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. He who doesn’t take his cross and follow after me, isn’t worthy of me. He who seeks his life will lose it; and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.
Show the surrounding paragraph
Matthew 10:37-39 sits inside this longer paragraph.
“Don’t think that I came to send peace on the earth. I didn’t come to send peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man at odds against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s foes will be those of his own household. 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. He who doesn’t take his cross and follow after me, isn’t worthy of me. He who seeks his life will lose it; and he who loses his life for my sake will find it. He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. He who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. Whoever gives one of these little ones just a cup of cold water to drink in the name of a disciple, most certainly I tell you he will in no way lose his reward.”
Parallel Translations
-
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.
He who doesn’t take his cross and follow after me, isn’t worthy of me.
He who seeks his life will lose it; and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.
-
He that lovith hys father or mother more then me is not mete for me. And he that loveth his sonne or doughter more then me is not mete for me.
And he that taketh not his crosse and foloweth me ys not mete for me.
He that fyndeth hys lyfe shall lose it: and he that losith hys lyfe for my sake shall fynde it.
Show all 3 translations
-
He that loueth father or mother more then me, is not worthie of me. And he that loueth sonne, or daughter more then mee, is not worthie of me.
And hee that taketh not his crosse, and followeth after me, is not worthie of me.
He that will finde his life, shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake, shall finde it.
Cross-references (25)
- Luke 14:26 (v37) “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…
- John 12:25 (v39) He who loves his life will lose it. He who hates his life in this world will keep it to eternal life.
- Mark 8:35-36 (v39) For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; and whoever will lose his life for my sake and the sake of the Good News will save it. For…
- Luke 17:33 (v39) Whoever seeks to save his life loses it, but whoever loses his life preserves it.
- Matthew 16:25-26 (v39) For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man,…
Show all 25 cross-references
- Luke 9:24 (v39) For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever will lose his life for my sake, will save it.
- Mark 8:34 (v38) 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…
- Luke 14:27 (v38) Whoever doesn’t bear his own cross, and come after me, can’t be my disciple.
- Revelation 2:10 (v39) Don’t be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be…
- Matthew 22:37 (v37) Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
- Philippians 1:20-21 (v39) according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will in no way be disappointed, but with all boldness, as always, now also Christ will…
- Matthew 16:24 (v38) 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.
- Philippians 3:7-9 (v37) 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…
- Luke 9:23-24 (v38) 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…
- 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 (v37) For the love of Christ constrains us; because we judge thus, that one died for all, therefore all died. He died for all, that those who…
- 2 Timothy 4:6-8 (v39) For I am already being offered, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have…
- Deuteronomy 33:9 (v37) 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…
- John 19:17 (v38) He went out, bearing his cross, to the place called “The Place of a Skull”, which is called in Hebrew, “Golgotha”,
- John 21:15-17 (v37) So when they had eaten their breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?” He said to him,…
- Mark 10:21 (v38) 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 22:8 (v37) “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited weren’t worthy.
- Luke 21:36 (v37) Therefore be watchful all the time, praying that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will happen, and to stand before…
- 2 Thessalonians 1:5-7 (v37) This is an obvious sign of the righteous judgment of God, to the end that you may be counted worthy of God’s Kingdom, for which you also…
- John 5:23 (v37) that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.
- Luke 20:35 (v37) But those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (21 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv37, 39 Nothing without exception is to be preferred before our…
Nothing without exception is to be preferred before our duty to God.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv37–39 37 He that loveth father or mother more than…
37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Ver. 37. He that loveth father or mother] Levi said unto his father and his mother, "I have not seen him;" neither did he acknowledge his brethren, in that cause of God, nor knew his own children, Deu 33:9; "If the Lord Christ call me to him," saith Jerome, "although my father should lie in my way, my mother hang about my neck to hinder me, I would go over my father, shake off my mother," &c. Nazianzen was glad that he had something of value (to wit, his Athenian learning) to part with for Christ. Nicholas Shetterden, martyr, in a letter to his mother, wrote thus: "Dear mother, embrace the counsel of God’s word with hearty affection, read it with obedience, &c. So shall we meet in joy at the last day; or else I bid you farewell for evermore." "Away from me, Satan," said Rebezies, a French martyr, when Satan set before him his parents, to stop him in his course. And I know not by what reason they so called them my friends (said Borthwick, a Scotch martyr), that so greatly laboured to convert (indeed to pervert) me, neither will I more esteem them than the Midianites, which in times past called the children of Israel to do sacrifice to their idols.
Read full note →
He that loveth son or daughter, &c.] As did Eli, who honoured his sons above God, 1Sa 2:29. This the Lord took so heinously, that he swore that this iniquity of Eli’s house should not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever, 1Sa 3:14. Samuel, who brought the old priest this heavy tidings, was afterwards unhappy enough in his two sons; and succeeded Eli in his cross as well as his place. It can hardly be imagined that he succeeded him in his sin after so fair a warning. But good David was surely too fond a father, and therefore smarted in his children, whom he cockered. God will have us to hold him to be better to us than ten sons: and to bestow all our love upon him, as most worthy. What he gives us back again, we may bestow upon others; loving our friends in God, and our enemies for God. But the love of Christ must constrain us to part with all, though never so dear and near unto us, for his sake. Mr Bradford, while he was a prisoner, wrote earnestly to his mother to pray God to make him worthy to suffer, not only imprisonment, but even very death for his truth, religion, and gospel. Femella Amatriciana, a most godly woman, understanding that her son went heavily on to his death for Christ, met him and encouraged him, bidding him look up to heaven, and behold the sun in his glory. Which when he had done, "Knowest thou not, my son," said she, "thou shalt shortly be in that heavenly palace, and there outshine the sun itself!" William Hunter the martyr’s mother, said unto him, standing at the stake, that she was glad that ever she was so happy as to bear such a child as could find in his heart to lose his life for Christ’s name’s sake. Then William said to his mother, "For my little pain which I shall suffer, which is but for a short braid, Christ hath promised me a crown of joy; may you not be glad of that, mother?" with that his mother kneeled down on her knees, saying, "I pray God strengthen thee, my son, to the end; yea, I think thee as well bestowed as any child that ever I bare." John Clark, of Melden in France, being, for Christ’s sake, whipped three different days, and afterward having a mark set in his forehead as a note of infamy, his mother beholding it (though his father was an adversary) encouraged her son, crying with a loud voice, "Blessed be Christ, and welcome be these his prints and marks." Vivat Christus, eiusque insignia. (Scultet. Annul.)
Is not worthy of me] viz. Because he holdeth not me worthy of more love than his best friends. Eli, for seeking to please his sons, Moses his wife, had like to have lost a friend of God, who had much ado to forbear killing him, Exo 4:24.
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 vv37–39 Luke seemeth to speak higher, Luk 14:26, If any…
Luke seemeth to speak higher, Luk 14:26, 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. But the sense is the same, for by hatred there is only meant displacency, and a setting them in his esteem below Christ and his commands. Christ doth not command or encourage want of natural affection, but only by this saying he reduces it to order, and showeth that our first love and homage is due to God; and where we cannot show what love and affections our father, or mother, or son, or daughter call for, without failing in that duty which we owe unto God, or violating some Divine precept, we must acknowledge our heavenly Father, even by disobeying our earthly parents. Instead of
is not worthy of me, Luke saith, cannot be my disciple, which expounds this term. He is not worthy of my favour, of the name of my disciple, or the reward I intend my disciples.
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 v37 Note here, That by worthiness we are not to…
Note here, That by worthiness we are not to understand the meritoriousness of the action, but the qualification of the person. He that cometh to Chtist, (that is, will be his disciple,) must, by a deliberate act of the understanding, and well-advised choice of the will, prefer him before all the world, and his dearest relations whatsoever; not that our Saviour by these expressions doth condemn natural love and affection, either to our relations or our own lives, but only regulates and directs it; and shows that our first and chief love must be bestowed upon himself. We may have tender and relenting affections towards our dear relations; but them the consideration of Christ’s truth and religion must take place of these; yea, of life itself; nay, when these come in competition, we are to regard them no more than if they were the objects of our hatred. Luk 14:26 If any man hate not his father, &c.
Learn hence, That all the disciples of Christ should be ready and willing, whenever God calls them to it, to quit all their temporal interests and enjoyments, even life itself, and to submit to any temporal inconvenience, even death itself; and all this willingly, cheerfully, and patiently, rather than disown their relation to Christ, and quit the profession of his truth and religion.
Read full note →
2. That such as for secular interest, and the preservation of temporal life, do renounce their profession of Christ and his religion, they do not only greatly hazard their temporal life, but expose their eternal life to the greatest danger. He that findeth his life shall lose it, &c.
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 vv37–39 And he that taketh not his cross,.... By the…
And he that taketh not his cross,.... By the "cross", which was a Roman punishment, whereby malefactors were put to death, are meant all sorts of afflictions, reproaches, persecutions, and death itself; and particularly the ill will, hatred, and persecution, of near relations and friends, which must be expected by such, who bear a faithful testimony for Christ. Every minister of Christ, or professor of his name, has "his" own cross, his own particular afflictions, appointed by God, and laid on him by Christ, and which he should cheerfully take up, and patiently bear, for his sake. The allusion is to the custom of persons sentenced to be crucified, to carry their own cross, as Christ did his, and Simon the Cyrenian for him; and which our Lord here may have a respect unto, as well knowing what death he was to die, and that some of his disciples also would die the same death: wherefore Christ says,
and followeth after me; led on by his example, to preach or profess the Gospel, submit to the ordinances of it, and cheerfully suffer for the sake of it, when called to it. If a man, who would be thought to be a disciple of Christ, is not willing to do all this, but, in order to avoid it, complies with his friends, conforms to the world, and turns his back on Christ; of such an one he may well say, he
Read full note →
is not worthy of me; it is not convenient that he should stand among his disciples and followers.
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 vv37–39 He that loveth father or mother more than me…
He that loveth father or mother more than me - He that is not ready to give up all these, when they stand in competition with his duty.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv37–39 Verse 37. He that loveth father or mother more…
Verse 37. He that loveth father or mother more than me] He whom we love the most is he whom we study most to please, and whose will and interests we prefer in all cases. If, in order to please a father or mother who are opposed to vital godliness, we abandon God's ordinances and followers, we are unworthy of any thing but hell.
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 vv37, 39 Mat 10:37-38. He that loveth father or mother more…
Mat 10:37-38. He that loveth father or mother more than me — He that is not ready to give up all these when they stand in competition with his duty; is not worthy of me — Nor shall have any interest in my saving benefits. And he that taketh not his cross, &c. — Every one condemned to crucifixion by the Romans was compelled to carry the cross, on which he was to be suspended, to the place of execution. Thus our Lord himself was treated. Now, as this was not a Jewish, but a Roman punishment, the allusion to it, on this occasion, may justly be looked on as the first hint given by Jesus of the kind of death he was to suffer. And the words express this sentiment with great energy, that no man is worthy of Christ, that is, worthy to bear his name, or be accounted a true Christian, unless he be willing to suffer whatever pain or inconvenience cannot be avoided but by doing some evil or omitting some good; yea, and to endure the greatest hardships, and all sorts of persecutions, even the most shameful and painful death, rather than renounce his religion and deny Christ.
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 vv37–39 He that loveth father or mother ... - The…
He that loveth father or mother ... - The meaning of this is clear. Christ must be loved supremely, or he is not loved at all. If we are not willing to give up all earthly possessions, and forsake all earthly friends, and if we do not obey him rather than all others, we have no true attachment to him.
Is not worthy of me - Is not appropriate to be regarded as a follower of me, or is not a Christian.
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 vv37–39 Is not worthy of me, &c. That is, is…
Is not worthy of me, &c. That is, is not worthy to be my disciple, and to enjoy my kingdom. (Menochius)
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 vv37–39 He that loveth father or mother more than me,…
He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me--(Compare Deu 33:9). As the preference of the one would, in the case supposed, necessitate the abandonment of the other, our Lord here, with a sublime, yet awful self-respect, asserts His own claims to supreme affection.
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 vv37–39 37. He that loveth father or mother more than…
37. He that loveth father or mother more than me — Think not that the sacrifice of kindred ties is to be made by the wicked alone. Earthly affections, when they come in collision, must be postponed to divine obligations. Truth is more authoritative than a parent. The Redeemer hath done more for us than the nearest relative. Where the drawings of affection would seduce us to sin their power must be rejected.
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 vv37–39 37. The connection is this: there will be divisions…
37. The connection is this: there will be divisions in families; My disciples must not hesitate to side with Me rather than with father or mother, or son or daughter. The new life changes the old relationships: everything is viewed now in reference to Christ, to whom His followers are related as mother and sisters and brethren.
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 vv37–39 (37) He that loveth father or mother more than…
(37) He that loveth father or mother more than me.—The words are important, partly in themselves, partly as explaining the stronger phrase of Luk_14:26-27, which speaks of a man “hating father or mother” as a condition of discipleship. Where two affections come into collision, the weaker must give way; and though the man may not and ought not to cease to love, yet he must act as if he hated—disobey, and, it may be, desert—those to whom he is bound by natural ties, that he may obey the higher supernatural calling.
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 vv37–39 Vers. 37, 38. Parallel passage: Luk_14:26, Luk_14:27, where the…
Vers. 37, 38. Parallel passage: Luk_14:26, Luk_14:27, where the saying is spoken to the multitudes presumably its original occasion. Ver 37: A man must place me before his nearest tics. Ver. 38: Yea, must receive his cross (however it is brought to him), and with it follow after me. Observe the shadow of the cross upon our Lord"s mind.
He that loveth. Natural and spontaneous love (o filwn), father... mother... son... daughter. No mention of wife, brothers, sisters, as in the parallel passage in Luke, perhaps because not mentioned in our vers. 35, 36. Is not worthy of me. And of all that I can be to him. Observe Christ"s consciousness of his own worth. And he that loveth son, etc. A separate clause, because of the difference between the love of child to parent and that of parent to child. The latter is the stronger. The clause is omitted in B*, D, and two or three lesser authorities, but probably through homoioteleuton.
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 vv37–39 He that loveth father or mother more than Me.
Mat_10:37
He that loveth father or mother more than Me.
Read full note →
The Saviours claims on our supreme affections
There are three sources from which love, considered as a sentiment, originates in the heart:-
1. The love of sympathy.
2. The love of gratitude.
3. The love of moral esteem.
In all these respects Christ is entitled to supreme affection. Is love valued in proportion as it is disinterested? Compared with Christs love mans is selfishness. Or does the greatness of sacrifice testify to the greatness of love? On this ground Christ claims our supreme love, as no human being has sacrificed so much for us as He, no earthly benefactor so great as He. (H. White, M. A.)
Christ worthy of our highest esteem
Our Saviour puts Himself and the world together as competitors for our best affections, challenging a transcendent affection on our part, because of a transcendent worthiness on His. By father or mother are to be understood whatever enjoyments are dear to us; and from the expression, he is not worthy of Me, the doctrine of merit must not be asserted.
I. What is included and comprehended in that love to Christ here mentioned?
1. An esteem and valuation of Christ above all worldly enjoyments.
2. A choosing Him before all other enjoyments.
3. Service and obedience to Him.
4. Acting for Him in opposition to all other things.
5. It imparts a full acquiescence in Him alone, even in the absence and want of all other felicities.
II. The reason and motives which may induce us to this love.
1. He is the best able to reward our love.
2. He has shown the greatest love to us.
III. The signs and characters whereby we may discern his love.
1. A frequent and, indeed, continual thinking of Him.
2. A willingness to leave the world, whenever God shall think fit, by death, to summon us to nearer converse with Christ.
3. A zeal for His honour, and impatience to hear or see any indignity offered Him. (R. South, D. D.)
No divided devotion
1. The audacity of the claim-seemingly opposed to natural affection.
2. Its naturalness on the lips of Christ-all of a piece with His other words and deeds.
3. Either, then, Jesus is God and deserves all He claims, or else an impostor and blasphemer.
4. The dilemma we must either crucify Him or acknowledge His pretensions. (Newman Smyth, D. D.)
Christ more than the nearest relatives
A striking illustration of the love to Christ, that proves so ardent as to supersede that felt for parent or child, is furnished by the history of Vivia Perpetua, the martyr of Carthage. This lady, who was a matron of high position, young (not being more than twenty-two at her death) beautiful, and with everything to make life desirable and attractive to her, met death with dauntless heroism. We are not told whether her husband was a Pagan or a Christian; but her aged, and still heathen, father, obtaining entrance into her prison, endeavoured by every possible argument to shake her constancy, and, as a last appeal, brought her infant son, and conjured her, by her love for himself and for her child, to abjure Christianity and live. But to all these entreaties Perpetua turned a deaf ear; Christ was dearer to her than either her parent or her son, and she bravely met death by being exposed to an infuriated animal in the arena. She suffered about A.D. 205. Even in these modern days instances might be brought forward, from the annals of missionary labour, of those who from love of Christ are willing to leave dearest earthly friends; but in some instances these close human ties become the great obstacles to the reception of the gospel. Speaking of a school at Chumdicully, Ceylon, the missionary, Mr. Fleming, says (quoted in the Church Missionary Societys report for 1881-82): There are secret believers in Christ who are not ready to give up all for Him. One of them has confessed that he would like to follow his sisters, who have come out, but his parents look to him to perform the funeral rites for them when they die, and he shrinks from causing them grief … like the man whom Christ called, but who said, Suffer me first to go and bury my father.
Christian love triumphant over maternal
Leelerc, says DAubigne, was led to the place of execution. The executioner prepared the fire, heated the iron which was to sear the flesh of the minister of the gospel, and, approaching him, branded him as a heretic on the forehead. Just then a shriek was uttered-but it came not from the martyr. His mother, a witness of the dreadful sight, wrung with anguish, endured a violent struggle between the enthusiasm of faith and maternal feelings; but her faith overcame, and she exclaimed, in a voice that made the adversaries tremble, Glory be to Jesus Christ, and His witnesses! Thus did this French woman of the sixteenth century have respect to the word of the Son of God-He that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. So daring a courage at such a moment might have seemed to demand instant punishment, but that Christian mother had struck powerless the hearts of priests and soldiers. Their fury was restrained by a mightier arm than theirs. The crowd failing back and making way for her, allowed the mother to regain, with faltering step, her humble dwelling. Monks, and even the town sergeants themselves, gazed on her without moving. Not one of her enemies, says Beza, dared put forth his hand against her.
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 vv37–39 37. He that loveth father or mother more than…
37. He that loveth father or mother more than me. The Lord does not require us to love these less, but him more. Love for him must become the dominant principle of life. Is not worthy of me. Will not be accepted as worthy.
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.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v39
Matthew
A LIFE LOST AND FOUND 1
Read full note →
Mat 10:39.
My heart impels me to break this morning my usual rule of avoiding personal references in the pulpit. Death has been busy in our own congregation this last week, and yesterday we laid in the grave all that was mortal of a man to whom Manchester owes more than it knows. Mr. Crossley has been for thirty years my close and dear friend. He was long a member of this church and congregation. I need not speak of his utter unselfishness, of his lifelong consecration, of his lavish generosity, of his unstinted work for God and man; but thinking of him and of it, I have felt as if the words of my text were the secret of his life, and as if he now understood the fulness of the promise they contain: ‘He that loseth his life for My sake shall find it.’ Now, looking at these words in the light of the example so tenderly beloved by some of us, so sharply criticised by many, but now so fully recognised as saintly by all, I ask you to consider-
I. The stringent requirement for the Christian life that is here made.
Now we shall very much impoverish the meaning and narrow the sweep of these great and penetrating words, if we understand by ‘losing one’s life’ only the actual surrender of physical existence. It is not only the martyr on whose bleeding brows the crown of life is gently placed; it is not only the temples that have been torn by the crown of thorns, that are soothed by that unfading wreath; but there is a daily dying, which is continually required from all Christian people, and is, perhaps, as hard as, or harder than, the brief and bloody passage of martyrdom by which some enter into rest. For the true losing of life is the slaying of self, and that has to be done day by day, and not once for all, in some supreme act of surrender at the end, or in some initial act of submission and yielding at the beginning, of the Christian life. We ourselves have to take the knife into our own hands and strike, and that not once, but ever, right on through our whole career. For, by natural disposition, we are all inclined to make our own selves to be our own centres, our own aims, the objects of our trust, our own law; and if we do so, we are dead whilst we live, and the death that brings life is when, day by day, we ‘crucify the old man with his affections and lusts.’ Crucifixion was no sudden death; it was an exquisitely painful one, which made every nerve quiver and the whole frame thrill with anguish; and that slow agony, in all its terribleness and protractedness, is the image that is set before us as the true ideal of every life that would not be a living death. The world is to be crucified to me, and I to the world.
We have our centre in ourselves, and we need the centre to be shifted, or we live in sin. If I might venture upon so violent an image, the comets that career about the heavens need to be caught and tamed, and bound to peaceful revolution round some central sun, or else they are ‘wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.’ So, brethren, the slaying of self by a painful, protracted process, is the requirement of Christ.
But do not let us confine ourselves to generalities. What is meant? This is meant-the absolute submission of the will to commandments and providences, the making of that obstinate part of our nature meek and obedient and plastic as the clay in the potter’s hands. The tanner takes a stiff hide, and soaks it in bitter waters, and dresses it with sharp tools, and lubricates it with unguents, and his work is not done till all the stiffness is out of it and it is flexible. And we do not lose our lives in the lofty, noble sense, until we can say-and verify the speech by our actions-’Not my will but Thine be done.’ They who thus submit, they who thus welcome into their hearts, and enthrone upon the sovereign seat in their wills, Christ and His will-these are they who have lost their lives. When we can say, ‘I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me,’ then, and only then, have we in the deepest sense of the words ‘lost our lives.’
The phrase means the suppression, and sometimes the excision, of appetites, passions, desires, inclinations. It means the hallowing of all aims; it means the devotion and the consecration of all activities. It means the surrender and the stewardship of all possessions. And only then, when we have done these things, shall we have come to practical obedience to the initial requirement that Christ makes from us all-to lose our lives for His sake.
I need not diverge here to point to that life from which my thoughts have taken their start in this sermon. Surely if there was any one characteristic in it more distinct and lovely than another, it was that self was dead and that Christ lived. There may be sometimes a call for the actual-which is the lesser-surrender of the bodily life, in obedience to the call of duty. There have been Christian men who have wrought themselves to death in the Master’s service. Perhaps he of whom I have been speaking was one of these. It may be that, if he had done like so many of our wealthy men-had flung himself into business and then collapsed into repose-he would have been here to-day. Perhaps it would have been better if there had been a less entire throwing of himself into arduous and clamant duties. I am not going to enter on the ethics of that question. I do not think there are many of this generation of Christians who are likely to work themselves to death in Christ’s cause; and perhaps, after all, the old saying is a true one, ‘Better to wear out than to rust out.’ But only this I will say: we honour the martyrs of Science, of Commerce, of Empire, why should not we honour the martyrs of Faith? And why should they be branded as imprudent enthusiasts, if they make the same sacrifice which, when an explorer or a soldier makes, his memory is honoured as heroic, and his cold brows are crowned with laurels? Surely it is as wise to die for Christ as for England. But be that as it may; the requirement, the stringent requirement, of my text is not addressed to any spiritual aristocracy, but is laid upon the consciences of all professing Christians.
II. Observe the grounds of this requirement.
Did you ever think-or has the fact become so familiar to you that it ceases to attract notice?-did you ever think what an extraordinary position it is for the son of a carpenter in Nazareth to plant Himself before the human race and say, ‘You will be wise if you die for My sake, and you will be doing nothing more than your plain duty’? What business has He to assume such a position as that? What warrants that autocratic and all-demanding tone from His lips? ‘Who art Thou’-we may fancy people saying-’that Thou shouldst put out a masterful hand and claim to take as Thine the life of my heart?’ Ah! brethren, there is but one answer: ‘Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.’ The foolish, loving, impulsive apostle that blurted out, before his time had come, ‘I will lay down my life for Thy sake,’ was only premature; he was not mistaken. There needed that His Lord should lay down His life for Peter’s sake; and then He had a right to turn to the apostle and say, ‘Thou shalt follow Me afterwards,’ and ‘lay down thy life for My sake.’ The ground of Christ’s unique claim is Christ’s solitary sacrifice. He who has died for men, and He only, has the right to require the unconditional, the absolute surrender of themselves, not only in the sacrifice of a life that is submitted, but, if circumstances demand, in the sacrifice of a death. The ground of the requirement is laid, first in the fact of our Lord’s divine nature, and second, in the fact that He who asks my life has first of all given His.
But that same phrase, ‘for My sake,’ suggests-
III. The all-sufficient motive which makes such a loss of life possible.
I suppose that there is nothing else that will wholly dethrone self but the enthroning of Jesus Christ. That dominion is too deeply rooted to be abolished by any enthusiasms, however noble they may be, except the one that kindles its undying torch at the flame of Christ’s own love. God forbid that I should deny that wonderful and lovely instances of self-oblivion may be found in hearts untouched by the supreme love of Christ! But whilst I recognise all the beauty of such, I, for my part, humbly venture to believe and assert that, for the entire deliverance of a man from self-regard, the one sufficient motive power is the reception into his opening heart of the love of Jesus Christ.
Ah! brethren, you and I know how hard it is to escape from the tyrannous dominion of self, and how the evil spirits that have taken possession of us mock at all lesser charms than the name which ‘devils fear and fly’; ‘the Name that is above every name.’ We have tried other motives. We have sought to reprove our selfishness by other considerations. Human love-which itself is sometimes only the love of self, seeking satisfaction from another-human love does conquer it, but yet conquers it partially. The demons turn round upon all other would-be exorcists, and say, ‘Jesus we know . . . but who are ye?’ It is only when the Ark is carried into the Temple that Dagon falls prone before it. If you would drive self out of your hearts-and if you do not it will slay you-if you would drive self out, let Christ’s love and sacrifice come in. And then, what no brooms and brushes, no spades nor wheelbarrows, will ever do-namely, cleanse out the filth that lodges there-the turning of the river in will do, and float it all away. The one possibility for complete, conclusive deliverance from the dominion and tyranny of Self is to be found in the words ‘For My sake.’ Ah! brethren, I suppose there are none of us so poor in earthly love, possessed or remembered, but that we know the omnipotence of these words when whispered by beloved lips, ‘For My sake’; and Jesus Christ is saying them to us all.
IV. Lastly, notice the recompense of the stringent requirement.
‘Shall find it,’ and that finding, like the losing, has a twofold reference and accomplishment: here and now, yonder and then.
Here and now, no man possesses himself till he has given himself to Jesus Christ. Only then, when we put the reins into His hands, can we coerce and guide the fiery steeds of passion and of impulse, And so Scripture, in more than one place, uses a remarkable expression, when it speaks of those that believe to the ‘acquiring of their souls.’ You are not your own masters until you are Christ’s servants; and when you fancy yourselves to be most entirely your own masters, you have promised yourselves liberty and have become the slave of corruption. So if you would own yourselves, give yourselves away. And such an one ‘shall find’ his life, here and now, in that all earthly things will be sweeter and better. The altar sanctifies the gift. When some pebble is plunged into a sunlit stream, the water brings out the veined colourings of the stone that looked all dull and dim when it was lying upon the bank. Fling your whole being, your wealth, your activities, and everything, into that stream, and they will flash in splendour else unknown. Did not my friend, of whom I have been speaking, enjoy his wealth far more, when he poured it out like water upon good causes, than if he had spent it in luxury and self-indulgence? And shall we not find that everything is sweeter, nobler, better, fuller of capacity to delight, if we give it all to our Master? The stringent requirement of Christ is the perfection of prudence. ‘Who pleasure follows pleasure slays,’ and who slays pleasure finds a deeper and a holier delight. The keenest epicureanism could devise no better means for sucking the last drop of sweetness out of the clustering grapes of the gladnesses of earth than to obey this stringent requirement, and so realise the blessed promise, ‘Whoso loseth his life for My sake shall find it.’ The selfish man is a roundabout fool. The self-devoted man, the Christ-enthroning man, is the wise man.
And there will be the further finding hereafter, about which we cannot speak. Only remember, how in a passage parallel with this of my text, spoken when almost within sight of Calvary, our Lord laid down not only the principle of His own life but the principle for all His servants, when He said, ‘Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.’ The solitary grain dropped into the furrow brings forth a waving harvest. We may not, we need not, particularise, but the life that is found at last is as the fruit an hundredfold of the life that men called ‘lost’ and God called ‘sown.’
‘Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord; they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them.’
1 Preached after the funeral of Mr. F. W. Crossley.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v37 Perfect Consecration to Christ.
Perfect Consecration to Christ.
v. 37. He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
Read full note →
v. 38. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me.
v. 39. He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it.
The facts, as just stated by Christ, may, under circumstances, make a very painful choice necessary, that between relatives and truth. In case of dissension in a family, policy and expediency suggest compromises, and this is the form of settlement usually adopted at the present time. Too often this means yielding on the part of the believers amounting to a denial of Jesus. It implies that earthly ties, the love of parents, the affection between brothers and sisters, are stronger, have a firmer hold upon the heart, than the express command of Jesus. If there is any yielding of principle, of the reading of Scriptures, of praying in private, of attending church services, of resenting blasphemy, then there is an express or implied denial of Christ by one who is not worthy of Him. It is a peremptory demand for preference above all earthly interests. Of course, conscientious confessing of Christ will result in unpleasantness, will lay many a cross on the earnest Christian, just as the Romans forced those that were condemned to the accursed tree to carry their own cross. There is here also a prophetic reference. The Lord by expressions of this kind was preparing His disciples for the fate which was awaiting Him. He suffered all,. even death on the cross, in confessing us. Crucifixion, terrible death; but horrible though it be, it means salvation for us. Shall His disciples prove themselves unworthy by refusing to follow after Him on the way of suffering, when a few years’ tribulation will bring them eternal joy? The life of a disciple of Christ is not his to use for selfish ends. Jesus uses the word "life" here alternately for the bodily life and for eternal life, the salvation of the soul. He that seeks and apparently finds his life here in this world, in the pursuit of temporal interests, and forgets the care of his soul, will lose the salvation of. his soul. But if any one, for the sake of Christ and in staunch confession of Him, loses this earthly life with all it has to offer, he will find more than full and satisfying compensation in the reward of mercy at the hand of his Lord, the glories of eternal life.
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 v37 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Jesus continues to instruct his disciples about the reasons why they should not be afraid of the persecution that they might experience.
Read full note →
He who loves ... is not worthy
Here "he" means any person in general. AT: "Those who love ... are not worthy" or "If you love ... you are not worthy" (See: When Masculine Words Include Women)
loves
The word for "love" here refers to "brotherly love" or "love from a friend." AT: "cares for" or "is devoted to" or "is fond of"
worthy of me
"deserve to belong to me" or "worthy to be my disciple"
pick up his cross and follow after me
"carry his cross and follow me." The cross represents suffering and death. Taking up the cross represents being willing to suffer and die. AT: "obey me even to the point of suffering and dying" (See: Metonymy and Metaphor)
pick up
"take up" or "pick up and carry"
He who finds his life will lose it. But he who loses ... will find it
Jesus uses a proverb to teach his disciples. This should be translated with as few words as possible. AT: "Those who find their lives will lose them. But those who lose their lives ... will find them" or "If you find your life you will lose it. But if you lose your life ... you will find it" (See: Proverbs)
finds
This is a metaphor for "keeps" or "saves." AT: "tries to keep" or "tries to save" (See: Metaphor)
will lose it
This does not mean the person will die. It is a metaphor that means the person will not experience spiritual life with God. AT: "will not have true life" (See: Metaphor)
who loses his life
This does not mean to die. It is a metaphor that means a person considers obeying Jesus more important than his own life. AT: "who denies himself" (See: Metaphor)
for my sake
"because he trusts me" or "on my account" or "because of me." This is the same idea as "for my sake" in Matthew 10:18.
will find it
This metaphor means the person will experience spiritual life with God. AT: "will find true life" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
love
worthy
cross
life
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 v37 10:37-39 The cross was a Roman instrument of torture…
10:37-39 The cross was a Roman instrument of torture and execution (27:27-55). To take up your cross and follow Jesus involves loving him above all other things and being willing to follow him regardless of the physical or social consequences.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.