The Fallible Study Bible

The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible

Matthew16:24–28

Take Up Your Cross

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Matthew 16:24–28 — Take Up Your Cross. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

24

Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Tote ho Iēsous eipen tois autou mathētais Ei tis thelei elthein opisō mou aparnēsasthō heauton kai aratō autou ton stauron kai akoloutheitō moi

Word by word23 · parsed
ΤότεToteThenG5119
√ τότε — the when, iAdverb
tote: then, at that time A hinge adverb, not a throwaway. Pulpit, following Chrysostom, fixes the moment: immediately after Peter was told to get behind Him. Poole and JFB both note that the rebuke of one man is here turned outward into a warning to all.
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
εἶπενeipentoldG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τοῖςtois. . .G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Plural
αὐτοῦautouHisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
μαθηταῖςmathētaisdisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounDative Masculine Plural
mathētais: learners, disciples Dative of address. Matthew says disciples; Ellicott, Poole and JFB all record that Mark has Jesus calling the crowd along with them and Luke has Him speaking to all, so the terms are published publicly and not whispered to an inner circle.
ΕἴEiIfG1487
√ εἰ — if, whether, that, etcConjunction
τιςtisanyoneG5100
√ τὶς — some or any person or objectInterrogative / Indefinite PronounNominative Masculine Singular
θέλειtheleiwantsG2309
√ θέλω — to determine (as an active option from subjective impulseVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
thelō: to determine, to will The whole discipleship clause hangs on a verb of deliberate volition. Ellicott renders it “willeth, desireth,” Pulpit prints the Greek and glosses “wills to.” Nothing here is conscripted: the conditional Εἴ plus this verb of willing makes the terms an offer whose price is stated in advance, and Gill lists who may take it up, rich or poor, learned or unlearned, young or old.
ἐλθεῖνeltheinto comeG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbAorist Infinitive Active
ὀπίσωopisōafterG3694
√ ὀπίσω — to the back, iPreposition
μουmouMeG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Singular
ἀπαρνησάσθωaparnēsasthōhe must denyG533
√ ἀπαρνέομαι — to deny utterly, iVerbAorist Imperative Middle3rd Person Singular
aparneomai: to deny utterly Aorist imperative middle. The lexicon's force is total disowning, not the trimming of a pleasure. Ellicott says our common idea of self-denial falls far short of the Greek: the man denies his whole self, every natural motive that collides with Christ's claim. Ellicott then names the sting, that the man who will not deny himself is in danger, as Peter was, of denying his Lord with this very verb. Gill divides the object threefold: sinful self, righteous self (one's own works in justification), and comfortable self.
ἑαυτὸνheautonhimselfG1438
√ ἑαυτοῦ — him- (her-, it-, them-, also (in conjunction with the personal pronoun of the other persons) my-, thy-, our-, your-) self (selves), etcReflexive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
heautou: himself, his own self The reflexive pronoun is the direct object of the denial. Not the man's possessions, habits or comforts in the first instance, but the self that owns them.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀράτωaratōtake upG142
√ αἴρω — to lift upVerbAorist Imperative Active3rd Person Singular
airō: to lift up Aorist imperative: lift it, once, decisively. Henry reads the cross here as every trouble that befalls us and adds the sober qualification that we must not by rashness and folly pull crosses down upon our own heads but take them up when they are in our way.
αὐτοῦautouhisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
σταυρὸνstauroncrossG4716
√ σταυρός — a stake or post (as set upright), iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
stauros: a stake or post set upright In the mouth of a man not yet crucified, spoken days after He first told them He must be killed (Matthew 16:21). Ellicott: the words had been heard before, but the passion prediction had now given them a definite instrument. The image is of a condemned man carrying the beam of his own execution through a watching city.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀκολουθείτωakoloutheitōfollowG190
√ ἀκολουθέω — properly, to be in the same way with, iVerbPresent Imperative Active3rd Person Singular
akoloutheō: to be in the same way with Present imperative, continuous. The lexicon's force is being in the same way with someone, not merely walking behind. Pulpit makes this the third of three points and refuses to let it be passive: the disciple tracks his Master's footsteps with zeal, and the comfort is that the road has already been walked.
μοιmoiMeG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounDative 1st Person Singular
25

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

gar hos ean thelē sōsai autou tēn psychēn apolesei autēn d’ hos an apolesē autou tēn psychēn heneken emou heurēsei autēn

Word by word21 · parsed
γὰρgarForG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
gar: for, assigning a reason The verse is argument, not addition: the paradox is offered as the ground of the command in v. 24.
ὃςhoswhoeverG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐὰνeanvvvG1437
√ ἐάν — a conditional particleConjunction
θέλῃthelēwantsG2309
√ θέλω — to determine (as an active option from subjective impulseVerbPresent Subjunctive Active3rd Person Singular
thelō: to determine, to will The same verb as v. 24, and deliberately so. The willing that could have been spent on coming after Christ is here spent on self-preservation, and the arithmetic reverses.
σῶσαιsōsaito saveG4982
√ σώζω — to save, iVerbAorist Infinitive Active
sōzō: to save, to make whole Aorist infinitive. The verb the New Testament normally uses for salvation is here put in the mouth of the self-preserving man, and it fails in his hands. Gill reads the failure concretely: the man saves himself by forsaking Christ, denying the Gospel and dropping his profession, and so loses the very thing he grasped at.
αὐτοῦautouhisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τὴνtēnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
ψυχὴνpsychēnlifeG5590
√ ψυχή — breath, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
psychē: breath, life, soul The pivot of the whole unit. Ellicott is careful: it is the animating principle of the natural as distinguished from the spiritual life, and is never used as a simple equivalent for the human spirit as heir of immortality. He locates it, in the trichotomy of 1 Thessalonians 5:23, as the connecting link between body and spirit, which is exactly why the same word can be the thing lost and the thing found.
ἀπολέσειapoleseiwill loseG622
√ ἀπόλλυμι — to destroy fully (reflexively, to perish, or lose), literally or figurativelyVerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
apollymi: to destroy fully, to lose Future indicative, and therefore not a threat but an announcement of outcome. The grammar places the loss beyond the man's management: he may choose the saving, he does not get to choose the result.
αὐτήνautēnitG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Feminine 3rd Person Singular
δ’d’butG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὃςhoswhoeverG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounNominative Masculine Singular
ἂνan. . .G302
√ ἄν — (what-, where-, wither-, who-)soeverParticle
an: particle of contingency With the subjunctive it makes the second clause open ended: whoever, in whatever case, may lose.
ἀπολέσῃapolesēlosesG622
√ ἀπόλλυμι — to destroy fully (reflexively, to perish, or lose), literally or figurativelyVerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Singular
apollymi: to destroy fully, to lose Aorist subjunctive, an act viewed whole. Note what the Greek does not say: no willing attaches to this losing. Ellicott built his whole distinction on this absence, and Cambridge turns it into counsel, that Christ's follower is to lose the lower life on his cross.
αὐτοῦautouhisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τὴνtēnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
ψυχὴνpsychēnlifeG5590
√ ψυχή — breath, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
ἕνεκενhenekenfor My sakeG1752
√ ἕνεκα — on account ofPreposition
heneka: on account of The causal hinge, and the only thing separating a martyr from a suicide in this sentence. Losing one's life is not itself commended anywhere in the verse; losing it on account of Christ is.
ἐμοῦemou. . .G1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Singular
εὑρήσειheurēseiwill findG2147
√ εὑρίσκω — to find (literally or figuratively)VerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
heuriskō: to find Future indicative, answering the future of v. 25a. The two futures are the two verdicts, and both are stated as certainties before v. 27 supplies the courtroom in which they are handed down.
αὐτήνautēnitG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Feminine 3rd Person Singular
26

What 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?

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

gar ti ōphelēthēsetai anthrōpos ean kerdēsē ton holon kosmon de zēmiōthē autou tēn psychēn ē ti anthrōpos dōsei antallagma autou tēs psychēs

Word by word22 · parsed
γὰρgarG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
τίtiWhatG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
tis: what Accusative neuter interrogative: “as to what,” an accusative of respect. The question is left formally open and is never answered in the text; the answer is meant to be the hearer's silence.
ὠφεληθήσεταιōphelēthēsetaiwill it profitG5623
√ ὠφελέω — to be useful, iVerbFuture Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
ōpheleō: to be useful, to benefit Future passive. Placing the verb first throws the whole weight of the sentence on the ledger question before the world or the soul is even named.
ἄνθρωποςanthrōposa manG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐὰνeanifG1437
√ ἐάν — a conditional particleConjunction
κερδήσῃkerdēsēhe gainsG2770
√ κερδαίνω — to gain (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Singular
kerdainō: to gain Aorist subjunctive, the language of trade. Paul takes this same verb and the verb of forfeit in the next clause and reverses their objects at Philippians 3:8, counting his own gains as loss for the sake of Christ.
τὸνtontheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ὅλονholonwholeG3650
√ ὅλος — "whole" or "all", iAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Singular
κόσμονkosmonworldG2889
√ κόσμος — orderly arrangement, iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
kosmos: orderly arrangement, world Henry weighs the extravagance honestly and says Christ would not underrate the world, for He made it; the argument is not that the world is worthless but that it is finite, and set against the psychē it is outbid.
δὲdeyetG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ζημιωθῇzēmiōthēforfeitsG2210
√ ζημιόω — to injure, iVerbAorist Subjunctive Passive3rd Person Singular
zēmioō: to suffer loss, to be fined A rare passive, and the exact counterweight to kerdainō. Barnes takes the loss to be final damnation and says there is no redemption in hell; the Greek verb itself claims less, saying only that loss is sustained. Paul uses the same verb at 1 Corinthians 3:15 of a man who suffers loss and is yet saved, which is why the tier of Barnes's inference should be held apart from the tier of the word.
αὐτοῦautouhisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τὴνtēnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
ψυχὴνpsychēnsoulG5590
√ ψυχή — breath, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
psychē: breath, life, soul Cambridge's formula is the most useful one available: the word translated life in the preceding verse is here translated soul, which is life in its highest phase. One word, two English faces, one thing at stake.
ἢēOrG2228
√ ἤ — disjunctive, orConjunction
τίtiwhatG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
ἄνθρωποςanthrōpos{can} a manG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounNominative Masculine Singular
δώσειdōseigiveG1325
√ δίδωμι — to give (used in a very wide application, properly, or by implication, literally or figurativelyVerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
didōmi: to give Future indicative. The question is not whether a man should pay but whether he has anything to hand over. No object is supplied because none exists.
ἀντάλλαγμαantallagmain exchange forG465
√ ἀντάλλαγμα — an equivalent or ransomNounAccusative Neuter Singular
antallagma: an equivalent, a ransom The rarest word in the unit, and the point on which the passage turns toward the Gospel. Gill takes the sense as redemption price, cites Psalm 49:8, and concludes that nothing short of the blood and life of Christ is a proper exchange for a soul. Read with Matthew 20:28, where the Son of Man gives His life a ransom for many, the unanswerable question of v. 26 has an answer that no man can supply and that Christ supplies.
αὐτοῦautouhisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τῆςtēsG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
ψυχῆςpsychēssoulG5590
√ ψυχή — breath, iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
psychē: breath, life, soul Genitive: the exchange would be for the life. Gill records a rabbinic parallel from Midrash Kohelet, that gold, silver, iron and brass may be exchanged when lost, but when a scholar dies no one can bring his exchange, which suggests the proverb form was already in the air.
27

For 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.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

gar ho Huios tou anthrōpou mellei erchesthai en autou tou Patros tē doxē meta autou tōn angelōn kai tote apodōsei hekastō kata autou tēn praxin

Word by word25 · parsed
γὰρgarForG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
gar: for, assigning a reason The third gar in four verses. Cambridge treats it as the reason the higher life is of priceless value: a Judge is at hand who will condemn the works of the lower life and reward those who denied themselves.
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΥἱὸςHuiosSonG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounNominative Masculine Singular
huios: son With G444 in the genitive, the title Son of Man. Gill notes the force of the self-designation at this moment: the speaker was then in a mean and contemptible condition, and it is under that very title that He claims the Father's glory. Pulpit judges that our Lord is reaching back to Daniel 7:13.
τοῦtouofG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ἀνθρώπουanthrōpouManG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounGenitive Masculine Singular
μέλλειmelleiwillG3195
√ μέλλω — to intend, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
mellō: to intend, to be about to Present indicative governing a present infinitive. The idiom carries appointedness, which is why Pulpit reads divine counsel in it rather than mere futurity.
ἔρχεσθαιerchesthaicomeG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbPresent Infinitive Middle or Passive
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
αὐτοῦautouHisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ΠατρὸςPatrosFather’sG3962
√ πατήρ — a "father" (literally or figuratively, near or more remote)NounGenitive Masculine Singular
τῇtēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
δόξῃdoxēgloryG1391
√ δόξα — glory (as very apparent), in a wide application (literal or figurative, objective or subjective)NounDative Feminine Singular
doxa: glory, as very apparent Dative of attendant circumstance, and the glory is named as the Father's. Poole works out why: it is the Son's own glory (John 17:5), yet called the Father's because by eternal generation He received it with the divine nature, or because His commission to judge is from the Father (John 5:22). Geneva's marginal gloss reads the coming as that of a King.
μετὰmetawithG3326
√ μετά — properly, denoting accompanimentPreposition
αὐτοῦautouHisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τῶνtōnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ἀγγέλωνangelōnangelsG32
√ ἄγγελος — compare G34 (ἀγέλη)) (to bring tidings)NounGenitive Masculine Plural
angelos: messenger, angel Genitive plural with meta: not sent ahead but accompanying. In Zechariah 14:5 the LORD comes with His holy ones, and in Daniel 7:10 thousands of thousands attend the throne of judgment; the retinue is the standing sign of a theophany.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τότεtotethenG5119
√ τότε — the when, iAdverb
ἀποδώσειapodōseiHe will repayG591
√ ἀποδίδωμι — to give away, iVerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
apodidōmi: to give back, to pay off Future indicative, the verb of paying what is due. Poole draws the line the whole Reformation cared about: Christ is not here speaking of the cause of the reward but the rule and measure of it, so works are the standard by which He renders, while the rendering itself is of grace and not of debt (Romans 4:4). Gill presses the harder half, that evil works are the ground of condemnation while good works function as evidence.
ἑκάστῳhekastōeach oneG1538
√ ἕκαστος — each or everyAdjectiveDative Masculine Singular
hekastos: each, every one Dative singular. The judgment is distributive: not nations weighed in bulk but each one, which is why the singular praxin that follows fits it so well.
κατὰkataaccording toG2596
√ κατά — (prepositionally) down (in place or time), in varied relations (according to the case (genitive, dative or accusative) with which it is joined)Preposition
kata: according to Accusative of standard, not of cause. Poole gathers the parallel formulas Paul uses with the same preposition: according to his deeds (Romans 2:6), according to his labour (1 Corinthians 3:8), according to that he hath done (2 Corinthians 5:10).
αὐτοῦautouwhat heG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τὴνtēnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
πρᾶξινpraxinhas doneG4234
√ πρᾶξις — practice, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
praxis: practice, conduct A rare noun, found by the Verifier in only six verses. Paul uses it of the practices of the body that must be put to death (Romans 8:13) and of the old self with its practices (Colossians 3:9); Luke uses it of the deed Joseph of Arimathea did not consent to (Luke 23:51) and of the practices the Ephesian believers confessed and burned (Acts 19:18). In every case it names a course of life rather than an episode, which is precisely Ellicott's point about the singular.
28

Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Amēn legō hymin hoti tines tōn eisin hestōtōn hōde hoitines ou mē geusōntai thanatou heōs an idōsin ton Huion tou anthrōpou erchomenon en autou tē basileia

Word by word26 · parsed
ἈμὴνAmēnTrulyG281
√ ἀμήν — properly, firm, iHebrew Word
amēn: firm, so be it A Hebrew word, left in Hebrew, used by Jesus as a preface rather than a response. In the Old Testament it answers an oath or a curse; on His lips it opens one, which is itself a claim about who is speaking.
λέγωlegōI tellG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active1st Person Singular
ὑμῖνhyminyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Plural
ὅτιhotiG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
τινεςtinessomeG5100
√ τὶς — some or any person or objectInterrogative / Indefinite PronounNominative Masculine Plural
tis: some, certain ones Partitive: some of those standing, not all. Cambridge makes this the decisive test of any interpretation, requiring an event within the lifetime of some but not of all who were present, and JFB reads it the same way.
τῶνtōnwhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
εἰσίνeisinareG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἑστώτωνhestōtōnstandingG2476
√ ἵστημι — to stand (transitively or intransitively), used in various applications (literally or figuratively)VerbPerfect Participle ActiveGenitive Masculine Plural
histēmi: to stand Perfect participle, a settled state: those who have taken their stand here. Pulpit explicitly refuses a recondite sense, denying that it means remaining steadfastly by Christ's side, and takes it as plain physical presence.
ὧδεhōdehereG5602
√ ὧδε — in this same spot, iAdverb
οἵτινεςhoitinesG3748
√ ὅστις — which some, iPersonal / Relative PronounNominative Masculine Plural
οὐouvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
μὴmēvvvG3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
γεύσωνταιgeusōntaiwill not tasteG1089
√ γεύομαι — to tasteVerbAorist Subjunctive Middle3rd Person Plural
geuomai: to taste Aorist subjunctive middle under a double negative. The middle voice fits the idiom: death is something one takes into oneself. The promise is not that these men will escape death but that something will be seen first.
θανάτουthanatoudeathG2288
√ θάνατος — (properly, an adjective used as a noun) death (literally or figuratively)NounGenitive Masculine Singular
thanatos: death Genitive after the verb of tasting. Hebrews 2:9 uses the same idiom of Christ Himself tasting death for everyone, which sets the sequence of this unit in order: He tastes it, and they see the kingdom.
ἕωςheōsbeforeG2193
√ ἕως — a conjunction, preposition and adverb of continuance, until (of time and place)Conjunction
ἂνan. . .G302
√ ἄν — (what-, where-, wither-, who-)soeverParticle
ἴδωσινidōsinthey seeG3708
√ ὁράω — by extension, to attend toVerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Plural
horaō: to see, to attend to Aorist subjunctive. The lexicon extends the sense to attending to, which matters here: what is promised is the perception of an event, not necessarily the sight of a person. Pulpit builds his whole reading on that distinction, saying Christ will not personally appear but His mystical presence will be seen by its effects.
τὸνtontheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ΥἱὸνHuionSonG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounAccusative Masculine Singular
huios: son With G444, the same title as v. 27, now as the object of seeing rather than the subject of coming. The repetition binds the two verses: what verse 27 says of the last day, verse 28 says will be glimpsed within a generation.
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ἀνθρώπουanthrōpouof ManG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounGenitive Masculine Singular
ἐρχόμενονerchomenoncomingG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveAccusative Masculine Singular
erchomai: to come Present participle, middle or passive in form: coming, in the act of arriving. An unfinished motion, which is why several commentators can read the fulfilment as staged rather than single.
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
αὐτοῦautouHisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τῇtēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
βασιλείᾳbasileiakingdomG932
√ βασιλεία — properly, royalty, iNounDative Feminine Singular
basileia: royalty, rule, kingdom The unit's last word, and the most disputed. Four readings are on the table in the sources: the Transfiguration of the next chapter, the resurrection and ascension with Pentecost, the fall of Jerusalem, and the final advent. Ellicott and Cambridge and Pulpit take the fall of Jerusalem as best fitting the conditions; Poole judges the resurrection, ascension and gift of the Spirit the most generally received opinion; Benson and Gill hold several together. Pulpit quotes Wordsworth's image of a prophecy that unfolds by degrees, in bud and blossom before full bloom, and that is the honest state of the question.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. “Then”: the cross is preached over Peter's shoulder — 16:24

⚙ The first word of the unit is a hinge. Pulpit, quoting Chrysostom at length, fixes the occasion: this follows immediately on Peter telling his Master that the passion must never happen, and on being told to get behind Him. JFB puts the movement in one phrase, that the rebuke of one is turned into a warning to all, and Ellicott, Poole and Gill each note that the Markan and Lukan parallels have Jesus calling the crowd along with the disciples, so the terms of discipleship are published in the open rather than confided to an inner circle. Then comes the grammar. θέλει (G2309) is a verb of determination, and Ellicott refuses to let the English “will” collapse into a future auxiliary while Benson glosses it as being willing, with no one forced. The three imperatives that follow are third person forms English cannot reproduce, which is why every version supplies “must.” Their aspects are not uniform: ἀράτω (G142) is aorist, one decisive lifting, and ἀκολουθείτω (G190) is present, an unbroken following. Cambridge notes that the “daily” everyone quotes belongs to Luke and not to Matthew. The sharpest lexical fact in the verse is Ellicott's: ἀπαρνησάσθω (G533) is the very verb of Peter's coming denial, and a man who will not use it on himself will end by using it on his Lord.

ii. One Greek word, two English faces: the paradox of the psychē — 16:25 to 16:26

⚙ Four times in two verses the text says ψυχή (G5590, root sense breath), and BSB says “life” twice and “soul” twice. Every source in this brief that touches the original language protests. Ellicott says it would be better to keep “life” in both verses, and locates the word, on the trichotomy of 1 Thessalonians 5:23, as the animating principle of the natural life and the link between body and spirit. Cambridge calls it life in its highest phase. Pulpit counts the four occurrences and names the two senses as two stages of one life. Poole is the most candid witness of all: he reports that the translators' choice of two English words has itself produced the dispute, sets out the reading that takes both verses identically, and only then decides. The paradox is therefore not a play on two things but one thing held at two altitudes, which is why the same verb ἀπόλλυμι (G622, to destroy fully) can do the losing on both sides of the ledger. Verse 26 then turns the argument into accounting with two rare words. ζημιωθῇ (G2210) is passive and judicial, suffer loss, be fined, and ἀντάλλαγμα (G465) is a noun meaning an equivalent or ransom price, found by the Verifier in only two verses in the whole Greek text. JFB stresses that the concession is extravagant on purpose, since no man ever gained the whole world. Gill supplies a rabbinic parallel from Midrash Kohelet, that lost gold and brass can be exchanged but a dead scholar cannot, which suggests the form of the saying was already proverbial. Barnes hears final damnation in the forfeit; we would note that the verb itself claims less, since Paul can use it at 1 Corinthians 3:15 of a man who suffers loss and is nevertheless saved.

iii. The ledger is answered: someone does pay — 16:26 to 16:27

⚙ The commercial vocabulary does not stop at the question. κερδήσῃ (G2770, gain), ζημιωθῇ (G2210, forfeit), δώσει (G1325, give) and ἀντάλλαγμα (G465, equivalent) are all trade terms, and the verb that opens the judgment scene, ἀποδώσει (G591), belongs to the same register: to pay off, to render what is due. Pulpit renders it “render” and observes that the term includes punishment as well as recompense, which is why BSB's “repay” is an improvement on the older “reward.” The standard of payment is πρᾶξιν (G4234), and it is singular. Ellicott records that the better manuscripts read the singular and draws the consequence, that sentence falls on the collective character of a life rather than on a tally of acts; Pulpit says the same, general course of conduct, practice as a whole. Then Poole draws the distinction on which the Reformation insisted, that Christ speaks here not of the cause of the reward but of its rule and measure, gathering Romans 2:6, 1 Corinthians 3:8 and 2 Corinthians 5:10, and adding that the reward is of grace and not of debt (Romans 4:4). Gill presses the darker half, that evil works are themselves the ground of condemnation. On the two possessive pronouns the sources are agreed and worth watching: the glory is the Father's, the angels are the Son's, and Ellicott defends the referent from Matthew 25:31 and John 16:15 while JFB calls them His angelic ministers and Poole harmonises them with 1 Thessalonians 1:7.

iv. “Some standing here”: the crux the sources cannot settle — 16:28

⚙ Pulpit opens on this verse by calling it a crux to commentators who cannot decide what it refers to, and the brief bears him out. Four candidate fulfilments are in play. The Transfiguration of the next chapter is rejected by Ellicott (six days is no interval to describe as before some taste death), by Pulpit (Christ would not solemnly announce a private vision a week off, later placed under silence) and by Gill (at most a pledge of the glory). The resurrection, ascension and Pentecost are the reading Poole judges most generally received and best, and Geneva's gloss points the same way, to the glory of the ascension and what follows, or the preaching of the Gospel. The fall of Jerusalem is chosen by Cambridge as best fulfilling the conditions, a judicial coming, visible, within the lifetime of some but not all, and Ellicott and Pulpit agree, Ellicott adding that the destruction of city and temple with the onward march of the Church was as the coming of the Son of Man in His kingdom. The final advent is ruled out by Poole, Barnes and Gill on the simple ground that everyone then standing has long since died. Benson and Gill and Pulpit hold several of these together, and Pulpit borrows Wordsworth's image of a prophecy in bud and blossom before full bloom. The grammar permits this breadth: ἴδωσιν (G3708) can mean attending to an event as well as beholding a person, ἐρχόμενον is a present participle of arrival in progress, and ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ is in the kingdom's power, not into it. Our own judgment is that the sources' disagreement here is a genuine gap and should be reported as one, not resolved by preference.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ Under Sola Scriptura, offered to be tested and not to be believed on our account: the unity of this unit is a single word carried through four uses. ψυχή is the thing the self-saver grasps at, the thing he destroys, the thing the whole ordered world cannot outbid, and the thing for which no ἀντάλλαγμα exists. Read as one argument, verses 24 to 28 do not set two prices side by side, a lower and a higher; they announce that there is only one life, and that it is not in a man's power to keep. The imperatives of v. 24 are therefore not a higher spirituality laid on top of salvation. They are the only posture available to a creature who has been told, in the plainest commercial language the Greek has, that he is insolvent. Verse 26 asks what a man will hand over, and the text leaves the question standing without an answer, which we take to be deliberate rather than rhetorical. The New Testament does eventually name a price, and it is not one that any man gives: the Son of Man came to give His life a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28). That answer is not in this unit, and we mark that clearly; what is in this unit is the unanswerable question, and the man who has felt its weight is the only man who will lift a cross willingly. On verse 28 we decline to choose. Four fulfilments are proposed by the sources and each meets one condition of the text while straining another; the honest report is that Matthew's wording is contingent (ἕως ἂν) where his hearers wanted a date, and that the promise was fulfilled in a way the promise itself did not specify. The line printed below is our own summary sentence, machine synthesis and not Scripture; it is not a verse and must never be quoted as one.

The only exchange ever accepted for a human life was not offered by a man.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

Antallagma: a word used twice in all of Scripture verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ The noun ἀντάλλαγμα (G465, an equivalent or ransom) occurs, on the Verifier's count, in only two verses: here and in the Markan parallel. When a word that rare is shared, the link is verbal in the strict sense and not merely thematic. Mark 8:36 carries the same ψυχή, κόσμος and ὅλος cluster of the profit question, and Mark 8:37 carries the exchange question with δίδωμι. Poole, JFB, Barnes and Cambridge all treat the Matthean and Markan forms as one saying, and JFB notes the wording of the Lukan parallel differs, having the man lose or forfeit himself rather than his soul.

Mark 8:36 · Mark 8:37

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G465 ἀντάλλαγμα (in 2 vv), the rarest possible shared lexeme, with G5590 ψυχή (in 92 vv) and G1325 δίδωμι (in 378 vv) at Mark 8:37, and G5590 ψυχή, G2889 κόσμος (in 151 vv), G3650 ὅλος (in 97 vv) at Mark 8:36. Greek to Greek, synoptic parallel of the same saying.

Gain and forfeit: Paul keeps the same ledger verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ The two trade verbs of v. 26 reappear together in Paul. ζημιόω (G2210, to suffer loss, to be fined) is found by the Verifier in only six verses, and κερδαίνω (G2770, to gain) in sixteen. At Philippians 3:8 Paul has both, and he has reversed their objects: what he had counted gain he now counts loss for the sake of Christ, which is the Matthean arithmetic applied to a living man's own advantages. At 1 Corinthians 3:15 the same verb of loss describes a man whose work burns and who is himself saved, which is why we hold Barnes's reading of Matthew 16:26 as final damnation apart from the lexical force of the verb; the word says loss, not necessarily ruin. 2 Corinthians 7:9 uses it a third way, of not being harmed. The verbal link is real; the theological weight each writer puts on the word is not uniform, and we do not flatten it.

Philippians 3:8 · 1 Corinthians 3:15 · 2 Corinthians 7:9

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G2210 ζημιόω (in 6 vv), rare, with G2770 κερδαίνω (in 16 vv) at Philippians 3:8 and G4982 σώζω (in 99 vv) at 1 Corinthians 3:15. Greek to Greek; a genuine verbal link, not a quotation, and the senses diverge.

Praxis: the singular word for the whole of a life verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ πρᾶξις (G4234, practice, conduct) is found by the Verifier in only six verses, and its other uses confirm exactly what Ellicott and Pulpit claim for it here. Paul sets believers to put to death the πράξεις of the body (Romans 8:13) and describes the old self with its practices as something taken off (Colossians 3:9); Luke uses it of the deed Joseph of Arimathea would not consent to (Luke 23:51), and of the practices the Ephesian believers confessed and burned (Acts 19:18). None of these is an isolated act. That is the ground of Ellicott's judgment on the singular reading in the better manuscripts, which the interlinear printed in this brief also carries: judgment falls on the collective character of a life.

Romans 8:13 · Colossians 3:9 · Acts 19:18 · Luke 23:51

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G4234 πρᾶξις (in 6 vv), rare, at Romans 8:13 (with G3195 μέλλω, in 106 vv), Colossians 3:9, Acts 19:18, Romans 12:4 and Luke 23:51 (with G932 βασιλεία, in 154 vv). Greek to Greek verbal link within one word field, not a quotation.

Deny himself, deny his Lord: one verb, two objects verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ Ellicott's remark on v. 24 is verifiable and worth keeping: the verb of self-denial is the verb of Peter's denial. ἀπαρνέομαι (G533, to deny utterly) is found by the Verifier in only eleven verses, and Mark 14:30, where Peter is told he will deny his Master three times, is among them. The shape of Matthew 16 makes the echo pointed rather than accidental: Peter has just been rebuked (v. 23), the command to deny self is spoken immediately after (v. 24), and the denial of Christ follows in the passion narrative. Ellicott names the danger directly, that a man who does not deny himself is in danger, as Peter was, of denying his Lord. We tier this verbal on the strength of the rare shared lexeme and note that the link is a word echo across the Gospels, not a citation by the Evangelist.

Mark 14:30 · Mark 8:34

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G533 ἀπαρνέομαι (in 11 vv) at Mark 14:30, with G2228 ἤ (in 276 vv) and G281 ἀμήν (in 104 vv); Mark 8:34 shares G142 αἴρω (in 97 vv), G190 ἀκολουθέω (in 86 vv) and G1438 ἑαυτοῦ (in 294 vv). Greek to Greek; verbal echo, not quotation.

The ransom no man can pay (Psalm 49) structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ The unanswerable question of v. 26 has an Old Testament ancestor. Psalm 49:7 and 8 deny that any man can redeem the life of another or give God a ransom for him, the price of redemption being too costly. Three sources in this brief make the contact independently: Pulpit says the verse is probably intended as a reminiscence of Psalm 49:7 and 8, Gill cites Psalm 49:8 at the word ἀντάλλαγμα and concludes that nothing short of the blood and life of Christ is a proper ransom price, and Ellicott quotes the Prayer Book version of Psalm 49:8 to the same end. But no citation formula appears in the Greek of Matthew 16, and a Greek to Hebrew pair cannot share a Strong's number, so the verbal tier is not available here however strong the conceptual fit. Pulpit's own hedge is “probably,” and we keep it.

Psalm 49:7 · Psalm 49:8

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so no shared Strong's lexeme is computable and the verbal tier is unavailable. Recorded basis: the shared motif of an impossible ransom for a human life, named at this verse by Pulpit (as a probable reminiscence), Gill and Ellicott, with no quotation formula in the Greek text.

Repaid according to his practice: the Old Testament formula structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ The wording of v. 27b stands close to two Hebrew texts: Psalm 62:12, that God rewards each person according to what he has done, and Proverbs 24:12, that He will repay a man according to his work. The formula recurs across both Testaments, and Poole, commenting on this very verse, gathers the New Testament members of the family with the same preposition κατά: Romans 2:6, 1 Corinthians 3:8, 2 Corinthians 5:10. This pair is not in the Verifier's computed candidate list, and cross-Testament pairs cannot share a Strong's number in any case, so the basis here is the shared formula plus Poole's own citation chain rather than a machine-confirmed lexical overlap. We therefore claim an echo of a standing biblical formula and nothing more: the verbal tier is not available and no quotation is asserted.

Psalm 62:12 · Proverbs 24:12 · Romans 2:6

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew) echo, so the verbal tier is unavailable and the Psalm 62:12 and Proverbs 24:12 wording cannot be tied by shared Strong's numbers. Recorded basis: the shared repayment formula (repay each according to his work), plus Poole's citation at this verse of Romans 2:6, 1 Corinthians 3:8 and 2 Corinthians 5:10 as the same formula in Greek. Not a Verifier-computed pair.

The Son of Man coming with His retinue (Daniel 7, Zechariah 14) structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ The title and the scene of v. 27 and v. 28 are Danielic. In Daniel 7:13 and 14 one like a son of man comes with the clouds and is given dominion and a kingdom that will not pass away; in Daniel 2:44 the God of heaven sets up a kingdom that will never be destroyed; in Zechariah 14:5 the LORD comes with all His holy ones. Pulpit makes the connection explicitly, judging that our Lord seems to refer to Daniel 7:13 as testimony to what He had just said. The three elements of the Matthean sentence, the Son of Man, the coming in glory with attendants, and the kingdom, all sit in that field. Because the contact is Greek to Hebrew it cannot be scored by shared lexemes, so we tier it structural: the motif is confirmed and widely recognised, but no quotation is claimed and none is marked in the text.

Daniel 7:13 · Daniel 7:14 · Daniel 2:44 · Zechariah 14:5

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so shared Strong's numbers are not computable and the verbal tier is unavailable. Recorded basis: the shared Son of Man, glory, attendant host and everlasting kingdom pattern, with Pulpit naming Daniel 7:13 at Matthew 16:27. No citation formula in the Greek.

The kingdom come with power: the synoptic parallels of v. 28 structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ Mark 9:1 and Luke 9:27 are the same saying in different words, and the difference is the whole interpretive problem. Poole reports that Mark has the kingdom of God come with power and Luke simply the kingdom of God, and says the Markan addition is what moved him away from the Transfiguration reading; Barnes, JFB, Gill and Cambridge all set the three forms side by side and choose differently. The Verifier does confirm shared lexemes with Mark 9:1, but they are common words (here, whoever, stand), so we withhold the verbal tier even though a genuine synoptic parallel is in view: the computed basis does not carry a rare lexeme and we prefer to under-claim.

Mark 9:1

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G5602 ὧδε (in 59 vv), G3748 ὅστις (in 133 vv), G2476 ἵστημι (in 149 vv). All common, so no rare lexeme supports a verbal tier; recorded as a structural parallel of the same saying (Greek to Greek), with the differing wording of Mark and Luke noted by Poole, Barnes, JFB, Gill and Cambridge.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The cross commanded before the cross was carried ancient/widely-held

⚙ The word σταυρός (G4716, a stake set upright) is put into a command before it is put into a narrative. Ellicott notes that the phrase had been heard already (Matthew 10:38) but was now clothed with new and more distinct meaning by the passion prediction of v. 21, so the disciples are told to carry an instrument whose meaning their Master has just fixed by announcing His own death. Gill draws the scene out: the allusion is to Christ bearing His own cross and to the man who carried it after Him, which afterwards came to pass. Ellicott then reaches further back and finds the pattern of self-denial in the incarnation itself, in the emptying of Philippians 2:7, and Henry says simply that if self-denial is a hard lesson it is no more than the Master learned and practised, to redeem us and to teach us. Poole makes the same move through John 5:30 and 4:34, that the Son sought not His own will. On this reading the imperative of v. 24 is not a new demand but an invitation into a motion Christ is already making, and the order matters: He goes first, and the following is possible because the road is walked.

Matthew 16:21 · Matthew 10:38 · Philippians 2:7 · John 5:30

The unanswerable question and the ransom that answers it ancient/widely-held

⚙ Verse 26 asks what a man will give as an ἀντάλλαγμα for his life, and the text supplies no answer. The Old Testament had already closed that door: Psalm 49:7 and 8 deny that anyone can redeem another or pay God a ransom. Gill draws the conclusion at this verse, that the redemption of a soul requires a greater price than gold and silver or any corruptible thing, and that nothing short of the blood and life of Christ is a proper ransom price; Ellicott brings in the same Psalm; Henry says that Christ knew the price of souls because He redeemed them, and would not underrate the world, because He made it. Four chapters later in this same Gospel the ransom word is spoken by Christ of Himself, that the Son of Man came to give His life a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28). We mark the distinction plainly: Matthew 20:28 uses a different noun and is not in this unit, so the connection here is the answering of a question and not a shared lexeme. But the shape of the argument is hard to miss. The one person in the scene who can pay the price He has just declared unpayable is the one asking the question, and He has just told them He is about to be killed.

Psalm 49:7 · Psalm 49:8 · Matthew 20:28 · Matthew 16:21

The Son of Man in the Father's glory: the Judge of all ancient/widely-held

⚙ The same figure who is about to be rejected and killed claims the Father's glory, His own angels, and the seat of universal judgment. Ellicott observes that this claim to be the future Judge of all men is never absent from our Lord's teaching, asserted in every great discourse and implied in almost every parable, and cites the earlier stages at Matthew 7:23 and 24. Poole sets out the office in order: the Judge is the Son of Man, the one then vilified under that very title, and He is Judge of living and dead (Acts 10:42, 2 Timothy 4:1) because the Father judges no one but has committed all judgment to the Son (John 5:22). Gill notes the deliberate juxtaposition, that He calls Himself Son of Man at the moment He claims equal glory. The Danielic background makes the claim intelligible: the one like a son of man of Daniel 7:13 and 14 receives dominion and a kingdom. And the unit's last word is that kingdom, which Geneva glosses as the glory of the ascension and what follows after it, and Ellicott as coming in spirit and in power to a people who felt He was not far from any of them. The redemptive-historical line runs from cross to throne, and the disciples are told to take the first step of it.

Daniel 7:13 · Daniel 7:14 · John 5:22 · Matthew 25:31 · Acts 10:42

He tasted death so that they might see the kingdom novel

⚙ A smaller reading, offered as our own and marked accordingly. The idiom of v. 28, tasting death, is identified by Poole from Hebrews 2:9 and John 8:51 and 52, and Gill shows the phrase current among the Jewish teachers. Hebrews 2:9 applies that same idiom to Christ Himself, who was crowned with glory and honour because He tasted death for everyone. Set beside Matthew 16:28, a sequence appears that the unit does not state but does permit: He tastes death, and some standing there do not taste it before they see His kingdom coming. We do not claim Matthew is alluding to Hebrews or Hebrews to Matthew, and no source in this brief makes the connection in this form; Poole and Ellicott cite Hebrews 2:9 only for the idiom. It is a figural reading of a shared idiom, novel in this shape, and should be tested rather than trusted.

Hebrews 2:9 · John 8:52 · Matthew 16:28

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

⚙ Honesty notes for this unit. Text. Scripture is BSB (CC0); the interlinear, glosses, parse tags and Strong's numbers are the Berean data supplied in the brief, and every lexical claim above is traceable to it. One textual variant matters here: at 16:27 Ellicott reports that the better manuscripts read the singular πρᾶξιν rather than a plural, and the interlinear printed in this brief carries the singular, so the reading he prefers is the one glossed. We have not consulted the manuscripts ourselves and rely on his report and on the Berean text. Translation seams. The single largest seam in the unit is the rendering of one Greek word, ψυχή (G5590), as “life” twice in v. 25 and “soul” twice in v. 26. Ellicott, Cambridge, Pulpit and Poole all note it; Poole records that the English choice itself generated a real interpretive dispute. Readers working only from English will not see that these four words are one word. What is uncertain. Verse 28 is the unit's open question and we have not closed it. The sources propose four fulfilments (Transfiguration, resurrection with ascension and Pentecost, the destruction of Jerusalem, the final advent), each with weighty advocates in this brief and each with an objection raised by another advocate. Pulpit calls the verse a crux to commentators, and we have reported the disagreement rather than adjudicated it. Cross-references. Four of the eight threads are Greek to Greek and rest on Verifier-computed shared lexemes, which are quoted with their frequencies in each badge; where the rare words are G465, G2210, G4234 and G533 we have allowed the verbal tier, and where the shared lexemes are common (Mark 9:1) we withheld it although a genuine synoptic parallel is in view. Four threads reach into the Old Testament: no citation formula appears anywhere in the BSB text of this unit, a Greek to Hebrew pair cannot share a Strong's number, and so none of those is tiered verbal. The Psalm 62:12 with Proverbs 24:12 pairing was not produced by the Verifier at all; its basis is the shared repayment formula plus Poole's own citation chain, and it is tiered and described accordingly. Voices. Ten public-domain commentators are present in the brief and all ten are quoted somewhere in this unit. Two cautions: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary treats 16:24 to 16:28 as one block, so his single entry stands behind several verses, and JFB's excerpt at v. 25 is their own dramatised paraphrase of Christ's meaning rather than a quotation of Him. Barnes's equation of the forfeited soul with final damnation is flagged where it appears, because the Greek verb ζημιόω claims loss and not necessarily ruin (compare 1 Corinthians 3:15). This layer. Everything marked ⚙, including all four movements, the sola reading, the pullquote and every thread and Christ body, is machine synthesis: fallible, secondary to Scripture, and offered to be tested. The pullquote in particular is our own sentence and not a verse.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)