What does it mean to deny yourself and pick up your cross? Part 2

Here is part 2 of my study on just 16:24. This part will only deal with the imperative portion of the text. You can read part 1 here. Remember, I am not a scholar by any means although I am in school learning to become a biblical scholar. This is using the tools that I have learned in Greek class and inductive Bible Study class to open the Scriptures more. There could be errors that I have made.

Matthew 16:24

Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

In the last post, I looked at some context surrounding the text and also looked at the conditional part of the If-Then statement.

Starting with "let him deny." It is in the Aorist tense and middle deponent voice. A middle deponent voice is translated as an active voice. This shows an ambiguous past action of denying. The word for "let him deny" is ἀπαρνέομαι and means "to forget one's self" or give up one's self and interests. In this case, the interests are the person who wants to follow Christ. Christ requires that you do not get and interest that are of your thinking. He does not answer that interest you should have but that will be answered later. Not only interest does Christ required but one also must give up his life. Remember, Jesus has just rebuked Peter for not having the interest of God (Matt. 16:23). So that is one thing that Peter did not understand that he was required to do to follow Jesus. Peter had is own interests in mind when he rebuked Jesus for saying that he will not die.

The next verb is take up. It is αἴρω and means "to take upon one's self and carry what has been raised up". It is also in the aorist tense and it is actually in the active voice. The person is to bear the cross. That is what Jesus was talking about throughout this passage. He is telling His disciples that He will bear the cross and now He is telling them that they must also bore the cross. This shows the denying one's self. The cross was the Roman execution tool for non-Romans. Jesus is saying that they must be willing to lose their life.

The final verb is follow, or ἀκολουθείτω. It is in the present active imperative. This is a current action. The person that wishes or intends to follow Christ, they must be currently following Jesus. This is not just tagging along. The Greek actually means "to cleave steadfastly to one, conform wholly to his example, in living and if need be in also death." This would be like becoming a disciple of Christ and willing to give your desires and be willing to die. This verb answers whose interests we should and the reason for laying down are life.

This is huge and needs to be understood. Jesus wants you to desires what he wants and to become like him. John talks about this is 1 John 2:9, "whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked." There is this growing to be walking like him. This is so big in this church culture that appeals to the what we want. This may seem radical, and it is, but this what a Christian following Christ should be doing. This become like Christ shows what Christ really was like. This shows that Christianity is different and then opens the door to witnessing to people. What a way to live so God is honored.

Note: all Greek letters and quotes are from BlueLetterBible.com.

What does it mean to deny yourself and pick up your cross? Part 1

This blog post was the morning devotional for my Bible study. Because it has taken to long to do the next part, so here is the first part. I want to first inform you that I am not a scholar by any means although I am in school learning to become a biblical scholar. This is using the tools that I have learned in Greek class and inductive Bible Study class to open the Scriptures more. Please discern my work for errors. Thanks.

Matthew 16:24

Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Lets start back on verse 13. Verse 13 starts the story where Peter proclaims to Christ that Jesus is the Son of Man. Now in verse 21, Matthew records that Jesus tells His disciples that He will suffer many things in Jerusalem at the hand of the religious elite. Jesus also says that He will be killed and raised up on the third day. This was the sign of Jonah that Jesus talked about in 16:6 to the Pharisees. Verse 22 tells us about the other side of Peter. Matthew records that Peter told Jesus to the side and rebuked Him about this foretelling of His death. Peter was denying what God had said. (This could be its own blog post on Where Theology Meets Life but I need to continue.) Peter then felt the heat when Jesus rebuked him, calling Peter Satan in verse 23. The main rebuke was about Peter not having the mind of God. (This is also another post and could relate to the saying of people who are too heavenly minded are no earthly good.)

So after this little exchange between Peter and the Lord, we come to verse 24. Jesus is now addressing all the disciples. Jesus starts with an "if, than" statement. The conditional part of the statement is, "If anyone would come after me." We will look at this first. "Anyone" in the Greek has a meaning of "certain ones." This noun gives not limits on who can follow Christ. The verb that used with it shows that it is limited. Now in the Greek, the word that is translated as "would" is actually present tense. The word used is θέλω (thelō) which means to will or intend. This includes the to desire or wish (which is how the NASB translates it.) This verb shows a current desire to come after Jesus. This verb is the main verb of the clause and show that the certain ones are the ones with a desire. This limits the people to those that will come after Jesus.

Next verb is come. It has a meaning to follow. In its location, it applies to Me. That Me is Jesus. The verb come is in the Aorist Active Infinitive. Aorist is past-tense, Active voice means that the subject is currently doing the verb, and infinitive mood is used to not limit by number and person. In this case, "to come" shows that everyone can come to Jesus who desires. This gives the sense that they are following him. "After" is an adverb and is talking about following as a guide. So both "to come" and "after" show a following after Jesus.