Take Up Your Cross

New, published 10 October 2026. What else is new

A few verses after Jesus called Peter blessed, He called him Satan. Between the two sayings Jesus told His disciples, for the first time in plain words, that He was going to Jerusalem to be killed. Peter took Him aside to stop it. Jesus' answer to Peter became His call to every disciple: "take up his cross and follow me" (Matthew 16:24, ESV). This study reads that call through the rebuke that provoked it, and follows Peter from that day to the courtyard where he denied Jesus and the beach where Jesus restored him.

✝️ Matthew 16:21-23 (ESV)

21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you." 23 But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."

In one sentence: Peter tried to keep Jesus from the cross because his mind was set on the things of man, a life kept safe and a place kept high; Jesus answered that the Father's will runs through the cross, for Him first and then for everyone who follows Him, so the disciple who sets his mind on God's will, humbly and without fear, loses his life for Jesus' sake and finds it.

Key Takeaways

(This section follows the Key Takeaways format — see that page for what each part is for.)

Types & Prophecy

Prophecy. Matthew 16:21 is the first of four times Jesus foretells His death in Matthew (16:21; 17:22-23; 20:17-19; 26:2). Every part of it came true in Jerusalem (Matthew 26-28).
Prophecy. The suffering was already written: "it was the will of the LORD to crush him" (Isaiah 53:10, ESV). At His arrest Jesus said the Scriptures required it: "that it must be so" (Matthew 26:54, ESV).

Lessons about Jesus

Jesus chose the cross with His eyes open. He told His disciples where He was going, and when Peter offered Him a way around it He called the offer Satan's. He had refused the same offer in the wilderness (Matthew 4:8-10).
Jesus gave the life no one else could pay for. No man can "give to God the price of his life" (Psalm 49:7, ESV). The Son of Man came "to give his life as a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28, ESV).
Jesus set His own will under His Father's. In Gethsemane He prayed the memory verse below (Matthew 26:39). The road He calls you to walk is the road He walked first.
Jesus restores the disciple who fails. He told Peter of his denial before it happened, prayed for him (Luke 22:32), and after the resurrection said to him again, "Follow me" (John 21:19, ESV).

Memory verses

✝️ Matthew 16:24-25 (ESV)

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

✝️ Matthew 26:39 (ESV)

39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will."

Be Transformed

Think. Ask what your mind is set on. Peter's mind was set on keeping Jesus safe and keeping his own hopes intact, and Jesus called it "the things of man" (Matthew 16:23, ESV). Set your mind on "things that are above" (Colossians 3:2, ESV), and start with God's will.
Attitude. Fear and pride both tell you to save yourself. Humble yourself "under the mighty hand of God" (1 Peter 5:6, ESV), and do not fear the people who can only take this life (Matthew 10:28).
Do. Name one place where following Jesus would cost you something: your comfort, your standing, or what people think of you. Pray Jesus' prayer over it, "your will be done" (Matthew 26:42, ESV), and take the next step He shows you.

Prayer

Father, Your will is good, and You did not spare Your own Son. Thank You that Jesus did not save Himself, so that He could save me, and that He gave His life as the ransom I could never pay. I confess that I set my mind on the things of man. I protect myself out of fear, and I hold on to my place out of pride. Humble me under Your mighty hand. Give me the mind of Christ. Teach me to deny myself, take up my cross and follow Jesus, and when I fail, turn me back to Him as You turned Peter back. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Study outline

From that time. Matthew 16:21 opens the second half of the Gospel, and it heads to the cross.
Peter's rebuke and Get behind me, Satan. What Peter said, and why Jesus heard the wilderness temptation in it.
The mind set on the things of man. The first word study: φρονέω, and the family of words Paul uses for pride and humility.
Deny, take up, follow. The call itself: three commands in verse 24, and the one mind they make.
Saving your life. The second word study: ψυχή with "save" and "lose", and the fear Jesus names beside them.
What no one can give. The ransom behind the call and the reward ahead of it.
Gethsemane: not as I will. Jesus doing what He asked of Peter.
Peter's road. The same mind carried from the rebuke to the denial, and then to the tears, the restoration and Peter's own letters.

From that time

Matthew uses the same words twice to open a new stage of Jesus' ministry. "From that time Jesus began" (Ἀπὸ τότε ἤρξατο ὁ Ἰησοῦς) opens His preaching in Galilee (Matthew 4:17), and the same five words open Matthew 16:21. From here the Gospel heads to Jerusalem.

The turn comes right after Peter's confession. Peter said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16, ESV), and Jesus told him the Father had revealed it. Now that the disciples knew who He was, Jesus told them what He had come to do.

He said He "must" go. The Greek is δεῖ (dei, DAY, G1163), "it is necessary." Jesus uses the same word at His arrest: "how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?" (Matthew 26:54, ESV). The "must" is God's. The cross was the Father's plan, written in the prophets, and Jesus walked toward it on purpose.

Peter's rebuke

"Rebuke" is ἐπιτιμάω (epitimaō, eh-pee-tee-MAH-oh, G2008). Matthew uses it six times. In three of them Jesus is the one rebuking: the wind and sea, the crowds He healed, and a demon (Matthew 8:26; 12:16; 17:18). Here Peter turns Jesus' own word of command on Jesus. In a Jewish teacher-and-disciple relationship it was audacious for a disciple to correct his teacher, and more so to rebuke him (ESV Study Bible and NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Matthew 16:22).

"Far be it from you" translates two Greek words, ἵλεώς σοι (hileōs soi, HEE-leh-ohs soy, G2436). Literally it means "[God be] merciful to you," as the LSB and CSB footnotes record. It is an oath formula from the Greek Old Testament. When David refuses the water his men risked their lives to bring, he says, "ἵλεώς μοι ὁ θεός", God be merciful to me if I do this (1 Chronicles 11:19, LXX). Joab uses it the same way (2 Samuel 20:20, LXX). Peter is saying, "God forbid!" Then he adds the strongest negative Greek has, οὐ μή: "This shall never happen to you."

Peter meant it as loyalty. Most Jews of his day expected a triumphant Messiah who would defeat Israel's enemies (NIV Biblical Theology and NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bibles, notes on Matthew 16:22). A Messiah killed by Israel's own leaders made no sense. Peter loved Jesus, and he wanted Him kept safe. Even so, the Old Testament already held what he refused: the servant "poured out his soul to death" (Isaiah 53:12, ESV).

Get behind me, Satan

The wilderness offer, made again

Jesus had said nearly these words before. In the wilderness the devil showed Him "all the kingdoms of the world and their glory" and offered them for one act of worship (Matthew 4:8-9, ESV). Jesus answered, "Be gone, Satan!" (Matthew 4:10, ESV). The Greek is ὕπαγε, σατανᾶ (hypage, satana, G5217, G4567). In Matthew 16:23 it is ὕπαγε ὀπίσω μου, σατανᾶ, the same words with "behind me" added.

The offer was the same too: the kingdom without the cross. Three verses later Jesus warns against gaining "the whole world" (Matthew 16:26, ESV), the prize the devil had offered Him. At the cross the offer came a third time, from the mockers: "save yourself! ... come down from the cross" (Matthew 27:40, ESV). Peter filled Satan's role (NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Matthew 16:23). He was not possessed; his advice came from the same source as the devil's offer and pointed the same way (NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, note on Matthew 16:23).

From rock to stumbling stone

A few verses earlier Jesus had said, "you are Peter (Πέτρος, Petros, G4074), and on this rock (πέτρα, petra, G4073) I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18, ESV). Now He says, "You are a hindrance to me." The word is σκάνδαλον (skandalon, SKAN-dah-lon, G4625), a stone or snare that trips someone. The WEB and NASB keep the picture with "stumbling block". The rock had become a stone in the road (NIV Biblical Theology and NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bibles, note on Matthew 16:23).

"Behind me": two readings

"Get behind me" has been read two ways, and both have support.

"Get out of my way." On this reading ὕπαγε ὀπίσω μου means "go away", as ὕπαγε, σατανᾶ means in Matthew 4:10. The NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible takes it so.
"Get back in your place." On this reading Jesus sends Peter back to where a disciple walks, behind his teacher (NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Matthew 16:23). Matthew's wording supports it. ὀπίσω μου (opisō mou, G3694), "behind me" or "after me", is what Jesus said when He first called Peter: "δεῦτε ὀπίσω μου", "Follow me" (Matthew 4:19). It is the phrase in the very next verse: "If anyone would come after me (ὀπίσω μου)" (Matthew 16:24, ESV). Matthew uses ὀπίσω μου five times: once for John the Baptist's successor (Matthew 3:11), here, and three times for following Jesus (Matthew 4:19; 10:38; 16:24).

The first reading fits the parallel with the wilderness. The second fits the words on either side. They need not compete. Satan was told to go; Peter was told to get back behind Jesus and follow.

The mind set on the things of man

Jesus names what was wrong: "you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man." The verb is φρονέω (phroneō, fro-NEH-oh, G5426). It carries the whole diagnosis, so it gets a full word study here.

Before the New Testament

In the Septuagint φρονέω occurs fourteen times, and its sense is "to think, to understand." Moses grieves over Israel: Οὐκ ἐφρόνησαν συνιέναι, "they did not think so as to understand" (Deuteronomy 32:29, LXX, translated here). Isaiah says of idol-makers, Οὐκ ἔγνωσαν φρονῆσαι, "they did not know how to think" (Isaiah 44:18, LXX, translated here). The word describes how a person thinks, and how the heart shapes it.

In the New Testament

φρονέω occurs 26 times in the New Testament. Twenty-three are in Paul's letters. In the Gospels it occurs only in this saying, once in Matthew (16:23) and once in Mark (8:33). Paul's uses fall into three groups.

Where the mind is set. "Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh (τὰ τῆς σαρκὸς φρονοῦσιν), but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit" (Romans 8:5, ESV). The construction is the one in Matthew 16:23, φρονεῖν τὰ τοῦ ..., "to mind the things of ...". Paul writes "set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth" (Colossians 3:2, ESV). He describes "enemies of the cross of Christ" as people "with minds set on earthly things" (Philippians 3:18-19, ESV). Louw and Nida's semantic lexicon puts Matthew 16:23 in the same group as these verses (domain 30.20, "to keep one's mind on, to set one's mind on").
Pride. "Do not become proud" is, word for word, "do not think high things", μὴ ὑψηλὰ φρόνει (Romans 11:20). "Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly" is μὴ τὰ ὑψηλὰ φρονοῦντες (Romans 12:16, ESV). Paul tells everyone "not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think" (Romans 12:3, ESV), using ὑπερφρονεῖν (hyperphronein, G5252), "to think above" what is fitting.
The mind of Christ. "Have this mind among yourselves (τοῦτο φρονεῖτε), which is yours in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5, ESV). The mind Paul means is the one that "humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:8, ESV). Two verses earlier he names it: "in humility (ταπεινοφροσύνῃ)" (Philippians 2:3, ESV). ταπεινοφροσύνη (tapeinophrosynē, tah-pay-no-fro-SOO-nay, G5012) is built from the same root, "a lowly mind."

In Matthew 16:23

In Matthew, φρονέω means "set the mind on," the first group. On its own the verb does not mean "be proud." What it says is that Peter's thinking took its direction from "the things of man," human interests and human ways of reckoning, where it should have taken its direction from God's purpose. The NASB renders it "you are not setting your mind on God's purposes, but men's."

The wider usage shows what that direction looks like. In Paul the mind set on earthly things belongs to the "enemies of the cross" (Philippians 3:18-19), the high mind is pride (Romans 12:16), and the lowly mind follows Jesus to His cross (Philippians 2:3-8). Matthew 16:23 stands where those three meet. Peter's mind set on the things of man led him to oppose the cross, and opposing the cross is the opposite of the mind that "humbled himself."

Two things in the text show that Peter's "things of man" included pride. He presumed to correct his teacher the moment after he had been praised. And at the Last Supper he set himself above the others: "Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away" (Matthew 26:33, ESV; see The boast below).

Conclusion. Peter's mind was set on a Messiah who would not suffer, and disciples who would not have to.

Deny, take up, follow

✝️ Matthew 16:24 (ESV)

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

"Then" (Τότε) ties the call to the rebuke. Jesus has just told Peter that his mind is set on the things of man. Now He tells every disciple what a mind set on the things of God does. The call opens with the will: "If anyone would (θέλει) come after me."

Jesus gives three commands. The Greek forms differ. "Deny" (ἀπαρνησάσθω) and "take up" (ἀράτω, from αἴρω, airō, G142) are aorist imperatives, a decision made. "Follow" (ἀκολουθείτω) is a present imperative, a walk that goes on. Luke adds that the cross is taken up "daily" (Luke 9:23, ESV).

Deny himself

ἀπαρνέομαι (aparneomai, ah-par-NEH-oh-my, G533) means to disown, to say "I do not know him." In Matthew it occurs only here and in Peter's denial (Matthew 26:34, 35, 75). Jesus calls the disciple to disown himself. Peter, on the night of the arrest, disowned Jesus instead.

The self Jesus names is the one that spoke in verse 22. Jesus had spoken God's "must" (verse 21), and Peter's own will answered "never." To deny yourself is to take your own will off the seat where it decides, so that God's will decides. The NLT puts it plainly: "you must give up your own way." This is the high mind of the word study brought low. The disciple who corrected his teacher steps back behind Him.

Take up his cross

A condemned man often carried the crossbeam of his own cross, the patibulum, to the place of execution, through a hostile and mocking crowd (NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Matthew 16:24). Jesus' hearers knew that a man carrying a cross was a man on his way to die. When the time came, the soldiers had to make a passer-by, Simon of Cyrene, carry Jesus' cross (Matthew 27:32). The disciples were not there to carry it.

The cross Jesus carried was God's will for Him: He "must" (δεῖ) go and be killed. The cross a disciple takes up is God's will at the point where it costs him his own life, the ψυχή that the next verse turns on (see Saving your life). It is the cost of following Jesus, borne "for my sake" (verse 25). The common phrase "my cross to bear", used for any hardship, is treated in Verses Often Misquoted. To take it up is to accept that cost before you know its size, because you trust the One whose will it is.

Follow me

ἀκολουθέω (akoloutheō, ah-ko-loo-THEH-oh, G190) is the ordinary word for following someone on the road. A disciple goes where his teacher goes, and Jesus had just said where He was going: to Jerusalem, to suffer, die and rise. He went there because the Father willed it. So to follow Jesus is to let the Father's will set your direction, one step after another, as the present imperative says. It puts the disciple where "Get behind me" sent Peter, back in his place behind his teacher (see "Behind me": two readings). Matthew records what following looks like when the self is kept safe: on the night of the arrest Peter "was following him at a distance" (Matthew 26:58, ESV), the same verb, ἠκολούθει, from far enough back to stay out of reach. When Jesus restored him, He gave this command again (see The restoration).

One mind in three commands

Together the three commands turn verse 23 around. Peter's mind was set on the things of man: a place kept high and a life kept safe. Denying yourself lays down the place. Taking up your cross lays down the life. Following Jesus sets your mind on the things of God, because His own mind was set there: "I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me" (John 6:38, ESV). Reading verse 24 as the answer to verse 23 rests on Matthew's "Then" and on the shared "would" (θέλω); it is this study's reading, and the "for" that opens verse 25 carries it on. Jesus lived all three in Gethsemane.

This shows that God makes His will visible. It walks ahead of you in His Son Jesus, and every step He asks of you, Jesus has already taken. So you may set your mind where Jesus set His: "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5, ESV).

Saving your life

✝️ Matthew 16:25-26 (ESV)

25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

Verses 25, 26 and 27 each begin with "for" (γάρ), so they give three reasons for the call in verse 24 (ESV Study Bible, note on Matthew 16:25). The first reason turns on one word, ψυχή (psychē, psoo-KHAY, G5590), used four times in two verses.

The word behind "life" and "soul"

ψυχή is the Septuagint's usual word for the Hebrew נֶפֶשׁ (nephesh, NEH-fesh, H5315). The first man "became a living creature", εἰς ψυχὴν ζῶσαν, "a living soul" (Genesis 2:7, LXX). "The life (ψυχή) of the flesh is in the blood ... to make atonement for your souls (ψυχῶν)" (Leviticus 17:11, LXX; ESV for the English). So the word means the life a person lives and the self who lives it, with no line drawn between them.

The New Testament keeps both senses. ψυχή occurs 102 times. In Louw and Nida's lexicon 37 are filed under physical life (23.88) and 28 under the inner self (26.4). Matthew has it sixteen times, and both senses appear: "do not be anxious about your life" (Matthew 6:25, ESV) and "rest for your souls" (Matthew 11:29, ESV).

One word in verses 25-26

The ESV, NIV and NASB say "life" in verse 25 and "soul" in verse 26. The Greek has ψυχή all four times, and the WEB keeps it as "life" throughout. The NLT's footnote on verse 26 gives a third rendering: "Or your self." The argument depends on it being one word. The life you try to keep is the same self you lose. The life you lose for Jesus is the same self you find. And the "soul" you forfeit by gaining the world is that same life again.

"Whoever would save"

Three verbs surround ψυχή.

"Would" is θέλω (thelō, THEL-oh, G2309), "to want, to will." Verse 24 has it too: "If anyone would (θέλει) come after me." The saying is about what a person wants.
"Save" is σῴζω (sōzō, SOH-zoh, G4982). Matthew uses it for rescue from danger and for salvation: Peter sinking, "Lord, save me" (Matthew 14:30, ESV), and the mockers at the cross, "save yourself!" (Matthew 27:40, 42, ESV).
"Lose" is ἀπόλλυμι (apollymi, ah-POL-loo-mee, G622), "to lose, to destroy."

"Save" and "life" appear together in only eight verses of the New Testament. One is John 12:27, Jesus' own version of this choice: "Now is my soul (ψυχή) troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come to this hour" (ESV). Jesus did not save Himself, and that is how He saves us.

The fear Jesus names

Matthew 16:24-25 repeats a saying Jesus first gave in Matthew 10. There the words that lead up to it are about fear.

✝️ Matthew 10:28 (ESV)

28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

"Do not fear" comes three times in six verses (Matthew 10:26, 28, 31). Then Jesus warns, "whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 10:33, ESV). The verb is ἀρνέομαι (arneomai, G720), the verb Matthew uses for Peter's denials in the courtyard (Matthew 26:70, 72). Then He gives the cross saying (Matthew 10:38-39). The sequence is fear, then denial, then the cross. ψυχή is in the middle of it: men can kill the body, but they cannot reach the ψυχή.

Peter walked that sequence the other way: he denied Jesus before men, and he did it in the very word Jesus had used for it. Fear is named outright in Peter's life when he sinks crying "Lord, save me" (Matthew 14:30, ESV), and again years later at Antioch, where Paul says he drew back "fearing the circumcision party" (Galatians 2:12, ESV).

Conclusion. To "save your life" is to keep your own self safe on your own terms. In Matthew 10 fear of men pushes toward it and denial follows (Matthew 10:28, 33); that fear drives it here too is this study's reading of the two passages together, and Peter's story bears it out. To lose your life "for my sake" is to hand that self to Jesus, and through Him to the Father's will.

Is this about being saved?

Christians differ over what "save" and "find" mean in verse 25.

Some read it as eternal salvation. On this reading the person who rejects God's will and pursues his own, to protect his life in this world, loses eternally what he tried to keep (ESV Study Bible, note on Matthew 16:25).
Others read it as the reward of a believer's life. On this reading the words are addressed to disciples who already belong to Jesus, and "finding" the life means having it count before Him when He comes (verse 27).

Both readings agree on what this site holds: salvation is by grace through faith, "not a result of works" (Ephesians 2:8-9, ESV). The ransom that saves is the one Jesus paid (Matthew 20:28). Taking up the cross is how the people He has bought follow Him.

What no one can give

The second "for" asks a question with no answer: "what shall a man give in return for his soul?" (Matthew 16:26, ESV). "In return" is ἀντάλλαγμα (antallagma, an-TAL-lag-mah, G465), something given in exchange. It occurs only here and in Mark's parallel (Mark 8:37).

The psalmist had said it already: "Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice" (Psalm 49:7-8, ESV). In the Septuagint that is "the price of the ransom of his ψυχή" (Psalm 48:9, LXX).

Four chapters later Jesus gives the answer to His own question: "the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life (ψυχή) as a ransom (λύτρον, lytron, G3083) for many" (Matthew 20:28, ESV). The link is this study's inference from the shared word ψυχή; Matthew does not draw it. The exchange no person can make for their own soul, God made in His Son Jesus. That is redemption: a life bought back at a price, and the price was His.

The reward and the glimpse

The third "for" looks ahead: "the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done" (Matthew 16:27, ESV). The words echo Psalm 62:12 and Proverbs 24:12. For those who belong to Christ, Paul places this at the judgment seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10). That judgment weighs a believer's work for reward. It does not decide whether he is saved (see the statement of faith).

Verse 28, that some standing there would "see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom," is debated; the ESV Study Bible lists six views, from the resurrection and Pentecost to AD 70 and the second coming. It, the NIV Biblical Theology and the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bibles favour the next event Matthew records, the transfiguration "after six days" before Peter, James and John (Matthew 17:1-2), which Peter later called seeing "the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:16-18, ESV).

Gethsemane: not as I will

Everything Jesus asked of Peter in Matthew 16, He did Himself in Matthew 26.

✝️ Matthew 26:38-39 (ESV)

38 Then he said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me." 39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will."

Jesus' ψυχή was "very sorrowful, even to death." He felt the full weight of the cross, and He asked if there was another way. Then He set His own will (θέλω) under His Father's. The second time He prayed the words of the prayer He had taught His disciples: "your will be done" (Matthew 26:42, ESV; see Matthew 6:10).

Peter was there. Jesus asked him to watch and pray, "that you may not enter into temptation" (Matthew 26:41, ESV), and Peter slept. Within hours the temptation he had voiced at Caesarea Philippi came back to him, and this time it was about his own life.

Peter's road

Matthew ties Peter's last night back to Caesarea Philippi with the same words, traced in The boast. Reading those links as one mind at work, from the rebuke to the denial, is this study's reading; the words themselves are Matthew's. The pattern was already there: a true insight, then a fall (see Simon Peter).

The boast

✝️ Matthew 26:33-35 (ESV)

33 Peter answered him, "Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away." 34 Jesus said to him, "Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times." 35 Peter said to him, "Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!" And all the disciples said the same.

"Fall away" is σκανδαλίζω (skandalizō, G4624), the verb of σκάνδαλον. The man who had been a stumbling block to Jesus now promised he would never stumble, even if everyone else did. He used the same strong negative, οὐ μή, that he had used to forbid the cross: "οὐ μή σε ἀπαρνήσομαι", "I will never deny you." He even took up Jesus' word "must": "even if I must (δέῃ) die with you." Peter was willing to die. His trust was in his own resolve. In Matthew 16 he had said "never" to God's will; here he said "never" to Jesus' warning.

The denial

At the arrest "all the disciples left him and fled" (Matthew 26:56, ESV). Peter came back, but he "was following him at a distance" (Matthew 26:58, ESV). In the courtyard a servant girl said, "You also were with Jesus the Galilean" (Matthew 26:69, ESV). Peter denied it three times, the last with a curse: "I do not know the man" (Matthew 26:74, ESV).

Matthew does not say Peter was afraid in the courtyard. Fear is the likely inference, given who was asking, where he was, and what Peter did at other times (Matthew 14:30; Galatians 2:12). What Matthew records is the self-preservation itself: the man told to deny himself denied Jesus, and the man who said "I will never deny you" saved his own life that night.

The tears

"And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, 'Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.' And he went out and wept bitterly" (Matthew 26:75, ESV). Luke adds that "the Lord turned and looked at Peter" (Luke 22:61, ESV). Peter's repentance began with remembering Jesus' word, and his weeping was, most naturally, grief over what he had done.

Jesus had prepared for that moment. "I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers" (Luke 22:32, ESV). Jesus knew about the fall before it happened, and He planned the return.

The restoration

After the resurrection, beside the Sea of Galilee, Jesus asked Peter three times, "do you love me?", and three times gave him a charge: feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep (John 21:15-17). Many readers have heard in the three questions an answer to the three denials; John does not say so, but Peter "was grieved because he said to him the third time" (John 21:17, ESV). Then Jesus told Peter how he would die.

✝️ John 21:18-19 (ESV)

18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go." 19 (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, "Follow me."

This was the cross Peter had tried to keep from Jesus, now promised to Peter. And the call that ends the restoration is the call Peter first heard: "Follow me" (Matthew 4:19, ESV), though John's Greek (ἀκολούθει μοι) differs from Matthew's (δεῦτε ὀπίσω μου). Jesus gave the failed disciple the cross and the call again, and the same place behind Him.

What Peter wrote

About thirty years later the man who said "This shall never happen to you" wrote that the prophets had foretold "the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories" (1 Peter 1:11, ESV). That is Matthew 16:21 in a sentence: suffering, then glory. He wrote, "Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps" (1 Peter 2:21, ESV). He told the churches to arm themselves with Christ's "way of thinking" (ἔννοια, ennoia, G1771; 1 Peter 4:1, ESV).

And the man who once set himself above the others wrote this:

✝️ 1 Peter 5:5-6 (ESV)

5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,

"Humility" is ταπεινοφροσύνη, the lowly mind, the opposite of the mind Jesus rebuked at Caesarea Philippi. Peter learned it by falling and being lifted up, and this shows what God does in the gospel: He forgives a failing disciple, restores him, and puts him back on the road behind Jesus.

Discussion Questions

The language. The ESV says "life" in Matthew 16:25 and "soul" in Matthew 16:26, where the Greek has ψυχή all four times. Read the two verses with one English word throughout. What changes?
The text in its context. Peter had just confessed that Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16, ESV). How could the same man be right about who Jesus is and wrong about what He came to do?
Christ. Jesus refused to pray "Father, save me from this hour" (John 12:27, ESV), and on the cross He refused "save yourself!" (Matthew 27:40, ESV). What does His refusal tell you about the life He promises to "whoever loses his life for my sake" (Matthew 16:25, ESV)?
The hard part. Some read the life lost and found in Matthew 16:25 as eternal salvation, others as a believer's reward. How does Matthew 20:28 bear on the question?
The mind. Jesus told Peter, "you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man" (Matthew 16:23, ESV). Paul uses the same verb, φρονέω, for the haughty mind (Romans 12:16) and the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5). What are "the things of man" that your mind most easily settles on?
Be transformed. Jesus restored Peter with three questions and the words "Follow me" (John 21:15-19). What would it look like to take up your cross again after you fail?

Group study sheet for a 40-minute group: two A4 sheets, or one with the guided path

The point, the passage, the questions and the response, from this study. Print on both sides of two A4 sheets, flipping on the long edge. While this block is open, printing the page prints the sheet; close it to print the study.

Black & white for a black-only printer Two pages one sheet: each step of the study with its questions

Group study · 40 minutes

Take Up Your Cross

Matthew 16:21-28; Mark 8:31-9:1; Luke 9:22-27

The point Peter tried to keep Jesus from the cross because his mind was set on the things of man, a life kept safe and a place kept high; Jesus answered that the Father's will runs through the cross, for Him first and then for everyone who follows Him, so the disciple who sets his mind on God's will, humbly and without fear, loses his life for Jesus' sake and finds it.

0–5min

Ask: what comes to mind when you hear Take Up Your Cross? Hear a few answers before anyone reads.

5–12minRead it aloud BSB

Matthew 16:21-28 ²¹From that time on Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. ²²Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. “Far be it from You, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to You!” ²³But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” ²⁴Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. ²⁵For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. ²⁶What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? ²⁷For the Son of Man will come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to what he has done. ²⁸Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

Mark 8:31-9:1 ^8:31Then He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and that He must be killed and after three days rise again. ³²He spoke this message quite frankly, and Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. ³³But Jesus, turning and looking at His disciples, rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” ³⁴Then Jesus called the crowd to Him along with His disciples, and He told them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. ³⁵For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and for the gospel will save it. ³⁶What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? ³⁷Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? ³⁸If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in His Father’s glory with the holy angels.” ^9:1Then Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God arrive with power.”

Luke 9:22-27 ²²“The Son of Man must suffer many things,” He said. “He must be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

Take Up Your Cross

The study in brief

From that time. Matthew 16:21 opens the second half of the Gospel, and it heads to the cross.
Peter's rebuke and Get behind me, Satan. What Peter said, and why Jesus heard the wilderness temptation in it.
The mind set on the things of man. The first word study: φρονέω, and the family of words Paul uses for pride and humility.
Deny, take up, follow. The call itself: three commands in verse 24, and the one mind they make.
Saving your life. The second word study: ψυχή with "save" and "lose", and the fear Jesus names beside them.
What no one can give. The ransom behind the call and the reward ahead of it.
Gethsemane: not as I will. Jesus doing what He asked of Peter.
Peter's road. The same mind carried from the rebuke to the denial, and then to the tears, the restoration and Peter's own letters.

Notes

Take Up Your Cross

12–17minStep 1 · From that time

1The text in its context. Peter had just confessed that Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16, ESV). How could the same man be right about who Jesus is and wrong about what He came to do?

Step 2 · Peter's rebuke

17–21minStep 3 · The mind set on the things of man

2The mind. Jesus told Peter, "you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man" (Matthew 16:23, ESV). Paul uses the same verb, φρονέω, for the haughty mind (Romans 12:16) and the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5). What are "the things of man" that your mind most easily settles on?

Step 4 · Deny, take up, follow

21–35minStep 5 · Saving your life

3The language. The ESV says "life" in Matthew 16:25 and "soul" in Matthew 16:26, where the Greek has ψυχή all four times. Read the two verses with one English word throughout. What changes?

4Christ. Jesus refused to pray "Father, save me from this hour" (John 12:27, ESV), and on the cross He refused "save yourself!" (Matthew 27:40, ESV). What does His refusal tell you about the life He promises to "whoever loses his life for my sake" (Matthew 16:25, ESV)?

5The hard part. Some read the life lost and found in Matthew 16:25 as eternal salvation, others as a believer's reward. How does Matthew 20:28 bear on the question?

Step 6 · What no one can give

Step 7 · Gethsemane: not as I will

Step 8 · Peter's road

Take Up Your Cross

35–40minBe transformed

6Be transformed. Jesus restored Peter with three questions and the words "Follow me" (John 21:15-19). What would it look like to take up your cross again after you fail?

Think. Ask what your mind is set on. Peter's mind was set on keeping Jesus safe and keeping his own hopes intact, and Jesus called it "the things of man" (Matthew 16:23, ESV). Set your mind on "things that are above" (Colossians 3:2, ESV), and start with God's will.
Attitude. Fear and pride both tell you to save yourself. Humble yourself "under the mighty hand of God" (1 Peter 5:6, ESV), and do not fear the people who can only take this life (Matthew 10:28).
Do. Name one place where following Jesus would cost you something: your comfort, your standing, or what people think of you. Pray Jesus' prayer over it, "your will be done" (Matthew 26:42, ESV), and take the next step He shows you.

Memory verse

Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Matthew 16:24-25 (ESV)

Pray together

Father, Your will is good, and You did not spare Your own Son. Thank You that Jesus did not save Himself, so that He could save me, and that He gave His life as the ransom I could never pay. I confess that I set my mind on the things of man. I protect myself out of fear, and I hold on to my place out of pride. Humble me under Your mighty hand. Give me the mind of Christ. Teach me to deny myself, take up my cross and follow Jesus, and when I fail, turn me back to Him as You turned Peter back. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Notes

The whole study, with every verse a tap awayhttps://the-way.lewy.au/christian-life/take-up-your-cross/

Group study · step by step

Take Up Your Cross

Matthew 16:21-28; Mark 8:31-9:1; Luke 9:22-27

Open Ask: what comes to mind when you hear Take Up Your Cross? Hear a few answers before anyone reads.

Read it aloud Matthew 16:21-28; Mark 8:31-9:1; Luke 9:22-27

Step 1From that time — Matthew 16:21 opens the second half of the Gospel, and it heads to the cross.

1The text in its context. Peter had just confessed that Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16, ESV). How could the same man be right about who Jesus is and wrong about what He came to do?

Step 2Peter's rebuke — and Get behind me, Satan. What Peter said, and why Jesus heard the wilderness temptation in it.

Step 3The mind set on the things of man — The first word study: φρονέω, and the family of words Paul uses for pride and humility.

2The mind. Jesus told Peter, "you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man" (Matthew 16:23, ESV). Paul uses the same verb, φρονέω, for the haughty mind (Romans 12:16) and the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5). What are "the things of man" that your mind most easily settles on?

Step 4Deny, take up, follow — The call itself: three commands in verse 24, and the one mind they make.Key verses: Matthew 16:24

Step 5Saving your life — The second word study: ψυχή with "save" and "lose", and the fear Jesus names beside them.Key verses: Matthew 16:25-26; Matthew 10:28

3The language. The ESV says "life" in Matthew 16:25 and "soul" in Matthew 16:26, where the Greek has ψυχή all four times. Read the two verses with one English word throughout. What changes?

4Christ. Jesus refused to pray "Father, save me from this hour" (John 12:27, ESV), and on the cross He refused "save yourself!" (Matthew 27:40, ESV). What does His refusal tell you about the life He promises to "whoever loses his life for my sake" (Matthew 16:25, ESV)?

5The hard part. Some read the life lost and found in Matthew 16:25 as eternal salvation, others as a believer's reward. How does Matthew 20:28 bear on the question?

Step 6What no one can give — The ransom behind the call and the reward ahead of it.

Step 7Gethsemane: not as I will — Jesus doing what He asked of Peter.Key verses: Matthew 26:38-39

Step 8Peter's road — The same mind carried from the rebuke to the denial, and then to the tears, the restoration and Peter's own letters.Key verses: Matthew 26:33-35; John 21:18-19; 1 Peter 5:5-6

Be transformed

6Be transformed. Jesus restored Peter with three questions and the words "Follow me" (John 21:15-19). What would it look like to take up your cross again after you fail?

Think. Ask what your mind is set on. Peter's mind was set on keeping Jesus safe and keeping his own hopes intact, and Jesus called it "the things of man" (Matthew 16:23, ESV). Set your mind on "things that are above" (Colossians 3:2, ESV), and start with God's will.
Attitude. Fear and pride both tell you to save yourself. Humble yourself "under the mighty hand of God" (1 Peter 5:6, ESV), and do not fear the people who can only take this life (Matthew 10:28).
Do. Name one place where following Jesus would cost you something: your comfort, your standing, or what people think of you. Pray Jesus' prayer over it, "your will be done" (Matthew 26:42, ESV), and take the next step He shows you.

Take Up Your Cross

The point Peter tried to keep Jesus from the cross because his mind was set on the things of man, a life kept safe and a place kept high; Jesus answered that the Father's will runs through the cross, for Him first and then for everyone who follows Him, so the disciple who sets his mind on God's will, humbly and without fear, loses his life for Jesus' sake and finds it.

The whole study, with every verse a tap awayhttps://the-way.lewy.au/christian-life/take-up-your-cross/

References & Recommended Reading

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the English Standard Version (Crossway). NASB, LSB and CSB renderings and footnotes are cited by name. Greek New Testament text is the SBL Greek New Testament, checked against NA28; Septuagint text is Brenton's edition. Word counts are from the MACULA Greek (SBLGNT) morphology, and semantic domains from Louw and Nida as tagged in MACULA.

ESV Study Bible (Crossway). Notes on Matthew 16:21-28 (the four passion predictions, the three "for" clauses, the six views of 16:28), 16:22 and 10:38.
NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible (Zondervan). Notes on Matthew 16:21-28: 4:17 and 16:21 as section markers, "Get behind me" as "Get away from me", and rock to stumbling block.
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible (Zondervan). Notes on Matthew 16:22-28: the teacher-disciple relationship, Peter in Satan's role (4:8-10; 27:42-43), the patibulum, and Simon of Cyrene.
LSB and CSB footnotes on Matthew 16:22: "(God be) merciful to You."
Louw, J. P., and E. A. Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains, domains 23.88, 26.4, 30.20 and 88.209, via MACULA Greek.
Fee, Gordon D., and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, for the method of reading a Gospel saying in its literary context.

On this site

In Humility, for Philippians 2 and the lowly mind in full.
Pride, for what pride is and where it comes from.
Simon Peter, for Peter's life and name.
Verses Often Misquoted, on "my cross to bear".
Forgive Us Our Debts, for forgiveness and restoration.