Chapter # 8 Paragraph # 7 Study # 3
November 8, 2022
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(356)
1901 ASV
34 And he called unto him the multitude with his disciples, and said unto them, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
35 For whosoever would save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's shall save it.
36 For what doth it profit a man, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life?
37 For what should a man give in exchange for his life?
38 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of man also shall be ashamed of him, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
- I. Assuming The Pattern Under The Umbrella Doctrine Of "If Anyone Is Willing To Come After Me...".
- A. The pattern as a parallel alignment of the statements.
- 1. "...let him deny himself..." is parallel to "...whosoever would save his soul shall lose it...".
- 2. "...and take up his cross..." is parallel to "...what doth it profit a man...".
- 3. "...follow me..." is parallel to "...whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words...".
- B. The unifying issue is "...to come after Me...".
- II. The Details.
- A. The first requirement: "...let him deny himself..." is parallel to "...whosoever would save his soul shall lose it...".
- 1. The issue of self-denial [See (353)]. The meaning in its most clear use is Peter's emphatic "I do not know this man" (14:71). Denying oneself, then, would be to refuse to entertain the input of the "self", especially in respect to taking actions that do not match those of Jesus on the path He established for those who "would come after" Him.
- 2. The parallel (i.e., greater detail of meaning).
- a. Jesus puts this "self-denial" into the domain of the "soul" (psuche), which is a complex of two different realities.
- 1) The psuche is, in the physical realm, the upper torso from the head to the upper chest wherein all of "the sustaining of life's necessities" exist. This is the physical reality that has become the illustration of the relational realm. Thus, one can "lose his soul" as an actual "loss of physical life" if the physical realm is the involved realm.
- 2) And, in "the relational realm", it is the core of the "emotional life" of the person as the person himself/herself when viewed in terms of the emotional experiences that arise out of the relationships one possesses with "others"/"The Other". These are the passive aspects of the "soul" where the person is a "responder" not an initiator.
- b. Jesus puts this "self-denial" into the realm of its ("the soul's) "salvation" (sozo).
- 1) This is not the continuation of "existence" (one can "lose one's soul" and remain in conscious, aware, existence).
- 2) This is, however, the issue of one's "quality of existence" as a "Life" issue.
- 3) From the parallelism, wherein the "loss" of the "soul" as a physical entity is the primary concern, we get the illustration of what is involved here.
- a) One can "lose his soul" at the physical level if someone/thing cuts off the functions of the soul so that the spirit departs from the body. Thus, if the person is so fearful of physical death that he does something evil in order to "stay physically alive" (i.e., "to save his soul"), he will lose his "soul" as the metaphysical core of the emotions that make "life" into "Life" where "grief" and "joy" are the issues. Trying to stay physically alive at all cost, costs the relational Life that one has who operates by "coming after Jesus" at all cost.
- b) So one can "lose his soul" at the relational level if something interposes some matter of severe emotional trauma that this loss entails, which was Peter's experience in "denying Jesus" in order to "save his physical soul": he went out and wept (Mark 14:72) bitterly (Matthew 26:75) out of the loss to his relational soul.
- c) In the garden, Jesus made the "loss of the soul" at the relational level a matter of degree in His description of His experiences (Mark 14:34: deep grief unto the point of death).
- 4) Thus, "to come after Jesus" means "denying oneself" in terms of the "relational soul"; i.e., being willing to undergo serious emotional loss in order to be faithful.
- c. Thus, Jesus' words were these: if a man chooses keeping his physical soul from physical death, he will lose the "Life" in favor of the "life". But, if a man is willing to put the physical soul at risk of death for the sake of Jesus and the Gospel, he will actually "save" the relational soul in which "Life" is the issue.
- B. The specifics of this first requirement.
- 1. The "self-denial" must be viewed in terms of "loyalty to Christ".
- 2. The "self-denial" must also be viewed in terms of Christ's loyalty to the progress of the Gospel into the world.