Passage

Luke 9.23

Book: Luke · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

21. But he charged them, and commanded them to tell this to no man; 22. saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.

23. And he said unto all, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

For whosoever would save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. 25. For what is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose or forfeit his own self? (Luke 9:21-25, ASV)

WEB

21. But he warned them, and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22. saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.”

23. He said to all, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever will lose his life for my sake, the same will save it. 25. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits his own self? (Luke 9:21-25, WEB)

KJV

21. And he straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing; 22. Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.

23. And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. 25. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? (Luke 9:21-25, KJV)

YLT

21. And having charged them, he commanded [them] to say this to no one, 22. saying, 'It behoveth the Son of Man to suffer many things, and to be rejected by the elders, and chief priests, and scribes, and to be killed, and the third day to be raised.'

23. And he said unto all, 'If any one doth will to come after me, let him disown himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me;

for whoever may will to save his life, shall lose it, and whoever may lose his life for my sake, he shall save it; 25. for what is a man profited, having gained the whole world, and having lost or having forfeited himself? (Luke 9:21-25, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Jesus
Audience: "all" (9:23): the disciples who had just heard Peter's confession (9:18-20), and, in Mark's parallel, "the multitude with his disciples" (Mark 8:34)
Location: Luke names no place. Matthew 16:13 and Mark 8:27 set Peter's confession in the region of Caesarea Philippi.
Time period: late in Jesus' Galilean ministry, shortly before he "stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem" (9:51), around AD 28-30

Theological reading

"If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." Jesus has just told the disciples that "the Son of man must suffer many things... and be killed, and the third day be raised up" (9:22). The next sentence applies the same pattern to anyone who follows him.

One condition, three commands. "If any man would come after me" is an open invitation, spoken "unto all." Three commands follow: deny himself (Strong's G533), take up his cross (G4716), follow me (G190). The verb for "deny" is the one Jesus uses when he tells Peter, "thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me" (22:34). To deny oneself is to disown one's own claim to run one's life, as completely as Peter would later disown Jesus.

The cross. In the Roman world a man carrying a cross was a condemned man on his way to execution. Luke shows the scene when Simon of Cyrene has the cross laid on him "to bear it after Jesus" (23:26). The image is not of an inconvenience but of a life handed over.

"Daily." Of the three Gospels that record the saying, only Luke has the word (compare Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34). It turns a single act into a settled pattern: the disciple's death to self is taken up again each day. Luke 14:27 states the same demand from the other side: "Whosoever doth not bear his own cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple."

Why it is worth it. The next verse gives the reason: "whosoever would save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it" (9:24). "Life" there is psyche (G5590), the self. The promise looks past this life to the day the Son of man "cometh in his own glory" (9:26).

A poor candidate for wish-fulfillment. A faith invented to comfort its believers would hardly set a cross at the entrance. The demand of daily self-denial is one reason the charge that Christianity is wish-fulfillment fits it badly; see World Religions Compared by Their Ultimate Ending and Sigmund Freud.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

G4314 - pros, pros, Strong's G4314
G3956 - pas, pas, Strong's G3956
G3004 - lego, lego, Strong's G3004

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.