Matthew 16:24-28

16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to become my follower,¹ he must deny² himself, take up his cross,³ and follow me. 16:25 For whoever wants to save his life⁴ will lose it,⁵ but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 16:26 For what does it benefit a person⁶ if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life? Or what can a person give in exchange for his life? 16:27 For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.⁷ 16:28 I tell you the truth,⁸ there are some standing here who will not⁹ experience¹⁰ death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”¹¹

¹tn Grk “to come after me.”

²tn 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.

³sn 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.

⁴tn Or “soul” (throughout vv. 25-26).

⁵sn 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.

⁶tn Grk “a man,” but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense here to refer to both men and women.

⁷sn An allusion to Pss 28:4; 62:12; cf. Prov 24:12.

⁸tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

⁹tn The Greek negative here (οὐ μή, ou mh) is the strongest possible.

¹⁰tn 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).

¹¹sn Several suggestions have been made as to the referent for the phrase the Son of Man coming in his kingdom: (1) the transfiguration itself, which immediately follows in the narrative; (2) Jesus’ resurrection and ascension; (3) the coming of the Spirit; (4) Christ’s role in the Church; (5) the destruction of Jerusalem; (6) Jesus’ second coming and the establishment of the kingdom. The reference to six days later in 17:1 seems to indicate that Matthew had the transfiguration in mind insofar as it was a substantial prefiguring of the consummation of the kingdom (although this interpretation is not without its problems). As such, the transfiguration would be a tremendous confirmation to the disciples that even though Jesus had just finished speaking of his death (in vv. 21-23), he was nonetheless the promised Messiah and things were proceeding according to God’s plan.