---
title: "Take Up Your Cross"
category: "spiritual-disciplines"
description: "Peter rebuked Jesus for speaking of the cross, and Jesus called it setting the mind on the things of man. A study of Matthew 16:21-28 through two Greek word studies: the mind that keeps itself safe and high, the life saved by losing it, and Peter's own road from that rebuke to his denial, his tears and his restoration."
tags: ["matthew", "discipleship", "person/peter", "humility", "pride", "suffering", "repentance", "crucifixion", "method/word-study", "lang/greek"]
draft: false
primary_passage: "Matthew 16:21-28; Mark 8:31-9:1; Luke 9:22-27"
bible_references: ["Matthew 3:11", "Matthew 4:8-10", "Matthew 4:17-19", "Matthew 6:10", "Matthew 10:26-39", "Matthew 14:30", "Matthew 16:16-18", "Matthew 17:1-9", "Matthew 20:28", "Matthew 26:31-42", "Matthew 26:54", "Matthew 26:58", "Matthew 26:69-75", "Matthew 27:32", "Matthew 27:40-42", "Mark 8:33", "John 12:25-27", "John 6:38", "John 21:15-19", "Luke 9:23", "Luke 22:31-32", "Luke 22:61-62", "Galatians 2:12", "Genesis 2:7", "Leviticus 17:11", "Psalm 49:7-8", "Psalm 62:12", "Isaiah 53:10-12", "Ephesians 2:8-9", "Romans 8:5", "Romans 11:20", "Romans 12:3", "Romans 12:16", "Philippians 2:3-8", "Philippians 3:18-19", "Colossians 3:2", "2 Corinthians 5:10", "1 Peter 1:11", "1 Peter 2:21", "1 Peter 4:1", "1 Peter 5:5-6", "2 Peter 1:16-18"]
date_created: 2026-10-10
date_modified: 2026-10-10
ai_provider_models:
  - anthropic/claude-opus-5.5
---

# Take Up Your Cross

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](https://the-way.lewy.au/about/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](#from-that-time). Matthew 16:21 opens the second half of the Gospel, and it
  heads to the cross.
- [Peter's rebuke](#peters-rebuke) and [Get behind me, Satan](#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-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](#deny-take-up-follow). The call itself: three commands in verse 24,
  and the one mind they make.
- [Saving your life](#saving-your-life). The second word study: ψυχή with "save" and "lose", and
  the fear Jesus names beside them.
- [What no one can give](#what-no-one-can-give). The ransom behind the call and the reward ahead of it.
- [Gethsemane: not as I will](#gethsemane-not-as-i-will). Jesus doing what He asked of Peter.
- [Peter's road](#peters-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.

1. **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").
2. **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.
3. **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](#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](#in-matthew-1623) 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](#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](https://the-way.lewy.au/scripture/verses-often-misquoted/#mark-834-take-up-your-cross). 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](#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](#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](#gethsemane-not-as-i-will).

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 <span dir="rtl">נֶפֶשׁ</span> (*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](https://the-way.lewy.au/about/statement-of-faith/#reward-for-the-believer)).

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](#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](https://the-way.lewy.au/biblical-figures/peter/#what-scripture-records)).

### 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

1. **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?
2. **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?
3. **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)?
4. **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?
5. **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?
6. **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?

## 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](https://the-way.lewy.au/christian-life/humility/), for Philippians 2 and the lowly mind in full.
- [Pride](https://the-way.lewy.au/sin/pride/), for what pride is and where it comes from.
- [Simon Peter](https://the-way.lewy.au/biblical-figures/peter/), for Peter's life and name.
- [Verses Often Misquoted](https://the-way.lewy.au/scripture/verses-often-misquoted/#mark-834-take-up-your-cross), on
  "my cross to bear".
- [Forgive Us Our Debts](https://the-way.lewy.au/christian-life/forgiveness/), for forgiveness and restoration.