Luke 9:23

King James Version (KJV)

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Translations

Luke 9:23 - Amplified Bible

And He said to all, If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also].

Luke 9:23 - American Standard Version

And he said unto all, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Luke 9:23 - Bible in Basic English

And he said to them all, If any man has a desire to come after me, let him give up all, and take up his cross every day, and come after me.

Luke 9:23 - Darby Bible

And he said to [them] all, If any one will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me;

Luke 9:23 - English Standard Version

And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Luke 9:23 - King James Version

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Luke 9:23 - La Biblia de las Americas

Y decìa a todos: Si alguno quiere venir en pos de mì, niéguese a sì mismo, tome su cruz cada dìa y sìgame.

Luke 9:23 - The Message

Then he told them what they could expect for themselves: "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat—I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? If any of you is embarrassed with me and the way I’m leading you, know that the Son of Man will be far more embarrassed with you when he arrives in all his splendor in company with the Father and the holy angels. This isn’t, you realize, pie in the sky by and by. Some who have taken their stand right here are going to see it happen, see with their own eyes the kingdom of God."

Luke 9:23 - New American Standard Bible

And He was saying to {them} all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

Luke 9:23 - Nueva Biblia Latinoamericana de Hoy

Y a todos les decìa: "Si alguien quiere seguirme, niéguese a sì mismo, tome su cruz cada dìa y sìgame.

Luke 9:23 - World English Bible

He said to all, "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

Luke 9:23 - Young's Living Translation

And he said unto all, `If any one doth will to come after me, let him disown himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me;

Luke 9:23 - Additional Comments

If there is no fruit in a person's life, there is no salvation. See Matt 7:21-23, Hosea 8:1-3, Titus 1:16, James 2:20-26. Works are not required, but they are critical evidence. They are the "fingerprints" that Jesus has been there.
This also says that wherever you go as a Christian, you are leaving Jesus "fingerprints". You are telling people, look at me, I reflect who Jesus Christ is (whether you like it or not).
Then we must ask, how can we properly reflect Jesus? Go back to 9:18-22. Do you know who Jesus is? Are you a follower of Jesus? Isn't a follower one who follows? So, what does it mean to follow Jesus? This verse explains.
1. Deny self. Willingly renounce self, set self aside. Forsake all - Luke 14:33. God wants everything. He wants a full and complete commitment from us, all the time, everywhere, in everything we do. There should not come a point where we have given so much we now can stop. The root of all sin is pride, so the root of all godliness must be denying self (as we focus on Him, the one true God).
2. Take up your cross. It does not mean to endure suffering, as is commonly viewed today. What did it mean to them at that time, in that setting? When Jesus spoke of a "cross," He was speaking of something the people around Him were acquainted with since capital punishment, done in public, was a common means of execution at that time. The condemned person was forced to carry his own cross to where he would be nailed to it and die upon it, while crowds watched. It means to "be prepared to be led out to public execution" (F. F. Bruce).
Bruce also says that taking up the cross means facing persecution and death for Jesus' sake. Since this is the proper interpretation, then many who profess to be Christians are "unworthy" of Jesus and disqualified from the status of "disciple"!
Think about yourself. Are you living with a martyr's attitude, that is, willing to suffer and/or die for the cause of Christ? Remember also the word most commonly rendered "witness" in Acts 1:8 is martyr! We are to be Jesus' present-day martyrs, as millions in the past literally were proven to be by giving their lives for the cause of Christ.
In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Tim. 3:12). And this may be from family.
How often are we to do this? Daily. It means always and everywhere.
From Colin Henderson:
"Then He said to them all..." This is a sort of refute to the Calvinistic teaching. Calvinists believe that Jesus only called, or elected, certain people, but referring to previous verses we see that He was originally only addressing His disciples. This phrase would suggest that He then broadened His message to the entire crowd that was with Him.
"If anyone would come after me..." Language lesson time. There are two key Greek words here: "erchomai" and "opiso." These put together can literally translate to "come after," but also could mean "follow" or "support." So we see that in this section Jesus was inviting everyone to follow Him.
"He must deny himself..." This is where we get to the meat of this verse. "Deny" is spawning from the Greek word "arneomai." "Arniomai" certainly could translate directly to "deny," but like most of the words in Greek, it has several meanings. One particular meaning caught my eye. It could have also translated to "disdain." This parallels Romans 7 where Paul tells us how he does what he "hates." I had a hard time understanding Jesus' choice of words here before reading the Greek. He wasn't necessarily saying that we are to live a perfect life, but we are to show "disdain" for the things of this world. That isn't to say that we won't give in, and we might hit a time in our lives where we give in a lot. What it is saying is that a true believer will hate their sin, and have a natural desire to turn from it.
"Take up his cross..." Not much is found by looking at the Greek here. The verb in the phrase is "airo," which means to "lift up," "take up" or "pick up." What I do believe it's telling us is a bit different than most have interpreted it. Many people will say that Jesus is telling us to suffer for Him. I believe it's much more than that. A person who literally takes up a cross in Bible times would be a criminal condemned to death. I believe that this is not only referring to the physical act of suffering for Christ, but the mental state of unworthiness as well. Romans tells us that the wages of sin is death. We all deserve to die for our sins, even after we've come to Jesus. The only difference is that we're under God's saving grace. I think Jesus was also warning us against acting like we're better than unbelievers. I believe He was calling us to acknowledge that we're still no better than they are, and we still deserve death for the sins we have done and are still doing.
"Daily..." This is the key word. "Daily" comes from the Greek words "kath hemeran," which literally means "daily, everyday." The interesting thing is that this isn't referring to a one-time commitment, but a daily process. We must put aside our fleshly desires daily and follow Christ. If Jesus was referring to a one-time continual event, "kath hermeran" would have never been included in the text. Choosing to follow Christ is a daily process. This clearly indicates that it's possible for a believer to fall away and come back to Christ.
"And follow me..." The word for "follow" that is used here is "akoloutheo." This word translates to "accompany, go along with." Not only that, but the context of this Greek word refers to a constant, daily process. We can't just commit once to following the Lord leave it alone. We need to daily commit to following God and listen to His voice. We will face countless situations on a daily basis in which we must decide which side of us we will yield to.

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