Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Mark 8:34 - 9:1
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mar_8:34 to Mar_9:1
34And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 35For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. 36For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? 37For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 38For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels. Mar_9:1 And Jesus was saying to them, 'Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power."
Mar_8:34 "summoned the crowd with His disciples" Mark is the only Gospel that records the presence of the crowd at Caesarea Philippi. Usually this event is seen as a private teaching time, but obviously others were present. This crowd would have included may non-Jews and probably no Pharisees or religious leaders because it was out of the traditional promised land in a Gentile area. It is to this crowd that Jesus reveals the true cost of discipleship, the radical, total surrender needed to follow Him. He bids them follow, but clearly states the cost!
▣ "if" This is a first class conditional sentence, which is assumed true from the author's perspective or for his literary purpose.
▣ "anyone wishes to come after Me" Notice the universal invitation to be Jesus' disciples. But there is a cost (i.e., salvation is free, but discipleship is necessary and very expensive personally). It is interesting that Jesus' very words to Peter in Mar_8:33 (hupage opisô mou) are now used again (opisô mou), but in the sense of "come after me" (i.e., discipleship). There is an inappropriate followship (Peter as Satan's surrogate) and an appropriate followship (i.e., selfless service). The very thing Peter rebukes Jesus for thinking is now clearly stated as the goal for all, "take up your cross"!
▣ "he must deny himself" This is an aorist middle imperative of a term which implies "to deny," "to disown," "to renounce," or "to disregard" (cf. Mat_16:24; Mar_8:34; Mar_14:30; Mar_14:32; Mar_14:72; Luk_9:23; Luk_12:9; Luk_23:34; Joh_13:38).
The fall (cf. Genesis 3) has made mankind's independence and self-centeredness the goal of life, but now believers must return to selfless dependence on God. Salvation is the restoration of the image of God in humanity, damaged in the fall. This allows intimate fellowship with the Father, which is the goal of creation.
▣ "take up his cross" This is an aorist active imperative. This phrase "take up your cross" referred to a condemned criminal having to carry his own crossbar to the place of crucifixion. This was a cultural metaphor for a painful, shameful death. In this context it refers to "death to our old sin nature." The gospel is a radical call for once-and-for-all followship, discipleship (cf. Mat_10:38; Mat_16:24; Luk_9:23; Luk_14:27; Luk_17:33; Joh_12:25). As Jesus laid down His life for others, so we must follow His example (cf. 2Co_5:14-15; Gal_2:20; 1Jn_3:16). This clearly demonstrates that the results of the fall have been removed.
▣ "and follow Me" This is present active imperative. This is the language of rabbinical discipleship. Christianity is a decisive choice followed by continual discipleship (cf. Mat_28:19-20; Eph_2:8-10).
Mar_8:35-37 "save his life. . .lose his life" This is a play on the Greek word for "self," psuchç. In this context there is a contrast between spiritual living (Kingdom focused) and selfish living (earthly, self-centeredness). The Williams translation of the NT has "higher life. . .lower life." If we live for Christ we shall live eternally; if we live for self we are spiritually dead (cf. Genesis 3; Isa_59:2; Rom_5:18-19; Rom_7:10-11; Rom_8:1-8; Eph_2:1; Eph_2:5; Col_2:13; Jas_1:15) and one day will be eternally dead (cf. Rev_2:11; Rev_20:6; Rev_20:14; Rev_21:8). This truth is similar to the parable of "the rich fool" (cf. Luk_12:16-20).
Mar_8:35 "gospel's" This is a compound of eu (good) and angelos (message). It originally meant proclaim good tidings, but it came to be used for the message about Jesus as the Messiah bringing salvation (and all its connected doctrines). It stands for the truths of Christianity and the proclaiming of those truths. Mark's Gospel may have been the first to use it in this sense (cf. Mar_1:1; Mar_1:14-15; Mar_8:35; Mar_10:29; Mar_14:9).
Mar_8:36 "'to gain the whole world'" This also was one of Satan's temptations to Jesus (cf. Mat_4:8-9).
▣ "'and forfeit his soul'" This is an aorist passive infinitive of a term used to describe the loss of something which one previously possessed (cf. Mat_16:26; Act_27:10).
Mar_8:37 This is a powerful question. Where is the priority, present life or eternal life? Selfish living robs one of the joy of life and the gift of life! This life is both a gift and a stewardship.
Mar_8:38 "'whoever is ashamed of Me and My words'" This refers to the time when each person is confronted with the gospel. This same truth is expressed in a different way in Mat_10:32-33 and Luk_12:8-9. What people decide today about the gospel determines their future. Jesus is the gospel!
This phrase is a third class conditional sentence, which introduces a contingency (cf. TEV and NJB).
▣ "'in this adulterous and sinful generation'" The Jews in the interbiblical period developed a theology of two ages. The current age was dominated by sin, self, and unrighteousness. See Special Topic: The Two Jewish Ages at Mar_13:8. However, God was going to send the Messiah and establish a new age of righteousness. Jesus is stating that He Himself was inaugurating this new day and that this new righteousness depends (i.e., is contingent upon, cf. Joh_1:12; Joh_3:16) on one's personal faith and trust in Him, not one's human performance (cf. Jer_31:31-34; Mat_5:20).
▣ "'the Son of Man'" This is Jesus' self-designation; it had no nationalistic, militaristic, or exclusivistic implications in first century Judaism. The term comes from its typical usage in Eze_2:1 and Psa_8:4 ,where it meant "human being" and Dan_7:13, where it implies Messiah and Deity (i.e., riding on the clouds of heaven, approaching God and receiving the eternal kingdom). The term combines the twin aspects of Jesus' person, fully God and fully man (cf. 1Jn_4:1-3).
▣ "when He comes" The OT clearly reveals one coming of the Messiah. However, Jesus' earthly life showed that Gen_3:15; Psalms 22; Isaiah 53; and Zechariah 9-14 also refer to a suffering of the Messiah. The second glorious coming of the Messiah as Lord and Judge of the cosmos will be exactly the way the Jews were expecting Him to come the first time. Their closed-minded, theological dogmatism caused them to reject Jesus.
The Second Coming is a major and oft repeated NT truth (cf. Mat_10:23; Mat_16:27-28; Mat_24:3; Mat_24:27; Mat_24:30; Mat_24:37; Mat_26:64; Mar_8:38-38; Mar_13:26; Luk_21:27; Joh_21:22; Act_1:11; 1Co_1:7; 1Co_15:23; Php_3:20; 1Th_1:10; 1Th_2:19; 1Th_3:13; 1Th_4:16; 2Th_1:7; 2Th_1:10; 2Th_2:1; 2Th_2:8; Jas_5:7-8; 2Pe_1:16; 2Pe_3:4; 2Pe_3:12; 1Jn_2:28; Rev_1:7).
▣ "'in the glory of His Father with the holy angels'" This is an OT prediction from Dan_7:10 (cf. Mat_16:27; Mar_13:20; Luk_9:26; 2Th_1:7). This refers to the Second Coming. This was another way of asserting the deity of Jesus. Several times in Matthew the angels are the eschatological gatherers and dividers of humanity (cf. Mat_13:39-41; Mat_13:49; Mat_24:31).
▣ "glory" In the OT the most common Hebrew word for "glory" (kabod) was originally a commercial term (which referred to a pair of scales) meaning "to be heavy." That which was heavy was valuable or had intrinsic worth. Often the concept of brightness was added to the word to express God's majesty (cf. Exo_15:16; Exo_24:17; Isa_60:1-2). He alone is worthy and honorable. He is too brilliant for fallen mankind to behold (cf. Exo_33:17-23; Isa_6:5). God can only be truly known through Christ (cf. Jer_1:14; Mat_17:2; Joh_14:8-9; Heb_1:3; Jas_2:1).
The term "glory" is somewhat ambiguous.
1. it may be parallel to "the righteousness of God"
2. it may refer to the "holiness" or "perfection" of God
3. it could refer to the image of God in which mankind was created (cf. Gen_1:26-27; Gen_5:1; Gen_9:6), but which was later marred through rebellion (cf. Gen_3:1-22)
It is first used of YHWH's presence with His people in the cloud of glory during the wilderness wandering period (cf. Exo_16:7; Exo_16:10; Lev_9:23; Num_14:10).
Mar_9:1 There have been many theories to explain Jesus' statement. It may have referred to
1. Jesus' ascension
2. the Kingdom already present in Jesus
3. the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost
4. the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70
5. the expectation of Jesus' early return
6. the rapid spread of Christianity
7. the transfiguration.
These theories focus on different phrases in the text: (1) "some of the people standing here"; (2) "the Kingdom of God"; or (3) "come in its power." The best guess is #7 because of the immediate context of Mar_9:2-13 and 2Pe_1:16-18. Also, no other theory can explain all three aspects of the text. But realize if it does, then it only referred to Peter, James, and John.
▣ "Truly" This is literally "amen." See Special Topic at Mar_3:28.
▣ "will not taste death" This is a strong double negative used as a metaphorical phrase (i.e., experience cessation of life).
▣ "the kingdom of God" See note at a Mar_1:15.
▣ "it has come with power" This is a perfect active participle, which implies the full and complete coming of the kingdom. This is in contrast to the fact that the kingdom, in some real sense, was inaugurated with Jesus' coming (i.e., incarnation), but a future event is to be expected (i.e., Second Coming).
Copyright © 2013 hyperlink