Matthew 10:38

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

Matthew 16:24

16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to become my follower, ²  he must deny ³  himself, take up his cross, ⁴  and follow me.

Mark 8:34-35

Following Jesus

8:34 Then ⁵  Jesus ⁶  called the crowd, along with his disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wants to become my follower, ⁷  he must deny ⁸  himself, take up his cross, ⁹  and follow me. 8:35 For whoever wants to save his life ¹⁰  will lose it, ¹¹  but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel will save it.

Luke 9:23-25

A Call to Discipleship

9:23 Then ¹²  he said to them all, ¹³  “If anyone wants to become my follower, ¹⁴  he must deny ¹⁵  himself, take up his cross daily, ¹⁶  and follow me. 9:24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, ¹⁷  but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 9:25 For what does it benefit a person ¹⁸  if he gains the whole world but loses or forfeits himself?

Luke 14:26-27

14:26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate ¹⁹  his own father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, ²⁰  he cannot be my disciple. 14:27 Whoever does not carry his own cross ²¹  and follow ²²  me cannot be my disciple.

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, ²³  but take courage ²⁴  – I have conquered the world.” ²⁵ 

Acts 9:16

9:16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” ²⁶ 

Acts 14:22

14:22 They strengthened ²⁷  the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue ²⁸  in the faith, saying, “We must enter the kingdom ²⁹  of God through many persecutions.” ³⁰ 

Acts 14:1

Paul and Barnabas at Iconium

14:1 The same thing happened in Iconium ³¹  when Paul and Barnabas ³²  went into the Jewish synagogue ³³  and spoke in such a way that a large group ³⁴  of both Jews and Greeks believed.

Acts 3:3

3:3 When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple courts, ³⁵  he asked them for money. ³⁶ 

Acts 4:2

4:2 angry ³⁷  because they were teaching the people and announcing ³⁸  in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.

Acts 4:2

4:2 angry ³⁹  because they were teaching the people and announcing ⁴⁰  in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.

Acts 3:12

3:12 When Peter saw this, he declared to the people, “Men of Israel, ⁴¹  why are you amazed at this? Why ⁴²  do you stare at us as if we had made this man ⁴³  walk by our own power or piety?

[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.

[16:24]  ² tn Grk “to come after me.”

[16:24]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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.

[8:34]  ⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[8:34]  ⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:34]  ⁷ tn Grk “to follow after me.”

[8:34]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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.

[8:35]  ¹⁰ tn Or “soul” (throughout vv. 35-37).

[8:35]  ¹¹ 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.

[9:23]  ¹² tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[9:23]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “to come after me.”

[9:23]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “a man,” but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense here to refer to both men and women.

[14:26]  ¹⁹ tn This figurative use operates on a relative scale. God is to be loved more than family or self.

[14:26]  ²⁰ tn Grk “his own soul,” but ψυχή (yuch) is frequently used of one’s physical life. It clearly has that meaning in this context.

[14:27]  ²¹ 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]  ²² tn Grk “and come after.” In combination with the verb ἔρχομαι (ercomai) the improper preposition ὀπίσω (opisw) means “follow.”

[16:33]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ tn Or “but be courageous.”

[16:33]  ²⁵ tn Or “I am victorious over the world,” or “I have overcome the world.”

[9:16]  ²⁶ tn Or “because of my name.” BDAG 1031 s.v. ὑπέρ 2 lists Acts 9:16 as an example of ὑπέρ (Juper) used to indicate “the moving cause or reason, because of, for the sake of, for.”

[14:22]  ²⁷ 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]  ²⁸ 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]  ²⁹ sn This reference to the kingdom of God clearly refers to its future arrival.

[14:22]  ³⁰ tn Or “sufferings.”

[14:1]  ³¹ sn Iconium. See the note in 13:51.

[14:1]  ³² tn Grk “they”; the referents (Paul and Barnabas) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:1]  ³³ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[14:1]  ³⁴ tn Or “that a large crowd.”

[3:3]  ³⁵ tn Grk “the temple.” This is actually a reference to the courts surrounding the temple proper, and has been translated accordingly.

[3:3]  ³⁶ tn Grk “alms.” See the note on the word “money” in the previous verse.

[4:2]  ³⁷ tn Or “greatly annoyed,” “provoked.”

[4:2]  ³⁸ tn Or “proclaiming.”

[4:2]  ³⁹ tn Or “greatly annoyed,” “provoked.”

[4:2]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “proclaiming.”

[3:12]  ⁴¹ tn Or perhaps “People of Israel,” since this was taking place in Solomon’s Portico and women may have been present. The Greek ἄνδρες ᾿Ισραηλῖται (andre" Israhlitai) used in the plural would normally mean “men, gentlemen” (BDAG 79 s.v. ἀνήρ 1.a).

[3:12]  ⁴² tn Grk “or why.”

[3:12]  ⁴³ tn Grk “him”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.