“If anyone comes to me, and doesn’t disregard his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can’t be my disciple. Whoever doesn’t bear his own cross, and come after me, can’t be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? Or perhaps, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, everyone who sees begins to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build, and wasn’t able to finish.’ Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an envoy, and asks for conditions of peace. So therefore whoever of you who doesn’t renounce all that he has, he can’t be my disciple.
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Luke 14:26-33 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Now great multitudes were going with him. He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me, and doesn’t disregard his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can’t be my disciple. Whoever doesn’t bear his own cross, and come after me, can’t be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? Or perhaps, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, everyone who sees begins to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build, and wasn’t able to finish.’ Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an envoy, and asks for conditions of peace. So therefore whoever of you who doesn’t renounce all that he has, he can’t be my disciple. Salt is good, but if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Parallel Translations
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“If anyone comes to me, and doesn’t disregard his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can’t be my disciple.
Whoever doesn’t bear his own cross, and come after me, can’t be my disciple.
For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?
Or perhaps, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, everyone who sees begins to mock him,
saying, ‘This man began to build, and wasn’t able to finish.’
Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?
Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an envoy, and asks for conditions of peace.
So therefore whoever of you who doesn’t renounce all that he has, he can’t be my disciple.
-
If a man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wyfe and chyldren and brethren and sisters more over and his awne lyfe he cannot be my disciple.
And whosoever beare not his crosse and come after me cannot be my disciple.
Which of you disposed to bilde a toure sytteth not doune before and counteth the cost whether he have sufficient to performe it?
lest after he hath layde the foundacion and is not able to performe it all that beholde it beginne to mocke him
sayinge: this man beganne to bilde and was not able to make an ende.
Or what kynge goeth to make batayle agaynst another kinge and sitteth not doune fyrst and casteth in his mynde whether he be able with ten thousande to mete him that cometh agaynst him with.xx thousand.
Or els whyll ye other is yet a greate waye of he will sende embasseatours and desyre peace.
So lykewyse none of you that forsaketh not all that he hath can be my disciple.
Show all 3 translations
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If any man come to mee, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters: yea, and his owne life also, he can not be my disciple.
And whosoeuer beareth not his crosse, and commeth after mee, can not bee my disciple.
For which of you minding to builde a towre, sitteth not downe before, and counteth the cost, whether hee haue sufficient to performe it,
Lest that after he hath laide the foundation, and is not able to performe it, all that behold it, begin to mocke him,
Saying, This man began to builde, and was not able to make an end?
Or what King going to make warre against another King, sitteth not downe first, and taketh counsell, whether he be able with ten thousande, to meete him that commeth against him with twentie thousand?
Or els while hee is yet a great way off, hee sendeth an ambassage, and desireth peace.
So likewise, whosoeuer hee be of you, that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (3)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (60)
- Matthew 10:37 (v26) He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me.
- John 12:25 (v26) He who loves his life will lose it. He who hates his life in this world will keep it to eternal life.
- Proverbs 24:27 (v28) Prepare your work outside, and get your fields ready. Afterwards, build your house.
- Philippians 3:8 (v26) Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered…
- Acts 20:24 (v26) But these things don’t count; nor do I hold my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I…
Show all 60 cross-references
- Psalms 73:25-26 (v26) Whom do I have in heaven? There is no one on earth whom I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my…
- Revelation 12:11 (v26) They overcame him because of the Lamb’s blood, and because of the word of their testimony. They didn’t love their life, even to death.
- Philippians 3:7-8 (v33) However, I consider those things that were gain to me as a loss for Christ. Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the…
- Deuteronomy 13:6-8 (v26) If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul,…
- Matthew 10:38 (v27) He who doesn’t take his cross and follow after me, isn’t worthy of me.
- 1 John 2:15-16 (v33) Don’t love the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love isn’t in him. For all that is in the…
- Luke 5:28 (v33) He left everything, and rose up and followed him.
- Luke 14:26 (v33) “If anyone comes to me, and doesn’t disregard his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he…
- Luke 9:23-25 (v27) 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…
- Luke 18:28-30 (v33) Peter said, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” He said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, there is no one who has left…
- Deuteronomy 33:9 (v26) He said of his father, and of his mother, ‘I have not seen him.’ He didn’t acknowledge his brothers, nor did he know his own children; for…
- Luke 18:22-23 (v33) When Jesus heard these things, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have, and distribute it to the poor. Then you…
- Luke 5:11 (v33) When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything, and followed him.
- Acts 5:1-5 (v33) But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price, his wife also being aware of…
- Matthew 16:24-26 (v27) Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For…
- Mark 10:21 (v27) Jesus looking at him loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack. Go, sell whatever you have, and give to the poor, and you will have…
- Matthew 10:22 (v28) You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved.
- Mark 8:34-37 (v27) He called the multitude to himself with his disciples, and said to them, “Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up…
- Joshua 24:19-24 (v28) Joshua said to the people, “You can’t serve Yahweh, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your disobedience nor…
- Ecclesiastes 2:17-19 (v26) So I hated life, because the work that is worked under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind. I hated all…
- Luke 14:33 (v28) So therefore whoever of you who doesn’t renounce all that he has, he can’t be my disciple.
- Acts 14:22 (v27) strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many afflictions we must enter into…
- 2 Timothy 3:12 (v27) Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
- Matthew 13:21 (v27) yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.
- Job 7:15-16 (v26) so that my soul chooses strangling, death rather than my bones. I loathe my life. I don’t want to live forever. Leave me alone, for my days…
- Proverbs 20:18 (v31) Plans are established by advice; by wise guidance you wage war!
- Matthew 8:20 (v28) Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
- Matthew 20:22-23 (v28) But Jesus answered, “You don’t know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the…
- Acts 8:19-22 (v33) saying, “Give me also this power, that whomever I lay my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “May your silver…
- Acts 21:13 (v28) Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem…
- Hebrews 6:11 (v30) We desire that each one of you may show the same diligence to the fullness of hope even to the end,
- Genesis 11:4-9 (v28) They said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let’s make a name for ourselves, lest we be…
- John 19:17 (v27) He went out, bearing his cross, to the place called “The Place of a Skull”, which is called in Hebrew, “Golgotha”,
- 1 Thessalonians 3:4-5 (v28) For most certainly, when we were with you, we told you beforehand that we are to suffer affliction, even as it happened, and you know. For…
- 2 Timothy 1:12 (v27) For this cause I also suffer these things. Yet I am not ashamed, for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to…
- 2 Timothy 4:10 (v33) for Demas left me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia; and Titus to Dalmatia.
- 2 John 1:8 (v30) Watch yourselves, that we don’t lose the things which we have accomplished, but that we receive a full reward.
- Proverbs 25:8 (v31) Don’t be hasty in bringing charges to court. What will you do in the end when your neighbor shames you?
- Mark 15:21 (v27) They compelled one passing by, coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to go with them, that he might…
- Acts 12:20 (v32) Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. They came with one accord to him, and, having made Blastus, the king’s personal…
- Hebrews 6:4-8 (v30) For concerning those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the…
- 2 Peter 2:19-22 (v30) promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for a man is brought into bondage by whoever overcomes him.…
- 1 Kings 20:11 (v31) The king of Israel answered, “Tell him, ‘Don’t let him who puts on his armor brag like he who takes it off.’ ”
- 1 Kings 20:31-34 (v32) His servants said to him, “See now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Please let us put sackcloth on…
- 2 Kings 10:4-5 (v32) But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, “Behold, the two kings didn’t stand before him! How then shall we stand?” He who was over the…
- Job 40:9 (v32) Or do you have an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like him?
- Luke 12:58 (v32) For when you are going with your adversary before the magistrate, try diligently on the way to be released from him, lest perhaps he drag…
- Acts 1:18-19 (v30) Now this man obtained a field with the reward for his wickedness, and falling headlong, his body burst open, and all his intestines gushed…
- 1 Corinthians 3:11-14 (v30) For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ. But if anyone builds on the foundation with…
- Hebrews 10:38 (v30) But the righteous will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
- James 4:6-10 (v32) But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Be subject therefore to God. Resist the…
- 2 Kings 18:20-22 (v31) You say (but they are but vain words), ‘There is counsel and strength for war.’ Now on whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against…
- Matthew 5:25 (v32) Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are with him on the way; lest perhaps the prosecutor deliver you to the judge, and the judge…
- Matthew 7:27 (v30) The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”
- Matthew 27:3-8 (v30) Then Judas, who betrayed him, when he saw that Jesus was condemned, felt remorse, and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (23 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv26–28 If the matter stands between God and him, as…
If the matter stands between God and him, as Theophylact saith: and therefore these words are not spoken simply, but by comparison.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33 26 If any man come to me, and hate…
26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
Ver. 26. And hate not his father, &c.] {a} Much more his farm and his oxen. It was not these, but the inordinate love of these, that detained them, as Christ here intimateth. Your house, home, and goods, yea, life, and all that ever ye have (saith that martyr), God hath given you as love tokens, to admonish you of his love, to win your love to him again. Now will he try your love, whether ye set more by him or by his tokens.
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{a} μισει, ex מאס ex odio reprobavit, respuit.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On v28 Our Lord had in the parable of the supper…
Our Lord had in the parable of the supper showed what those things are which keep men from embracing the call of the gospel, to wit, their hearts’ too much adherence to and embracing of sensible and sensual things. For the meeting of which temptation he had told them, Luk 14:25-27, that if they loved any thing in the world more than him, they could have no portion in him, they could not be his disciples, for (as Matthew saith) they are not worthy of him; nay, more than this, they must take up and bear their cross, and come after him. Here he directs them the best expedient in order to the performance of these duties, so hard to flesh and blood; that is, to sit down beforehand, and think what it will cost them to go through with the profession of religion. This, he tells them, ordinary prudence directeth men to, when they go about to build, or fight. As to the first, they make as good an estimate as they can of the charge. As to the latter, they consider both the charge, and the strength that they are able to produce to make opposition. So, saith he, must they do who will be his disciples:
1. Sit down and consider what it will cost them to become the Lord’s building, what old foundations of nature must be digged up, what new foundation must be laid, how many stones must be laid before they can come up to a wall level to the promise wherein salvation is insured.
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2. Then they must consider what oppositions they are like to meet with, from the world, the flesh, and the devil.
And they must be ready to forsake all for Christ, though, it may be, they shall not be actually called out to it. Only we must remember, that in parables every branch is not to be applied.
1. We must desire no conditions of peace from our spiritual adversaries.
2. In our counting up of our strength to maintain the spiritual fight we must do as princes use to do, who use to count the forces of their allies and confederates, as well as their own: so we must not count what opposition we, alone can maintain against the world, the flesh, and the devil; but what Christ (who is in covenant with us as to these fights) and we can do together.
So as consideration and pre-deliberation here are not required of as upon any account to deter us from the fight, (for fight we must, or die eternally), but to prepare us for the fight, by a firm and steady resolution, and to help us how to manage the fight, looking up to Christ for his strength and assistance in the management of it.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v28 Our blessed Saviour, by these two parables, advises all…
Our blessed Saviour, by these two parables, advises all his followers to sit down and consider, to weigh well, and cast up beforehand, what it is likely to cost them to go through with their profession of religion: this, he tells us, common prudence will direct men to do in other cases; particularly when they either go to build or fight; as a man that intends to build, will consult whether he is able to defray the charges; and a king that goes forth to war, will consider what strength he has to make opposition: in like manner should persons engage in religion: not rashly, but advisedly, with consideration and judgment.
It is good to remember the issues of action, before we act; before we engage in the spiritual combat, to consider the difficulty of the battle; what proud leviathans we have to conflict with, what mighty giants to contend and strive against, even the world, the flesh, and the devil. But then we must take great care that our deliberation and consideration of difficulties and dangers may not deter us from, but work in us, a steady resolution for the combat, looking up to Christ for his auxiliary aid and strength to render us victorious, who though of ourselves we can do nothing, yet we may do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Php 4:13
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Learn from hence, that such as take up a profession of Christianity, without considering the dangers and difficulties, the trials and troubles, the afflictions and temptations, which may accompany it, will never hold out in the spiritual warfare, but either fall in it, or run from it.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv26–33 Whosoever doth not bear his cross,.... All reproach, afflictions,…
Whosoever doth not bear his cross,.... All reproach, afflictions, persecutions, and death itself, cheerfully and patiently; the Ethiopic version renders it, "of his death the cross"; it signifies whatever is trying and disagreeable to flesh and blood:
and come after me; bearing his cross; as Christ himself was about to do, and which doubtless he had in view;
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cannot be my disciple; he is not so in reality, nor does he deserve the name.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv26, 28, 31, 33 If any man come to me, and hate not…
If any man come to me, and hate not his father - Comparatively to Christ: yea, so as actually to renounce his field, oxen, wife, all things, and act as if he hated them, when they stand in competition with him. Matt. x, 37.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv26, 27, 28, 33 Verse 26. And hate not] Matthew, Mt 10:37, expresses…
Verse 26. And hate not] Matthew, Mt 10:37, expresses the true meaning of this word, when he says, He who loveth his father and mother MORE than me. In Mt 6:24, he uses the word hate in the same sense. When we read, Ro 9:13, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated, the meaning is simply, I have loved Jacob - the Israelites, more than Esau-the Edomites; and that this is no arbitrary interpretation of the word hate, but one agreeable to the Hebrew idiom, appears from what is said on Ge 29:30-31, where Leah's being hated is explained by Rachel's being loved more than Leah. See also De 21:15-17; and Bishop Pearce on this place. See also Clarke's notes on "Mt 10:37".
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v28 Luk 14:28-33. Which of you, intending to build a…
Luk 14:28-33. Which of you, intending to build a tower, (the word πυργος here signifying the same as the Hebrew migdol, seems to denote any great building whatever,) sitteth not down first and counteth the cost — To illustrate the necessity of their weighing deliberately, whether they were able and prepared to bear all their losses and persecutions to which the profession of the gospel would expose them, which indeed was the only term on which they could be his disciples, he desired them to consider how prudence would direct them to act in other cases of importance. The most thoughtless person among you, as if he had said, will not resolve on a matter of such importance as the building of a house, without previously calculating the expense; because you know that the builder who begins without counting the cost, being obliged to leave off for want of money, exposes himself to the ridicule of all passengers who look on the half- finished edifice. In like manner, the king who declares war without comparing his forces with those of his enemy, and considering whether the bravery of his troops, and the conduct of his generals, will be able to make up what he wants in numbers, is sure to be ingloriously defeated, unless he humbly sue for peace before the matter comes to an engagement. So likewise — Like the person who began to build and was not able to finish; or like the king who, being afraid to face his enemy, sends an embassy and desires terms of peace; whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath — Who does not engage so earnestly and resolutely in his Christian warfare, as to hold all things cheap in comparison with life eternal, and be ready to forsake them when I call him to it; he cannot be my disciple — He cannot be acknowledged by me as such, because my disciples will be exposed to such trials, to such reproaches, losses, imprisonments, tortures, and martyrdoms, that unless they prefer me, and the cause in which I am engaged, to all visible and temporal things whatever, they certainly will not steadily adhere to me, or continue faithful and constant in my service. “Christ does not here require that we should actually renounce these [temporal] things, but that our heart and our affections should be so taken off from them, that we always love them less than we love him; and be always ready to part with them when we cannot keep them without making shipwreck of faith and a good conscience.” —
Whitby. To the same purpose Baxter: “A man cannot be Christ’s disciple if he prefer not the kingdom of heaven before all worldly interest, and forsake it not all comparatively, in esteem and resolution now, and in act when he is called to it.” “It was in this sense that the apostles understood their Master: for though they are said to have forsaken all and followed him, they still retained the property of their goods, as is evident from the mention that is made of John’s house, into which he took our Lord’s mother, after the crucifixion; and from Peter and the other disciples prosecuting their old trade of fishing, with their boat and nets, after their Master’s resurrection: nevertheless, though they thus retained the use and dominion of their property, they had truly forsaken all, in the highest sense of their Master’s precept, being ready, at his call, to leave their families, occupations, and possessions, as often and as long as he thought fit to employ them in the work of the gospel. Upon the whole, therefore, it appears, that the renunciation and self-denial which Christ requires, does not consist in actually parting with all before he calls us to do so, but in being disposed to part with all, that when he calls we may do it.” See Macknight.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv28, 29, 31, 32 Intending to build a tower - See Mat 21:33.…
Intending to build a tower - See Mat 21:33. A tower was a place of defense or observation, erected on high places or in vineyards, to guard against enemies. It was made “high,” so as to enable one to see an enemy when he approached; and “strong,” so that it could not be easily taken.
Counteth the cost - Makes a calculation how much it will cost to build it.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv26, 28, 29 Hate not, &c. The law of Christ does not…
Hate not, &c. The law of Christ does not allow us to hate even our enemies, much less our parents: but the meaning of the text is, that we must be in the at disposition of soul so as to be willing to renounce and part with every thing, how near or dear soever it may be to us, that would keep us from following Christ. (Challoner) --- The word hate is not to be taken in its proper sense, but to be expounded by the words of Christ, (Matthew x. 37.) that no man must love his father more than God, &c. (Witham) --- Christ wishes to shew us what dispositions are necessary in him who desires to become his disciple; (Theophylactus) and to teach us that we must not be discouraged, if we meet with many hardships and labours in our journey to our heavenly country. (St. Gregory) --- And if for our sakes, Christ even renounced his own mother, saying, Who is my mother, and who are my brethren? why do you wish to be treated more delicately than your Lord? (St. Ambrose) --- He wished also to demonstrate to us, that the hatred he here inculcates, is not to proceed from any disaffection towards our parents, but from charity for ourselves; for immediately he adds, and his own life also. From which words it is evident, that in our love we must hate our brethren as we do ourselves.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv26, 28 If any man, &c.--(See on Mat 10:34-36, and Mar…
If any man, &c.--(See on Mat 10:34-36, and Mar 8:34-35).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33 26. If any man come to me—With a true…
26. If any man come to me—With a true and earnest coming; not an excited chasing of my footsteps.
Hate not—With a moral and holy repulsion.
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Father—The relatives, the ties, the interests that stand in the way of his entire surrender to me.
His own life—When to love it would make him an apostate and cheat him of the martyr’s crown.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33 26. and hate not his father and mother] It…
26. and hate not his father and mother] It is not so much the true explanation to say that hate here means love less (Gen_29:31), as to say that when our nearest and dearest relationships prove to be positive obstacles in coming to Christ, then all natural affections must be flung aside; comp. Deu_13:6-9; Deu_21:19-21; Deu_33:8-9. A reference to Mat_10:37 will shew that ‘hate’ means hate by comparison. Our Lord purposely stated great principles in their boldest and even most paradoxical form by which He alone has succeeded in impressing them for ever as principles on the hearts of His disciples. The ‘love of love’ involves a necessity for the possible ‘hate of hate,’ as even worldly poets have understood.
“Va, je t’aimais trop pour ne pas te hair.”
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“I could not love thee, dear, so much
Loved I not honour more.”
Lovelace.
yea, and his own life also] This further explains the meaning of the word ‘hate.’ The psuche ‘soul’ or ‘animal life’ is the seat of the passions and temptations which naturally alienate the spirit from Christ. These must be hated, mortified, crucified if they cannot be controlled; and life itself must be cheerfully sacrificed, Rev_12:11; Act_20:24.
“Il faut vivre dans ce monde,” says St Francis de Sales, “comme si nous avions l’esprit au ciel, et le corps au tombeau.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv26, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33 (26) If any man come to me, and hate…
(26) If any man come to me, and hate not his father.—Like words had been spoken before, as in Mat_10:37-39, where see Notes. Here they appear in a yet stronger form, “not hating” taking the place of “loving more,” and they are spoken, not to the Twelve only, but to the whole multitude of eager would-be followers. Self-renunciation, pushed, if necessary, to the extremest issues, is with Jesus the one indispensable condition of discipleship. He asks for nothing less than the heart, and that cannot be given by halves.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv26, 28, 31, 33 If any man come to me, and hate not…
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. The Lord"s teaching throughout, in parable and in direct saying, pressed home to his followers that no home love, no earthly affection, must ever come into competition with the love of God. If home and his cause came ever into collision, home and all belonging to it must gently be put aside, and everything must be sacrificed to the cause. Farrar quotes here from Lovelace"I could not love thee, dear, so much, Loved I not honour more.
Christ and kindred.
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The circumstances under which these words were spoken will explain the strength of the language used. Jesus Christ said that he came "not to send peace on earth, but a sword," by which he meant that the first effect of the introduction of his Divine truth would be (as he said) to set the members of the same family at variance against one another, and to make a man s foes to be "they of his own household". (Mat_10:34-36) By honouring and acknowledging him as the Messiah of the Jews and as the Redeemer of mankind, his disciples would excite the bitterest enmity in the minds of their own kindred; they would be obliged to act as if they hated them, causing them the keenest disappointment and the severest sorrow. They would be compelled to act as if they hated their own life also, for they would take a step which would remove all comfort and enjoyment from it, and make it valueless if not miserable. On the relation of Jesus Christ and his gospel to human kindred, it may be said that Christianity
I DISALLOWS PARENTAL TYRANNY. Such unmitigated authority as the Roman law gave to the parent over the child is not sanctioned, but implicitly condemned, by Jesus Christ. No human being is wise enough or good enough to exercise such prerogative; and to yield such deference is to cede the responsibility which our Creator has laid upon us, and which cannot be devolved.
II DISALLOWS FILIAL WORSHIP. Such idolatrous homage as the children of the Chinese render to their parents is also distinctly unchristian; it is giving to the creature what is due only to the Creator. It is to elevate the human above its lawful level.
III SANCTIONS AND ENJOINS FILIAL DEVOTEDNESS. Our Lord himself severely condemned the perversity of the Pharisees, who contrived to evade filial obligations by sacred subtleties. (Mar_7:9-13) And amid the physical agonies and the spiritual struggles and sufferings of the cross he found time to commend his mother to the care of" the beloved disciple." His apostles explicitly enjoined filial obedience. (Eph_6:1) And entering into the profounder spirit of our Lord"s teaching, we are sure that he desires of children that they should not only be formally obedient to their parents" word, but that they should be careful to render to them all filial respect in manner; should have regard to their known will, whether uttered or unexpressed; should render the service of love and of cheerfulness rather than of constraint; should make their filial ministry to abound as parental health and strength decline.
IV RESERVES ABSOLUTE OBEDIENCE FOR THE DIVINE REDEEMER. When Christianity is assailing a false faith, as in the first century, as in heathen lands to-day, it very frequently happens that disciples have to choose between their attachment to the earthly parent and their obligations to Christ. Then the words of Jesus Christ have a literal application; then the convert has to pass through the most severe and trying of all conflicts; he has to weigh one authority against another; he has to make a decision which will cause grief and wrath to one whom he would fain please and honour. But much as the human parent may have been to him, and strong as are his claims, the Divine Redeemer is more, and his claims are stronger still and stronger far. The Lord who created him; (Joh_1:3 Col_1:16) who redeemed him with his own blood; who sought and found and restored him; who has made him an heir of eternal life; this Lord, who has been upholding him by his power, and who is the one Hope and Refuge of his soul, has claims upon his obedience to which even those of a human parent are utterly unequal. And when the choice has to be made, as it sometimes has even here and now, there can be but one course which he recognizes as right; it is to choose the side and the service of the holy Saviour; meekly bearing the heavy cross of domestic severance; earnestly praying for the time when the human authority will be reconciled to the Divine; faithfully believing that the sacrifice which is thus entailed will bring with it, in Christ"s own time and way, a large and abundant recompense. C. (Mar_10:28-30)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv27, 28, 31, 33 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, etc
Luk_14:27
And whosoever doth not bear his cross, etc
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On taking up the cross
Christiani sunt cruciani, says Luther, Christians are cross-bearers.
It is in their hearts to bear the cross, whatever it be, whensoever Christ shall require it; and they do actually bear it whenever they are called to it. They do not flinch from it, nor decline it, nor turn from it, by any indirect or unlawful course.
I. WHAT IS MEANT BY THE CROSS.
1. The cross includes loss and damage, the greatest losses as well as the least; the loss of all outward things, as well as the loss of any. When Christ was nailed to the cross, He was bereaved of all, and fastened to it naked; He had not so much as His garments left; they who brought Him to the cross divided these amongst them. He that is not willing to part with all, to follow Christ, when he cannot fully and faithfully follow Him without quitting all, he is not worthy of Him, unworthy the name of a Christian.
2. It speaks shame and reproach. It was serviie supplicium, a base ignominious suffering, to which none were exposed but the vilest of men. It was a suffering proper to slaves and fugitives; there was not the meanest freeman amongst the Romans but was above it. Hence shame and the cross are joined together (Heb_12:2). Hence that expression, bearing His reproach (Heb_13:13), i.e., bearing the cross. No coming to Christ but in this posture, when the Lord calls to it.
3. It imports pain and torture. The cross was a most grievous and painful suffering. Ausonius calls it paenae extremum, the extremity of torture. And Cicero, crudelissimum teterrimumque supplicium, the most cruel and horrid suffering. When Ignatius was going to be exposed to the fury of wild beasts for the name of Christ, he cries, Now I begin to be a disciple.
4. It imports death itself. The cross was ultimum supplicium, the last thing that could be suffered. Cruelty was herein terminated, and could go no further, at least to the sense of the sufferer. It was the worst kind of death.
II. WHAT IT IS TO BEAR THE CROSS.
1. You must make account of it. Calculate what it will cost you.
2. A resolution to bear the cross, whatever it be, how heavy, or grievous, or tedious soever it may prove; a firm, and hearty, and settled resolution to bear it, is a virtual bearing of it beforehand (verse 33).
3. You must be always ready for the cross, always preparing for it, whether it seem near, or whether it seem further off. One paraphraseth the words thus, Whosoever doth not come to Me with a preparation of mind to suffer anything rather than part with Me, he is not for My turn. This is to bear the cross daily, as Christ requires (Luk_9:1-62.). Though every day do not afford a cross, yet every day we bear the cross by daily preparing for it 1Co_15:31). Even when the cross seems far off, much more when it is in view, you must be preparing for it, if you be Christians indeed; and the Lord will take your readiness to bear it for a bearing of it, when He sees good to prevent it.
4. It speaks actual undergoing it when it is laid on us. But when the Lord brings it to us, we must actually take it up. He is no disciple for Christ that will not do it.
III. THE MANNER OF BEARING THE CROSS.
1. A Christian endeavours to bear the cross patiently. That while the cross oppresses his outward man, he may possess his soul in patience. Not the patience of the Stoics, a senseless stupidness; nor the patience of the heathen, a mere yielding to necessity; but a due sense of the pressure, with a quiet submission to the hand of God, whoever be the instrument, without murmuring, repining, disquietment, or despondency.
2. He endeavours to bear it cheerfully. That which is bearing the cross here is taking up the cross (chap. 9.). Christ bore His cross willingly; Simon of Cyrene was compelled to bear that cross. Christ would have us come after Him, bear it as He did. It should not be a forced, but a voluntary act.
3. He endeavours to bear it fruitfully. The cross is dry wood, and so was Aarons rod; but as that blossomed, so does this bring forth fruit, when improved (Heb_12:11). This puts the followers of Christ upon seeking the sweet fruits of peace and holiness in the bowels of devouring calamities; to get spiritual gain and advantage by outward loss; to grow richer unto God by worldly impoverishment; to converse more with God when separated from friends and relations; to value more the love of Christ when they smart by the worlds hatred; to partake more of holiness when he partakes less of the ease, peace, plenty of the world; to make use of the cross for the crucifying of the flesh; to make sin more hateful and dreadful, the conscience more tender, the world less tempting, more contemptible, grace more active and lively, the word more sweet and effectual, prayer more fervent and affectionate, the appearing of Christ more lovely and desirable, the conversation more heavenly. To hear the cross as a disciple of Christ, is to bring forth more fruit in bearing of it. (D. Clarkson, B. D.)
The Christians cross
I. THE CROSS IS ORDINARILY THE LOT OF CHRISTIANS. Persecution and troubles have always attended the people of God. And the reasons of it are evident.
1. The malice of Satan, who knowing himself to be cast off by God, he hates God with an implacable hatred; and since the Lord is above the reach of his malice, he falls upon those who are dearest to Him, the people of God.
2. The enmity of the world. The world would be sure to cross, to afflict and persecute what it hates; and the disciples of Christ are hated by the Joh_15:19). Not only that part of the world which evidently lies in wickedness, but the more refined part of it which dresseth up itself in a form of godliness. Those who have no more but the form, hate those that haw the power, because this is a real reproof and conviction of the vanity and insufficiency of outward forms, how specious soever; and that which detects them is hated by them (1Jn_5:19).
3. There is a necessity of the cross upon a manifold account.
(1) To distinguish true disciples from hypocrites and pretenders. When Christ may be professed and followed with ease, and safety, and credit, multitudes will follow Him, every man will profess Him whose hearts are not with Him. But when the cross comes, that makes a distinction.
(2) To try His disciples, that He may have an experiment of their affection and faithfulness to Him: Who is on my side? Who? says Jehu (2Ki_9:33). So says Christ, when He brings out the cross; let Me now see who is for Me, let Me see who it is that will bear the cross for Me.
(3) For the advantage of grace. A Christian is not complete unless he have on his whole armour; and it is the cross puts us upon putting of it on; it would lie rusting by us, if we were not roused to the use of it by the frequent approaches of the cross.
(4) To take us off from the world. The cross embitters the world to us, and confutes those vain conceits which make us fond of it. The vizard falls off by which it had deluded us, and now we may perceive what aa impostor it was, when, for all its fair promises, we meet with nothing but vanity, and enmity, and vexation, and hard usage. And will it not seem lovely? Or can we doat on it any longer? The cross lets us not only see, but feel what the world is.
(5) To tame the flesh, and keep it under, which otherwise would grow headstrong, and bear down all the restraints of grace, and hurry us into carnal excess--Every branch that beareth fruit He purgeth it (Joh_15:1-27.). He lops off the luxuriances of natural corruption. And how is this done? Why, a sharp cross will be effectual to do it, when the Lord takes it into His hand and useth it for this purpose!
(6) To endear heaven to us. The ark was more acceptable to Noahs dove when she found no rest to the soles of her feet on the face of the earth.
II. A CHRISTIAN CANNOT ORDINARILY AVOID THE CROSS WITHOUT SINNING AGAINST CHRIST.
III. HE THAT WILL ORDINARILY SIN AGAINST CHRIST TO AVOID THE CROSS, CANNOT BE A CHRISTIAN. This being proved, it will appear an evident truth, that he that doth not, will not, bear the cross, is not, cannot be a Christian. (D. Clarkson, B. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv26, 28 26, 27. If any man come to me. See…
26, 27. If any man come to me. See notes on Matt. 10:37, 38. Hateth not his own father. In just the same sense that he hates his own life also. That is, these must all be given up, turned away from, if we have to choose between them and Christ.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv28, 31 Luk 14:28-30. “For which one of you, wishing to…
CHRISTIAN PERFECTION
Luk 14:28-30. “For which one of you, wishing to build a tower, does not first, sitting down, count the cost, if he has unto sufficiency? Lest he, having laid the foundation, and being unable to finish it, all those seeing it may begin to mock him, saying that this man began to build, and was not able to finish.” The word which we here in two verses translate “finish” is ektelesai, “completely perfect.” Telesai is the regular verb constantly used in the New Testament where the E. V. has “perfect.” Hence this word for Christian perfection occurs twice in the above quotation. Besides, the preposition ok, preceding this verb, adds additional force to its already superlative signification. Hence the plain meaning of this forcible little parable is, that it is not worthwhile to become a disciple or set out for heaven, unless you are going for perfection. Before the man begins to build, he projects and contemplates, not an unfinished frame, but a house complete in every respect, suitable and comfortable for habitation. An unfinished house, exposed to the weather, soon rots down. Man is unwilling to live in an unfinished house; how can he expect Jesus to live in it? No wonder you have a lonesome time out in an uninhabited house. Stir up, push the work to completion, and turn over the key to Jesus, so He will move in, to abide with you forever, bringing down heaven and glory. Here you see that Jesus gives no encouragement to imperfect discipleship, but presents the highest possible incentive to Christian perfection, His plain statement clearly involving the conclusion of ultimate wreckage and failure, even becoming a laughing-stock for men and devils, if you do not reach the experience of perfection. O, what an inspiration to entire sanctification!
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v28
Luke
THE RASH BUILDER
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Luk 14:28.
Christ sought for no recruits under false pretences, but rather discouraged than stimulated light-hearted adhesion. His constant effort was to sift the crowds that gathered round Him. So here great multitudes are following Him, and how does He welcome them? Does He lay Himself out to attract them? Luke tells us that He turned and faced the following multitude; and then, with a steady hand, drenched with cold water the too easily kindled flame. Was that because He did not wish them to follow Him? He desired every soul in that crowd for His own, and He knew that the best way to attract is sometimes to repel; and that a plain statement of the painful consequences of a course will quench no genuine enthusiasm, but may turn a mere flash in the pan into a purpose that will flame through a life.
So our Lord lays down in stringent words the law of discipleship as being self-sacrifice; the abandonment of the dearest, and the acceptance of the most painful. And then He illustrates the law by these two expanded similes or condensed parables, of the rash builder and the rash soldier. Each contains a side of the Christian life, and represents one phase of what a true disciple ought to be. I wish to look with you now at the first of these two comparisons.
I. Consider then, first, the building, or the true aim of discipleship.
The building of the tower represents what every human life ought to aim at, the rearing up of a strong, solid structure in which the builder may dwell and be at rest.
But then remember we are always building, consciously or unconsciously. By our transitory actions we are all rearing up a house for our souls in which we have to dwell; building character from out of the fleeting acts of conduct, which character we have to carry with us for ever. Soft invertebrate animals secrete their own shells. That is what we are doing-making character, which is the shield of self, as it were; and in which we have to abide.
My friend, what are you building? A prison; a mere garden-house of lustful delights; or a temple fortress in which God may dwell reverenced, and you may abide restful? Observe that whilst all men are thus unconsciously and habitually rearing up a permanent abode by their transient actions, every life that is better than a brute’s ought to have for its aim the building up of ourselves into firm strength. The development of character is what we ought to ask from, and to secure by, this fleeting life of ours. Not enjoyment; that is a miserable aim. Not the satisfaction of earthly desires; not the prosperity of our business or other ordinary avocations. The demand that we should make upon life, and the aim which we should have clearly before us in all that we do, is that it may contribute to the formation of a pure and noble self, to the development of character into that likeness to Jesus Christ, which is perfection and peace and blessedness.
And while that is true about all life, it is eminently true in regard to the highest form of life, which is the Christian life. There are dreadful mistakes and imperfections in the ordinary vulgar conception of what a Christian is, and what he is a Christian for. What do you think men and women are meant to be Christians for? That they may get away from some material and outward hell? Possibly. That they may get celestial happiness? Certainly. But are these the main things? By no means. What people are meant to be Christians for is that they may be shaped into the likeness of Jesus Christ; or to go back to the metaphor of my text, the meaning and aim of Christian discipleship is not happiness, but the building up of the tower in which the man may dwell.
Ah, friend; is that your notion of what a Christian is; and of what he is a Christian for, to be like the Master? Alas! alas! how few of us, honestly and continually and practically, lay to heart the stringent and grand conception which underlies this metaphor of our Lord’s, who identifies the man that was thinking of being His disciple with the man that sits down intending to build a tower.
II. So, secondly, note the cost of the building, or the conditions of discipleship.
Building is an expensive amusement, as many a man who has gone rashly in for bricks and mortar has found out to his cost. And the most expensive of all sorts of building is the building up of Christian character. That costs more than anything else, but there are a number of other things less noble and desirable, which share with it, to some extent, in the expenditure which it involves.
Discipleship demands constant reference to the plan. A man that lives as he likes, by impulse, by inclination, or ignobly yielding to the pressure of circumstances and saying, ‘I could not help myself, I was carried away by the flood,’ or ‘Everybody round about me is doing it, and I could not be singular’-will never build anything worth living in. It will be a born ruin-if I may so say. There must be continual reference to the plan. That is to say, if a man is to do anything worth doing, there must be a very clear marking out to himself of what he means to secure by life, and a keeping of the aim continually before him as his guide and his pole-star. Did you ever see the pretty architect’s plans, that were all so white and neat when they came out of his office, after the masons have done with them-all thumb-marked and dirty? I wonder if your Bibles are like that? Do we refer to the standard of conduct with anything like the continual checking of our work by the architect’s intention, which every man who builds anything that will stand is obliged to practise? Consult your plan, the pattern of your Master, the words of your Redeemer, the gospel of your God, the voice of judgment and conscience, and get into the habit of living, not like a vegetable, upon what happens to be nearest its roots, nor like a brute, by the impulses of the unreasoning nature, but clear above these put the understanding, and high above that put the conscience, and above them all put the will of the Lord. Consult your plan if you want to build your tower.
Then, further, another condition is continuous effort. You cannot ‘rush’ the building of a great edifice. You have to wait till the foundations get consolidated, and then by a separate effort every stone has to be laid in its bed and out of the builder’s hands. So by slow degrees, with continuity of effort, the building rises.
Now there has been a great deal of what I humbly venture to call one-sidedness talked about the way by which Christian character is to be developed and perfected. And one set of the New Testament metaphors upon that subject has been pressed to the exclusion of the others, and the effortless growth of the plant has been presented as if it were the complete example of Christian progress. I know that Jesus Christ has said: ‘First the blade, then the ear; after that the full corn in the ear.’ But I know that He has also said, ‘Which of you, intending to build a tower’-and that involves the idea of effort; and that He has further said, ‘Or what king, going to make war against another king’-and that involves the idea of antagonism and conflict. And so, on the whole, I lay it down that this is one of the conditions of building the tower, that the energy of the builder should never slacken, but, with continual renewal of effort, he should rear his life’s building.
And then, still further, there is the fundamental condition of all; and that is, self-surrender. Our Lord lays this down in the most stringent terms in the words before my text, where He points to two directions in which that spirit is required to manifest itself. One is detachment from persons that are dearest, and even from one’s own selfish life; the other is the acceptance of things that are most contrary to one’s inclinations, against the grain, painful and hard to bear. And so we may combine these two in this statement: If any man is going to build a Christlike life he will have to detach himself from surrounding things and dear ones, and to crucify self by suppression of the lower nature and the endurance of evils. The preceding parable which is connected in subject with the text, the story of the great supper, and the excuses made for not coming to it, represents two-thirds of the refusals as arising from the undue love for, and regard to, earthly possessions, and the remaining third as arising from the undue love to, and regard for, the legitimate objects of affection. And these are the two chords that hold most of us most tightly. It is not Christianity alone, dear brethren, that says that if you want to do anything worth doing, you must detach yourself from outward wealth. It is not Christianity alone that says that, if you want to build up a noble life, you must not let earthly love dominate and absorb your energy; but it is Christianity that says so most emphatically, and that has best reason to say so.
Concentration is the secret of all excellence. If the river is to have any scour in it that will sweep away pollution and corruption, it must not go winding and lingering in many curves, howsoever flowery may be the banks, nor spreading over a broad bed, but you must straighten it up and make it deep that it may run strong. And if you will diffuse yourself all over these poor, wretched worldly goods, or even let the rush of your heart’s outflow go in the direction of father and mother, wife and children, brethren and sisters, forgetting Him, then you will never come to any good nor be of use in this world. But if you want to be Christians after Christ’s pattern, remember that the price of the building is rigidly to sacrifice self, ‘to scorn delights and live laborious days,’ and to keep all vagrant desires and purposes within rigid limits, and absolutely subordinated to Himself.
On the other hand, there is to be the acceptance of what is painful to the lower nature. Unpleasant consequences of duty have to be borne, and the lower self, with its appetites and desires, has to be crucified. The vine must be mercilessly pruned in tendrils, leaves, and branches even, though the rich sap may seem to bleed away to waste, if we are to grow precious grapes out of which may be expressed the wine of the Kingdom. We must be dead to much if we are to be alive to anything worth living for.
Now remember that Christ’s demand of self-surrender, self-sacrifice, continuous effort, rigid limitation, does not come from any mere false asceticism, but is inevitable in the very nature of the case, and is made also by all worthy work. How much every one of us has had to shear off our lives, how many tastes we have had to allow to go ungratified, how many capacities undeveloped, in how many directions we have had to hedge up our way, and not do, or be this, that, or the other; if we have ever done anything in any direction worthy the doing! Concentration and voluntary limitation, in order to fix all powers on the supreme aim which judgment and conscience have enjoined is the condition of all excellence, of all sanity of living, and eminently of all Christian discipleship.
III. Further, note the failures.
The tower of the rash builder stands a gaunt, staring ruin.
Whosoever throws himself upon great undertakings or high aims, without a deliberate forecast of the difficulties and sacrifices they involve, is sure to stop almost before he has begun. Many a man and woman leaves the starting-point with a rush, as if they were going to be at the goal presently, and before they have run fifty yards turn aside and quietly walk out of the course. I wonder how many of you began, when you were lads or girls, to study some language, and stuck before you had got through twenty pages of the grammar, or to learn some art, and have still got the tools lying unused in a dusty corner. And how many of you who call yourselves Christians began in the same fashion long ago to run the race? ‘Ye did run well.’ What did hinder you? What hindered Atalanta? The golden apples that were flung down on the path. Oh, the Church is full of these abortive Christians; ruins from their beginning, standing gaunt and windowless, the ground-plan a great palace, the reality a hovel that has not risen a foot for the last ten years. I wonder if there are any stunted Christians of that sort in this congregation before me, who began under the influence of some impulse or emotion, genuine enough, no doubt, but who had taken no account of how much it would cost to finish the building. And so the building is not finished, and never will be.
But I should remark here that what I am speaking about as failure is not incomplete attainment of the aim. For all our lives have to confess that they incompletely attain their aim; and lofty aims, imperfectly realised, and still maintained, are the very salt of life, and beautiful ‘as the new moon with a ragged edge, e’en in its imperfection beautiful.’ Paul was an old man and an advanced Christian when he said, ‘Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after.’ And the highest completeness to which the Christian builder can reach in this life is the partial accomplishment of his aim and the persistent adherence to and aspiration after the unaccomplished aim. It is not these incomplete but progressive and aspiring lives that are failures, but it is the lives of men who have abandoned high aims, and have almost forgotten that they ever cherished them.
And what does our Lord say about such? That everybody laughs at them. It is not more than they deserve. An out-and-out Christian will often be disliked, but if he is made a mock of there will be a soupçon of awe and respect even in the mockery. Half-and-half Christians get, and richly deserve, the curled lip and sarcasm of a world that knows when a man is in earnest, and knows when he is an incarnate sham.
IV. Lastly, I would have you observe the inviting encouragement hidden in the apparent repelling warning.
If we read my text isolated, it may seem as if the only lesson that our Lord meant to be drawn from it was a counsel of despair. ‘Unless you feel quite sure that you can finish, you had better not begin.’ Is that what He meant to say? I think not. He did mean to say, ‘Do not begin without opening your eyes to what is involved in the beginning.’ But suppose a man had taken His advice, had listened to the terms, and had said, ‘I cannot keep them, and I am going to fling all up, and not try any more’-is that what Jesus Christ wanted to bring him to? Surely not. And that it is not so arises plainly enough from the observation that this parable and the succeeding one are both sealed up, as it were, with ‘So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple.’
Now, if I may so say, there are two kinds of ‘forsaking all that we have.’ One is the forsaking by which we become disciples; and the other the forsaking by which we continue true disciples. The conviction that they had not sufficient to finish is the very conviction that Christ wished to root in the minds of the crowds. He exhibits the difficulties in order that they may feel they cannot cope with them. What then? That they may ‘forsake’ all their own power to cope with them.
That is the first kind of ‘forsaking all that we have.’ That makes a disciple. The recognition of my own utter impotence to do the things which yet I see must be done, is the underside of trust in Him. And that trust in Him brings the power that makes it possible for us to do the things which we cannot of ourselves do, and the consciousness of the impotence to do which is the first step toward doing them. It is the self-sufficient man who is sure to be bankrupt before he has finished his building; but he who has no confidence in himself, and recognises the fact that he cannot build, will go to Jesus Christ and say, ‘Lord, I am poor and needy. Come Thou Thyself and be my strength.’ Such a forsaking of all that we have in the recognition of our own poverty and powerlessness brings into the field an Ally for our reinforcement that has more than the twenty thousand that are coming against us, and will make us strong.
And then, if, knowing our weakness, our misery, our poverty, and cleaving to Jesus Christ in simple confidence in His divine power breathed into our weakness, and His abundant riches lavished upon our poverty, we cast ourselves into the work to which He calls us by His grace, then we shall find that the sweet and certain assurance that we have Him for the possession and the treasure of our lives will make parting with everything else, not painful, but natural and necessary and a joy, as the expression of our supreme love to Him. It should not, and would not be difficult to fling away paste gems and false riches if our hands were filled with the jewels that Christ bestows. And it will not be difficult to slay the old man when the new Christ lives in us, by our faith and submission.
So, dear brethren, it all comes to this. We are all builders; what kind of a work is your life’s work going to turn out? Are you building on the foundation, taking Jesus Christ for the anchor of your hope, for the basis of your belief, for the crown of your aims, for your all and in all? Are you building upon Him? If so, then the building will stand when the storm comes and the ‘hail sweeps away the refuges’ that other men have built elsewhere. But are you building on that foundation the gold of self-denial, the silver of white purity, the precious stones of variously-coloured and Christlike virtues? Then your work will indeed be incomplete, but its very incompleteness will be a prophecy of the time when ‘the headstone shall be brought forth with shoutings’; and you may humbly trust that the day which ‘declares every man’s work of what sort it is’ will not destroy yours, but that it will gleam and flash in the light of the revealing and reflecting fires. See to it that you are building for eternity, on the foundation, with the fair stones which Jesus Christ gives to all those who let Him shape their lives. He is at once, Architect, Material, Foundation; and in Him ‘every several building fitly framed together groweth into a holy temple in the Lord.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v26 All terms which define the emotions or affections are…
hate
All terms which define the emotions or affections are comparative. Natural affection is to be, as compared with the believer’s devotedness to Christ, as if it were hate. See Mat 12:47-50 where Christ illustrates this principle in His own person. But in the Lord the natural affections are sanctified and lifted to the level of the divine love (cf); Joh 19:26; Joh 19:27; Eph 5:25-28.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v28 Two parables for emphasis:
Two parables for emphasis:
v. 28. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
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v. 29. Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
v. 30. saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
v. 31. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
v. 32. Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an embassage, and desireth conditions of peace.
v. 33. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple.
Foolish is he that counteth not the cost. If a man wants to build a tower, a fine, high structure, prominent before all the buildings in the neighborhood, prudence will dictate that he sit down first and’ calculate the cost very carefully. His plan will be gone over thoroughly; the material is painstakingly grouped and added; the exact cost of the project is computed. For if the man should start to build and then find that it is impossible for him to finish up, he will become an object of ridicule for all the passers-by. In the same way, prudence will govern the actions of a king who has broken off diplomatic relations with another ruler. He will call in all his counselors and make a very careful calculation whether he will be able to carry out his plans in case he should decide to assume the offensive. And in case the matter seems dubious, he will prefer to enter upon negotiations with the enemy in time, and find out his conditions of peace. Either parable teaches the necessity of considering the costs; either one represents the absurdity of those that undertake to be disciple of Jesus Christ shall require no less difficulties they are to meet with, and what strength they have to enable them to go through with the undertaking. "He that will be a true disciples of Jesus Christ shall require no less than the mighty power of God to support him, as both hell and earth will unite to destroy him. " Because complete self-renunciation is required, earnest consideration is absolutely unavoidable. So much the discipleship of Christ demands, and so much the true disciple will give cheerfully.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv28, 31 General Information:
General Information:
Jesus continues to explain to the crowd that it is important to count the cost of being a disciple.
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For which of you who desires to build a tower does not first sit down and count the cost to calculate if he has what he needs to complete it?
Jesus uses this question to prove that people count the cost of a project before they begin it. AT: "If a person wanted to build a tower, he would certainly first sit down and determine if he had enough money to complete it." (See: Rhetorical Question)
tower
This may have been a watchtower. "a tall building" or "a high lookout platform"
Otherwise
It may be helpful to give more information. AT: "If he does not first count the cost" (See: Ellipsis)
when he has laid a foundation
"when he has built a base" or "when he has completed the first part of the building"
is not able to finish
It is understood that he was not able to finish because he did not have enough money. This could be stated. AT: "does not have enough money to be able to finish" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
watchtower
found
mock
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv26–27 14:26 you must, by comparison, hate everyone else: Following…
14:26 you must, by comparison, hate everyone else: Following Jesus requires complete dedication. The phrase by comparison does not appear in the Greek, but it accurately represents Jesus’ meaning. Love for family and one’s own life must not compete with devotion to Christ.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.