Luke 9:23-27. See on Matthew 16:24-28; Mark 8:34 to Mark 9:1.

πρὸς πάντας] to all, is not to be taken as: in reference to all, nor is it said in contrast to Peter, so that what Matthew relates, Luke 16:22 f., may be unconsciously presupposed (de Wette leaves the choice between the two); but as αὐτοῖς, ver 21, refers to the apostles, πάντας must refer to a wider circle. Luke leaves it to the reader to conclude from πάντας that there were still others close by to whom, beside the disciples, that which follows was addressed. Comp. on Mark 8:34. Luke 9:18 does not exclude the approach of others which may have occurred meanwhile. But with Luke 9:22 closed the confidential discourse with the Twelve; what Jesus has now yet further to enter upon in continuation of the communication of Luke 9:22 is to be said not merely to them, but to all.

καθʼ ἡμέραν] involuntarily suggested by the experience of a later period; 1 Corinthians 15:31; Romans 8:36; 2 Corinthians 4:16 f.

Luke 9:25. ἑαυτὸν δὲ ἀπολ. ἢ ζημ.] if he … however, shall have lost himself, or have suffered damage (ἤ, not equivalent to καί, but introducing another word for the same idea). Himself, i.e. not “his better self” (de Wette), but, according to Luke 9:24, his own life. Excluded from the Messiah’s kingdom, the man is in the condition of θάνατος; not living (in the ζωὴ αἰώνιος), he is dead; he is dead as well as no more present (οὐκ εἰσί, Matthew 2:18), he has lost himself.

Luke 9:26. ἐν τῇ δόξῃ κ. τ. λ.] A threefold glory:—(1) His own, which He has absolutely as the exalted Messiah (comp. Luke 24:26); (2) The glory of God, which accompanies Him who comes down from the throne of God; (3) The glory of the angels, who surround with their brightness Him who comes down from God’s throne (comp. Matthew 28:3 and elsewhere; Hahn, Theol. d. N. T. § 116). The genitives have all the same reference, genitives of the subject.

Luke 9:27. ἀληθῶς] not belonging to λέγω (in that case it would be a translation of ἀμήν, and would come first, as in Luke 12:44, Luke 21:3), but to what follows

αὐτοῦ] (see the critical remarks) here, Acts 15:34; Matthew 26:36; Plato, Polit. i. p. 327 C, and elsewhere.

τὴν βασιλ. τ. Θεοῦ] the kingdom of the Messiah, not less definite, but simpler than Matthew and Mark.

Luke 9:23. ἔλεγε δὲ πρὸς πάντας: with this formula Lk. smoothly passes from Christ’s statement concerning His own Passion to the kindred topic of cross-bearing as the law of discipleship. The discourse on that theme is reproduced in much the same terms as in the parallel accounts. But it loses greatly in point by the omission of the Master’s rebuke to Peter for his opposition to the Passion. That rebuke gives to the discourse this meaning: you object to my suffering? I tell you not only must I suffer; it is the inevitable lot of all who have due regard to the Divine interest in this world. Thus the first lesson Jesus taught the Twelve on the significance of His death was that it was the result of moral fidelity, and that as such it was but an instance of a universal law of the moral order of the world. This great doctrine, the ethical aspect of the Passion, is not made clear in Lk.—καθʼ ἡμέραν, daily, in Lk. only, a true epexegetical addition, yet restricting the sense, directing attention to the commonplace trials of ordinary Christian life, rather than to the great tribulations at crises in a heroic career, in which the law of cross-bearing receives its signal illustration. This addition makes it probable that πάντας refers not only to the disciples, but to a larger audience: the law applies not to leaders only but to all followers of Jesus.

23-27. The Cross and the Kingdom.

23. And he said to them all] The word “all” implies the fact mentioned by St Mark (Mark 8:34), that before continuing His discourse He called up to Him the multitudes who were at a little distance. St Luke here omits the presumption and rebuke of St Peter, which is alone sufficient to dispose of the unworthy theory of some German theologians that he writes with an animus against St Peter, or with some desire to disparage his position.

take up his cross] A dim intimation of the still unrevealed imminence of His crucifixion, and a continuance of the lesson that to follow Christ meant not earthly gain but entire self-sacrifice, Luke 14:26-27; Acts 14:22.

daily] “For thy sake we are killed all the day long,” Romans 8:36. “I die daily,” 1 Corinthians 15:31.

Luke 9:23, Ἔλεγε, He said) Matthew states the occasion of His speaking thus, which having taken for granted, Luke thinks it sufficient to set down the discourse itself.—πρὸς πάντας, to all) even to those who had not heard concerning the coming Passion of the Lord.

Verse 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. Before sketching out the life which the true disciples of a suffering King Messiah must lead on earth, our Lord seems to have given notice of one of his public discourses. Even though his great popularity was now on the wane, to the last he was evidently listened to by crowds, if not with enthusiasm, certainly with eager and impatient curiosity. The sermon, of which we have the outline in the next five verses, and the subject-matter of which was, "No cross, no crown," was preached evidently to the masses. This is plain from the opening words of ver. 23. The sermon was evidently a hard saying, and, no doubt, gave bitter offence to many of the hearers. "If any man will," that is, wishes to, "come after me, to follow me where I am going" (Jesus was going to his kingdom), "let that man be prepared to give up earthly ease and comfort, and be ready to bear the sufferings which will be sure to fall on him if he struggle after holiness." This readiness to give up ease, this willingness to bear suffering, will be a matter, they must remember, of everyday experience. The terrible simile with which the Lord pressed his stern lesson home was, of course, suggested to him by the clear view he had of the fearful end of his own earthly life - an end then so near at hand, though the disciples guessed it not. The cross was no unknown image to the Jews who that day listened to the Master. The gloomy procession of robbers and of rebels against Rome, each condemned one bearing to the place of death the cross on which he was to suffer, was a sadly familiar image then in their unhappy land. Luke 9:23Will come after (θέλει)

Not the future tense of the verb come, but the present of the verb to will: wills to come. See on Matthew 1:19; and Mark 8:34. Rev., properly, would come.

Daily

Peculiar to Luke.

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