁵⁸  from those going into the temple courts. ⁵⁹  3:3 When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple courts, ⁶⁰  he asked them for money. ⁶¹  3:4 Peter looked directly ⁶²  at him (as did John) and said, “Look at us!” 3:5 So the lame man ⁶³  paid attention to them, expecting to receive something from them.

[16:24]  ¹ tn Grk “to come after me.”

[16:24]  ² 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]  ³ 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.

[16:25]  ⁴ tn Or “soul” (throughout vv. 25-26).

[16:25]  ⁵ 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.

[4:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “path of your foot.”

[4:26]  ⁷ sn The verb is a denominative Piel from the word פֶּלֶס (peles), “balance; scale.” In addition to telling the disciple to keep focused on a righteous life, the sage tells him to keep his path level, which is figurative for living the righteous life.

[4:26]  ⁸ tn The vav prefixed to the beginning of this dependent clause denotes purpose/result following the preceding imperative.

[4:26]  ⁹ tn The Niphal jussive from כּוּן (cun, “to be fixed; to be established; to be steadfast”) continues the idiom of walking and ways for the moral sense in life.

[4:27]  ¹⁰ sn The two verbs in this verse are from different roots, but nonetheless share the same semantic domain. The first verb is תֵּט (tet), a jussive from נָטָה (natah), which means “to turn aside” (Hiphil); the second verb is the Hiphil imperative of סוּר (sur), which means “to cause to turn to the side” (Hiphil). The disciple is not to leave the path of righteousness; but to stay on the path he must leave evil.

[4:27]  ¹¹ tn Heb “your foot” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV). The term רַגְלְךָ (raglÿkha, “your foot”) is a synecdoche of part (= foot) for the whole person (= “yourself”).

[4:27]  ¹² tc The LXX adds, “For the way of the right hand God knows, but those of the left hand are distorted; and he himself will make straight your paths and guide your goings in peace.” The ideas presented here are not out of harmony with Proverbs, but the section clearly shows an expansion by the translator. For a brief discussion of whether this addition is Jewish or early Christian, see C. H. Toy, Proverbs (ICC), 99.

[30:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “your ears” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[30:21]  ¹⁴ tn The word “correct’ is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[35:8]  ¹⁵ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and there will be there a road and a way, and the Way of Holiness it will be called.” וְדֶרֶךְ (vÿderekh, “and a/the way”) is accidentally duplicated; the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a does not reflect the repetition of the phrase.

[35:8]  ¹⁶ tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The text reads literally “and it is for them, the one who walks [on the] way.” In this context those authorized to use the Way of Holiness would be morally upright people who are the recipients of God’s deliverance, in contrast to the morally impure and foolish who are excluded from the new covenant community.

[35:8]  ¹⁷ tn In this context “fools” are those who are morally corrupt, not those with limited intellectual capacity.

[57:14]  ¹⁸ tn Since God is speaking throughout this context, perhaps we should emend the text to “and I say.” However, divine speech is introduced in v. 15.

[6:16]  ¹⁹ tn The words, “to his people” are not in the text but are implicit in the interchange of pronouns in the Hebrew of vv. 16-17. They are supplied in the translation here for clarity.

[6:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Stand at the crossroads and look.”

[6:16]  ²¹ tn Heb “the ancient path,” i.e., the path the Lord set out in ancient times (cf. Deut 32:7).

[6:16]  ²² tn Heb “the way of/to the good.”

[8:34]  ²³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[8:34]  ²⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:34]  ²⁵ tn Grk “to follow after me.”

[8:34]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ 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.

[15:18]  ²⁸ tn Grk “know.”

[15:18]  ²⁹ tn Grk “it hated me before you.”

[15:19]  ³⁰ tn Grk “if you were of the world.”

[15:19]  ³¹ tn The words “you as” are not in the original but are supplied for clarity.

[15:19]  ³² tn Grk “because you are not of the world.”

[15:19]  ³³ tn Or “world, therefore.”

[15:19]  ³⁴ sn I chose you out of the world…the world hates you. Two themes are brought together here. In 8:23 Jesus had distinguished himself from the world in addressing his Jewish opponents: “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.” In 15:16 Jesus told the disciples “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you.” Now Jesus has united these two ideas as he informs the disciples that he has chosen them out of the world. While the disciples will still be “in” the world after Jesus has departed, they will not belong to it, and Jesus prays later in John 17:15-16 to the Father, “I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” The same theme also occurs in 1 John 4:5-6: “They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us.” Thus the basic reason why the world hates the disciples (as it hated Jesus before them) is because they are not of the world. They are born from above, and are not of the world. For this reason the world hates them.

[15:20]  ³⁵ tn Grk “Remember the word that I said to you.”

[15:20]  ³⁶ tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 4:51.

[15:20]  ³⁷ sn A slave is not greater than his master. Jesus now recalled a statement he had made to the disciples before, in John 13:16. As the master has been treated, so will the slaves be treated also. If the world had persecuted Jesus, then it would also persecute the disciples. If the world had kept Jesus’ word, it would likewise keep the word of the disciples. In this statement there is the implication that the disciples would carry on the ministry of Jesus after his departure; they would in their preaching and teaching continue to spread the message which Jesus himself had taught while he was with them. And they would meet with the same response, by and large, that he encountered.

[15:20]  ³⁸ tn Or “if they kept.”

[15:20]  ³⁹ tn Or “they will keep.”

[16:2]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “expel you from.”

[16:2]  ⁴¹ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:59.

[16:2]  ⁴² tn Grk “an hour.”

[16:2]  ⁴³ sn Jesus now refers not to the time of his return to the Father, as he has frequently done up to this point, but to the disciples’ time of persecution. They will be excommunicated from Jewish synagogues. There will even be a time when those who kill Jesus’ disciples will think that they are offering service to God by putting the disciples to death. Because of the reference to service offered to God, it is almost certain that Jewish opposition is intended here in both cases rather than Jewish opposition in the first instance (putting the disciples out of synagogues) and Roman opposition in the second (putting the disciples to death). Such opposition materializes later and is recorded in Acts: The stoning of Stephen in 7:58-60 and the slaying of James the brother of John by Herod Agrippa I in Acts 12:2-3 are notable examples.

[16:33]  ⁴⁴ 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]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “but be courageous.”

[16:33]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “I am victorious over the world,” or “I have overcome the world.”

[14:22]  ⁴⁷ 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]  ⁴⁸ 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]  ⁴⁹ sn This reference to the kingdom of God clearly refers to its future arrival.

[14:22]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “sufferings.”

[14:1]  ⁵¹ sn Iconium. See the note in 13:51.

[14:1]  ⁵² tn Grk “they”; the referents (Paul and Barnabas) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:1]  ⁵³ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[14:1]  ⁵⁴ tn Or “that a large crowd.”

[3:2]  ⁵⁵ tn Or “crippled.”

[3:2]  ⁵⁶ tn Grk “from his mother’s womb.”

[3:2]  ⁵⁷ tn BDAG 437 s.v. ἡμέρα 2.c has “every day” for this phrase.

[3:2]  ⁵⁸ tn Grk “alms.” The term “alms” is not in common use today, so what the man expected, “money,” is used in the translation instead. The idea is that of money given as a gift to someone who was poor. Giving alms was viewed as honorable in Judaism (Tob 1:3, 16; 12:8-9; m. Pe’ah 1:1). See also Luke 11:41; 12:33; Acts 9:36; 10:2, 4, 31; 24:17.

[3:2]  ⁵⁹ tn Grk “the temple.” This is actually a reference to the courts surrounding the temple proper, and has been translated accordingly.

[3:3]  ⁶⁰ tn Grk “the temple.” This is actually a reference to the courts surrounding the temple proper, and has been translated accordingly.

[3:3]  ⁶¹ tn Grk “alms.” See the note on the word “money” in the previous verse.

[3:4]  ⁶² tn Grk “Peter, looking directly at him, as did John, said.” The participle ἀτενίσας (atenisas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[3:5]  ⁶³ tn Grk “So he”; the referent (the lame man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.